by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
“Are you looking for Room 5? [big smile] It’s upstairs. Yeah, just go upstairs!”
I had walked in with my photographer staring around the room like a deer in the headlights until a voice from the front dining table of the first floor restaurant took charge pointing me in the right direction. Raven hair, black eyes, stunning and personality heavy…who else could it be…of course it was Charlotte!
What an opener!
Friday, April 11, 2014 was the official release party for Charlotte Sometimes‘ new EP By Request. It was also her farewell performance. At the top of the show she made the shocking announcement that this was to be her “funeral”. After tonight indie pop, alternative rocker, Charlotte Sometimes would be no more.
No she’s not leaving the business. But after a long career off and on as Charlotte Sometimes, Jessica Charlotte Poland, has decided to hang up her fame as an NBC, The Voice contestant and move on to a different future. It’s a whole new sound in development.
Beginning the set with How I Could Just Kill a Man and ending with It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To, she utterly captivated and excited the audience throughout with new releases like Paint the Sky and a super cool sing-along of Foster The People’s Pumped up Kicks ( which, I will geekily admit was kinda fun; honestly, I never actually knew the words to that song until Charlotte made us sing them. lol)
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
you better run better run
faster than my bullet
As the 2nd floor packed in, she wittily addressed a standing-room-only crowd while furiously wrestling with the mic and her acoustic guitar, “It’s ok were just sound checking you can talk amongst yourselves.”
Very funny…
Actually she is pretty hilarious. In a lighter tone she is spunky, adorable and quick-witted with a biting sense of humor. Her best side however is her fiercely confident, sexy, tough-girl intensity always with a hint of longing in her voice. She’s just Charlotte doing her Charlotte thing even though she likes to call herself a sassy bitch. And take that anyway you like! Because however you say it, the girl can sing!
Her voice is so much weightier and with more structure than on her recordings. Strong in every way she challenges, invites, devours, folds you into her music.
By Request strips down arrangements noted in her former EP Circus Head and focuses distinctly on Charlotte’s vocal stylings which are edgy and voluptuous. The material is cutting-edge showcasing her unique talent.
Favorite cover of the evening – Creep by Radio Head – “I’m a creep…” I think she really meant it, but who couldn’t love her just the same!
We think she’s SPECIAL!
Photo Credit: Eric John
One response to “Farewell Charlotte Sometimes – R.I.P.”
[…] round, and she chose Blake Shelton as her coach. Vaughn released two additional EPs under the Charlotte Sometimes name before announcing in 2014 that she was retiring the pseudonym and re-inventing herself as LACES. “To me, it was like graduating,” she explains. “I’d been […]