Album Review.
Likes: Believe in Me, In the Morning, If We Had Your Eyes, Say Yes
Overall: A fresh, strong body of work that can appeal to both secular & spiritual audiences

Michelle Williams returns to her contemporary gospel grain with Journey to Freedom. As usual, it’s so audibly noticeable that Williams knows exactly who she is as an artist and has a clear projection and directive in mind. With songwriter/producer Harmony Samuels at Freedom’s helm, the music is as ripe as ever and an unconventional, intriguing approach to spiritual content. The “This isn’t your mama’s church music-ness” is most evident on “Everything” and “Fall,” which takes its cue from trap hip-hop. The production may be untraditionally more secular, but the lyrics are still lush with biblical references and matter relatable to those staunch in Christianity. It’s difficult to appeal to multiple, alternate audiences without coming off as patronizing, gimmicky or inauthentic, but Williams exudes genuine energy. I grew up in a fairly conservative Christian household, but was never an avid listener of gospel or religious music. Sometimes, it was a little cheesy to me or exclusive. I can get through a Michelle Williams record because her presentation is accessible and palpable. Another continual strength of hers, as heard on this album, is that most of the tracks are likable. On each of my reviews, I list the songs I liked and disliked with an overall synopsis. If there are songs I’m absolutely over the moon for, I’ll label them as “Favorites.” While I didn’t have any hard-pressed favorites, I had trouble narrowing down my “likes” and many of the songs linger in my head. Vocally, Williams is a conundrum to what we’re used to hearing (especially in R&B, soul and gospel): she’s a perceptible soprano, but her trademark raspy tone is more typical of an alto. For this, some listeners may deem her voice to be either especially unique or an acquired taste. In any case, Williams should be given credit for knowing what she she’s doing and that Journey to Freedom is a pleasurable, consistent work on its own and as a part of her discography. 

Album Review.
Likes: Best Mistake, Be My Baby, Break Your Heart Right Back
Dislikes: Break Free, Love Me Harder
Overall: Ariana doesn’t sound enthused, therefore it’s hard for the listener to be

Considering “My Everything” comes just 1 year (5 days short to be exact) after Ariana Grande’s debut, “Yours Truly,” I shouldn’t be surprised or annoyed that it has a lot of the same issues (with a few more added to the list), but alas, I am. It’s aggravating as hell that Grande doesn’t know what to do with her gorgeous chops. I’ve never heard someone sing with such a bewildering dearth of enthusiasm and personality. Her lethargy highlights the generics and weaknesses in the material, making the deciding difference from liking or loving the songs. It also keeps her from being distinct beyond mimicking Mariah Carey. Her marketing and creative direction teams clearly haven’t figured out who she is either, going from 0-100 with sexuality and slapping flavorless EDM (electronic dance music) on the record. Following “Yours Truly,” a frequent criticism was that Grande relied too heavily on throwback R&B samples for hits and was postured juvenilely, both musically and in image (ponytails and sweet 16 party dresses). So the answer was to turn to opposite extremes? Why avert from the 1 thing that could be Grande’s designation instead of tweaking the sound from throwback R&B-sampled to throwback R&B-inspired? Why go from fairly innocent to something like Kelly Rowland’s “Motivation” (“Love Me Harder”), when she can remain accessible to multiple age groups with a well-written, moderately-sensual love song (ex. Mariah Carey’s “Honey”)? The album’s tracklist is just as bi-polar. The intro is floating and dreamy, hinting at a romantic journey….then “Problem,” a song about getting the courage to dump a guy, comes on. It flip-flops in subject from there. With a little rearrangement, “My Everything” just might tell a story. Consistency was applied in an area that didn’t need it--stylistically, there’s an EDM trio (Grande’s voice is most bland on “Break Free”), trailed by an R&B trio, then ballads sandwiched between 1 of each genre. The deluxe edition has 3 extra tracks that help the album seem more complete. Curiously, the charting single “Bang Bang” with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, is 1 of them. The premise of “You Don’t Know Me,” 1 of 2 songs co-penned by Grande, is amusing with lyrics like “If you want a perfect picture to believe in, then you can't be looking for me then… I know you don't like it…you don't know where I've been, it's my life…the girl you see in photographs is only a part of the one I am, don't judge me…,” as if she’s been around long enough and reached the megastar status to resent role-model expectations and fighting brutal scrutiny under the spotlight. Yes, she was on the Nickelodeon series Victorious for 3 years, but she wasn’t the main character or even the main character’s best friend. She was a lead on the spinoff “Sam & Cat,” but that lasted for only 1 season. Basically, she isn’t anywhere near having the Britney Spears experience right now. It’s not quite time for “Kill the Lights.” The title track isn’t worthy of being so; it’s kind of skip-able and weirdly the shortest cut besides the intro.

