Album Review

Jenn Bostic – Jealous

• 20th Mar 2013

Jealous is the debut album from Nashville singer songwriter Jenn Bostic. Having been available as a digital download since late in 2012, the album is now being released as a CD. The eleven pop/ country songs are infused with personal loss (Bostic’s father died in a car accident when she was ten), yet the album is not downbeat or depressing despite the emotional lyrics

The sound is fairly simple on most tracks, the piano melodies are clear and the vocals strong. The production by Barrett Yeretsian, the writer/ producer of the hit Jar of Hearts for Christina Perri, is good throughout, allowing a very fine voice indeed to shine.

Jenn Bostic is best known for her song Jealous Of The Angels, which became an internet hit, receiving over a million hits on YouTube before it was even released as a single. She wrote the song as a form of catharsis, and credits it with the beginning of her own healing after her father’s death. The overtly religious imagery rather gets in the way in places, but the strong portrayal of a devastating loss is very powerful and superbly performed.

The fine second single to come from the album, Not Yet, is another piano led track although the vocals are slightly faster, giving a soulful feel, and when Bostic lets her voice soar it is clear that she has great power and control. There are other good tracks on the album too, notably the faster paced and country edged Wait For Me and the majestic defiance of Give Me Back My Pride, which comes from the typically country territory of relationships gone bad. And the closing Lay Your Lips On Mine is a beautiful love song.

This is a very personal album and Jenn Bostic has used her own suffering as the core on which it is built. Her songwriting is emotional yet avoids cliché, and she clearly has a very fine voice. It will be very interesting to see where her talents take her next.

Venue: Jealous
Support Band: Jenn Bostic Music