"Brave" by Nichole Nordeman from Brave

"So long, status quo" "The way it always was is no longer good enough—You make me wanna be brave!" Great verses speak of many of the skittishness many of us fight, particularly when speaking of the Gospel, and the chorus admits a rejection of that "status quo."

"Brave," one of Nichole Nordeman's best songs, sounds like it might meld the music overmuch, but it's still catchy and varied. The little discernable piano under the pop rock is beautiful, like Nichole Nordeman's alto.

She gives some of her best singing, lyrics, and music in "Brave." Her time off for her infant son has brought her back with the precise same style but lack of sameness she started with in 2000.

"Every storm will start with just a drop of rain," she reminds the listener, countering the common argument that an individual can't make that big a difference. Each person can make a difference, she insists, and God gives us the bravery we need.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 9/10

"Sunrise" by Nichole Nordeman from Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman

Touching speedy piano starts out this pop song from honest Christian singer Nichole Nordeman. Why "honest"? She's brutally direct on the conflict of the Christian's life, of her own life.

"How would I know the morning if I knew not midnight?" she asks in "Sunrise." And that is why Nichole Nordeman wouldn't "take a different road, bear a lighter load" if she "had the chance." God alone "is sunrise," He "alone can resurrect" her heart. None of us like the dark points in life, but she reminds us that we cannot know the brightness of the light without first knowing the dark.

Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman might be well-named if "Sunrise" aptly represents the rest. This may be the best song beginning I've heard in any of her songs, even if it devolves into comparatively middling quality, from her chorus. The chorus may have the annoyingly characteristic drop in music quality, but the verses are lovely with the few different layers that underline them.

Nichole Nordeman uncompromisingly speaks of real life with her usual soothing alto. The touching beginnig draws you into the rest of the song as she guides the hearer through darkness into the Light. Besides the less-than-great chorus music that brings down the quality of the music overall, the only complaint to be made might be a bit of cliché and repetitive imagery. But that won't bother everyone.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Legacy" by Nichole Nordeman from Woven and Spun

"It wouldn't matter much," Nichole Nordeman admits of worldly accomplishments, even of being added to "all the 'who's who's' and so-and-so's who used to be the best at such-and such." Sure, we may long for it, but what ultimately matters is a legacy of pointing to Christ.

Nordeman once again shows her skillful flair for songwriting with "Legacy" on Woven and Spun. Dripping with the conflict of a Christian's life, she's brutally honest to what we tend to care for and what we should care for—and she doesn't exempt herself from that group.

Her soothing alto sings strongly as she includes herself in the questions she's asking her listeners. More accurately, it's in asking herself that she brings her listeners to ask themselves, what do they put their trust in?

Nichole Nordeman has distinctly improved her piano-based pop since such hits as "Wide Eyed" on, for example, her first album. That's not to say the style's changed; it hasn't. It's still not great music; she unfortunately lets her skill at piano get drowned out. As usual.

Piano and violins still provide a lovely background to the soft rock more geared for young adults than teens, though mature teens will likely enjoy it. I did, and still do.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 8/10

"This Mystery" by Nichole Nordeman from This Mystery

"Say goodnight to the light of the setting sun," Nichole Nordeman starts with the pop piano accompanying her in "This Mystery." Life gets so repetitive and routine like a "revolving door that won't slow down." It's so easy to fall prey to comfort and trust in the routine and forget that a "nice and clean" routine will never be enough. We must live in Christ.

The lines of routine must fall for us to live in Him. We can't trust in the routine to save us—but, knowing that, we often fall prey to doing the precise thing that can't save us. Nichole Nordeman isn't afraid to remind us that we can't stay in our comfortable little bubbles in this, her second CD.

It's not her best song, as far as lyrics go; she has many much more powerful songs and ones with tighter imagery. All the images refer to the same thing here, rather than the progression she often does. And some won't agree theologically with her statement that God "tr[ies] and tr[ies] to invoke us to live in" Him.

Nonetheless, she still shows her pretty alto and piano skill in this song. It's just muted by unnecessary other focuses in the music. That's not to call This Mystery a bad CD (for Nichole Nordeman)—her voice is a easier to hear than it was in much of Wide Eyed, and many other songs on This Mystery make up for the less-than-ideal title track.

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 6/10

"Wide Eyed" by Nichole Nordeman from Wide Eyed

"She left me wide eyed" the first time I heard this song. Even after years of raising the bar for what qualifies as "good" music to me, "Wide Eyed," like many of Nichole Nordeman's songs, still holds its place in my favorites as a contemporary Christian song that's surprisingly good for being, well, contemporary Christian music. Nichole Nordeman reveals her refusal to be the standard substandard of her genre even in this, her debut CD.

Sure, the music isn't great, but it's decent, tailored enough to the song that you can recognize "Wide Eyed" within seconds of it coming on the radio once you know it. There are hints of nice background music, but it's not nearly as nice as it could have been, disappearing more than it appears through the song. Nichole Nordeman has been classified as gospel, pop, and rock—though I think piano-based pop might be the best description.

Her voice isn't always the easiest to distinguish, either, which is unfortunate. The song's attraction was obviously meant to be Nichole Nordeman's voice as she conveys a very thought-provoking message, and she does have a very soothing alto.

Nichole Nordeman obviously intended Wide Eyed for an older audience. The thoughtful, ironic, and concise lyrics may end up making younger listeners seek dictionaries or scratch their heads. I know it took me awhile to understand the song entirely when I was a measely preteen. That doesn't make the lyrics shoddy—in fact, their piercing honesty make her one of the top Christian songwriters.

Lines like "When I met him on a sidewalk, he was preaching to a mailbox" and "He told me he was Jesus, sent from Jupiter to free us, with a bottle of tequila and one shoe" assume the listener has the intelligence to figure it out. She lets the ministory of each verse (like the one quoted) produce its natural reaction, aided by a slight word alterations in the chorus each time. Yes, it's natural to laugh at such people, she admits, and to forget that they, too, are humans who need Christ, but… had we lived 2 milennia ago, might we have laughed at Jesus?

Nichole Nordeman makes no pretntions as she addresses issues that might be outside our comfort zones. She's not afraid to make Christian listeners think about their application of faith to life, nor to break the substandard mold for Christian music while doing it.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 3/5
Overall: 7/10