Jennifer released her first single, the wonderfully infectious "Heaven
Come Down" in 1993. The single flew to the top of the charts in
Sweden and Jennifer Brown became a household name overnight.
In 1994 she released her debut album, "Giving You The Best", a
collection of superbly-crafted songs which Jennifer perfected with her
stunning vocal talents to critical acclaim. The album also included a
surprise guest appearance by Lenny Kravitz, "My Everything", which
was released as the second single and proceeded to conquer the
charts as swiftly as it's predecessor. The album hit No. 1 and sold
Gold in a matter of weeks. Outside her home market, Jennifer
enjoyed tremendous success in Japan where she sold over a quarter
of a million.
Her single in 1995, "Think About Me", and the 1996 release of her
second album, "In My Garden", reveal more of her exceptional
qualities as a vocalist with some powerful ballads and the initiation of
a deeper, richer feel in her song-writing with cuts such as "Feel That
Natural". This Jennifer co-wrote with Billy Mann, her co-writing partner
for her new album, VERA.
With the release of VERA, we see the 27 year-old artist step out and
to the left of her previous releases on a multitude of levels. Writing
every song on the album (unlike her past records) and even
co-producing a track (Daddy's Gone), Brown delivers in full-measure,
bringing forth a more mature, confident and relaxed presence to each
song. With VERA, she has branched out and developed in a way that
any bored pop artist would dream of: to not take yourself too
seriously and just be real.
VERA is a diverse collection of attention-grabbing songs written by
Brown and propped by the album's production: an unusual collage of
Hip-Hop and slow Jungle loops, electric T-Wah, live strings (arranged
by Stockholm's Janson & Janson Brothers), acoustic guitars, DJ
scratches, and a vocal performance that penetrates to goose-bump
proportions
This is 21st century pop. Produced by young Philadelphia song-writer
Billy Mann (Chaka Khan, Carole King, Celine Dion, Diana King, Az
Yet and Boyzone), VERA pulls together a unitarian co-operative of
musical genres that subtly blend folk story-telling with 70's soul,
contemporary hip-hop/R&B; with alternative rock chord structures
and employs a fresh lyrical standard as the thread to stitch this
album. All this with absolute pop accessibility.
What is most striking is the open vulnerability in Jennifer Brown's
voice both as lyricist and vocalist — as performer and woman. On her
previous releases, you would almost exclusively find the lyrical
content to be predictably about love. VERA dives much deeper into
an incredibly honest and risk-taking place in the re-born Brown's life.
The first single, "Tuesday Afternoon", confidently reveals the details
of a young girl whose irresponsible hunger for the wrong kind of love
through sex and drugs leads her into the Mission Room Bar only to
be lured into the bed of a barfly ruffneck, and is narrated by Brown as
her concerned phone confidant.
Does this sound like the Jennifer Brown we once knew?
Which leads to the next question ... did we ever really know Jennifer
Brown, or are we meeting her for the first time? A poignant question,
especially when you consider on this album SHE is the one writing
all the songs, not to mention that all the songs are hooky,
above-board pop songs that don't talk down to the listener but rather
engages them like a folk singer. If Maxwell and Jewel could have a
child, who knows ...
VERA holds the key to another dimension of Jennifer Brown.
Reflected in the range of issues each song deals with and in their
lyrical depth, this is a side we've not seen before. Highlights include
"Alive", a stunning tribute to the gifts of freedom and life, the
questioning "Chico (Painted Hands)" that deliberates on the
judgements made against a drag-queen and "Paper Crown", which
tells the story of a former cheating lover who then acts like a victim.
The fear of intimacy is expressed in the "Walls" we hide behind, and
the sad state of single-life in the 90's is examined in the uplifting
"Rose Coloured Glasses". The power of the vulnerability Jennifer has
dared to step forward with on VERA is evident in songs such as
"Daddy's Gone" which bears witness to the legacy of an absent
father, and a woman's fear of marriage, unearthed in "Trembling".
For those who have often wondered what lies inside the soul of
Jennifer Brown, here she stands. With VERA she has come out on
her own terms, willing to answer only to herself.