Review: Goapele – Strong As Glass

Rolling Stone once called her the “spiritual love child of Sade and D’Angelo”. Since her debut in 2001, Goapele has had the same consistency of high quality music that is also synonymous with other artists from Oakland, like Tony! Toni! Tone! and En Vogue. A great representation of identifiable music, people from different walks of life all dig her songs. She may not be mainstream, but longevity and continuity characterize Goapele’s career as she releases her fifth album Strong As Glass. Striking in terms of her physical beauty as well as her music, she’s been doing things on her own terms as an artist. Goapele is the daughter of a South African anti-apartheid activist and Israeli-American mother, and grew up in California’s Bay Area. The Bay is special in its own right due to its history with civil rights, being the home of the Black Panthers and LGBT equality movement, and being raised in the area fortified her with a social consciousness that is seen within her music. She grew up in a musical household during a time when apartheid was still taking place, and at times during childhood legendary artists from the South African community, like Hugh Masekela or Miriam Makeba, would pass through their home when in town because the exile community was so close. She became community-minded because of this upbringing and was also raised to question things and not just take them at face value, which has impacted her as a songwriter. She doesn’t consider herself a political person, but she wants to see positive change around the world and wants her music to have a healing aspect that makes people feel good.

Completing the Strong As Glass record has been a journey of finding the right partnerships to carry out her vision, as with each of Goapele’s projects. Taking some years off to start a family after her 2005 album Change It All, she returned in 2011 with Break Of Dawn, and has partnered with Eric Benet on her current project. For Goapele, it was a refreshing growing process to bounce ideas off of Benet while writing and producing songs like “My Love”. She also collaborated with British soul singer Estelle, who added her flavor in co-writing the first single “Hey Boy”, a funky, jump-on-the-dance-floor kind of tune featuring West Coast legend Snoop Dogg. The title track “Strong As Glass” encapsulates what she and many others go through as strong, independent women. It’s the tale of feeling powerful, but also knowing one’s breaking point. This song, as well as a few other ballads on the album like “What In The World” and “Last Days”, represent the balance of being human in a complex emotional world. Throughout the project, Goapele sings of love and of how life can sometimes throw you off, but finding the fortitude to keep it all together, which for her is really empowering and incredibly vulnerable.

 
Written by Mai Perkins

Originally from Los Angeles, Mai Perkins is currently living a decade long bona fide love affair with NYC and the music that keeps its spirit moving. Many of her adventures around the globe are documented on her blog: Mai On The Move! www.MaiOnTheMove.com

 
Author’s rating for Strong As Glass

Pop Magazine’s official rating for Strong As Glass

Rating key
MASTERPIECE a must-have
SUPERB for heavy rotation
EXCELLENT a great achievement
VERY GOOD a respectable result
GOOD worth checking out
FAIR an average outcome
WEAK not convincing stuff
BAD an underwhelming effort
VERY BAD quite a waste
FAIL a total failure