Cavendish Records
Release Date: March 1st 2024
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Lucy Thomas– Rosie The Musical: Original Studio Cast Recording (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- One Day
- Dear Lord We Thank You For This Day (with St. Bede’s Catholic School Ormskirk Chamber Choir)
- Suddenly
- Starlight
- Gentle Breeze
- Romano’s (Louise Ashdown, Sarah Keirle, Lorna Day & Kantos Chamber Choir)
- I Still Believe In Love (Desmonda Cathabel)
- Above The Clouds (with Will Callan)
- Our Homeland (Andrew Morton, Graham McCusker & Kantos Chamber Choir)
- Broken Dreams
- Hold On (with Will Callan)
- We Can Change The World (with Kantos Chamber Choir)
Lucy Thomas’s music is something unique, something to behold and something that people are going to be impressed about, as this young 19-year-old from Lancashire has carved a name for herself delivering albums of famous pop and Broadway covers, ever since her introduction into music by the way of The Voice Kids UK. Though only 19 currently, she’s been able to tackle some of music’s most complicated songs, vocally, and make them her own, as her music continues to amaze people, and hopefully allows listeners to rekindle their own love for Broadway music, soundtracks, and showtunes, even music of the past, that would otherwise have been swept under the rug, in favour of the pop music landscape at the moment. Lucy’s music is a step above, and maybe, just maybe, she can follow in the footsteps of Jackie Evancho and her music (or even Josh Groban!), as the years continue to roll by? Lucy’s music has given me a new perspective on big-ballad songs that have impacted music and society during the 1990s and 2000s, and it is through an artist like Lucy (and also through other ‘cover’ artists Cimorelli and Peter Hollens, and more recently rock cover band First to Eleven), that I now firmly believe that cover artists can still have their place, in music, society, and have an impact on people who they themselves want to get a start in the music business, through the way of YouTube. Lucy’s talent at such a young age is indeed off the charts- maybe talent shows actually do work? With songs from soundtracks, Broadway musicals, and big-soaring ballads of yesteryear, making up most of Lucy’s musical repertoire thus far; Lucy’s crisp sound and steady voice beyond her years, makes her one of the most uniquely gifted and compelling cover artists I’ve heard in a long, long time (ever since artists like Peter Hollens and Cimorelli!).
While Jon undertook a blog post about Lucy (written in mid-2021), about the impact I believe she has had (and will continue to have), in music, society and history, in the upcoming years to come; he also reviewed albums like Timeless, Destiny and Beyond; and Jon rekindled his own appreciation for music of yesteryear, especially 1990s music, the decade that we both grew up in. It’s rare to be an artist this young, and deliver effortlessly covers from artists like Mariah Carey (“Hero”), Snow Patrol (“Run”), The Eagles (“Desperado”), Celine Dion (“My Heart Will Go On”), Leonard Cohen (“Hallelujah”), Sarah McLachlan (“Angel”), Coldplay (“Fix You”), Faith Hill (“There You’ll Be”) and Whitney Houston (“I Have Nothing” and “Run To You”), with such grace, poise, elegance, and heart, but that’s what Lucy has definitely done. And then to top it all off with covers of songs from soundtracks of movies/musicals past (“Reflection”, “A Million Dreams”, “Never Enough”, “Listen”, “Someone Like You”, “Defying Gravity”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Memory”, to name a few), and I firmly believe you have a star in the making, someone that is hopefully destined to carry on and deliver classic songs that can bring a younger generation into the fold of appreciating songs that have lent themselves to the fabric of music for decades upon decades, songs that have shaped the culture and identity of the world, and songs that have really reminded us the power of music as a whole, regardless of the time period and genre.
