"Breathless" by The Corrs, Sunday, March 13, 2022

The Corrs formed in their hometown of Dundulk, Ireland. Consisting of four siblings, the band started as a duo of the two eldest siblings and became a quartet in 1990. They got their start playing in their aunt's local pub, but after being discovered by their manager, the band started getting gigs in Dublin. In 1994, the band was asked to play for the World Cup in Boston after the US ambassador to Ireland say their show in a Dublin bar. In 1996, they played the Olympics and then they opened for Céline Dion. The band's sound was rooted in Celtic folk music, but in their third album In Blue the band started to cross over into a mainstream pop sound.

THE DAYLIGHT'S FADING SLOWLY.  To bring The Corrs into the new millennium, the band enlisted Robert John "Mutt" Lange to produce their third album. Lange’s mainstream success started when he produced AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. In the ‘80s he was known for his Def Leopard albums, but in the late ‘90s the producer worked with pop acts, including his wife at the time, Shania Twain, crafting her crossover country to pop sound. The sound on the first single and first track on In Blue, “Breathless,” sounds like that early ‘00 sound, the use of auto tune coming into prominence but not quite refined, like watching an old sci-fi flick that seemed so realistic back in the day, only on rewatching it twenty years later you can almost see the green screen. The Corrs weren’t a band I listened to much. I couldn’t name a single song of theirs before I made my Irish artists playlist (coming soon), but somehow I recognized this one. It sent me back to sipping Frappuccinos in Barnes and Nobel Starbucks and not trying to be caught looking at the men’s interest magazines. I remember passing on this group when one of their live videos was really popular on VH1. Teenagers really don’t get adult contemporary.

TEMPT ME, TEASE ME. Watching the grainy video on YouTube today, I had some thoughts. The first thought I covered—how generically ‘90s the production sounds thanks to the auto tune. The sisters’ harmonies kind of meld into one and the personality is drained from the mix. The second was about how unexpectedly graphic the video teases. Silhouettes evoking naughtiness, trying to seduce some random “hot boy” in wife beater. All the while there’s the only guy in the band. That was the other thing I thought about was how cringy it is to make a “sexy video” as a family band. The focus of The Corrs, in this video at least,  is on the three sisters. Then there’s this older brother. Of course, the family band singing love songs for isn’t new, but singing about seduction is kind of awkward—unless it’s a joke. Anyway, my intention wasn’t to knock this song. It’s still very catchy and it reminds me of my childhood.  And it inspired me to check out The Corrs’ other albums, particularly their tradition-leaning first two albums. Because unlike teenage me, thirty-something me is all about adult contemporary.

 

Read “Breathless” by The Corrs on Genius