“Down to Earth”
Jem, $11.98

I remember where I was when I first heard Jem. It was during the previews preceding “Underworld: Evolution” — pretty lame sequel with quite possibly the world’s least compelling and most awkward sex scene of all time — at Liberty Cinema. The preview was for “Ultraviolet,” a movie I briefly considered seeing, but later decided I’d wait until it showed up on cable. What really interested me was the song. “Underworld” turned out to not be very memorable at all, but as soon as I got home from the movie, I searched the Internet to find that awesome song from the movie preview, so I could get myself a copy. “24 Hours” by Jem, I discovered. I found Jem on Myspace and listened to more. I was just a little in love with her sound. I even found “24 Hours” at karaoke and gave it a very sorry shot. Well, at least I can still listen to it, even if I have to accept I can never passably sing it myself.

With her electronic pop, the Welsh singer has made some other rad tunes, like “Come on Closer,” a sultry little track sung like a come-on to a reluctant fellow, “Falling for You,” a testimony to being reluctant about love herself, and her dreamy cover of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” always a beautiful song. So, imagine my delight when I heard she’d be releasing a new album this year.

I checked back on her myspace page a couple of weeks ago to see if she was previewing any tracks from the new album, “Down to Earth,” on her page. There were two there. “It’s Amazing” is a message about learning to stay on your feet when people try to knock you down. Leading in with a plinking piano melody, the song quickly moves onto some earnest beats as Jem sings about finding the strength to grab ahold of her destiny to have the life she deserves. The other track, “Crazy,” relies on a funky loop that for some reason reminds me of a couple of scenes from one of the “Leisure Suit Larry” video games. It’s a fun track, definitely a bit capricious — it doesn’t take itself seriously at all.

Jem has a tendency to give too much attention to her lyrics and neglect the music that goes along with it. There are at least a few songs on the album that, given the sterile melodies and rhythms, cause me to accidentally stop listening. Another problem is that Jem’s mind seems to be focused on one topic throughout much of the record — she’s trying to assert herself against haters, The Man, a man — He-man? Well, just saying, He-man was on USA’s Cartoon Express in the same era as Jem and the Holograms. Okay, I know, different Jem … oh, drat, there I go moving off-topic, let’s get back to it — or perhaps her own inner critic. And so even the lyrics don’t hold my attention as much unless the song is incredibly decent.

Which, fortunately, most of them are on this album. “Keep On Walking” has a really danceable beat that’s not very high-paced. “Aciiid!” surprised me with its very high-energy beat; something I can imagine being mixed and spun at a rave. The music is a little boring in “You Will Make It,” but anyone who’s experienced the death of someone close to them will automatically feel connected to the song. At first, I didn’t like the music in it, and I thought the lyrics were pretty lame, but it yanked me in anyway. As lame as it is, it’s totally relatable, and in fact not as lame as it seems once you set your toughness aside. The CD’s title track totally wins. It’s dynamic, it’s creative; opening with just a simple heartbeat and light instrumentation, the song breaks down into one of Jem’s sweet beats with a bit of an Egyptian disposition to the music.

With her enchanting voice, Jem has won me over once again, but I already knew she would.