It is in Lucy’s powerful covers, where I myself find this particularly true statement of how the song should be bigger than the initial artist singing it, and that some songs that are timeless (a.k.a. a lot of the songs Lucy has covered in her career thus far) should be heartfelt, challenging, and compelling regardless of the vocalist singing. Though Lucy has wowed us all with her covers, it is in this incredible new project that she has released this past year (Rosie The Musical: Original Studio Cast Recording) that I am able to appreciate who she is right now- an artist who is extremely good at her own music and her original material. And an artist whom I would go to watch live in a heartbeat. Songs have the ability to change and inspire, and in some extreme cases, alter the trajectory of someone’s life, coming in at just the right time for someone who may need some kind of hope and perseverance. A lot of the songs on the Rosie soundtrack (of an unreleased musical to be unveiled later on in 2024 in the UK!) are indeed songs like these- reminding each and every one of us of this notion of soaring beyond the situations and circumstances that we are currently in, through discipline, steadfastness, perseverance, and hard work. Rosie The Musical: Original Studio Cast Recording stands at 12 tracks, and consists of songs sung by Lucy and by other cast members- originally written songs from the upcoming musical Rosie.
The world hasn’t seen the musical Rosie yet. And because that is the case, this album doesn’t really have context… which is totally fine though, as every track here stands on its own. Every track is inspirational, and every track speaks about universal themes in life, such as love and wanting to live in a better world and rising above adversity to name a few. Lucy has an incredibly voice, as does Will and Desmonda. However, I can only ‘rate’ these songs based on how they feel for me in the moment rather than how they connect to the story and the musical as a whole. Rosie The Musical: Original Studio Cast Recording therefore is described as fantastic, impressive, and thoroughly engaging- and hopefully it’s even more so when I hear the songs when the musical is finally released in the near future. “Suddenly”, “Broken Dreams”, “We Can Change The World”, “Starlight”, “Hold On” and “Above the Clouds” are all impressive album highlights, as is “I Still Believe In Love”; and I firmly believe that this album (and forthcoming musical!) is not to be missed at all.
Lucy’s music is a blessing for anyone who has heard her music. And while Lucy is still a relatively unknown artist in the music community at large, we are reminded that talent like Lucy’s only comes around once in a lifetime- you have the artists of yesteryear, like Etta James, Eva Cassidy, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin, and while it can create a big hole in music when artists of that calibre pass away, the sting it leaves, becomes less and less, knowing that an artist like Lucy Thomas is here, presenting music in virtually the same calibre of quality as these artists aforementioned. It’s not easy to sing covers by Barbara Streisand, Nat King Cole, Christina Perri, Simon & Garfunkel, Annie Lennox, Whitney Houston and Louis Armstrong, with such precision and enthusiasm at such a “ripe ol’ age of 19!”, and if anyone has the capabilities of that, then they’re just blessed by God, full stop. And that, in and of itself, should be reason enough for anyone to check out Lucy’s work, at least once, right?
Listening to Lucy and her beautifully arranged covers of songs from the 1990s (and 1980s) to now, and also her rousing originals in this soundtrack album; reminds me of the wide world of songs from movies and songs from musicals, that I still don’t know about, that I want to know about in years to come. Maybe I can hopefully watch the iconic ones soon- Wicked, Cats, Jersey Boys, Rent, Mamma Mia, Dear Evan Hansen… those ones that people generally know. And if it is somehow by a Lucy Thomas song that has reawakened my very own appreciation of that particular style of music, then that is a good thing. If I’ve realised that musicals aren’t as ‘foreign’ or ‘different’ as what I thought of them to be, through such an artist as Lucy, then I guess her music, and her ability to deliver powerful ballads at such a young age, is something to be respected, admired and honoured for what it is- something used by God in order for us to see far beyond our very own music bubbles we submerse our whole lives in. Well done Lucy for all of the song renditions on Beyond, and of all of her originals on the soundtrack of Rosie. Can’t wait to what is in store for you next…maybe some collaborations with artists like Josh Groban, Peter Hollens, Jackie Evancho and Penatonix in the future? Whatever the case, Rosie the soundtrack needs to be heard pronto, and on repeat if you can. An artist like Lucy ought not to be ignored any more. And all of her albums remind us that you don’t have to be too young to know that you have something to say.
4 songs to listen to: Starlight, I Still Believe In Love, Broken Dreams, We Can Change The World
Score: 5/5
RIYL: Jackie Evancho, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban, Jeff Buckley