Colbie Caillat’s All of Me is the Best Album of 2011

A great album in this day and age has to feature a few songs that really grab you, and several other songs that you also enjoy. A great album in 2011 makes you want to purchase and download the entire album, not just a few songs. A great album is what Colbie Caillat has made with her third effort, All of You. Caillat had previously made two outstanding efforts with her debut album Coco and her follow-up album The Breakthrough. But both of those albums featured songs that all sounded alike, and made them hard to listen to in their entirety. Coco was powered by songs featuring an acoustic guitar, while The Breakthrough was powered by a lot of ballads. All of You takes the best of each album, mixes it up, adds some maturity to her lyrics, and produces her most complete album to date. To start, All of You's single "Brighter Than The Sun" is just as catchy as any of the sunny tunes Caillat previously wrote, only catchier. The song is the perfect summer weather song. Just as catchy is the album's other single "I Do," which finds Caillat completely in love and willing to agree to any ideas that her other half has in mind. It's like "Bubbly," only peppier and more upbeat. The same can be said for the love songs "What If" and the title track. Continuing with the upbeat theme, rapper Common guest stars on "Favorite Song," which is an innuendo for being in love, particularly summer love. This, again, would be a perfect summer anthem. And "Before I Let You Go," is also a sun-kissed pop song in the best way possible. Caillat stays on the upbeat swing for two of the albums message-oriented tracks in "Think Good Thoughts" and "Dream Life, Life." And when she slows it down, Caillat produces her best, most adult ballads yet. "What Means the Most" and "Make it Rain" are the highlights among them. Both are extremely romantic songs, and are at opposite ends of a relationship's time period. "Make It Rain" could come at the beginning, while "What Means the Most" fit's a longer relationship. Meanwhile, "Shadow" is more about female empowerment, and throws in a subtle country influence to the music. All of You is a fantastic album from the first song to the last song. Not only is it a great album, but is also captures an emerging artist at the top of her game. It is a must-listen for all music fans.