Rachel Platten Doesn't Take a Firm Enough Stand

Rachel Platten belted out an impressive ditty with "Fight Song". Moves both hearts and mountains. That inspirational wave can't be escaped. The whole one match making an explosion really gets to the sensitive side of you. That one pathos heightened effort should have been all anybody needed to know about Rachel Platten. I can't think of why the follow up single "Stand By You" had to be equally Screen Actors Guild intense. What we have here is a song that's slightly sweetened but has the same circle the wagons do or die desperation "Fight Song" worked to great effect. It has a thoughtful video, showing off Rachel's pearly whites not to mention a gospel chorus backup. Did you fall in love with the two adorable kids that had some face time here? The video director isn't stupid. Lots of manipulative trinkets designed to pull the strings viewers have a hankering for. Rachel's smile does shoot sunbeams across the port bow but what else could possibly be getting communicated here? The whole where's heaven I'll gladly walk through hell with and for you sentiment ladles cute on super thick. Call me hard boiled cynic but I need something substantial to convince me to walk through Hell with somebody. Rachel's affable but this relationship has barely scratched the surface. Musically the chord shaping strikes the adorable meter authoritatively. Far be it from me to tell anybody what to laud, who to praise, and how high to jump but pop/adult contemporary divas don't extend reach in the way they used to. Sure, Gagas and Perrys don't come around every day but Rachel's nice to share a coffee with and precious little else. Props to the video's wardrobe coordinator. Everyone's either dapper or comely. The lightness of being wraps itself around "Stand By You", the better to keep you toasty at night. The sound merits background fill status for everything from changing the baby's diapers to getting dinner ready. If that's your bag then today's your lucky day. Otherwise "Stand By You" doesn't sit well as an enduring pop classic.