[blinker12]

I think there was a moment when Stevie could’ve gotten back to having the discipline and drive to write great songs again. That was circa 1995. Street Angel had tanked and there was no FM to fall back on (she’d quit anyway), giving her a wake up call that she needed to do something drastic to continue her career; meanwhile, she was finally off drugs and had the mental clarity and focus to write again. Out of this brief window came “Twisted” and “Love Is” and possibly “Trouble in Shangri-La,” all solid efforts. But then came “The Dance,” and the nostalgia machine took her to the top of the charts again with minimal effort on her part. No longer was there any urgency to reinvent herself or write new material, and she lost focus. There was a brief spark of creativity around SYW, with the “Phoenix Four” songs offering a glimmer of the old magic (well, three of the four of them anyway haha). Maybe she was trying to impress or at least keep pace with Lindsey. Then, mostly laurel resting and cowrites ever since.