
Shawn Colvin’s ‘Whole New You’ Is a Revelation at 25
Shawn Colvin knows who she is, and she wasn’t about to start chasing someone else’s pop dreams. That’s what makes Whole New You so captivating still.

Shawn Colvin knows who she is, and she wasn’t about to start chasing someone else’s pop dreams. That’s what makes Whole New You so captivating still.
Shawn Colvin prepares an acoustic edition of her 1989 debut album, and discusses her transformation from impossibly eclectic singer to focused and formidable singer-songwriter.
The singer-songwriter's reworking of children's music by Alex Wilder is both simple and sophisticated, offering a renewal of a style of comforting pop that we simply don't hear much any more.
A 1996 classic, Shawn Colvin's album of mature pop is also one of best break-up albums, comparable lyrically and musically to Joni Mitchell's Hejira and Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.

Shawn Colvin’s challenge has not been dissimilar, although Whole New You is actually her sixth outing on Columbia. I