An ailing romance is worth saving on “2 Find U” (“Let’s choose love, come on”). The singer grieves for a world in which children pay bills, monks buy thrills and violence goes unpunished (“Stand”). An isolated line on “Intuition” regrets that we live according to “postmodern fad/What was good now is bad,” however …
It trusts the human heart to discern right and wrong for itself, which Proverbs 28:26 calls foolishness. “America” contains a muted f-word. Teens don’t need the advice of “Doin’ Fine,” which claims, “We are young and carefree … Let’s drive too fast/Let’s go too far … Let’s get lost in love like wine.” Jewel invites a drunk lover to satisfy her (“Run 2 U”) and pressures a boyfriend to give in to “Sweet Temptation.” Sexual intimacy is also the subject of “2 Become 1” and “Leave the Lights On.” “Haunted” sounds as if an obsessed woman is stalking a desirable female. On the suggestive “Yes U Can,” Jewel sings about a club where “girls are naughty” and “boots are bumping.”
Despite a desire to fight for love and see society return to a measure of sanity, this freshly cut Jewel is flawed. Amoral “love songs” on 0304 play up sexuality with an emphasis on lust. The 29-year-old singer seems eager to shed the folk side of her image in favor of midriff-baring pop. If there’s one thing teens could do without, it’s another musical role model with her hormones in overdrive.
