Love Stuff - Elle King (Album Review)

Love Stuff – Elle King

All “Did-you-know-that-her-dad-is-Rob-Schneider” references aside, I have a vision of how I imagine, probably unrealistically, of how Elle King grew up. I’m picturing a Texas two-step of shifting matriarchal, empowered, tough-as-nails guardians ranging from Janis Joplin to Dolly Parton a la “The Best Little Whorehouse” to Debbie Harry and I think a little bit of a Bonnie-Raitt-Meghan-Trainor “Heartbreakers” mother-daughter partnership. That’s what I envision, at least. I may be wrong. One thing’s for sure, however, and that is King, who paints herself brusquely as a boozy succubus with a chip on her shoulder, has got both the sass and buried softness for which so many of her contemporaries grope and so frequently fall short. I first heard her lead two-time Grammy-nominated single “Exes and Oh’s” a few months after it came out and it seemed fresh in a way: Ellie Goulding was singing, or something, about loving me like you do, Tove Lo was grossing me out quite frankly, and a string of other “50 Shades of Grey”-inspired songs were swimming around in a petri dish of Taylor Swift self-unawareness and I hated the radio. But finally, a guilty pleasure. It had enough innuendo to score a spot on Billboard, and enough of a bluesy bounce to make me want to listen. At the end of Love Stuff, I’m glad I did listen.

The album takes some predictable turns. “America’s Sweetheart” is poppy and, released not two weeks ago, will probably become huge. At least it should. It delivers on all the prerequisites, and is also pleasing on the ears. “Where The Devil Don’t Go” is a bit of a weak start to the album because of its ill-fated attempt to blend the hoodooism that sticks its pin through the heart of the album and the pop of the times. And its second single, “Under the Influence,” is basically Cousin Vicky to “Habits,” “Addicted to Love,” and enter drug-metaphor-for-love here. Not that it isn’t underserving of its status as a single. It’s alright, which means it’s gonna score. But the life-blood of Love Stuff is everywhere else.

Of course, there’s “Exes and Oh’s.” Great single, great teaser for what the rest of the album offers. There’s “Ain’t Gonna Drown,” a great railroad tune of life and death, “Kocaine Karolina,” perhaps one of my favorite off the album with its banjo-led orchestra of Americana (it is important to note that King herself plays the banjo), “Song of Sorrow,” the only song written exclusively by King and which leaves me hoping she does even more solo arrangements, “I Told You I Was Mean” where she can’t emphasize enough that she is mean, and the electric, heavy, white blues of “Last Darn Night” (sorry, I don’t curse) and “Jackson” are tolerable visages of a bygone era where the electric guitar seared hot in the lead of a song.

One of the criticisms I have heard of the album is its lyrical disdain for all things male. I think it pertinent to remember, however, that King has “a chip in (her) tooth and bad tattoos” and that she “can’t be loved.” (The latter of these, a soulful acoustic number, needs to be on the album. Reissue. Bonus track. I don’t care. But put it on.) We live in a time of so-called “minorities” biting back with “Black Lives Matter” and women empowerment. The fact that black lives do matter and women are powerful is not the point; but perhaps one vital flaw to King’s record is that musically she is rebelling against the conforming popular landscape, yet lyrically, she often falls right in line. That is what makes the last two songs, “Make You Smile” and “See You Again,” both refreshing and slightly frustrating. They totally defy everything you thought you knew about the brazen King up to that point, but still they impress. And yet, she seems to know exactly what she is doing, as I couldn’t dream up a better ending to the raucous-introspective duality of Love Stuff.

With fewer writers, and a slightly adjusted target audience, Love Stuff could be great, not just excellent. Elle King has the goods, and the heritage (my imagined heritage, not her blood progenitors) to do great things within her genre. I just hope that when she reaches that fated crossroads that she sells her soul to the right buyer.