You make everything simple with the greatest of ease

Before Heinz Winckler, winner of the first season of South Africa's Idols (previous posts here and here) decided he wanted to rock out, he was content to make cheesy little pop songs that never fail to lift my mood. You could argue that they're dated, but they're still adorable, and for that reason, I love his first album (which this post was almost about). However, it was on his second album, Come Alive, that I think he reached his artistic peak (that's a relative term--it's still not a particularly "artistic" album, though it's beautiful in parts). There are fewer songs on Come Alive that I listen to regularly, but those songs are some of my favorites of his. While the first album was cheesy happy pop and all the production you would expect for such songs, the second went for an uplugged feel (though that's not why I think it's his peak) and songs on it had some surprising twists. The following song may not have any twists, but it is, in my opinion, one of Heinz's best. It's also the song that took him (or appeared to take him) beyond one-album wonder, a fate many Idols fall into.

Can't Lose With You--as I think I've mentioned before, "Angel" is probably the best indication on the first album of the direction Heinz would take for this second album. Though thematically not similar, "Can't Lose With You" could be seen as Come Alive's "Angel" (though it gave no clue as to what the third album would sound like), but if it is, it also shows the growth in Heinz's material. When this song, the album's lead single, hit the radios, people were surprised that it could be Heinz singing it. One site I read jokingly suggested that Heinz must have gone off and taken singing lessons between the first and second albums and, although any young singer would be foolish not to work on improving their voice between albums, that just goes to show what a surprising comeback this was for Heinz. I'm not saying this is a particularly impressive (or demanding) vocal performance, but, listening to the song, you get the sense that Heinz had to really work to sing as well as he did for it. That sense of effort and struggle, though (even if only imagined on my part), only enhances the song, given its subject--it's like the boy who, in love with a girl, writes her a song and sings it in front of an audience in hopes of impressing her, desperate to do as well as he can. In real life, that situation would most likely be creepy or boring, but here, with a song this good, it works--it makes Heinz, or the character he's playing, more endearing. As for the song itself, it's basically just a simple acoustic guitar-based ballad--a pretty one, but one that probably shouldn't be as good as it is (though it's still nothing boundaries-shattering or life-changing). I think a lot of its appeal has to do with Heinz's delivery and tone; this could easily have been saccharine or dull, but it's not--instead, there's something achingly pretty about it.

(When I complained about Heinz's voice on the third album, it was somewhat related to this--it's not that he has a bad voice, just that it's better suited for certain types of songs than others, and for me, there are better male voices to accompany rock-out pop than his.)

To buy Heinz Winckler's second album, Come Alive, go here (physical). Incidentally, "Can't Lose With You" and "Drowning Me," another song on the album, make a perfect matched set, so, if you like this song, you might want to consider looking for the other.

Next up: something poppier, I think, or sort of dance-pop.