Heart On My Sleeve ~ Mary Lambert’s New Album

I was given the chance to review Mary Lambert’s new album “Heart On My Sleeve” so I jumped at the opportunity.  I loved her vocals on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love”. That was a fabulous song with a great message about equality.

Who is Mary Lambert?:

Mary was an aspiring singer-songwriter who was working as a waitress and bartender.  She struggled for years both financially and personally. Through some twist of fate she ended up singing the hook on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love”, getting signed to Capitol Records, releasing an EP and getting nominated for 2 Grammy Awards.  The rest, they say, is history.

Mary Lambert Made herself a list of goals:

1. Have Fun
2. Create something catchy
3. Create something that positively impacts the world
4. Stay true to yourself
5. Make Money

Her goals are down to earth while wanting to help others.  She wants to buy her mom a house.  She wants to tip brunch waitresses hundred dollar bills! She wanted to write an album that had emotional depth and interesting language while being catchy.

Both Mary Lambert and myself are diagnosed clinically Bipolar.  Because of this commonality I was intrigued with her music, and intrigued with her as a person.

One of her goals is to start a charity that offers free mental health treatment. This is my favorite of all the goals she has mentioned.  I think mental health has so much stigma around it that people often have trouble with finding the help that they need.  Just having the courage to ask someone for help when challenged by mental health is such a step in the right direction.  Offering a free facility for people to get help is such a fantastic idea.  I really hope she is able to make this goal a reality!

I love how open Mary is with her past struggles.  She says “I have been terrifyingly honest to the public about traumatic events in my life.”  She writes about struggles, she writes about things that people hide and keep to them selves.  But she writes in such a powerful inspiring way that helps people feel empowered. It helps us realize that it is okay to have struggles, it is okay to be diagnosed with mental health issues, it is okay to be gay, it is okay to have a different body image.  It is okay to be who we are!

 The entire album is fantastic.  From songs of empowerment, to poetry, to a cover of Rick Springfield’s classic “Jessie’s Girl,” which Mary Lambert sings turning into a dark piano ballad with a simple empowering twist because it is sung by a woman about a woman.

The album’s first single is a song she named “Secrets”.  It is a catchy pop tune, and as the title suggests its about Secrets that people hide inside themselves because they are afraid of the stigma attached to that particular secret.  She sings “They tell us from the time we’re young / To hide the things we don’t like about ourselves / Inside ourselves / I’m not the only one / Who spent so long attempting to be someone else / Well I’m over it / I don’t care if the world knows what my secrets are.”

In Mary’s own words about her album she says :

“I felt like there were a lot of songs coming out about self-empowerment and challenging beauty standards, and I wanted to write a song along those same lines, but in my voice,” she explains. “It’s easy to paint a pretty picture and tell everyone to love themselves, but it’s way more complicated than that. There is so much shame and guilt in our society, and I think it has deprived a lot of people from living fully. We’re all facing battles. We’ve all had someone who has hurt us, so let’s talk about it. I believe vulnerability is what will save the world. I wanted to point the lens at myself in hopes of inspiring others to do the same. This song is my dirty laundry, and that’s actually really freeing. Now I can walk around with accidental pieces of bagel in my bra and eat it anyway.”

 

 For more information on Mary Lambert and her new album “Heart on my Sleeve” Please visit the following sites:

 Official Mary Lambert Website – www.marylambertsings.com
Twitter – @marylambertsing
YouTube –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqqqV50zaAc
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/marylambertsings

If you would like to pre-order Mary Lambert’s new album “Heart on my Sleeve”  Please visit:

 iTunes:    http://bit.ly/MaryHeart
Amazon:  http://bit.ly/MaryLHeart

 

Disclosure statement:  I participated in the Mary Lambert Heart On My Sleeve album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided a free album to review but all opinions are my own.