Shara Strand - Love Forever

​Shara Strand

Love Forever
self-released; 2025

By Jamie Funk
​

Shara Strand’s Love Forever is a big-hearted pop album that wears its intentions proudly. From the opening track to the final piano chords, every song seems to reach for the rafters, brimming with emotion, self-empowerment, and cinematic ambition. The production is glossy and highly structured, and there is a clarity of purpose running through the album that feels both earnest and unapologetically polished.

The album kicks off with “I Will Be Here,” which could easily score the closing credits of a feel-good family movie. It has that perfect blend of optimism and gentle reassurance, with lyrics that lean into the kind of emotional uplift listeners often seek when they’re trying to pull themselves back together. It’s sentimental, sure, but it also feels like it was made to help someone through something. That counts for something.

“My Green Light” shifts gears slightly, introducing a funkier bassline and a bounce that flirts with '90s R&B. I was surprised by how well that element sat inside the broader pop structure. It gave the song a bit of character. Then “Always Your Baby” leans into a classic synth-pop vibe, crisp and calculated in its arrangement, almost like a memory of a song you’ve heard before. It does not rewrite the genre’s rulebook, but it does not have to. It knows exactly what it wants to be.

“I Will Follow” was a standout for me, mostly because of how tightly it’s built around the hook. It’s a tailored pop single in the most traditional sense, and I mean that in a good way. It hits all the marks. “Anthem,” as the name suggests, goes wide. Acoustic instrumentation builds into a sort of folk-pop crescendo that reminded me a little of the heyday of Mumford and Sons. It is grand and sweeping, though perhaps not entirely unexpected.

“Happy Ending” tries to live up to its name, upbeat and full of major chords, while “Desperado” pulls things back, giving us a moment of relative stillness. That said, even its intimacy is laced with cinematic flourish. Strand rarely lets a quiet moment stay quiet. “Second Chances” and “Lioness” keep the tempo high, with “Lioness” being one of the catchiest tracks here. “Soul Dad” offers a more emotional turn, feeling like a true ballad, and “Ascended” closes the album in fitting fashion, aiming for something spiritual and final.

Love Forever is not trying to be coy or ironic. It is an album of emotional declarations, built for big feelings and big moments. Sometimes that kind of sincerity can feel refreshing.

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