Whitney’s first show at the O2 in London was a rollercoaster ride, and offered a very different experience according to your demographic and whether you won the seat roulette on the O2′s internet booking system. There were the die-hard fans on the floor having a fantastic time, hanging on every note and rooting for her when the cracks later appeared, but then there were the 40 somethings who haven’t bought a Whitney album since The Bodyguard in 1992 and were expecting the pristine perfection of her 80s heyday. It’s a measure of Whitney’s appeal and ability to transcend generations, but it also proved problematic.
So while the kids jumped around to show openers For The Lovers and Nothin’ But Love from her latest album, the Magic FM contingent remained nonplussed. And when the first ballads of the night – a rousing Look To You delivered with passion and gusto, but with the high notes missing – appeared, they remained stony faced with lack of recognition, for the song and for her voice.
At 39, Mary J Blige unfortunately finds herself in danger of being replaced on the airwaves by some surgically-enhanced autotuned chick at the whim of notoriously ageist and sexist radio programmers.
So with her ninth studio album, Mary is clearly fighting to stay relevant, with calculated guest raps from T.I. and Drake. Which is not to say that Mary has turned out an album of hip-hop samples and clumsy hooks. For the most part, Stronger With Each Tear has immediate melodies, with classic bass and piano arrangements.
And here’s a thing: Mary’s expressive, churchy voice just gets better and better, with good taste and judgement displayed on when to stick to the melody and when to let rip. And when she does, there is a clarity and bird-like quality on the highest notes which wasn’t there in her early days.
As ever, Mary is best on the midtempo odes to love and heartbreak such as Each Tear and I Am. The uptempos sound rather forced, and the whole enterprise sounds like the second attempt in a row to recreate the sounds and success of her remarkable The Breakthrough album. Which is a backward step – at the start of her career, each Mary album had its own distinct feel.
It’s when Mary moves away from the constraints of what will work on American R&B radio that she is truly at her most creative. “Never let a girl cook in ya kitchen” she warns in Kitchen, displaying a humour too often absent in the serious world of R&B.
But Mary’s sheer passion explodes on the haunting, Motown-inspired retro soul of Colors. Possibly truly inspired by the weepy movie Precious for which it was recorded, Colors is so intense it wipes the floor with anything she’s recorded in ten years. It’s a real shame that a similar passion does not run through the veins of the rest of the tracks.
She’s teased us like this before, channelling Aretha to earth shattering effect on the similarly retro I Found My Everything on The Breakthrough. So while Stronger With Each Tear is just good enough, maybe it’s time for a new, possibly retro direction – Back to Black without the drugs references, perhaps.
That new direction may only come when she no longer has to please radio programmers and record company accountants, but it’s something we can look forward to with relish. In the meantime, she should at least drop the rent-a-rapper nonsense.
The Noughties saw the rise of downloading single tracks make the long-playing record an endangered art form. Slowly but surely, the record industry realised that to sell albums, you need to produce an all-killer, no filler opus so the entire record is a must have, not just a few tracks. Sadly, all too few artists realised this, but there were some significant and groundbreaking records released nonetheless, which gave hope that the album will survive.
My criteria for the top 10 was: a) did I play the album obsessively without skipping tracks; b) does it stand the test of time (bye-bye Craig David) and c) no greatest hits collections were allowed.
1) Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (2006)
Amy’s first album Frank threatened greatness, and Back to Black delivered on the promise, with a retro-Motown sound and lived-in jazz-inspired vocals. One of Back to Black’s biggest triumphs was the clever, often impenetrable lyrics, the quintessentially British self-deprecation was truly refreshing. This was in stark contrast to the by-numbers tales of heartbreak or girl power anthems American female R&B artists were serving up at the time. Introspection, addiction and self-loathing dripped from every note, making Back to Back a true soul record that inspired a queue of retro-girl singers, as labels tried – and failed – to reproduce the Winehouse magic. Standout tracks: Back to Black, Me And Mr Jones, Wake Up Alone
2) Alicia Keys – Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)
Keys’s career was launched in 2001 in a blaze of publicity, and latent promise not fully realised in her patchy debut album. Her second album proved to be a non-stop selection of well crafted tracks that mixed contemporary R&B and hip hop with neo soul, with beautiful piano arrangements throughout. Vocally, Keys is no big belting diva, but she used what she had to the very best of her ability, dwelling on nuance and the ambience a vocal creates rather than power notes. With her contemporaries churning out increasingly plastic R&B, Keys reminded us what true talent and soul was all about. Standout tracks: So Simple, If I was Your Woman, Samsonite Man
3) Faith Evans – Faithfully (2001)
It’s a sign of Faith Evans’ artistry that Faithfully figures so highly here, but it still isn’t her best album (that accolade goes to 1995′s Faith), yet her sales and profile remain frustratingly low. On Faithfully, she thankfully eschewed previous attempts at radio-friendly mainstream balladry and returned to her roots in hip hop soul. It is sample-heavy, but while many singers at the time were letting the sample dominate with disjointed vocal hooks cut and pasted over the top, Evans and her contributors built lush vocal arrangements and strong melodies which let Evan’s sublime, honey-toned soprano soar. Evans remains a largely unsung heroine of R&B. Standout tracks: I Love You, Where We Stand, Can’t Believe 4) Mary J Blige – The Breakthrough (2005)
Like Winehouse, Mary J Blige delivered the album of her career (1993’s My Life) while suffering through addiction and a troubled relationship. But some might say an even bigger triumph is to craft a superb album when your life is back on track. With the list of contributors reading like a telephone directory, the album could have been a multi-producer mess, but it was bound together by top-notch quality control in terms of track selection and Blige’s markedly improved voice, which was the real breakthrough of this record. Previously noted for bum notes and cracks, Blige sang like she never had before, but retained a raw authenticity that is too often polished out in modern R&B. Standout tracks: Be With You, One, I Found My Everything
5) Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
While his first solo album campaign was “inspired” by Michael Jackson, for his second solo album, Justin and producer Timbaland channelled the sparse funk of early, pre-Purple Rain prince, with the addition of swirling ice-cool 80s synths. In an era of “throw several producers at the wall and see what sticks” albums, the fact that Timbaland and his cohort Danja produced nearly all of the tracks gave the album an impressive consistency. Timberlake’s endearing falsetto (also recalling Prince) was on top form throughout. The album’s influence cannot be underestimated, with those synths spreading all over R&B records like a rash. Standout tracks: SexyBack, Chop Me Up, What Goes Around Comes Around 6) Aaliyah – Aaliyah (2001)
Although Timbaland was again present and correct on the Aaliyah album with the best single of the decade Try Again, the quirky We Need A Resolution and the smooth I Care For You, the tracks produced by Steve “Static” Garrett often beat Tim at his own game. In particular the sublime slow jam Rock The Boat, and the half-ballad. half-uptempo Those Were The Days. And though Aaliyah was no Aretha, her succinct, sultry soprano imbued the electronic production with considerable warmth. Aaliyah was released just a few weeks before her tragic death at just 22. Naturally the previously underperforming album then enjoyed something of a resurgence, proving once again that we don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Standout tracks: Try Again, Read Between The Lines, Rock The Boat
7) Richard X – Presents his X Factor (2003)
