Following what could have been the career-defining If My Wife New I’d Be Dead was always going to be a tightrope walk for CMAT. Stick to the formula and lose impact or go too far from the shore and risk losing yourself. However, Crazymad, For Me is a testament to the artist. CMAT not only walks said tightrope, but she also does handstands.
Mirroring ‘Nashville’ from her debut, album opener ‘California’ introduces us to the CMAT’s world through heart-breaking escapism and introspection. Set against the grandeur of sweeping harmonies and strings, CMAT commands the center stage with lyrics as raw as the meaning. Contrasted by the buzzing backdrop of ‘Phone Me’, Crazymad, For Me emerges as a record defined by a multitude of moods and tones.
At the heart of Crazymad, For Me’s lush sound is CMAT herself. From brilliant, funny, and beautiful lines like “Holy God damn you were so annoying, but you had my heart” found in the swing for the fences ‘Stay for Something’ to or the stark honesty of “My dirty heart in glycerin. I fall in love and out of love again” on ‘Whatever’s Inconvenient’, CMAT wraps herself around the music. Indeed, this has always been the draw. The songwriter’s ability to convey bare-all lyrics with humor and raw reflection in music that soars and falls in equal measure strikes a chord because it captures the same sweeping melodrama and darker moments we see in our own lives. The light and the shade that only great pop music can contain.
“
The light and the shade that only great pop music can contain.
‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight’ provides Crazymad, For Me’s zenith. The far-reaching duet, featuring John Grant, wonderfully conveys the record’s sense of scale and drama. CMAT and Grant’s voices meld beautifully within the grand scale of the production, never becoming engulfed in it as both absolutely knock it out of the park. A song that truly lives on after listening.
And so it goes, at the beginning of this review I said CMAT’s debut If My Wife New I’d Be Dead “could” be career defining. Crazymad, For Me has taken that mantle for the time being. Brilliant because of the artist’s brilliance. CMAT’s sophomore offering is alive with meaning, unashamed melodrama, and simply great songwriting, reaching into that part of all of us that just wants to sing from the top of lungs in moments of heartbreak, loss, or fear, and Crazymad, For Me gives you that release.
The Last Mixed Tape 