Album Review: Cimorelli - "Alive"
Finals have been over for about a week now and while I'm still eagerly anticipating some final grades, I've been able to enjoy the last five days at home, catching up with my family and celebrating Christmas. So naturally, this blog post will have nothing to do with any of that.
It's also been about a week since my favorite band, Cimorelli, released their second full-length album, Alive. For context, Cimorelli is a group of six sisters who got their start on YouTube doing covers of popular songs. I discovered their cover of Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" about 4 (!) years ago and then was delighted to learn that they were not only Catholic, but also home-schooled. Needless to say, I got hooked. Cimorelli were signed to a major label for a while, but sadly never gained traction and about 2 years ago they moved to Nashville and started releasing music independently. This allowed them to have much more creative freedom and the music that they have released since then has helped encourage me through several though situations.
Cimorelli released "Up At Night", they're first full length album in May (which is coincidentally when I got to see them in concert). This album chronicled many of the struggles in relationships that teens face and was basically my soundtrack for the summer. Then, in October, they announced that they would be releasing a motivational album, "Alive", in December. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I was especially excited to hear the Christian songs that they included on the album, because while they were under their record label they were not allowed to release these songs.
I downloaded the album on Tuesday as soon as it was available and have been listening to it on repeat ever since. To be honest, I went through a stage of not loving it as much as I initially though I would. I think that Up At Night was more relatable to me and initially I didn't think that I would be able to sing to any of the songs on Alive at the top of my lungs in my car like I had with their other music. Anyway, as I've been able to appreciate the album after several more listens because I've realized that this is a very different album than Up At Night and while Up At Night chronicles a teenage relationship from beginning to end, Alive paints a picture of the life and struggles of a Christian young adult living in today's world. Naturally this does include struggles with romantic relationships (see "The Love Of A Man" and "Find Me"), but also involves facing and overcoming doubt ("One More Night" and "Alive"), struggling with the daily sins ("Kick The Habit") and mostly importantly, realizing the presence of a loving God and the importance of a relationship with him ("My God Is Here" and "Love Song (Over Me)"). So yeah, if you dealing with any of these things, definitely give the album a listen.
I think that one of my favorite songs on Alive is "Hope For It". Lyrically, the song is a search for something to hold onto and a promise to hope for a better day. I think the sound of this song is my favorite part of it because it becomes very anthemic and the bridge is just asking to be sung along to. This is the song I will play at full volume in my car this summer. My other favorite song on the album is "Find Me". There's something about the search for a future romantic partner in today's world that can just be frustrating and I know that several times over the past year I've felt like I just wanted to be in a relationship and experience the little moments that some many people my age have been through already. This song is a love letter to a future soulmate/spouse and there's something so refreshing about the belief that there's really is someone out there for everyone and that they might just be going through the same struggles. I think that this song will help a lot of people, especially those who have gone through something similar to what I have.
If this has intrigued you and you would like to check out Alive, it's available on pledgemusic.com/cimorelli and will be on iTunes and Spotify soon. I'll leave you with two videos: a sampler from Alive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKo60w-5VQ) and my favorite Cimorelli song of all time.
Until next time (probably not long lol)
-Emily
It's also been about a week since my favorite band, Cimorelli, released their second full-length album, Alive. For context, Cimorelli is a group of six sisters who got their start on YouTube doing covers of popular songs. I discovered their cover of Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" about 4 (!) years ago and then was delighted to learn that they were not only Catholic, but also home-schooled. Needless to say, I got hooked. Cimorelli were signed to a major label for a while, but sadly never gained traction and about 2 years ago they moved to Nashville and started releasing music independently. This allowed them to have much more creative freedom and the music that they have released since then has helped encourage me through several though situations.
Cimorelli released "Up At Night", they're first full length album in May (which is coincidentally when I got to see them in concert). This album chronicled many of the struggles in relationships that teens face and was basically my soundtrack for the summer. Then, in October, they announced that they would be releasing a motivational album, "Alive", in December. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I was especially excited to hear the Christian songs that they included on the album, because while they were under their record label they were not allowed to release these songs.
I downloaded the album on Tuesday as soon as it was available and have been listening to it on repeat ever since. To be honest, I went through a stage of not loving it as much as I initially though I would. I think that Up At Night was more relatable to me and initially I didn't think that I would be able to sing to any of the songs on Alive at the top of my lungs in my car like I had with their other music. Anyway, as I've been able to appreciate the album after several more listens because I've realized that this is a very different album than Up At Night and while Up At Night chronicles a teenage relationship from beginning to end, Alive paints a picture of the life and struggles of a Christian young adult living in today's world. Naturally this does include struggles with romantic relationships (see "The Love Of A Man" and "Find Me"), but also involves facing and overcoming doubt ("One More Night" and "Alive"), struggling with the daily sins ("Kick The Habit") and mostly importantly, realizing the presence of a loving God and the importance of a relationship with him ("My God Is Here" and "Love Song (Over Me)"). So yeah, if you dealing with any of these things, definitely give the album a listen.
I think that one of my favorite songs on Alive is "Hope For It". Lyrically, the song is a search for something to hold onto and a promise to hope for a better day. I think the sound of this song is my favorite part of it because it becomes very anthemic and the bridge is just asking to be sung along to. This is the song I will play at full volume in my car this summer. My other favorite song on the album is "Find Me". There's something about the search for a future romantic partner in today's world that can just be frustrating and I know that several times over the past year I've felt like I just wanted to be in a relationship and experience the little moments that some many people my age have been through already. This song is a love letter to a future soulmate/spouse and there's something so refreshing about the belief that there's really is someone out there for everyone and that they might just be going through the same struggles. I think that this song will help a lot of people, especially those who have gone through something similar to what I have.
If this has intrigued you and you would like to check out Alive, it's available on pledgemusic.com/cimorelli and will be on iTunes and Spotify soon. I'll leave you with two videos: a sampler from Alive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKo60w-5VQ) and my favorite Cimorelli song of all time.
Until next time (probably not long lol)
-Emily
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