Massachusetts native turned LA resident Colleen Green is my favorite singer of all time. And I am pretty sure it’s because I feel like we are the same person. For years Green has been known for her fuzzy stoner-pop gems featuring her, her guitar, and a trusty drum machine. I Want to Grow Up, recently released on Hardly Art, is an album of self-reflection, a slight turn from her previous and equally as stellar release, Sock It To Me, which primarily focuses on love and relationships. Colleen sheds her D.I.Y sound and adopts a bigger rock persona with stronger vocals, heavier guitar, a drummer instead of a drum machine, and a bassist. The most major step the punk songstress takes in growing up on this album is identifying that she needs to. Colleen recently turned 30, and many of the themes on the album probably have to do with that, but it is crazy to me that I, as an 18 year old, can completely identify with and understand someone at a much different stage in their life. Maybe it is just me projecting my own feelings onto the songs, but either way it is amazing that the songs make it so easy for me to do that.
Colleen’s realest and maybe most personal song to date, “Deeper Than Love,” is an almost haunting account of her past and fears about relationships, featuring lyrics like “How can I give you my life when I know you’re just going to die?” But you can hear Colleen’s motivation to change and get healthy on the upbeat “Things That Are Bad for Me (Pt. I),” and her struggle to change her ways, like on “Things That Are Bad for Me (Pt. II).” The most empowering song on the album is the closing track, “Whatever I Want,” where Colleen realizes that she doesn’t have to be scared, her world is a design of her own, and she can truly do whatever she wants.
Another major step in the growing-up process is Colleen’s transition from home recording to studio. It does make the songs sound clearer, fresher, and more grown-up, but they are still true Colleen Green jams. This album also features some of her sweetest and most rocking guitar riffs to date (S/O to “I Want To Grow Up” and “Things That Are Bad for Me (Pt. II)”) and new strides in her vocal performance. Most importantly, Colleen acknowledges that growing up cannot really be measured and it never ends. Recently in an interview with LA Record, when asked about when she will know when she is grown-up, Colleen replied: “Growing up doesn’t involve another person or another entity at all. It’s within you. Hopefully I will never stop growing. If you stop growing before you’re dead, that isn’t good. I just need to be the best Colleen I can be.” And Colleen Green continues to be the best.
https://soundcloud.com/hardlyartrecords/sets/colleen-green-i-want-to-grow-up