Albums headlined by producers with guest vocalists can often be self-indulgent, sprawling and disjoined, but Richard X with his “bastard pop” formula, bucked the trend. Although essentially a massive collection of samples and cover versions, the genius was in the execution. For instance, taking the backing track for Human League’s Being Boiled and getting reality show rejects Liberty X to sing Chaka Khan’s Aint Nobody over the top sounded none too promising, but the overall effect was weirdly incredible. Despite the myriad samples, the album felt incredibly fresh and tightly produced throughout. Standout tracks: Finest Dreams, Freak Like Me, Walk on By
8) Lina – Stranger on Earth
In the 90s, R&B saw New Jack Swing and the rise of Hip Hop Soul. It is however rather more difficult to pinpoint a movement in noughties R&B, with most artists playing it very safe. In 2001, Lina threatened to turn R&B on its head with a quirky fusion of pre-war jazz and modern R&B. The proportions of old and new fluctuated with each track, and Lina’s voice which combined Billy Holiday with a pop sensibility delighted throughout. Sadly, the album failed to take off and R&B continued along its largely humdrum path, which is a real shame. Standout tracks: Playa No Mo’ Bye Be Baby, I’m Not The Enemy
9) Whitney Houston – I Look To You
After a hugely successful 90s, the noughties saw little in the way of new studio output from Whitney, save for 2002’s misguided Just Whitney album. But as the decade drew to a close she dramatically returned with an incredibly solid collection of pop-dance, classic balladry and contemporary midtempo R&B. The material never reached the heady heights of the hit tracks from her 1998 My Love is Your Love album, but it avoided its lows too. The voice – though huskier and diminished in range from her 80s heyday, had far more emotional depth, with top-notch, almost chameleon like interpretation. In particular, on the ballads, I Look To You and Didn’t Know My Own Strength, it was clear to see that this was a woman that had lived. Standout tracks: Salute, Million Dollar Bill, I Look To You Full review here
10) Ne-Yo- Year Of The Gentleman (2008)
Ne-Yo emerged as one of the major writing and production talents in pop music in the noughties, serving up hits for Beyonce and Rihanna, among others. He also released three solo albums, and while the first two felt like leftovers from recording session with other artists, on Year of The Gentleman, Ne-Yo kept some of the best tracks for himself. While the hit Closer experimented with European dance club sounds, the rest of the album stood out as thoroughly crafted, slickly crooned R&B with Ne-Yo’s ear for a great melody very much in evidence from start to finish. Standout Tracks: Part of The List, Miss Independent, Single
Honourable mentions: Kelis – Tasty (2003) – her Milkshake brought all the boys to the yard Jamelia – Thank You (2003) – successful British take on American pop/R&B Craig David – Born To Do It (2000)- from garage 2-step to polished R&B, exuded freshness Faith Evans – The First Lady (2005) – her fourth great studio album in a row The Artful Dodger – It‘s All About The Stragglers (2000) – the definitive documentation of the short-lived British garage 2-step revolution Nelly Furtado Loose (2006) – another Timbaland triumph Alicia Keys – The Element Of Freedom (2009) – a massive return to form
The noughties saw the rise of illegal, then legal downloading blow the record industry’s “buy rubbish CD with 3 good songs on it” business model to smithereens. There was major cross-pollination between pop, hip-hop and R&B so that genre demarcations became rather muddied. But what the noughties wasn’t short of was good tunes, which will make the industry survive whatever technology can throw at it. Here are my Top 50:
1 Try Again – Aaliyah feat Timbaland (2000, UK #5)
The best song of the noughties arrived only seven months into the decade, with this tightly produced Timbaland epic. Infectious weird electronic sounds, sampled strings and the late Aaliyah’s simple, to the point vocal made this the unsurpassed R&B/pop treat of the decade. The first of many Timbaland productions in my Top 50.
2 Umbrella – Rihanna feat Jay-Z (2007, #1)
The Bajan songstress fought with esteemed artists such as Mary J Blige for the right to record this track. And it was a fight worth winning, because her ice queen vocals and the tough R&B production made this an immense multiple-weeks-at-number-one success, but you never tire of hearing it.
3 1 Thing – Amerie (2005, #4)
Fomerly a purveyor of sublime slow-jams, Amerie shocked us with this corking uptempo. Absolutely frenetic, with sampled live instruments and almost chipmunk vocals.
4 Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis (2007, #1)
Before Leona, X Factor winners traditionally knocked out a quick album of cover versions in time for Mother’s Day. Inspired by Leona’s immense singing talent, Cowell & co searched for quality material and hit the nail on the head with this anthemic, tragic midtempo ballad which showed off that voice to a tee.
