0304

Todd: (clears throat) Okay. Hey, everyone. Um, bear with me, we're going to try a little something different today. You see, one of the things that's always, always fascinating me is...

(The following word pops up in red...)

Todd (v.o.): Failure. And not just anyone's failures...

Todd: Like, most of us are failures. I'm talking about the failures of the big stars. And not just any failure from them, either.

(Cut to a shot of a grave labeled: "R.I.P. - My Career - What Was I Thinking??")

Todd (v.o.): I'm talking about failures that artists couldn't come back from; failures that were...

Todd: ...effectively career suicide for the poor souls who released them. And I thought I'd start with a nice long look at one of the most disastrous flops I can remember.

(Clip of "You Were Meant for Me")

Jewel: I hear the clock, it's 6AM

Todd (v.o.): This is Jewel. She came from Alaska. She played acoustic guitar. She wrote poetry. She played a lot of coffee houses. She lived in her car. She yodels. Very earnest singer-songwriter, very 90's kind of music star, very popular with the Lillith Fair crowd. Beautiful voice. Clearly, she would carry the torch for thoughtful female folk music for the rest of her career....

Todd: ...right?

(Clip of "Intuition")

Jewel: Follow your heart, Your intuition

Todd (v.o): In 2003, Jewel released her fourth album, 0304. I believe it's named after the dates she expected her album to be ubiquitously popular. A more fitting name would be "03 for about 2 or 3 weeks" because that's how long it lasted.

Todd: And why? Because bizarrely, she decided to become a dance-pop diva.

(Clip of "Stand")

Todd (v.o.): Yes, the girl with a guitar decided to trade in her sincerity and become a full-on Britney Spears-type pop star.

Todd: It was one of the most nonsensical career moves in music history. It's like in the 70's if Joni Mitchell decided to become a disco queen.

(Clip of "Intuition")

Todd (v.o.): And unsurprisingly, it didn't pan out. It made a brief blip on the charts and then completely fizzled, ending up to be the last time anyone really heard or cared about Jewel.

Todd: How did we get from there to here in just six short years? How, how? Well let's find out. This is Trainwreckords.

(Trainwreckords intro, followed by the album cover of 0304)

Jewel: Things around the table are kinda old...

Todd (v.o): OK. Before we get to Jewel's giant sellout, we first have to ask ourselves. Was Jewel any good?

Todd: And the answer is... eh?

(Clip of "You Were Meant for Me")

Jewel: Days last for so long, even after you're gone...

Todd: Jewel's first album made her famous with three big hit singles which were all very spare and acoustick-y. My favorite was "You Were Meant for Me".

Jewel: You were meant for me and I was meant for you.

Todd (v.o): It's a great little song about post-breakup denial with a lot of sharp, songwritery details about it.

Todd: The other two singles though? UGH.

(Clip of "Foolish Games")

Jewel: You took your coat off...

Todd (v.o): Okay, I think these two songs illustrate my big problems with Jewel. One, she tends to oversing.

Jewel: These foolish games are tearing me, you're tearing me...

Todd (v.o): Ugh it's so overwrought, she sounds like a really emotional Miss Piggy sometimes. It's, it's just too much.

(Clip of "Who Will Save Your Soul")

Jewel: People living their lives for you on T.V.Todd (v.o): Now the other single, and maybe this is the one that people really remember from Jewel, is "Who Will Save Your Soul". It's about the spiritual emptiness of modern life.

Todd: Which brings me to my other problem: Jewel wasn't that deep.

Jewel: Who will save your souls when it comes to the flowers now? Huh huh who will save your souls?

Todd: I don't know. Jesus, I guess? Did you have any literature you wanted to share about the good news or are you just asking smug questions?

Jewel: Another doctor's bill, a lawyer's bill, another cute cheap thrill...

Todd (v.o): I don't have lawyers. What is this song even aimed at?

(Clip of "Hands")

Todd (v.o): And this is why she never really became a critical darling. She always just seemed like she was kinda out of her depth. You may have seen that famous clip where Kurt Loder corrects her word choice.

(Clip of interview)

Kurt Loder: Casualty doesn't mean that, does it? Casualty's like a guy gets his arm blown off. I mean isn't that...

Jewel: You're a smartass for pointing that out. Next topic.

Todd (v.o): People remember this clip because you so rarely get to see celebrities get truth bomb to their face but me, I was just like...

Todd: ...holy shit, she thought casualty meant casualness! That's not a minor error!

(Clip of live performance)

Jewel: People selling thoughtlessness with such casualty.

Todd: This woman's a published poet!

Todd (v.o): Yeah so, unlike Tori Amos or Sheryl Crow, she didn't really retain a major following. Her second album didn't do nearly as well, nor did her third, in which she did try to kick it up a notch with some slicker production.

(Clip of "Standing Still")

Jewel: Or am I standing still?

Todd (v.o): I like this song personally but it had been diminishing returns for two albums in a row. It look like she would eventually fade into obscurity like much of the rest of the Lilith Fair scene but it turns out...

Todd: ...that album had a fluke dance hit.

(Clip and image of "Serve the God")

Todd (v.o): A dance hit for Jewel. Imagine that, right?

Todd: Then Jewel got an idea. An awful idea. Jewel got a terrible, awful idea.