Song review: Thompson Square's Glass

So I remember the first time I heard this song. I was on my way home from a doctor's appointment several months ago and had their CD in my car so I decided to pop it in and listen to it since I hadn't really done so before then. Now, I don't know about any of you, but every now and then a song will come along that sort of metaphorically smacks me in the face and makes an instant impact on me. It doesn't happen all that often and when it does it's always a surprise. This was one of those songs. So, I can basically sum up my thoughts about this song with this next statement: I love it and am so happy they made it a single! End of story. Blog done.


Yeah...while the above statement is perfectly true, you gotta know that I have more to say about it. A lot more. I'll be talking about the video too, but that's later. After all, it all starts with the song and the heart of the song is the lyrics. So I'm going to begin by saying that I think this is a beautifully written song. I don't have my CD with me to double check this, but a search on the internet tells me that it was written by Ross Copperman and Jon Nite. I love the concept of this, the idea that we're all fragile like glass and we need to be handled gently lest we break. The lyrics are like poetry to me. I mean, look at the lyrics of the chorus:

"We may shine, we may shatter

We may be picking up the pieces here on after

We are fragile, we are human

We are shaped by the light we let through us

We break fast, 'cause we are glass."

See what I mean? It's like poetry and I feel like the words are strong enough to stand up on their own, without the music behind it. But then I, and the rest of us, may never have been exposed to it and that would be a shame. Now, since I brought it up, I want to take a second and talk about the music itself. I have a habit of focusing on the lyrics and the way the singer sings them and not really paying attention to the actual music. It's not a good habit and one I'm trying to break, especially after getting to go to some sessions at a Nashville studio with a small sampling of some of the fantastic studio musicians in this town last year. It gave me such a greater appreciation for the people who play on the songs we listen to.

And that all said, I've been seeing a few reviews of "Glass" and it seems like no one has really talked about the actual music and it kind of bums me out. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the music will overpower the singer and make it hard to understand the lyrics; a problem more common during live performances. With a song like this, I think it's especially important to make sure that that doesn't happen. And it did not. I really love the playing here. I don't know if what I'm going to say is going to sound stupid or insightful, but go with me here. I feel like the music both cradles and shines a spotlight on the vocals. It has a very nice, steady pulse to it that carries it along nicely. It swells when it needs to and pulls back when it needs to and there's never a point where you feel like it's trying to fight with the vocals. I feel like it's a perfect blend, which I'd call a testament to the talent of not only the musicians but also to the engineer and producers.  I think that this was beautifully produced. 

Now I want to take a second and say how much I love that Shawna sings lead on this. I believe that this song was pitched to them with a man doing the lead vocal; I'm pretty sure I heard that on GAC in a snippet with Shawna and Keifer where they talked about it. In any event, the decision was made to put Shawna on lead instead and I think that was the perfect decision. I'm sure Keifer would've done a nice job on lead, but this was quite simply a song that needed to come from Shawna. The more I listen to her sing, the more I love her voice. There's a certain purity to it. I'm going to say that she has a kind of vulnerable sweetness to her voice  that I think lends itself perfectly to this song. Great delivery by her here.

Given what the song's about, I think there's something so lovely about the fact that it's a married couple singing it. Keifer has a bit of a grit to his voice that compliments hers perfectly and I like that he sort of hangs in the background here. There's no doubt about it: the heart of this song is Shawna's vocal and all of the elements of the song work together to make certain that her voice is always center stage.

So yeah. I guess that about wraps it up. Be on the lookout for more song reviews and album reviews, starting off with Dierks Bentley's Home. As always, I'd love to know what you think and hope you enjoyed it! Now go out there and make sure to request "Glass" on your local stations, all right? I'd love to see this song go all the way to #1. 

Thanks for reading!