Ms. Rachel is a 43 year old YouTuber, social media personality, educator, activist & singer/songwriter from Biddeford, Maine who has become the modern day Mr. Rogers from her channel surpassing 20M subscribers to sticking up for children that’ve been affected by the Gaza genocide. Her husband in Broadway music director & composer Aron Accurso producing an entire LP’s worth of children’s music however seemed to gain more anticipation than the full-length debut Let It Go, the sophomore effort I’m Up to No Good or the Over the Moon for You extended play combined.
The title track opens up with these colorful piano chords & choir vocals in the background singing about being in a good mood & nothing changing that whereas “I Love a Rainbow” featuring Mr. Aron finds the couple teaming up for a cheerful ode to rainbows over an instrumental that sounds like hotel lobby music. “Icky Sticky Bubble Gum” continued from there singing about the textures of chewing gum prior to “Phonics” running down the entire alphabet.
“Hop Little Bunnies” takes a more delicate approach altogether singing about waking up sleeping rabbits with this sweet 95 second tune while “Caterpillar” featuring Mr. Aron spends a couple minutes observing the beauty of moth/butterfly larva. “Up & Down” works in some more keys so the Accursos can teach the youth their directions leading into “Bubble Pop” whimsically singing about 4 fishes swimming in the water & pretending to be a number of different aquatic animals.
As for “Walkin’ at the Zoo”,’ we have both Ms. Rachel & Mr. Aron going on a zoo date together over some more pianos hanging behind them while “Open Shut Them” gives us their rendition of the classic nursery rhyme. “I Could Be Your Friend” reaches the midway point of I’m So Happy suggesting she can make companions out of anyone who’s listening while “I Listen to My Body” soulfully sings about paying attention whenever their bodily functions send a message to either of them.
“The Wheels on the Bus” featuring Mr. Aron of course dates back almost 9 decades ago with the Accursos putting their own spin on it while “Dino Play” featuring Mr. Aron sings about prehistoric life to continue the 2nd half. “Pop Those Bubbles” featuring Mr. Aron encourages all the kids popping the bubbles being blown their away before they hit the ground while “Old MacDonald” covers the traditional 1706 nursery rhyme of the same name.
Mr. Aron returns for “If You Should Meet an Elephant” to do some vocal harmonizing for over a minute while the aptly named “Counting to 20!” spends 56 seconds testing one’s ability to count to that specific number. After covering the 1780 spelling game “Bingo” & the mid-19th century folk song “Looby Loo” respectively, Ms. Rachel makes it clear that having “Big Feelings” are completely acceptable while “Together” explains the meaning of what she & Mr. Aron consider friendship. “I Love You to the Moon” concludes I’m So Happy expressing the gratitude she has for all of her supporters.
It’s completely understandable if this review shocks anyone since I’ve never covered children’s music up until this point & I may not have any kids of my own, but I do have a nephew turning 4 this fall who’s enjoyed a handful of Ms. Rachel’s videos in the past & get the feeling most parents will put on I’m So Happy for their little ones as much as Raffi or even They Might Be Giants for the foreseeable future since the Accursos managed to create a mix of newly written material along with renditions of traditional children’s songs.
Score: 3/5
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