Colbie Caillat’s casually bright, cheerfully “chill” Southern California style has caused some to call her a female Jack Johnson. Her simple, upbeat and reliably amiable tunes have usually focused on love—the hope of pining for it, the thrill of finding it and the pain of losing it. And with All of You, Caillat’s third studio album, she doesn’t swerve too much from this successful approach. After all, the two-time Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter knows what her audience has loved and expected since her 2007 debut. Why disappoint?
On “Think Good Thoughts,” Caillat encourages herself and others: “I’m tired of the angry/Hangin’ out inside me/So I’ll quiet down the devil/I’m gonna knock him with a shovel/And I’ll bury all my troubles/ … When I’m alone in my dark, dark room I have to tell myself to/Think good thoughts/ … Imagine what the world would be if we’d just/Think good thoughts.” “Brighter Than the Sun” continues the cheeriness, describing the thrill of first attraction: “Oh, this is how it starts/Lightning strikes the heart/It goes off like a gun/ … I’ve found this love, I’m gonna feed it/You better believe I’m gonna treat it/Better than anything I’ve ever had.”
“I Do” is a sweet and catchy wish for marriage, and Caillat realizes that her life before love had been selfish and self-absorbed. But on “Shadow” she also shows us that she knows how to turn a guy loose when it’s necessary (“If you wanna leave, then just go/’Cause I can’t get no sun in your shadow/If you ain’t gonna love me or fight me/Then I’m gonna turn the other cheek and go”). Similarly, on “Before I Let You Go,” she urges a boyfriend who’s caught between passion for her and lingering feelings for a past love, “All I’m asking is for you please/To take control and be set free/Make the space so we can grow/Save us before I let you go.”
“All of You” illustrates Colbie’s desire for transparency and to accept the man she loves completely (“I wanna hear your heart/Every single beating part/The good and the bad/I swear I won’t be mad/I just want all of you”). Tracks “Make It Rain,” “Stereo” and “What Means the Most” celebrate committed relationships she feels make life more complete. On the latter she sings, “Every time I have to leave/I feel like I/Am leaving a part of me/You’re the only place I wanna be.” Breezy “Favorite Song” tells of her hope to be a man’s favorite “tune.”
The playful “Like Yesterday” happily recalls the birth of an unexpected romance. “Dream Life, Life,” meanwhile, reveals a longing for a less stressful existence: “Dear someone/Have you ever wanted out/Of all the stressfulness/All the busyness/ … Every day should be a fun day/That’s what I say/All I want is a dream life life.”
“Brighter Than the Sun” includes several uses of “d‑‑n” while playing up fate and physical attraction over spiritual and intellectual compatibility. “Favorite Song” contains some sexual innuendo in the line “You can play me all night long” and guest singer Common’s comment, “In our room we discover new ways to do covers.” “What Means the Most” speaks of waking up next to a man with no reference to marriage.
As noted, the lyrics for “I Do” celebrate marriage, but the video shows Caillat in bed with her lover before the nuptials she’s longing for.
Entertainment Weekly writer Kyle Anderson says of All of Me, “The Malibu songbird’s sound—full of carefree acoustic strums and beach-ready romance—is built for blandness, so her greatest struggle has always been breaking through all that aggressive pleasantness.”
But in an industry that eagerly showcases Britney, Christina, Eminem, Kanye, Nicki Minaj and countless other musicians who are all about aggressive unpleasantness, I’d say a little happy blandness is quite welcome. I just wish Colbie’s attitude toward sexual relationships wasn’t so carefree and lazy. In a sentence, don’t let “Favorite Song” live up to its name.
