| | Lu, we need to talk. I love you, I do. But you’ve been acting so |
| | weird lately. Last summer, when I saw you in New York, you rapped |
| | half your new songs. And now this new album … well, I guess I just |
| | need some space. And, yeah, I want to hear other people. |
| 5 | | It’s not that World Without Tears is a disaster, Lu. It’s not. It’s |
| | decent. In fact, I liked it on first listen. Which is a bad sign. Nothing |
| | betrays fleeting art like instant accessibility. Appreciating great |
| | music - appreciating any great creation - takes a little work, |
| | right? |
| 10 | | The worst part is, I think you’re faking it. Not on the slow burns |
| | - no, those tracks ring true. But these rockin’ songs - I don’t |
| | mean to be harsh, Lu, but they’re so ordinary. |
| | My theory? After Essence came out, you listened to all those |
| | critics (and fans) whose reaction was, “Sure, it’s a good record, |
| 15 | | but it’s not Car Wheels - it doesn’t rock.” And you tried to give the |
| | people what they want. Mistake. World Without Tears sounds |
| | schizophrenic, as if cowritten by Lucinda Williams, fifty-year-old |
| | balladeer, and some half-remembered version of your younger |
| | self. |
| 20 | | You know what I miss the most? Your stories. You used to |
| | take me on such incredible journeys! Unhappy endings, yeah, |
| | almost always, but they were stories - rich and vivid and |
| | brimming with unforgettable characters. You seduced me with |
| | those songs, with the lives of those characters, and I fell as hard |
| 25 | | as a fan can fall. Sure, there’d been other women, other singers |
| | with other tales. But I’d never felt that way before. |
| | That’s all over now. And it’s not me, Lu, it’s you. I guess I just |
| | miss that spark, that lost magic between us. Maybe I’m being too |
| | hard on you. I probably am. But then, that’s love. |
