JEWEL OF DENIAL?: The singer Jewel has gotten quite a bit of attention lately for her rather radical musical/physical makeover. The formerly earnest folkie has joined up with Shakira's producers and (apparently) her stylists as well, emerging from the studio with both a more pop-oriented sound and a much skimpier wardrobe.
Make no mistake about it: Jewel is sexy as hell, and I've always thought so. I always prefered her, looks-wise, to her contemporaries Alanis Morrisette and the Spice Girls, and even more to more recent entrants into the fray such as the vacuous Britney Spears and the vile Christina Aguilera. She's got just the right amount of curves (as opposed to the sickly-looking "Xtina"), and has somehow gotten more and more attractive through the years, almost in a reverse correlation to her album sales.
While I certainly preferred Jewel's older, more classy look, I'm not exactly complaining about seeing more of her now. The music I've heard, on the other hand, leaves quite a bit to be desired.
However, I'm not about to complain about Jewel's change in direction, for one big reason: her music was never that good to begin with. Unlike erstwhile indie-rock goddess Liz Phair, who is in the midst of a similar image/music makeover and looks and sounds ridiculous doing it, it's not as though Jewel is trashing some great artistic tradition- she's merely moving from one substandard musical pursuit to another. Lisa Marie Presley, meanwhile, deserves credit for taking a more tabula rasa approach, sitting out for years before finally beginning her diva-pop career at the age of 35.
So my view of Jewel remains unchanged: she's still really hot- just in a different way. And her music still sucks- just in a different way.
Jewel rocks dude. She actually just realized she was sexy and had to make up for lost time.
http://www.geocities.com/jewel_australia/
Posted by: at February 28, 2005 12:40 AM