Songoftheday 8/24/22 -If I live to be a hundred, and never see the seven wonders that'll be alright...

 

 

"Who I Am" - Jessica Andrews

from the album Who I Am (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #28 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from Jessica Andrews, who grew up in Tennessee halfway between Nashville and Memphis. Singing since she was a child, Andrews had toured with Faith Hill and was signed to DreamWorks Records as a teenager. Her debut album, Heart Shaped World, was released in 1999, and the lead single from the set, "I Will Be There For You", reminded me of Jessica Simpson's breakthrough hit "I Wanna Love You Forever". The song, which was also on the Prince Of Egypt: Nashville alternate soundtrack tie-in album, was a modest hit at country radio at #28, but it got a bit of notice, with the single "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 chart at #108. The next two releases from the set went just a little higher on the country chart, with "Unbreakable Heart" making it to #24, and all in all four songs from the record made the list. The Heart Shaped World album also placed on Billboard magazine's Country Albums sales tally at #24.

Andrews returned in 2001 with her sophomore effort, Who I Am. Going through the pop-country crossover makeover that Faith Hill and Martina McBride had undergone, the record's lead single and title track was a bright, shiny, polished self-affirmation anthem. Written by Brett James and Troy Verges, and produced by Byron Gallimore (Tim McGraw's go-to), Jessica revels on how "ordinary" she is, and the lyrics are pretty well at describing it without falling into the "I'm small-town" drivel that permeates the genre. And by doing that she was able to appeal to a much wider audience. The production is pretty sterile, but at least it doesn't get in the way of Jessica's voice and charisma. In return, Andrews had her biggest success. As for the music video, the flashbacks to Jessica's youth are nice, but the conscious Britney-esque shots of this 17 year old are quite offputting...

"Who I Am" became Andrews' first (and only) top-40 crossover hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in April of 2001. The song was her biggest on country radio by a mile, spending three weeks at #1, while even crossing to the older-skewing Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format where it peaked at #24. It even made the Latin Songs chart at #20. The Who I Am album, released in February of that year, rose to #22 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the Country Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies.

The second single from Who I Am, the waltz "Helplessly Hopelessly", was written and produced by the same team as the title track, but the more traditional-sounding love song wasn't able to keep the momentum, stopping at #31 on the Country Airplay chart. (It deserved better.) That was followed by "Karma", which brought her back to the pop crossover sound, and despite its cute charm, the song even missed the country top-40 at #47.

Jessica came back in 2003 with her third (and so-far, most recent) album on DreamWorks, Now. The first single from the record, "There's More To Me Than You", was co-written by the singer with her future husband Marcel Chagnon and James T Slater. It was pushed hard, with both an uptempo and a ballad version released to radio to pick their poison, and while it was a moderate hit at #17 on the Country Singles chart, it only "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #108. The album did reach the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #34, and the top ten on the Country Albums list at #4, but the reception was a step down than Who I Am.

After a featured stint on glam metal band Poison's lead singer Bret Michael's country excursion in 2005, Freedom Of Sound, with their duet "All I Ever Needed" stopping at #45 on the country airplay chart (it's not good), Andrews started to prepare music for her fourth album. But after lead-off "Summer Girl" stalled down at #46 on country radio, DreamWorks stopped the release and let her go. Andrews moved to Carolwood Records, an affiliate of Disney's Lyric Street label, but that imprint shut down as her single "Everything" stopped at #45 on the Country Singles list. 

Since then, Jessica has released mostly remakes and seasonal music independently online, though a new song, "Livin The Dream", arrived this year.

(7/10)

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Here's Jessica performing the song at the CMA Awards...

and lastly, an acoustic take from 2008..

Up tomorrow: The second consecutive year that the biggest pop hit in Billboard was a song that didn't reach #1, with this rock band on the edge.