21 Nov 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Jamie McDell - Six Strings and a Sailboat Album Review

03 Jan 2013 // A review by Peter-James Dries

I had never heard the name Jamie McDell, though judging by the volume of buzz and praise Google throws out, I feel like I should have. Her debut album Six Strings and a Sailboat debuted at number eight on the NZ Top 40 and her singles have been dancing around the charts for weeks. Granted, I live under a rock and avoid pop music if I can.

These songs are sure to satisfy a specific group; girls above and below thirty. It is the soundtrack to a summer of freedom, a road trip to Taupo with the girls, sunbathing with a book, singing into a hairbrush, pining over an unrequited crush or shopping in Glassons. While reviewing Six Strings and a Sailboat I heard Jamie McDell’s latest single Life in Sunshine playing in Glassons. No. I don’t wear anything from the Glassons range, but it is Christmas time…   

I remember thinking the song was Taylor Swift at first, then wondering why I would know the words if it was a Taylor Swift song. Google tells me I’m not the first to notice the similarities between Taylor Swift and Jamie McDell.  Many reviews draw the comparison to American songbird and sweetheart Taylor Swift, and there is a similarity in the sense that they are both beautiful young woman with sweet voices. 

And who cares if Jamie McDell sounds like Taylor Swift. Look at the numbers. Six Strings and a Sailboat has number two New Zealand album on the Top 40 for the past two weeks, beaten only by perennial Country music icon Dennis Marsh and ahead of kiwi legends Kora, Six60 and Bic Runga’s Anthology. Other than Aaradhna, McDell’s single You’ll Never Take That Away is the only Gold certified single on the Top 40 singles chart. Jamie McDell has made it. She is our Taylor Swift.

Six Strings And A Sailboat
View Track Listing
 

About Jamie McDell

When she was just age 7, Jamie McDell’s father left a high paying job at an elite Auckland law firm to shift her mother, younger sister and Jamie onto the high seas and began living aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean. It’s here Jamie wrote her first song, a sea shanty to the dolphins. Also on that yacht lived a small collection of her parents’ favourite cassette tapes, which luckily included albums by Jimmy Buffett, John Denver and James Taylor. The young artist quickly formed a particularly strong bond with these records and she fondly remembers watching her parents perform Buffett duets - and occasionally chiming in, learning how to harmonise with her mother and sister. An eager learner, Jamie then picked up the guitar after studying her fathers’ John Denver chord book collection and has never looked back.

Now at age 30, New Zealand singer/songwriter Jamie McDell has achieved a prolific amount in her formative years. Being signed to EMI at age 16 sparked the beginning of a successful musical journey, making her a household name across the nation. With the release of her debut album Six Strings and a Sailboat, she went on to achieve Gold album sales, receive three NZ Music Award nominations, winning Best Pop Album of 2013. Then her sophomore record Ask Me Anything gained global attention, seeing album track Moon Shines Red featured on American TV series 'Pretty Little Liars'.

In March 2017 Jamie made a trip to Nashville, looking for a change of scenery and to

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Jamie McDell

Releases

Jamie McDell
Year: 2022
Type: Album
Extraordinary Girl
Year: 2018
Type: Album
Ask Me Anything
Year: 2015
Type: Album
All That I Wanted
Year: 2012
Type: EP
Six Strings And A Sailboat
Year: 2012
Type: Album

Other Reviews By Peter-James Dries

Ra Charmian - Album Review: Waiata Wairua
08 Oct 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Waiata Wairua is an album that wouldn’t feel out of place performed in a late night jazz hall in some alternate history where the successes of the Maori battalion lead to a proliferation of Te Reo worldwide. The sort of interest that saw your dad singing in French in the 60's, when Mireille Mathieu was knocking about.
Read More...
Ben Lloyd - Album Review: Leap of Faith
26 May 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
For over 30 years, this self-taught rocker from Mt Maunganui has been writing music. Now, for the first time since 2013, we finally get to hear his songs.
Read More...
Yann Le Dorré - Album Review: The Circus is Closed
19 Dec 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
“We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!” - Scott Pilgrim vs.
Read More...
Sanoi - Album Review: Echoes Of Home
25 Nov 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Electronica offers no escapism for me. It’s more of what I already have.
Read More...
Throng - EP Review: Decoherence
20 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia.
Read More...
Fortress Europe - Album Review: Old World
10 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Have you ever been torn between listening to Mozart or Periphery? Does Epica have too much of that darn singing for your tastes?
Read More...
Yurt Party - Album Review: Yurt Party
07 Sep 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
It sure isn't summer, and this is really not the Balkans, but Yurt Party’s new self-titled album refutes that. Back with another one of them Balkan rocking beats, Yurt Party’s debut is jazzy, erratic, and full of zest and energetic grooves, with flavour notes of ska, dub, and bergamot.
Read More...
day13n - Album Review: /7/13/7/
06 Aug 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
I’m too old for this world. We’ve devolved to the point where music is only as good as the soundtrack to your 10 second TikTok, and the thirty thousand copies recycling the idea.
Read More...
View All Articles By Peter-James Dries

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem