Now four years later, Perri is back with her sophomore album. Although her music still displays a blend of incredibly familiar instrumentals, she laces many of her songs with a mainstream rock approach often seen in music by artists like Avril Lavigne and Demi Lovato. This new approach to her music makes this album enjoyable for fans of different genres, successfully broadening her appeal.
Perri opens her album with the song “Trust,” which gives off a very mellow and soft choir-like feel. This provides the traditional Christina Perri ballad vibe most fans are used to. However, her second track “Burning Gold” is juxtaposed with the opening track by introducing fast beats to create an enjoyable song, that can make anyone find their way to the dance floor.
While demonstrating that she is capable of maintaining diversity in her tracks, Perri introduces her most popular songs from this album. Her third track, “Be My Forever,” featuring pop artist Ed Sheeran, gives fans of both artists a collaboration that is worthy of applause. With this number, Perri breaks her soulful image by singing an incredibly fun and sweet piece with Sheeran. Following “Be My Forever” are “Human” and “One Night,” both soulful tracks that showcase Perri’s bold vocals and exceptional instrumentals.
The last third of Perri’s album include songs that remain true to her ballad-like style such as “I Don’t Wanna Break,” “The Worlds” and “Run.” These songs really highlight her remaining true to her style. Even then, Perri makes sure to include an old school beat in “Lonely Child” that serves as a breath of fresh air from all the other homogenous sounds in this part of her album.
While singing to the lyrics, “This is not the end of me/this is the beginning”, Perri concludes with “I Believe,” which proves to be a great closing number. The track retains the vulnerability of Perri’s songs, while leaving fans thoroughly fulfilled and waiting for her future works.
Overall, “Heart or Head” manages to maintain and solidify Perri’s personal style, while experimenting with other genres. However, since this is only her second studio album, there is room for both change and improvement. With this album, Perri has established her trademark rock ballad sound while venturing into different tracks in order to add some diversity to her songs. She has definitely delivered enough to leave her fans excited, and make this worth a listen for everyone.
