REVIEW: Andra Day's Cheers to the Fall

Rating: ★★★★ | A-

One of the first lyrics of Andra Day's debut album is: "Well there's nothing I can sing now that ain't been sung before." And while that may be true, the way she sings it is nothing short of exceptional. Cheers to the Fall is an obeisance to a golden age of music, a loving, masterful homage to the legacy of artists like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and, more recently, Amy Winehouse. Little new ground is covered, but the ease with which she covers it, the way in which she manages to sound both authentic and contemporary, is artistry, plain and simple.

Andra's voice is how you might imagine Rihanna would sound if she were to impersonate Nina Simone. The music touches on most of the major '50s, '60s, and '70s styles. "Whichever chord progressions move me, whether it's rock, jazz, doo-wop or soul, I'm going to put it together and not be worried about whether people can put it in a lane or not," she told Rolling Stone in July. No doubt it was her confidence and comfort with this canon that led none other than Stevie Wonder to take her under his wing when he heard her playing in a local nightclub. He introduced her to Adrian Gurvitz, who in turn signed her to his production company.

Cheers really hits its groove beginning with "Goodbye, Goodnight," on which Andra is given space to flex her vocal and emotive capabilities over an expansive, starry night of a production. The next few tracks, including "Rearview" and "Red Flags," sound like escapees from Adele's iconic 21, or Winehouse's Back to Black. The album lacks a "Rehab" or "Someone Like You," but you get the sense, listening to it, that Day's equivalent is coming soon.

The LP was inspired by an eight-year relationship's end. Some of the album's best imagery in that regard comes in "Gold" (e.g., "he loved me like a sloppy kiss," "I gave up gold for grains of sand, slipping through my hands"). It is the anthemic "Rise Up," however, that checks the most boxes of any song on the album. Over beautiful, crescendoing piano chords, Andra alternatives between angelic, Adele-like falsetto and an impassioned wail that is all her own.

The album thus introduces the industry to a powerful new talent. Hopefully the exposure will enable Day to pair her vision and voice with producers and songwriters capable of expanding it even further, as Mark Ronson aided Winehouse. Andrea has an interest in being an innovator, if her Youtube takes on Eminem and Florence and the Machine are any indication. She has all the tools to become one. So it would be unfortunate if she settled for being a mere revivalist, singing only the same things sung before. Cheers to her rising up to something more.

Suggested Singles: "Rise Up," "Forever Mine"