I am a loyal Jewel fan. I’ve always loved her, and I always will. So when I heard she had a new album out, I went and bought the CD within a couple days. That’s right, a good ol’ fashioned CD, with a disc and plastic case and everything, ’cause I’m retro like that.
I’ll admit, I miss the days of Pieces of You and Spirit when her lyrics were poetic and not completely predictable, when she was going through all her adolescent angst and soul-searching and limited many of her songs to just her and her acoustic guitar.
But I also understand you can’t be 19 forever and I appreciate her new albums as well. Once you’re 35 and know who you are, your music and lyrics are going to change. Unless you’re Dashboard Confessional because he’ll always sing about high school. (Okay, I haven’t listened to him in years so I have no idea what he’s writing about now actually, but I imagine it still sounds like he’s in high school.)
I listen to her Christmas album Joy on repeat every year.
I absolutely adored This Way and listened to it on repeat for years.
0304 took a whole different direction but I still like it when I need some cheesy, dancey type music.
Good-bye Alice In Wonderland felt like a fresh return to honest lyrics about her own life, which I loved.
Then there was Perfectly Clear, which was her first country album. I only listen to that once or twice through every once in a while, but hey, I still support her need to branch out and remain creative.
Her lullaby album, Lullaby, is so sweet and relaxing. I listened to it often in the middle of the night when my baby was a newborn and track #10, “Forever And A Day (Always)”, makes me tear up every time.
And now Sweet and Wild, another country album. I love her voice, I love listening to her, I like having it on in the car so far, but I can predict the cliché lyrics about three lines before she gets there. Having said that, I’m not a huge country fan and I still enjoy it for what it is.
All of that to say — for everyone still reading — when I was in the grocery store line the other day, I noticed that Jewel was on the cover of Shape Magazine, so I bought it immediately.
And, man, I love her so much. I love how real she is and that you really get a good idea of who she is from her music, books, and interviews (and that she’s still likable), and that she really seems to have retained a grasp on reality and some great perspective on the important things in life.
For example, how many celebrities would admit that they got in shape by doing exercise DVDs alongside cowboys on her husband’s ranch? Isn’t that just totally awesome? I love it.
I also loved this quote from the article (my main reason for writing this blog post):
When she was getting famous, Jewel was labeled the “chubby Renee Zellweger” in a newspaper article. “My feelings were so hurt by that story, I ended up bingeing on an entire cake,” she says. “Afterward, I actually tried to throw it all up, but thankfully I couldn’t do it. It made me think, ‘I can’t go down this road.’ I had seen so many performers develop eating disorders or try to control their weight with drugs, and I decided I would do no harm to my body.”
[...] But rather than resort to drastic diets, cosmetic dentistry, or plastic surgery (she thinks her nose is “fantastically large”), Jewel says: “I had to remind myself that standards of beauty are very fickle. One minute J. Lo’s body is considered beautiful, and the next everyone wants to look like Kate Moss. I’m all for wanting people to feel more confident, but altering your body to fit a current trend is serious stuff.” The singer pauses, then says with a laugh, “We should be more like men, God bless ‘em. They can take their shirts off and show their man boobs, and they don’t give a hoot. But women are so critical of themselves. We can be gorgeous and hot and still be embarrassed to wear a tank top.”
I really wish more women could embrace what God gave ‘em (before and after childbirth). I know I went through my own teenage troubles with body image and still have to go through ten thousand photos of myself before finding ones I really like, but this world needs more people who measure their worth by more than their resemblance (or lack of) to models or personal trainer trained celebrities, or for that matter, their pre-baby selves or their skinny best friends.
I have to say, I know I’ve only had one baby, but I’m not really that embarrassed or disgusted by the change that has occurred with my body (and whoo-doggy, there have been some changes (did I really just say “whoo-doggy”?)). I have other issues of self-consciousness and I probably won’t be sporting a bikini on the banks of Jamaica anytime soon, but I’m tired of women worrying (and talking about) five pounds, living their lives in front of the mirror, surgically altering their bodies, and comparing themselves to other women or themselves 10 years ago. And I’m tired of the men who don’t argue with them when they do.
I know there are some subjects for debate in that, but those are my thoughts. Almost every woman I know falls into those accusations in some way or another. I just wish we didn’t.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Just discovered the 2nd disc that came with it, acoustic versions of all the songs. Yay! I like ‘em way better.
I love Jewel too. Although I haven’t kept up with her newer stuff so much but I love her old stuff! That quote is awesome!
(1) Love Jewel. I love the Alice in Wonderland album and listen to it repeatedly as I study.
(2) I have to take exception on the idea that men should argue with their wives on cosmetic surgury. Except for extreme cases, I oppose it. But when it comes to your wife’s (or, perhaps, any woman’s body image), her body image is her body image. If you say mean things, shame on you. But if she has a bad body image NOTHING a husband says will fix it. Arguing with your wife about her body is a dead end conversation.
Again, I love Jewel’s music, simplicity, and purity. I need to get her two country albums. Haven’t bought a CE in a long, long time.
Hope you are doing well!
P.S. We men are aware we don’t have perfect bodies. But we’re not going to kill ourselves over it. What we don’t need is our women criticizing us about it ad infinitem.
@Eric: Here are my some of my thoughts on #2. (I know there are too many thoughts on it, but I got on a roll, so here we go):
In the simple, “I’m fat” argument, it shouldn’t matter if you think she’s listening or not or if you think she believes you. She’s listening at some level or talking about it for a reason, and the reason is usually because she needs to hear you say that you think she’s beautiful the way she is. BUT, if it really is a constant argument or subject of conversation, or it really seems like an obsession, I have a lot more thoughts on the issue:
Yes, her body image is her body image, but if it’s HIGHLY distorted, maybe there’s something else going on there, like perhaps an eating disorder (which are more common than many people would like to believe). I could write a whole post on teaching men how to identify eating disorders cuz they’re generally unbelievably oblivious and delusional when it comes to it. Typically men think, “They just like to work out,” or “They’re just watching what they eat.” Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, especially for women who obviously have low self-esteem or are abnormally obsessed with calories in and calories out.
I think oftentimes cosmetic surgery is yet another symptom of that and doesn’t actually solve the root problem (which is why it is so addictive — it hasn’t actually changed the mentality at all). Maybe there’s cause for concern for women who clearly have very distorted body images (and/or clearly distorted bodies), and the answer is no longer a simple “argue with her” or “ignore it because the conversation won’t go anywhere anyway”. Men (and women, even) reinforce eating disorders so often and so strongly, they have no idea. And I think in general, people who have such poor body image should be in a therapist’s office before a hospital (either due to disorders or to get cosmetic surgery).
But even in general, just because it’s a dead end conversation, I don’t think men should quit fighting the fight. And the problem is not just direct issues, like saying mean things. Checking out other women, mentioning weight in general about other people, and casually mentioning “weight limits” about each other ALL play into it, and men need to cut that crap out.
I know sometimes women can be mean about physical standards as well, and it pisses me off just as much. Plus I think women’s obsession with their own body image often carries over into how she sees other people’s bodies.
I know that every woman obsessed with her body image probably won’t end up hospitalized for it and it seems like I’m talking about obvious & extreme cases, but every alcoholic isn’t going to die at 35 either. It doesn’t mean it’s not an issue that needs to be dealt with.
And then maybe some people are just shallow and materialistic and there’s nothing to cure there except character, I dunno. I’ve met some club-hopping type of people that would probably fit that category more than anything else.
End novel.
And then there are people who want to look nice and are capable of balance & are perfectly well-adjusted. But they usually don’t have distorted body images.