<\/p>\n
Following her 2018 breakthrough, By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile embraced many roles: Brandi the Underdog, a singer who conquered the mainstream after a decade of hustling; Brandi the Steward, ushering in the resurgences of icons like Elton John, Tanya Tucker, and Joni Mitchell; Brandi the Author, with her 2021 bestselling memoir; and Brandi the Collaborator, following her supergroup the Highwomen and her production work with Brandy Clark and Lucius.<\/p>\n
None of these roles left much space for Brandi the Artist, or Brandi the Person. That\u2019s the thesis of Returning to Myself, Carlile\u2019s eighth solo album. It\u2019s a frequently moving, occasionally spellbinding, and sporadically frustrating statement that represents Carlile\u2019s finest work since By the Way. But it\u2019s more than a return to form, pointing toward new textures in Carlile\u2019s voice, sense of melody, and instincts as a co-producer (alongside heavyweights Aaron Dessner and Andrew Watt).<\/p>\n
More from Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n See \u201cNo One Knows Us,\u201d the album\u2019s memoiristic centerpiece (\u201cEighties movies and Everclear\/What if we\u2019re gay?\u201d), and the one that best utilizes the yin-yang of Dessner and Watt. Other highlights: the gorgeous verse melody on soft rocker \u201cHuman,\u201d the hushed acoustic ballad \u201cAnniversary,\u201d and \u201cYou Without Me,\u201d a gut-punch meditation on parenting adapted from her recent Elton John collaboration: \u201cHeavy are the hands,\u201d she sings, \u201cthat you are free to slip right through.\u201d<\/p>\n Returning to Myself is at its best when most committed to Carlile\u2019s interiority. When it strays from that, namely on the Joni Mitchell tribute \u201cJoni,\u201d its premise gets diluted. And while the Eighties arena rocker \u201cChurch & State\u201d is a clear future live set piece, it also feels slightly out of place.<\/p>\n That\u2019s mostly because the rest of this album\u00a0 feels so of a piece. In the Dessner-influenced \u201cA War With Time,\u201d Carlile sneaks the album\u2019s thesis into a sweet reflection on a trip she took to New York as a young adult: \u201cWhen you find yourself alone,\u201d she sings, \u201cretrace your steps and come back home.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Rolling Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for RollingStone’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following her 2018 breakthrough, By the Way, I Forgive You, Brandi Carlile embraced many roles: Brandi the Underdog, a singer who conquered the mainstream after a decade of hustling; Brandi the Steward, ushering in the resurgences of icons like Elton John, Tanya Tucker, and Joni Mitchell; Brandi the Author, with her 2021 bestselling memoir; and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2114216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[361226,354643,390385,22650,305426,321295],"class_list":["post-2114215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-andrew-watt","tag-brandi-carlile","tag-brandy-clark","tag-elton-john","tag-joni-mitchell","tag-tanya-tucker"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Brandi-Carlile-Finds-Her-Way-\u2018Back-Home-on-Her-Moving.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2114215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114217,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114215\/revisions\/2114217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2114216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2114215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2114215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2114215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}