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Life for Rent

Credits

Release Date

Record Label

Performance

Reviewer

Bob Waliszewski

Album Review

Pro-Social Content

Dido refuses to give up on a good relationship (“White Flag”) or put up with a bad one (“See You When You’re 40”). On the title track, she regrets her failure to commit to people and dreams (“If my life is for rent and I don’t learn to buy/Well, I deserve nothing more than I get”). “Don’t Leave Home,” “Sand in My Shoes” and “Do You Have a Little Time” conduct romantic diagnostics. The singer tries to help a guy who’s been dumped regain perspective on “See the Sun.” Unfortunately …

Objectionable Content

That song and “This Land Is Mine” exclaim “my god” and “oh lord,” respectively. A woman complains that sex with her boyfriend is less satisfying when she’s drunk and he’s “Stoned” (she seems to want the best of both irresponsible worlds). “Who Makes You Feel” approves of cohabitation. “Mary’s in India” is Dido’s letter to a girlfriend traveling abroad, in which she talks of drinking and having an affair with her friend’s lonely beau.

Summary Advisory

Dido’s lilting vocals and sleepy rock poetry are downright hypnotic. But a few songs break that soporific spell with a jarring, values-neutral approach to drunkenness, recreational drug use and sex outside of marriage. Bittersweet whispers best left under wraps.

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Bob Waliszewski