Kings of the late noughties R&B track remixes, Freemasons covered Alanis Morisette with electrifying soulful results, with the fragile girl vocals playing second fiddle to the immense Freemasons piano-driven beats.
6 Hey Ya – Outkast (2003, #3)
A novelty single for sure, but one that is one big, bright, retro collection of hooks. The line “shake it like a polaroid picture” has dated beautifully.
7 Cry Me A River – Justin Timberlake (2003, #2)
More superb Timbaland goodness – mournful chanting, cheeky beats, Justin’s surprisingly soulful falsetto, and a Britney-baiting video.
8 Get Ur Freak On – Missy Elliott (2001, #4)
The third Timbaland produced track in my top 10. Inspired use of bhangra samples, coupled with Missy’s quirkiness and sense of humour – something often lacking in Hip Hop.
9 Milkshake – Kelis (2004, #2)
Her Milkshake certainly brought all the boys to the yard, but Kelis is still to have a big hit album in the US. Will her genius ever be recognised?
10 Heartbreak Hotel - Whitney Houston featuring Faith Evans and Kelly Price (2001, #25)
Whitney’s 1999 US smash hit wasn’t released as a single in the UK until 2001, by which point the song was a widely owned as an album track so the moment had passed. A shame, because the delicious three-part harmonies and churchy ad-libs on this urban slow jam deserved greater exposure.
11 Buttons – The Pussycat Dolls (2006, #3)
Who’d have thought that a ropey troupe of burlesque dancers of mostly limited musical talent would make one of the greatest pop/R&B songs of the decade?
12 Stronger Sugababes (2002, #7)
Dripping with Massive Attack style strings and electronic bleeps, this mournful ballad is one of a collection of gems in the chequered Sugababes history.
13 He Wasn’t Man Enough – Toni Braxton (2000, #5)
One of the high watermarks of the late 90s trend for R&B divas to record man-bashing kiss-off tunes, Braxton’s breathy alto and banging Rodney Jerkins production made this a delight.
14 Addictive (f: Rakim) – Truth Hurts (2002, #5)
If you’re going to be a one-hit wonder, better make the hit damn good. And with its awesome sample of Hindi music combined with contemporary beats and melodies, Addictive was a triumph.
15 Push The Button - Sugababes (2005, #1)
The perfect marriage of British girl group sass with American pop/R&B production. A melody as addictive as crack.
16 Bust Your Windows – Jazmine Sullivan (2008, did not chart)
Latin rhythms, twirling strings and a husky soulful vocal, what more could a R&B fan want?
17 Irreplaceable – Beyonce (2006, #4)
Single-handedly saved Beyonce’s B’Day album campaign and possibly her career. This country-inspired smash written by Ne Yo was possibly the first Beyonce hit driven by its melody rather than being a patchwork of hooks and beats.
18 Gold Digger – Kanye West (2005, #2)
Despite copious use of N-word, this was redeemed by its sense of humour and clever lyrics – you remember lyrics don’t you?
19 Anonymous (f.Timbaland) – Bobby Valentino (2007, #25)
This song was first released by Omarion as Ice Box, but was further honed by Timbaland into this atmospheric, call-and-response boy-meets-girl midtempo jam.
20 Fallin’ – Alicia Keys (2001, #3)
The hit that launched Key’s career and a thousand American Idol auditions. Oozed talent and class, and most of her output has done ever since.
21 Finest Dreams – Richard X featuring Kelis (2003, #8)
Human League were great but they couldn’t sing. Two decades later, through an ingenious mash-up of a League instrumental and a SOS Band song, Richard X rectified that situation. Calling in the great Kelis for vocal duties took an amazing idea to a whole other level.
22 Playa No Mo’ – Lina (2001, did not chart)
An inspired fusion of 20s swing and noughties R&B, this outstandingly good tune was way ahead of the R&B curve. Too far ahead it would seem, given its lack of chart success. 23 Toxic – Britney Spears (2004, #1)
Officially the Britney song that it is OK for black guys to play loudly in 4x4s. Inspired production with more Bollywood samples meant Spears’ barely there vocals didn’t matter for once.
