Rachel Platten’s newest album Wildfire is a good way to start out the new year. It’s a feel-good, pure pop album, and despite lacking originality on many of the songs, it’s syrupy sweet and delivers exactly what a pop album should.
Platten’s voice does best on songs with simple backing tracks, and suffers the most on songs where the backing tracks overwhelm her voice. Her voice is soft and sweet, and she lacks the ability to project it aggressively on tracks that require a bit more of a punch, like “Hey Hey Hallelujah” and “Lone Ranger.”
She shines on slower, more stripped down tracks, like “Speechless,” “Better Place,” and “Angels in Chelsea,” and on faster songs that still lack the aggressive backing tracks or overproduction of “Hey Hey Hallelujah,” like “Beating Me Up” and “Astronauts.”
“Fight Song,” the album’s biggest single, was inescapable this year, and with good reason. It’s one of the album’s best songs, it’s empowering, and her voice and the backing track flow together nicely. It’s an anthem of determination.
“Superman,” the album’s last track, also stands out for entirely different reasons. It’s an odd song to close the album with—“Fight Song” would have suited that position better—but lyrically it’s one of the most distinct pop songs of the last few years. It’s a song that encourages male vulnerability, and shuts down toxic masculinity. Platten pleads with her lover to share some of his struggles with her, and not face the world alone. It’s a song that everyone needs to hear, and the stripped-down quality of the melody combined with her sweet voice makes it an album standout.
“Congratulations” is another standout. It’s an aggressive song, but it’s subtle, unlike “Hey Hey Hallelujah” and “Lone Ranger,” so Platten’s voice meshes well with it. Instead of it being an auditory punch to the gut, it’s more like rubbing salt in the wound. Platten’s soft tones gently twist a pretty bitter knife, and it’s another song where Platten figures out what works with her voice and what doesn’t.
Overall, the album’s biggest problem is the fact that it’s very forgettable. The majority of its songs sound familiar on the first listen, because they sound like too many other pop songs. Nothing is particularly stimulating. It’s catchy, and sounds nice enough, but nothing really stands out to put Platten ahead of the pack. She lacks her own distinct style and voice. Wildfire is a solid pop album, but it sets the stage for Platten to fall between the cracks as just another pretty singer with a pretty voice.
