Chely Wright - Single White Female

The hooks are so catchy here, the playing so impeccable, and Chely Wright sings in such an engagingly warm twang (it's reminiscent of the more nuanced singing Reba did when she still had a last name) that you can't help but be disappointed with the results. Virtually every song effervesces with a memorable melody and clever idea, then fizzles. The title track wants to advertise a woman's romantic dreams but fails to mention even one of them. "Unknown" gets a bit more specific, but what it says about its singer is so superficial--she drinks coffee black, she sings when she drives--that unknown is precisely what her character remains. Wright makes the most of this unrevealing material, but you mainly suspect she could do much better. And when you hear her question her faith on the closing "Why Do I Still Want You," you're sure of it. --David Cantwell Amazon.com

Wright On!

Excellent country/pop album from Chely. Can be thoroughly enjoyed by any music fan, not just country fans. Songs are nice to listen to and often say something worthwhile. Good tunes:

Single White Female - catchy tune with the singer contemplating placing a personal ad

She Went Out for Cigarettes - good song about a woman who one evening just up and leaves a man who never gives her any attention

It Was - another catchy melody
Love That We Lost
The Fire - spirited tune
Picket Fences - singer has not yet settled down and contemplates if that's really her thing anyway or just what society says she should want

Some Kind of Something August 6, 2007

Really hits home!

The song "Single White Female" really describes a large majority of us country music fans. For me, the song is a great description of my life...I'm a single white female still looking for love. I love listening to this song because it is so "real"...the follow up song "she went out for cigarettes" which is pretty much what comes next in the sense that many country gals smoke. Two beautiful (and so real) songs. The rest of the album sounded nice to but I was only interested in the first two songs since I am a single white female who smokes (and so are many other country music fans). The album was well put together with excellent song selections, studio musicians, and relatively fair vocals. Very nice. March 25, 2007

Milestone for an Exceptional but Too-Often Overlooked Artist

Chely Wright is that rare artist whose voice conveys more than just melody, there's raw emotion behind the words, and a range of emotion that runs the entire gamut from ecstasy to mournful sorrow.

That she earned her first number one single with the title track from this album was both blessing and curse. "Single White Female" was pure country pop, upbeat and quirky, a unique initial offering on an album that grows progressively more complex and introspective with each subsequent song. That MCA followed "Single White Female" by releasing the lyrically strong but folksy, down-tempo "She Went Out for Cigarettes" is almost inexplicable; the two songs are such polar-opposites that their back-to-back pairing on the album is somewhat jarring. There are so many solid songs on this album that it's hard to say what could have happened had the follow-up been one of her more high-energy tracks or one of her more soul-searching ballads.

Thematically, Single White Female is an album about every facet of love, from the awkward beginning stages to the tearful end. The album's true center comes not from the title track, but from the third single released, "It Was".

For those attracted to the album by the title track, "The Fire" comes closest to matching its energy and tone, followed by the radio-friendly "Some Kind of Somethin'". Together with "Single White Female", this trio of peppy songs anchor and invigorate an overall somber ten-track album.

Perhaps the strongest track on the album is the fourth, "Unknown", a slow ballad with a wailing steel guitar accompaniment whose lyrics touch the great fears so many of us share of ending our days alone; Chely's smoky voice has never conveyed more collective pathos. There's also an updated version of her 1996 single, "The Love that We Lost"--which, vocally, is so much stronger than the radio release from her second album that the two songs sound vastly different despite nearly identical musical arrangements. Then there's "Picket Fences", a song laced with tangible irony, regret, and even denial--a trifecta that paint a vivid but sad story of a career-driven persona.

The album ends with the cute but bittersweet "Rubbin' it In", a song about all those little haunting reminders that come after a relationship ends, and the desperate pining of "Why Do I Still Want You".

Both lyrically and vocally, this is an album that strives to make a connection with the listener. For those so attuned, Single White Female is a too-often overlooked emotional journey that's solid and rewarding, a milestone record in a career that deserves so much more attention from an artist who has never gotten the attention she truly deserves.

Closing in on a decade since the album's release, the sound and the soul are still as fresh today as they were when Single White Female first hit store shelves, longevity that's rare in an age of throw-away music from a seemingly endless parade of different but identical pre-fab singers. January 21, 2007

Single White Female cd

I like the song: Single White Female. This is the reason I bought the cd. The other songs on the cd are a nice plus. August 21, 2006

when it's all said and done for her, this will be the album she's most known for.

i loved this album. i got it back whem the video for the title track came out. it was catchy, i love how the music started with the slide guitar doing the opening notes. then she came up starting with this smoky, husky voice that sung out the first words. them when the chorus came the voice went from low and sultry to high and twangy. (it just killed me.) she was sexy, and she owned you with the song. all she had to do was arch one eyebrow and every man and woman it seemed was under her control,
i got the album directly after i saw the video for a few times. i was not disappointed at all. i would listen to the song "Single White Female" and i know that she was arching those eyebrows while cutting the song.
the rest of the album was well done too. it would go from a pop sounding country song one minute then go traditional on you another. it was an emotionally musical rollarcoster ride that was nothing but satisfying and fun for me - and probably for her as well.
her voice went up and down the entire scale of the album with a velvet sounding simpacation to it. you can find fault with a lot of things about this album but not with her voice. she was on her game for it. and you can hear the raw emotions she brings to the table. she was having fun. that is really all there is to say about the album, it was fun for both artist and audience. she knew it was a good album - she knew she hit a home run with it.
i loved this album the only real grip i have is from the general reviews that said that the songs she sang always had great premisies but fell flat when some of the stories seemed unfinished-questions left unanswered. i agree. but i don't really think it may have been the point. i think it was an album to showcase the talent of a voice she has and the pacing of the voice with wonderful melodies. i think that's why people buy albums like that in the first place anyway. all that other stuff comes after many viewings and you are looking for something new from it. and if that's what your're looking for in SWF than you might be disappointed. but for me i reccommend it just for the sheer excitment you can get from it. it is not perfect - but close enough for me. June 27, 2006

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