24 Oops (Oh My) – Tweet (2002, #5)
A song about playing with yourself in front of a mirror. A male cover version wouldn’t fly. Suitably throbbing Timbaland genius.
25 You Know I’m No Good - Amy Winehouse (2007, #18)
And this is the difference between British and US divas – the US girls big themselves up, while Amy does a great line in self-deprecation about what a nightmare she is. As the gossip blogs will tell you, this retro pop is well and truly autobiographical.
26 All Good Things (Come to an End) – Nelly Furtado (2006, #4)
Written by the bloke from Coldplay, but don’t let that put you off. The absolute highlight of her Loose album. Moody and introspective, Timbaland strikes again and proves he isn’t a one-trick pony.
27 No One – Alicia Keys (2007, #6)
Not that much artistic growth from her first hit, but when a formula sounds this good, who am I to suggest that she deviate?
28 American Boy (feat. Kanye West) – Estelle (2008, #1)
British diva goes stateside and teaches Kanye West about the delights of the West End and Ribena. To misquote our ex-PM: Melody, melody, melody!
29 Back To Black Amy Winehouse (2007, #25)
Motown pop was never as dark as this. Now a karaoke and X Factor favourite, which is essentially the same thing.
30 No Air (Duet With Chris Brown) – Jordin Sparks (2008, #3)
Before Chris Brown fell out of favour for spousal abuse, he recorded a rather spiffing Power ballad with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks. Neither likely to reach this height again.
31 My Humps – Black Eyed Peas (2005, #3)
Gimmicky pop perfection. The highlight of the Black Eyed Peas’ chart domination in the late noughties.
32 Crazy In Love – Beyonce (2003, #1)
Superb, but not quite as high as you would expect, mainly because Amerie did sampled retro-pop even better (see no.3)
33 Maneater – Nelly Furtado (2006, #1)
Was this really the girl who trilled I’m Like A Bird? An inspired and sultry reinvention
34 Love – Keyshia Cole (2006, did not chart)
Mary J Blige for the next generation – husky vocals give a precocious soulfulness
35 Foolish - Ashanti (2002, #4)
One of the finest examples of a Hip Hop/Pop hybrid. This one is all about the sample, in this case the looped piano also used on Notorious BIG’s One More Chance.
36 SexyBack – Justin Timberlake (2006, #1)
Timberlake and Timbaland channel the sparse funk of early Prince and resurrect the classic 80s pop-snyth sound in one fell swoop. Groundbreaking.
37 Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!) – Blu Cantrell (2001, #12)
If your man leaves you, run up his credit cards. Girls could relate. 20s style swing samples play a massive supporting role.
38 Work It – Missy Elliott (2002, #6)
Missy attempted to recapture the magic of Get Ur Freak On, and very nearly succeeded. When your starting point is that great, recycling is a sensible option.
39 Be Without You – Mary J. Blige (2002, #32)
Up until its release, Blige lacked a signature song. It finally arrived with this piano-driven midtempo number, with Mary singing better than ever.
40 Ms. Jackson - OutKast (2001, #2)
Hooky, kooky Outkast fun. Their biggest hit until all hell broke loose a few years later.
41 Million Dollar Bill – Whitney Houston (2009, #5)
Whitney’s back, and the first belted extended note lets us know it’s like she never went away. Retro funky disco and youthful lyrics befit a newly divorced diva.
41 Bed – J. Holiday (2007, #32)
Weird drum sounds, seductive vocals and a melody to die for.
42 Thank You – Jamelia (2004, #2)
Jamelia’s autobiographical song about domestic violence was kept off no.1 by a post-I’m A Celebrity re-release Of Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl. A real pop injustice
43 Feedback – Janet Jackson (2007, did not chart)
“Strum me like a guitar” opines Janet on an impressively contemporary beat which should have relaunched her career, but didn’t. Ageism? Hell yes.
