John Barrowman I Am What I Am: A Practical Walk-Through of the Album
I Am What I Am is a studio album released by John Barrowman in 2012. It collects a mix of show tunes, standards, and pop numbers that he usually performs live, arranged for a proper recording environment rather than a stage setting. The album runs about 47 minutes and includes roughly thirteen tracks, though exact timing varies by edition. It sits somewhere between a cabaret record and a Broadway cast album in style, which matters if you are looking for something specific. I have been working with theatrical vocal recordings for over a decade. I deal with streaming metadata, artist discographies, and the general confusion around reissued versions of older albums. This one is no exception. You will find different track listings depending on where you look at them. Some editions drop a song or add a bonus track, which seems minor until you actually notice it and have to explain it to someone else.
Where John Barrowman I Am What I Am Falls In His Catalog
Barrowman first built his reputation as a performer in the UK stage scene, then transitioned into television and a solo music career. Before I Am What I Am, he released Several Lives in 2008, which covered a similar ground of standards and musical theater material. That album established his vocal style in recorded form. I Am What I Am expands on that foundation with slightly bigger production values and a more consistent track order. If you listen to both back to back, the differences are clear. The newer record sounds cleaner, the orchestra is tighter, and the vocal takes are less prone to the slight strain that showed up occasionally on the earlier release. The title track comes from La Cage aux Folles. Barrowman performs it with his usual directness, which means he does not over-sing. He lands the notes, controls the dynamics, and moves on. Some listeners expect more vibrato or a heavier belt on this kind of material. He does not give it to them. That is a deliberate artistic choice, not a technical limitation.
What Works On This Album And What Does Not
The stronger material is spread across the show tune cuts and the jazz-inflected standards. Songs like "If I Loved You" and "Being Alive" benefit from his background in musical theater. He understands phrasing and the relationship between text and melody. The pop covers that appear on the album feel like filler to me. They do not hurt the record, but they also do not add much beyond what you would get from any competent vocalist. I ran into a specific problem once when trying to track down the original pressings of this album for a client who wanted the exact track ordering from the first UK release. The digital store listings had changed, and Amazon's product pages showed a different version than the one listed on major streaming platforms. The workaround was straightforward but tedious. I compared the barcode across multiple databases, checked the Discogs entry for catalog variations, and verified the tracklist against theliner notes from the physical CD booklet. It took about forty minutes, which is annoying but not catastrophic. If you need a specific pressing, always verify the catalog number before you buy anything.
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Technical Details You Should Know Before Listening
The album was recorded in a studio environment rather than live, so there is no audience noise or vocal continuity issues you get from concert recordings. The mixing leans toward clarity and vocal-forward balance, which suits Barrowman's baritone range. However, some engineers tend to compress the low end too much on this kind of material, and this album is no total escape from that habit. The bass instrumentals can sound thin on cheap speakers. If you want to hear the actual orchestration, use a decent pair of headphones or a proper stereo setup. The difference is noticeable. One detail most reviews skip over is the mic technique. Barrowman's proximity effect works well here. He stays close to the microphone on the slower songs, which gives the voice warmth and body. On the uptempo numbers, he pulls back slightly to avoid peak distortion. Both decisions are correct for the material. A less experienced vocalist would not manage that dynamic distance consistently across an entire record.
How To Access The Album Legally
John Barrowman I Am What I Am is available on the major streaming platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. These services carry the standard album tracklist. The physical CD is harder to find now. You can order it from eBay or Amazon Marketplace from third-party sellers, but prices vary. Original pressings run higher than used copies from later regions. If you prefer digital ownership rather than streaming, the iTunes Store and Amazon Digital Music carry the album for purchase. Both allow you to download the tracks in MP3 or AAC format, depending on your choice at checkout. I will say this bluntly: do not bother searching for cracked files. The audio quality drops noticeably, and the metadata gets mangled. You lose track titles, artist names, and sometimes the album art altogether. The effort to fix it exceeds the price of a legal download by a wide margin. Pay for the album and keep the files clean.
Common Mistakes When Approaching This Album
People who come to Barrowman through Doctor Who or Torchwood sometimes expect a completely different listening experience. This album does not contain any soundtrack material from those shows. It is purely a vocal collection of standards and musical theater pieces. If you go in expecting sci-fi themes or TV tie-ins, you will be confused by the first five minutes. Start with an open mind and approach it as what it actually is: a vocal record from a trained stage performer. Another mistake is assuming the album is arranged for a large orchestra throughout. Some tracks feature just piano and voice, while others bring in a full ensemble. The production switches between these approaches without warning, which can jar listeners who prefer a uniform sound from start to finish. That is normal for this genre. Musical theater albums rarely maintain a single instrumental palette across every track.
Final Thoughts On Whether This Record Is Worth Your Time
It is worth it if you appreciate a vocalist who prioritizes clarity and emotional truth over sheer volume. It is not the right record if you want big belting or dramatic showboating. Barrowman does both when the material calls for it, but his instinct is restraint. That restraint makes the album more replayable than many show tune records, which tend to exhaust you after two or three listens. This one holds up because it does not overreach. I have recommended this album to students who want to study phrasing in popular standards, and it works. I have also listened to it on long car rides when I did not feel like engaging with complex material, and it fills that slot well too. The utility is broader than most people give it credit for.