This record isn’t garbage, but my ears are bored and restless sitting in this environment of indifference in mainstream pop. It’s especially frustrating when all it takes is a few nips and tucks to push an album or song from, as I said earlier, “like” to “love.” This is a small detail, but even the cover artwork for both of Grande’s LP’s are similar! We’re not even putting effort into the artwork?! I understand that Republic Records wants to get it while it’s hot, but the plate’s going to cool off if you run around with it. If they’re going to make Grande release albums at a rapid pace, they need to at least make a few changes. Go from sampled to inspired, mature her gradually and help her improve her stage and studio presence. Give her Powerade, a Snickers or something. Since she’s one of the few newer artists with actual vocal ability, I’ll still hang on. 

Every year on or around January 16th and August 25th, I usually do something to commemorate the life of R&B singer Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001. Since I’ve had this blog, I’ve written tribute pieces, trying to describe and relay to my audience why Aaliyah was so important to music, to me and why losing her still impacts me to this day, but it seems there are never enough words to fully convey it. For those who adore and appreciate her as I do, I need not explain, but there are many who the significance is lost upon (for various reasons). These people were once again mystified when there was such a strong reaction to news of the production and casting of an Aaliyah biopic on the Lifetime network.

For years, there were stirrings that some form of a film was in the making. Fans were split about whether or not a movie should happen. Some were flat-out against the idea, saying “let her rest.” Others formed their opinion based on how Aaliyah’s family felt (the latest statement was given by Aaliyah’s cousin and record label associate, Jomo Hankerson, who said the desire was for a major studio release, not a TV movie). The remaining portion of her followers were adamant about seeing Aaliyah’s story onscreen, but only if it was done “right:” a non-salacious and quality script, brilliant actors with close-enough likeness and involvement with her family and/or close friends, like her primary creative partners, Missy Elliott and Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley. A similar reactionary effect would occur anytime there were rumors of posthumous music. Hankerson ceased development of an alleged duet album produced by Drake and Noah “40” Shebib that would pair Aaliyah’s unreleased vocals with various artists after a backlash from fans and disapproval from her immediate family. Despite Drake making his adulation for Aaliyah extraordinarily known, fans just weren’t comfortable with anyone touching her music but Elliott and Mosley. To put it lightly, there was a less-than-enthusiastic response in June to 17-year-old Disney star Zendaya Coleman being cast as Aaliyah for the Lifetime project, with complaints that she may not have the acting chops, didn’t resemble Aaliyah enough and wasn’t the proper race even (Coleman is half black and half white). Let me just say, though I didn’t think Coleman was the best fit, she is a very talented young lady and claiming that she isn’t “black enough” because of part of her lineage and sending her hate messages is divisive, ignorant and cruel. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program…showing how guarding of the Aaliyah brand Zendaya is herself as a fellow devotee, she pulled out of the film, stating “…the production value wasn’t there, there were complications with the music rights, and I just felt like it wasn’t being handled delicately considering the situation…I tried my best to reach out to the family on my own and I wrote a letter, but I was unable to do so, therefore, I felt not really morally okay with moving forward with the project.”

Why is it all such a big deal? Why are we so protective when it comes to all things Aaliyah? We have different ideas on how things should be handled posthumously, but it’s all for the same reason. It’s because her story is unfinished. We got 2 fantastic albums that left us terribly yearning for another. When Aaliyah took a hiatus to reportedly finish school (she was really a teenager, huh?), many begged “When are you coming back?!” There was so much excitement about the things to come (which included a budding acting career) once there was buzz she had returned to the studio. We were eager to be reunited with our princess, our “cool older sister,” our BFF in our heads. We were granted with a simply timeless self-titled record after 5 years in July 2001, but just 39 days later, Aaliyah died. She was only 22….22. Her style and musical contributions to the history of R&B are indelible and iconized (a little more on that in a moment), but there’s a heartbreaking sense of unfulfillment because we knew the carving in the wood would’ve been driven even deeper. That’s why there are dozens of articles from magazines and blogs hypothesizing how our musical lives would’ve changed or been enhanced had she lived. In “Rock&Rant: Hip-Hop Killed R&B,” I suggested that R&B lost its identity while meshing with hip-hop.  Considering that Aaliyah was 1 of the pioneering figures in R&B’s hip-hop merger, could the influence of her ever-novel work with Missy and Timbaland have kept the genre from going off-course? We knew what she was, we knew what we had and we wanted the world outside of our own to see it, and since Aaliyah is not here to execute that dream, we circumspectly appraise anyone (or anything) that attempts to do it for her. We don’t want her narrative and definition to be altered or presented in a way that is not true to her essence.