44 Tell Me Featuring Christina Aguilera – Diddy (2006, #8)
A hurricane of a beat and Christina’s soaring vocals made this the undisputed highlighted of Diddy’s otherwise patchy Press Play album.
45 Miss Independent – Ne-Yo (2008, #6)
The companion songs to Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women. Cool Timberlake style synths
46 Freak Like Me – Sugababes (2002, #1)
I liked this track the first time road when Adina Howard sang it in the 90s. Add Richard X into the mix and his mash-up with a Gary Numan backing track, and the song went stratospheric.
47 Scandalous – Mis-Teeq (2003, #2)
Featuring Alesha Dixon MCing before she went all Strictly on us, one of the coolest Brit girlband tracks ever.
48 Can’t Get You Outta My Head – Kylie Minogue (2001, #1)
Not quite the greatest song of all time as some would have you believe, but a great achievement nonetheless.
49 Taken For Granted – Sia (2000, #10)
Samples Prokofiev while lyrical theme is about vain boyfriends. An epic clash of the classical and the banal.
50 Dip It Low – Christina Milian (2004, #2)
Possibly the only top 10 hit about oral sex techniques.
Two that got away:
Surveillance – Wynter Gordon
Leaked all over the internet in 2008, this monstrous tune threatened to be as big as Umbrella, then was stupidly never fully released. Shame
Migrate – Mariah Carey
Mariah’s E=MC2 era was surely the most mismanaged album campaign of the decade, with lunatic decisions to release hideous singles Bye Bye and I’ll Be Loving You Long Time instead of this surefire massive club hit. A big opportunity missed.
It’s a well-known fact that adversity in an artist’s life can often lead to their most inspired work. Amy Winehouse wrote the album of the decade while coked up to the eyeballs, and Mary J Blige similarly was at her highest point artistically when she was at her highest point narcotically. Alicia Keys, newly ensconced in a relationship with producer Swizz Beatz, may well prove an exception to this rule with her fourth album, The Element of Freedom. Her loved-up status oozes from practically every note.
Fortunately, Alicia is too classy let the album descend into an outright cheesefest. Like her previous albums, Element merges a piano-heavy neo-soul vibe with hip-hop beats. This time out though, there are forays into other genres with a little faux reggae on the almost anthemic opener, Love Is Blind, and pure, military-beat driven pop on Put It In A Love Song, a duet with the ominpresent Beyonce which is ready for the singles chart Top 10. The mellow slow-jam Unthinkable (I’m Ready) seems to channel 80s Anita Baker.
It’s not entirely a shiny, happy album however. There’s musings on the perennial downside of being a touring artist – separation from a loved one – on the retro This Bed and outright yearning on the sublime Distance and Time. Even the songs of heartbreak allude to missing a lover, exhibit A being the stunning single Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart. Here her breathy vocals ride hip hop beats enveloped in lush atmospheric synths, culminating in the most beguiling piano breakdown since the last Keys album. Doesn’t Mean Anything received criticism for being a weaker reheat of her massive hit No One, but the mournful piano and plaintive vocals work much better in the context of the album than on the radio.
There are a couple of filler moments (Love Is Like the Sea springs to mind) and Alicia’s lyrics, while on point can’t hold a candle to the clever if sometimes impenetrable musings of, say, Winehouse. Vocally, however, Keys sounds more comfortable these days, working within what range she has. She’s not a belter, but the fragility and her vocal shadings make this a far more personal and moving record than most of her contemporaries have released recently. So while heartbreak may be good for artistic output, Alicia proves there can be no greater inspiration than good love.
There comes a time in every pop starlet’s career when she must put aside her perky bubblegum hits, start wearing considerably less, and grind to “empowering” songs about sex. It’s all about growing as an artist, or more precisely, taking your fans with you as they themselves become fully formed adults. Rihanna is no exception to this rule - alarm bells started ringing when the former singer of catchy island ditties was pictured with little more than barbed wire strategically covering her nipples.
