A Little More Personal (Raw), by Lindsay Lohan

About a year after releasing a generally successful first album, Lindsay Lohan released her second and so far last-album to date, A Little More Personal (Raw). This album did not fare as well commercially as her previous album, but given that I had mixed feelings at best about the first album and the way that it made Lohan seem like a third-rate pop princess, perhaps an album that was more personal and more intimate would better suit my own listening tastes. Aside from having covers of “Edge Of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks and “I Want You To Want Me,” by Cheap Trick, most of the songs are written by some combination of Lohan herself with Kara DioGuardi, producer Butch Walker, Greg Wells, and others. A lot of reviewers were pretty savage about the album in reviewing it, viewing the effort as being vapid and self-absorbed despite claiming to be intimate and personal. The two ideals are not necessarily contradictory, as a personal and raw album by a self-absorbed celebrity with daddy issues is going to reveal that to others. So, aside from what was said about this album, how does it sound?

The album begins with “Confessions Of A Broken Heart (Daughter To Father),” which is a touching ballad that begins with a heartbroken song about the feelings of an abandoned daughter, which indicates the depths that someone goes to feel the presence of their father and his love. “Black Hole” continues the theme of waiting for the postman to come in a midtempo piano and guitar-driven song about a relationship with someone who appears to have disappeared into a black hole. It is unclear whether the love talked about is the love of the father or that of a departed lover, but the ambiguity makes the song more intriguing. “I Live For The Moment” gives a passionate portrayal of someone who wants a reversal of the situation where someone is going to break down and be desperate for the narrator, with some excellent instrumental production. After this, an energetic but inessential cover of “I Want You To Want Me” follows that hits the same sort of power pop mood as the original had, but certainly with enthusiasm. “My Innocence,” follows with a downtempo song that returns to the album’s theme of the troubled relationship between Lindsay Lohan and her father, reflecting on the loss of his absence and the way that she feels that he robbed of her innocence, which has ominous undertones. “A Little More Personal” has Lindsay Lohan talking to someone else about talking in front of songs before presenting a mid-tempo pop punk by numbers song that purports to be personal. It is highly ironic in an album that seeks to be more personal and raw that this is the least personal song of the lot so far. “If It’s Alright” offers a picture of Lohan as being clingy to a partner in a relationship that she feels might be a bit doomed and is clearly co-dependent and more than a little bit dysfunctional. “If You Were Me” offers a tell-off of an unfaithful partner in the same sort of jerky spoken-word method that reminds me of Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Alright But It’s Okay,” but at least the instrumentation is solid even if the lyrics are a bit cliched. “Fastlane” is an up-tempo song that lives up to its name, and even the lyrics are a bit trite, there is a sense of energy and enthusiasm in the song that makes it enjoyable anyway. “Edge Of Seventeen” is an energetic cover that at least manages to fit in with the album’s theme of trying to come to terms with the transition between childhood and adulthood, even though as a cover it might be seen as less intimate than most of the songs on this album. “Who Loves You” is a gorgeous song about infatuation and the feeling of being attracted to someone and wondering if they feel the same way about you, with plenty of seductive singing and ad libs. “A Beautiful Life (La Bella Vita)” closes the album with another meditative song that demonstrates Lohan’s commitment to make the best of her beautiful and complicated life full of ups and downs, a fitting conclusion to the album.

This is precisely the sort of album that it is best to listen to for oneself rather than contenting oneself with reading critics’ reviews on the album. This is by no means a perfect album, but I liked this album a lot better than her first album, and the move to rock and pop-punk as well as more intimate piano ballads rather than pop was definitely a good move as far as the production and mood of the album was concerned. This album is by no means a boring unplugged album where Lohan sings dirges over melancholy and spare pianos, but is a mix between touching ballads that demonstrate Lohan’s own personal wounds from romantic and family relationships as well as more up-tempo songs that show Lohan’s energetic refusal to let herself be chained down to sorrow and unhappiness and to seek the happiest life she can. This is an album whose spirit and forthrightness are commendable, and if the album is not quite as personal as it claims to be–not least with two covers and a few songs which are brought down by somewhat trite lyrics–it is definitely a massive step in the right direction and an album that can be wholeheartedly enjoyed by someone who finds Lohan and her struggles to be relatable, and I do.