I’m unsure we do.
[Video][Website]
[4.80]
Rebecca A. Gowns: Back in high school, I loved Sara Bareilles’ debut, “Careful Confessions.” I liked her for her winks — sure, she was making generic coffeehouse rock, but she had a sparkle. She was following a model, but was still spontaneous and spunky, like a polished Regina Spektor, or a more jazz-influenced Sheryl Crow. This song is an unfortunate single when compared to that early promise of potential. It’s still better than most commercial-filler songs; her voice is still warm, bright, and friendly. And at least it’s a step up from “Brave” (which may have very well been improved by Katy Perry’s “Roar“). Ultimately, it’s the production that fails her, every time. “I Choose You” sounds so tinny and overworked, like a twee “Soak Up the Sun,” or a Regina Spektor song boiled down to 15-second jingle. (And it goes on for over 3 minutes!) Pining for authenticity is for chumps, yet I can’t help but crave for a new single from Sara Bareilles that’s just her plunking away at a piano and trilling at coffeehouse patrons.
[4]
Crystal Leww: I don’t even know.
[5]
Alfred Soto: The point at which the pizzicato and Bareilles, mixed to sound as if singing behind the Pyrenees, negotiate for space is lovely and unexpected. A triumph of arrangement over songwriting.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: Designed for a goopy wedding-proposal-YouTube-video, except you can’t even switch to another tab and just ignore the clip.
[1]
Anthony Easton: I would like more narrative economy and less flourishes on the production here.
[6]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Not enough musicians attempt the kind of soft rock that’s Sara Bareilles’ speciality–so expertly sculpted, it makes more of an impact upon its tenth listen than it does on the first. This is especially true of her quieter numbers, of which “I Choose You” is one. I prefer her sprightlier moments–so much so, I failed to cite “I Choose You” when I reviewed (and praised) The Blessed Unrest back in the summer of 2013, and failed to remember it by title nearly a year later–but isolated from the album, this feels sweetly ingratiating, as it moves from seeming merely pleasant to something quite soothing.
[6]
Brad Shoup: The plucks make this too jittery for a slow dance, but overall it’s too smooth, and more of a pogo. So it’s another track built for the car: spangly and tuneful, a rhythm to tap fingers to and a carefully balanced mix.
[7]
Megan Harrington: (♫ IIIII ooooo / I choooose you, bay-bay ♫) Sorry, Sara, but I choose Wille Hatch.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: Sara Bareilles is frustrating; she’s so innocuous and hard to hate, but market trends have weaponized her brand of innocuous music to crowd out other, more daring female singer-songwriters from pop. This doesn’t even trickle down to more than a few people who do sound like Bareilles; of Bareilles’ Hotel Cafe colleagues, Sierra Swan and Charlotte Martin, and countless others launch a thousand Kickstarters unnoticed. Like “Brave,” “I Choose You” is well-crafted but anodyne — with the stutterbeat and repeated flutters, it’s kind of like a remix of “I Knew You Were Trouble” aimed at adult-hits stations (and Pokemon lyrics videos, and viral glurge juggernauts.) It’s hard not to want it to do well. I just wish it weren’t symptomatic.
[5]
Will Adams: I don’t like the idea of choosing or picking someone to be in love with. It implies that there’s an ultimatum at play, that there was some police line-up that only presented six options from which to decide a man to spend the rest of your life with. It doesn’t imply true love, much as the saccharine, staccato strings and light drum machines would like to.
[3]