Boss Ladies - Album Review: Corina Rose, Our Love is Freedom

Welcome to Boss Ladies, a blog series dedicated entirely toward featuring and promoting our talented Lady Brian Members and their creative work. Keeping with our mission of collaboration and service, each article in this series is written by a member about a member. We encourage you to discover and support not only the subject of each review, but also the writer! Without further ado, check out our first Boss Ladies review featuring Corina Rose, written by Jules Stewart. 

Corina Rose’s unique upbringing as the child of two political activists is inherently apparent while listening to her album, Our Love Is Freedom. Her uncommon attention to the beauty in her surroundings and strong sense of spirituality inform each track while she encourages listeners to follow her as she explores the many facets of love. Our Love Is Freedom is an ambitious, confident evolution from her sophomore album, Love Is Everywhere, though the transparent and heartfelt optimism of Corina Rose’s music has stayed fiercely put. The album was released on January 4th, 2019 and was nominated for a San Diego Music Award in the category of Best Pop Album.

Pop seems too small a label, though, as Our Love is Freedom blends genres with unexpected fluidity. Reggae influences are peppered throughout the album and are especially prominent in “I Prayed for You” and “It Takes Love.” Latin rhythms carry “Sweet Potato,” and jazz influences become apparent in “Magick” as well as the album’s title track, “Our Love Is Freedom.” The instrumentation transcends genre, too, from the saxophone woven throughout “I Prayed For You” to the surprisingly fitting synths on “All the Love in the World.”

From the start, “I Prayed for You” sets both the conceptual and rhythmic tone of the album with stirring hand percussion and a hopeful declaration of fulfilled longing. “Magick” eases the listener into a picture of comfortable intimacy despite the fear that comes with trusting another, a message that’s carried by the tentative feel of jazz guitar juxtaposed against a relentless, relaxed groove. The transformative power of that intimacy is explored in the title track and celebrated in “Sweet Potato.” 

The album’s most laid-back moment, “Under the Stars,” uses melodic leads to tell a tender love story celebrating the small nuances that pull us toward each other. In what is perhaps the album’s most dramatic tonal shift, “All the Love in the World” makes use of a vast landscape of instrumentation to underscore the fullness love brings. Attention then shifts outward toward community, connection, and compassion as “It Takes Love” cleverly slows time to allow the listener to reflect on the importance of self-care and compassion.

The album closes with the bare-boned, emotional “Love Is Everywhere,” a picture of hard-won self-love that urges listeners to open their hearts to the beauty around them. Taken as a whole, Our Love is Freedom presents a complex vision of love beyond the physical realm and gives a relatable, first-person account of the transformative power of self-compassion and love.

Find Our Love Is Freedom:
Spotify - iTunes - Amazon Music

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Meet the Writer: Jules Stewart
Our Lady Brain blog writers work on a volunteer basis in support of their fellow members. If you enjoyed this article, please consider making a small donation to Jules via Venmo, which will help support her creative endeavors.

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