Album Review: Camille Rae 'I Need Me'

Singer songwriter Camille Rae recently released her debut full length record, I Need Me. The collection contains twelve tracks, including her current single (the fabulous) “Shadows Dance Tonight,” that look at the varied aspects of love and are highlighted by Rae’s strong vocals. Things begin with the ballad “All In” which focuses on the push and pull of staying in a relationship. That is followed by the scaled back “Best Of Me” in which a relationship, now over, is viewed in a positive light, having brought out the best in her.

Holding oneself back from falling in love and hiding one’s heart is the focus of “Crumbling Wall” while memories take center stage in the mid-tempo duo of “It All Comes Back” and “Keep Me There."

The tempo kicks up a few notches with “Dial Tone” about getting your hopes up and getting knocked down, yet still wondering why, and in the sassy rocker “Get Outta Town” in which she realizes she has been looking for love in the wrong places and would “rather choke on these feelings than be with a man, with a man I can’t trust.” That breakthrough continues in “I Need Me” and “Nowhere.” On the former she focuses on relying on herself and making her life her own and in the latter, wonders why love isn’t fair, but realizing it isn’t, decides to stop compromising and waiting.

The album closes with two standout tracks, “Waiting” an intimate, almost painful duet and “Where Did He Go” a sad song that leaves her, and the listener, wondering why he left.

I Need Me, with its highly relatable, well written songs of love and heartache, should definitely be given a listen. 

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