Down to Earth: Jem

By Liem Vu

Perhaps it’s the sheer hustle and bustle of the city, but Jem was unable to keep up with my tendencies for propelling beats and melodic anthems. However, that is not to say that Jem does not come with legitimacy in her own right.

Born in Penarth, Wales, Jemma Griffiths’ style can be best compared to Dido, of late 90’s fame. The effortlessly light resonance of her voice encapsulates the listener thrusting them into a television-like world where peripheral voices are suddenly muted and motion seems to slow down. Ironically enough, her music has done just that appearing on The Closer, The OC, Grey’s Anatomy, Crossing Jordon, Smallville, and the recently resurrected 90210.

With such accolades, it’s curious to think that she has not yet accelerated into mainstream success. This inability can be attributed to her style overall. Her wispy, breathy singing is beautiful and angelic but after listening to her songs, it is hard to even recall the melody or hum along.

Jem’s sophomore release, Down to Earth, hit the shelves in the US on September 16, 2008. Having never listened to her previous work, I let a few tracks play on until I made any decisions. Her opening track begins with a harmonically odd instrumental opening juxtaposed over a hip hop type beat. Imagine Dido, had she adopted more of a hip-hop flavour following her collaboration with Eminem. Jem deserves praise for her chorus which has an aroma of Arabian-like chord progression. But ultimately, this attempt to transcend pop conventions fails, as the song fades into the other sea of melancholy songs that grace the television.

Lyrically, certain songs dip into conventional clichés. An example would be It’s Amazing, which found itself on the Sex and the City Movie soundtrack. Jem sings in the melancholy moderately tempo tune, "Come with Me, Remember when you were so carefree, Laughing not crying, Spin around and listen carefully.”

In a post-90’s era, artists are now expected to deliver innovative , non-traditional music. But unfortunately, all that is seen are clichéd melodies, lyrics, and unchanging tempos.

Luckily, Jem does show promise and innovation in her song Aciiid! A new-wave, trance, techno-like beat ushers in the track with a strange style inconsistent to her previous songs. Opting out of her conventional long drawn whole notes, we see quick paced eight notes with a staccato flare.

Jem also opts for more simple and ambiguous lyrics beginning with “move to the left, move to the right, up, down, round now, hands to the side, shake it to the left, shake it to the right….If you don’t like it you can kiss my ass.” The type of edge Jem shows here is a welcome change but unfortunately by the time the album reaches the track it’s far too late for those who may have been turned off by what they have heard before.

Jem shows promise and progression with Aciiid! but until she can become more experiemental, she’s at risk to becoming a one-note artist featured in weekly television dramas.

Release Date: September 16, 2008