Love Hurts: Serena Ryder, 'Is It O.K.'

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SERENA RYDER SOUNDS like a young Melissa Etheridge on "Is It O.K.", her third full-length release. Channeling Etheridge's husky voice and gutsy lyrics is hardly a bad thing, though, and Ryder pulls it off stunningly here. These 13 tales are devastating love songs, full of hurt and betrayal — and, occasionally, a little glimmer of hope.

Like Etheridge, Ryder's greatest asset is her directness: she confesses her feelings to an indifferent lover on "Weak in the Knees" and apologizes for her inability to open up on "Why Can't I Love You."

Ryder was born in 1983, making her seem too young to have such a jaded view of relationships. But something about the depth of her voice makes her seem wiser than her years and gives her the ability to pull off such hopeless lines as the opening to "Sweeping the Ashes": "Wish you would've told me while I was young / when I had space to fill and someone to become."

It's the kind of dejection most mid-twenty-somethings couldn't achieve without sounding absurd, but Ryder channels an uncanny sense of experience and wisdom to make the line seem completely natural.

While Ryder isn't always completely disheartened, even on the more hopeful numbers she makes reference to darker times. "Brand New Love" is an ode to starting fresh in a new relationship by releasing old baggage that has a sassy, Alanis Morissette-ish feel to it. She professes her hope for love on "All for Love" in the midst of verses recounting her relationship failures, with a lilting sorrow reminiscent of Tori Amos' "Silent All These Years."

Four of the songs on "O.K." were released two years ago on the acoustic EP "Told You in a Whispered Song." The standout track on that release was the striking "Hiding Place," and Ryder has updated it here to an even more devastating declaration of unrequited love. As she chastises the object of her affection for his inability even to take a chance, she shows that she can see right through his excuses to his fear of getting hurt. Her measured delivery only adds to her penetrating lyrics, giving the sense that her wisdom comes from her remarkably accurate read on people — most especially, herself.

Written by Express contributor Catherine Lewis
Photos courtesy Atlantic

'All For Love' - Serena Ryder

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