(11 March 2003) Chantal Kreviazuk's third album What If It All Means Something (Columbia Records (USA) CK 086482, 2003) is an ten plus one bonus track collection that was initially released in Canada on the parent label to critical acclaim during 2002. The album has drawn significant attention from media in the run up to its USA release on April 23, 2003.

What If It All Means Something showcases the emotional terrain of someone who not only feels deeply but has the guts to explore those feelings and the talent to articulate them. With her sometimes delicate, sometimes dramatic soprano, Chantal delivers the richly arranged piano ballads she's best known for while charting new musical courses, trusting her inner vission to lead the way. Wher "In This Life" is an ode to unconditional devotion, "Julia" and "Miss April" take on the ironies of celebrity. "Weight of the World" is a giddy adieu to burdens and baggage. The passionate "Time" embraces a seize-the-moment those while the offbeat, Asian-accented "Ready for Your Love" reveals in complete surrender.

Certain album standouts are the two tracks that open the album. "In This Life" and the title track that follows are upbeat, pop-oriented rocking ballads with Kreviazukian-styled piano- and guitar-based arrangements. Aching solo vocals in the verses are perfectly contrasted by lush harmony layers in the choruses. "Weight Of The World" is equally outstanding. Delightful.

Chantal is classically trained on piano up through her college years. She began writing in earnest while recuperating from an accident. Some of the songs that came alive during that period wound up on Under These Rocks and Stones, her 1997 debut. Her second release Colour Moving and Still brought the artist Best Female Artist and Best Pop/Adult Album at the 2000 Juno Awards.

Perhaps the most personally delightful new direction Chantal took in creating What If It All Means Something was to collaborate with her husband, Raine Maida (frontman for Our Lady Peace). "It happened really naturally but very prolifically--we just banged them out," Chantal says. "We weren't even like, 'Let's site doan and write a song.' We'd just be jamming and things would pop out." Unfortunately, not every song has such joyous roots. "'Flying Home' is about my cousin who died suddenly last year," Chantal reveals. "She was like a sister and my best friend--I wrote the song on the plan, going to her funeral." The poignant track, "In This Life," is about seeing the potential and beauty in a person and accepting them for who they are, and saying you will be there no matter what."

To balance the complexities of her nature, Chantal sought to keep her sound pure and pristing finding the ideal producer in Gregg Wattenberg (Five for Fighting). With What If It All Means Something, Chantal Kreviazuk comes fully into her own, inviting her listeners--both longtime fans and intrigued newcomers--to experience the world as she sees it. "I think it's the kind of record you put on at the end of the evening and you're part of it. it evokes something in you," she says. "People do different things do different types of music. I hope that mine is the kind of music that you feel to."

Read further reviews, listen to soundbites and order the album from amazon.com here. Clearly worth a trans-Atlantic journey, this album is a must listen!