Kate Upton doesn't ask much of you people. So when she does, you better listen up.
Listening to this amazing album!! Download it and let me know if you love it too! @arielupton… http://t.co/ecikbm6UGw
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) July 7, 2014
Kate’s cousin Ariel is a marketing professional in Chicago who has been singing for over ten years. Ariel decided she was going to follow her dreams by releasing her first album with the aid of Kickstarter; "The Circle of It" debuted on iTunes last week.
"The Circle of It All" is a bit different than Kate's first foray into music two weeks earlier.
Ariel channels Florence and the Machine in her strong and soulful howl, but eschews the band's anthemic stylings for a more indie/coffee house sound. However, unlike that cheerful fundraising video, "The Circle of It All" has a muted optimism that's coated with a malaise and regret over former lovers.
Exactly, Kate. That's what I thought.
While her famous cousin has lived a charmed existence that's brought her to the heavens and back, Ariel is an everywoman trying to navigate the travails of life as a twenty-something lady in 2014. I knew it was tough being a lady today, but good lord is this album smoldering with melodrama. Ariel spends the album's ten songs coming to terms with settling in her own skin and setting out in the world on her own.
Ariel uses "The Circle of It All" to spill her heart out, taking late night Facebook diary entires and adding music to them. "Ghost" and "Breaks" are rife with uncertainty and failed romantic endeavors. I'd hate to be the bro who pissed her off.
Ariel sounds like she could have used a jazzy piano and a Hot Pocket.
Not until the album's closing track, "In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb," does Ariel finally let down her defenses and bring in the rock drums. It's refreshing after an album chock full of healthy angst.
Hopefully Ariel has emptied out her target list and we can hear from the self-appointed "queen of sunshine" in her next release.
If there's anything that's hereditary among the Uptons, it's bringing the light in.
That and putting family first.