Listening to Rated R for the first time is something of a shock. While her previous album Good Girl Gone Bad sounded like a disjointed singles collection that was ripe for iTunes cherry picking, Rated R is a fully formed album with dark themes, moody guitars (even drafting in Slash on Rockstar 101) and atmospheric synth sounds throughout. It takes several listens to get over the lack of immediate hooks and appreciate the album the old-fashioned way – as a work of art in its own right.
Some lyrics do focus on the sexual (“I like the way you pull my hair” she asserts on Rude Boy) and the profane – the f-word is dropped several times – but there are also forays into the subversive. The suicide themed Russian Roulette brought accusations of devil worship from religious crackpots, but it oozes tension; While on G4L, she ludicrously imagines herself as a girl gangster (“”I lick the gun when I’m done cos I know that revenge is sweet”).
Given the violent end to her relationship with Chris Brown, ballads such as Cold Case Love and Stupid in Love have a particular intensity, as if Rihanna has dumped the R&B ice queen persona and is finally using what voice she has to express herself as a woman with life experience. Even forays into flamenco rhythms on Te Amo or the more mainstream R&B/dance of Hard have musical elements that stay true to the themes of the album, making it a wonderfully cohesive listen.
There’s just one major problem, and that’s lack of hits ready to storm the radio. Wait Your Turn and Firebomb try their best, but are possibly constrained by the album’s tone. By releasing what is essentially a concept album when her fans have been weaned on perfectly vacuous dance pop such as Please Don’t Stop The Music, this album is a gamble. For all its moody intelligence and testimony as to where Rihanna is as a person today, she could well be playing russian roulette with her career.
It’s been a decade since Whitney Houston last had a hit studio album. In that time, a new generation knew her more for being celebrity gossip blog fodder than for her glorious voice. There was a misguided and short-lived attempt at a comeback with 2002′s Just Whitney, which sounded like it was recorded for the best interests of the bottom line of the record company rather than Houston herself, who was clearly not ready to face her demons.
The difference this time is that she is healthy and back with her industry Father, Clive Davis who steered her to the vast majority of the 170 million albums sold in the course of her career. At 77 years of age, the man clearly still has an ear for a great melody, something often missing in the “beat-hook-and-guest-rapper” output of today’s Pop and R&B market.
Although there are no explicit references to divorce or dependency, there is some insight into Whitney the woman, an element which has been missing from Houston albums in the past. That changed on Just Whitney, even if the defiant message was not what we necessarily what fans wanted to hear. On I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, we see Houston has a woman who has overcome adversity, soaring on a classically produced but rather clunky Diane Warren ballad.
Reflective and thoughtful on the title track, Houston is humble in the presence of a higher power that has helped her through “winter storms”. If this sounds ready for Oprah, you’d be right, but there is more conviction in these ballads than a million years of Rihanna slow jams. She asks us to love her “Like I never left” on the Akon track of the same name, testifying that even a diva needs affirmation. She explains that she has “Nothin’ But Love” for her admirers and haters, over a punchy Danja beat, though some of the lyrics (shouting out to her crew?) ill fit a 46 year old woman.
Though best known for ballads, Whitney also has a considerable repertoire of big uptempo hits, and she can add one more to the tally with the slinky Alicia Keys opener Million Dollar Bill. The opening belt lets you know the voice is back, and Whitney rides a retro disco beat singing about meeting a stranger sounding as carefree as a newly divorced woman should. Possibly channelling the late Michael Jackson, she bites into her notes on the dancefloor-ready For The Lovers. But the biggest uptempo surprise is a cover of Leon Russell’s A Song For You, which starts as a ballad then transforms into a clubby slice of gay disco, sprinkled with delicious falsetto notes as the song builds to a big crescendo in signature Whitney style.
