Album review: Collabro - Love Like This

It's album review time and this week's choice is the fifth and most recent album by British musical theatre group Collabro called Love Like This which was released at the end of last year, it is unsurprisingly a collection of well known love songs. The group consists of Michael Auger, Jamie Lambert, Matthew Pagan and Thomas J. Redgrave. Collabro are a really popular in the UK with this album being their lowest charting at number 22 (possibly owed to a winter release compared to all the other albums being released in summer) their other four albums all went top 20 with three going top 10 and their debut album topped the charts.

I have actually been a fan of Collabro from the beginning, although I don't watch Britain's Got Talent which they won in 2014, I saw a YouTube clip of one of their performances and have like them since before they were famous. Their albums always consist of them covering songs in their own style, the songs are a mix of popular chart songs and songs from musicals and films. There are several things I love about the group, their style of musical theatre is the more operatic end which I love with them making every song work in their style every time. Each member of the group has a unique voice which they shine with in solos while also harmonising perfectly and when the songs change between leads it is a flawless shift every time. Plus they aren't afraid to cover current and hugely popular songs, on Love Like This there are four songs that were released in the two years leading up to the albums release, three of which are actually still in the UK top 100 (Perfect by Ed Sheeran, Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi and Shallow by Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper).

My favourite song on the album is their cover of Fix You, originally by Coldplay and covered by loads of people. This is a hugely popular song from a hugely popular band but I actually don't like Coldplay as a band, however Chris Martin's songwriting skills are amazing and I love a lot of their songs lyrically (one of my favourite songs is The Scientist by them but I listen to the Glee Cast version) this is one of their best. Collabro's version is perfect, the best version of the song I have heard as well, they sing it so perfectly and put so much emotion into it that the lyrics come to life, it's almost as if they are channelling the feelings Chris felt when writing it. They each have a solo in the verses and harmonise for each chorus, which really brings the song together as a whole.

Honourable mentions for this album are Perfect originally by Ed Sheeran and Can't Help Falling In Love With You originally by Elvis Presley and covered by countless others. I'll start with perfect, I like most of Ed Sheeran's music and this is one of my favourite songs buy him, so hearing Collabro do such a great job on the song was brilliant. This version is just so pure and effortless conveying every emotion once again with each member taking a verse and making it their own, pouring their own feelings into each word. I love Ed Sheeran's version but I can't get enough of Collabro's version, it is sublime. Now for I Can't Help Falling In Love With You, so I was raised on Elvis to say my mother is a massive fan is an understatement, she absolutely loves him, while I am not as big a fan I do enjoy his music. This song is probably my favourite Elvis song and is an undoubted popular classic which has been covered by hundreds of people over the years. Collabro's version is just beautiful with their perfect harmonies and stripped back instrumentation they convey everything in the same way Elvis did but completely their own way, an album of love songs would really be incomplete without this song.

To end then as usual I will put my rating for each song on the album, however I will also add in brackets my ratings for the originals for comparison;

1. Shallow - 8/10 (original by Lady GaGa & Bradley Cooper in 2018 - 6.5/10)

2. Someone You Loved - 7.5/10 (original by Lewis Capaldi in 2018 - 7.5/10)

3. My Heart Will Go On - 8.5/10 (original by Celine Dion in 1997 - 9.5/10)

4. Fix You - 10/10 (original by Coldplay in 2005 - 4/10)

5. A Million Dreams - 8.5/10 (original by Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams & Ziv Zaifman in 2017 - 9/10)

6. Perfect - 9.5/10 (original by Ed Sheeran in 2017 - 9/10)

7. Only Love Can Hurt Like This - 8.5/10 (original by Paloma Faith in 2015 - 9.5/10)

8. Can't Help Falling In Love With You - 9/10 (original by Elvis Presley in 1961 - 9/10)

9. Love Me Like You Do - 8.5/10 (original by Ellie Goulding in 2015 - 7/10)

10. Somewhere Only We Know - 8/10 (original by Keane in 2004 - 8/10, best by Lily Allen in 2013 - 9/10)

11. Hero - 8.5/10 (original by Enrique Iglesias in 2001 - 8.5/10)