Nothing earth-shattering, but a handful of songs describe romantic attraction without turning sexual (“Like Whoa,” “Insomniatic,” “Bullseye,” “Chemicals React”). The singer wants to forgive and work through difficulties on “Silence,” and learns lessons from heartache (“If I Could Have You Back”). With a relationship in limbo, she refuses to beg, coolly leaving it up to a vacillating boyfriend to get serious or get lost (“Like It or Leave It”). Other fences aren’t worth mending, and the girls confidently decide that it’s time to move on (“Closure,” “÷”). Although “Blush” establishes, “Even though I like your honesty, it won’t lead me to your bed” …
The singer invites her crush to articulate his fantasies and go as far as they’re able (“Please take me under with you/But I will only let you go so far … You know what our boundaries are”). A line on “Like It or Leave It” states, “I’m worth all the crap that I’m putting you through.”
Sisters Alyson and Amanda Joy Michalka earned a Contemporary Inspirational Artist of the Year nomination for their last disc, Into the Rush. This bouncy pop collection isn’t inspirational at all. Still, except for two lapses, songs about boy-girl relationships avoid trouble.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
