Closer to the Truth (Cher)

EN “Closer to the Truth” is the twenty-fifth studio album by American singer Cher, released on September 20, 2013, by Warner Bros. Records. The album is like a "return” to music since it is the first album of originals since “Living Proof”, released on November 6, 2001, in which there is a huge gap between them. During these years, the singer was releasing some compilations or songs for soundtracks, as happened with "Burlesque”, where she came to participate as an actress.

The first single from the album, “Woman’s World”, appeared without any warning on the internet during Thanksgiving Day of 2012, which until today it is not well known the reason for such an occurrence, because it was only officially released on June 18, 2013. With an electronic sound, the song is a kind of a hymn to female empowerment, displaying her ability to adapt to the sound of what was heard at that time, just as she did as her career evolved. “Woman’s World” is a good omen of the entire content of the CD: loud, impetuous, and full of life. The second single was a cover of a Miley Cyrus song (Who knew!), “I Hope You Find It”, an original of the movie "The Last Song”. Being one of the few ballads of the album, and being a cover, I was not expecting it to be selected as a single but, probably, everything was due to the excellent vocals of the singer, as well as the emotion delivered during its recording, sending us to the golden years of the artist, displaying her rare falsetto, hitting us directly in the heart. And as the third and fourth single, without any kind of disclosure, we have "Take It Like a Man" and "I Walk Alone", respectively. In the first track the singer abuses the altered vocals through auto-tune, something that she brought to the world of music, with the success “Believe”, being a kind of gift to all the gays who have been keeping the singer's flame lit. However, in "I Walk Alone”, written in collaboration with singer P!nk, we have a slightly different sound, a little more country, which ends up not taking the track anywhere, having more potential for a bonus track.

The order of the album tracks does not even let us take a break to breathe, in fact, the first seven songs are all danceable and energetic, capable of taking our breath away, with pure euro dance elements. The strongest of them, and one of my favorite songs on the album,

“Red”, is a perfect example of the dance style with which some artists of today could really learn some things. The music is dependent on the singer's vocals and the instrumental joins the vocals evenly, which is a refreshing change after several songs in the EDM style, where Cher seems suffocated under the immensity of synthesizers and electronic effects.

“Closer to the Truth" is not an album where Cher is going to reinvent herself, it's just a continuation of the sound of her vast discography, tuned only to the sound of the time it was released. She presented several tracks, between electronic and country, without having to prove anything to anyone, abusing her characteristic auto-tune or just exposing her raw vocals, without any kind of effect. The only thing the album needed was the cancelled collaboration with Lady Gaga, “The Greatest Thing”, which could have raised the album to another level, but in addition, the album turns out to be cohesive and coherent, considering the long career of the artist and the need to know how to adapt to new sounds, platforms and so many other things that did not exist in the past.

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