However, it is the midtempo R&B where the album is at its most succesful. On Worth It, she recalls Mary J Blige glories such as Be Without You; Call You Tonight sounds ready for US mainstream R&B radio if they are ready to give an older artist a chance, and I Got You, with its and sassy, confident delivery, is a triumph. Unlike most albums, Houston saves her best for last, laying to rest a lover with so much venom in her voice you can almost imagine her forked tongue on Salute. The R Kelly piano-driven beats and the layered vocals recall the glory days of diva R&B in the early 2000s and is the highlight of an incredibly solid, filler-free album.
The big question of course, is whether Houston still has it. The answer has to be is that the voice is not what it was in terms of power and purity – there are certainly no big I Will Always Love You style key changes – but with it has come a maturity, grit and more focused interpretive ability. On I Look To You, she displays superior vocal story-telling gifts than she showed on any of her early output, even if the notes are lower and the belts less powerful and sustained. But it’s all relative, she’s singing circles round nearly all of the wannabe divas today, and with Davis at her side, long may she reign.
After a return to sales domination with The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah’s back, seemingly with a vengeance as Mariah’sacapella falsetto dissolves into the thoroughly banging hip hop beats of “Migrate”, Sadly, it’s the only convincing club track on the album, with Side Effects lacking effervescence and a truly excruciating attempt at Jamaican patois in thefaux reggae of Cruise Control.
Mariah seems most comfortable when she’s crooning slinky midtempo jams and modern R&B ballads-with-a-beat. Of the midtempos, the remarkable For The Record, with its sultry coos, backward string effects and effective use of her famous whistle notes is a stand-out, as is the almost retro I’m That Chick. The aimed-at-the-YouTube generation single “Touch My Body”, suffers from girlish lyrics inappropriate for a woman of 40, while OOC and Thanx For Nothing will have you reaching for the skip button. This also applies to I’ll Be Loving You Long time, which, insanely, is the next single.
Previous ballads We Belong Together and Don’t Forget About Us were big hits for Mariah, so not wanting to stray from a winning formula, she duly brings us at least three ballads which contain elements of both these songs. The irresistible melody of I Stay In Love is the most successful, and Mariah finally acts her age on the world weary Love Story. But Mariah shows she still has an appetite for schmaltz with the gooey deserved flop single Bye Bye which uncomfortably combines lamenting lost loved ones with lashings of hip hop slang, and the ill advised and messy gospel of I Wish You Well sounds discordant and desperate.
On the upside, the famous voice sounds more agile and relaxed than any recording she’s done in the last ten years, and melisima is kept to a minimum, even if big, wide belts of old are conspicuous by their absence. And it’s refreshing that the album feels cohesive and not the multi-superproducer mess served up by some superstars with big album budgets. It’s clear that between the few highs and the couple of clangers, the midtempo middle ground is where Mariah seems most comfortable. There’s nothing wrong with that, but more quality control in both melody and production might help next time out.
Missy Elliott is back with a new single, Ching Ching, which is about how much money she makes. personally I’m bored senseless with rappers droning on about their cribs and their Bentleys. The song sounds rather like her previous hit Work It, it has a 3D video which looks very shoddy on youtube if you don’t have your 3D specs to hand, and in further evidence that she’s run out of ideas, she’s started a competition for fans to name her album.
It’s Wynter time! Wynter Gordon time that is. She’s put together a track called Surveillance which steals great swathes of Rihanna’s Umbrella (the “eh eh eh” bits) marries it with the beat from Timbaland’s The Way I Are. Should be an awkward and desperate pastiche, but instead sounds awesome.
Meanwhile, Leona Lewis is ready to conquer America with a re-shoot of the Bleeding Love video in New York’s Times Square. The new video is dull dull dull, but it certainly screams “Accept Me America!” Meanwhile eye-popping ballad Footprints In The Sand is the next UK single, as it sounds like mid-90s Mariah it will be ignored by radio stations, so they’ve released the plodding Better In Time as a double A side in an attempt to keep radio programmers happy. Release Take A Bow you fools!
Here’s Leona meeting Whitney at the pre-Grammy party. The short bald geezer is Clive Davis of J records, who is steering Leona’s US assault and Whitney’s comeback, which has been mooted for aeons.
