New York, June 03: It took three albums for Jewel to convince us that she's an earnest woman with a message and a guitar.
Now, forget about it.
With the June 3 release of "0304," this girl just wants to have fun. The 14-song Atlantic Records set finds the heady singer/songwriter relinquishing her folk/pop roots to explore electronic beats and uptempo melodies, taking her out of coffeehouses and onto the dance floor.
"I've always been considered a very serious artist," says Jewel, 28. "This is my pop culture record. The world is complicated and hard, and people want to be able to lose themselves in the rhythm. People want to feel young and sexy and smart; and like things are OK -- including me. That is the only image I had writing these songs. This is a happy record."
Jewel called on Lester Mendez -- who has worked with Shakira, Santana, and Enrique Iglesias -- to collaborate through the process of songwriting, arranging, and producing the album.
"I'd always thought electronic music was cold and pat and not very creative," she says. Yet she decided to try the remix treatment on "Serve the Ego," a single from her previous This Way.
The end result not only resonated personally but lifted Jewel to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
"I found a way to use beats that suits me," she says. "Now, I see that it's like being a painter who says they will never use red or yellow. Why limit yourself that way?" She adds, "I intend to work with Lester for the rest of my life. I can't tell you how powerful a musician he is."
Jewel also went about the songwriting process in a way that was novel for her: "Usually, when it's time to make an album, I compile songs from my catalog; I've always had a lot in stock. This is the first time I've written a record from beginning to end, really exploring where current culture is heading."
As a result, Jewel -- who signed with EMI Music Publishing at the beginning of May -- and Mendez recorded and mixed the record in a rapid-fire eight weeks.
First single "Intuition" gives listeners a clear indication of Jewel's new stylistic gleam.
The song opens with an accordion and rallies like a gypsy carnival, with an army of marching beats and creamy layers of harmony coming from behind.
Bureau Report
