The latest albums making noise
Imagine Mary J. Blige’s What’s the 411? with slicker production, equivalent passion, and raw emotion accented with bits of humor and the fantasy materializes into Jazmine Sullivan’s Fearless. Her freshman effort is an encompassing disc that traverses myriad R&B styles and themes, while engaging listeners with amusing wordplay.
Playing up these traits to the fullest is “Switch,” an upbeat, Motown-era-girl-group jam where Jazmine asks her date if she can “dine with your best friend.” Sullivan politely offers her girlfriend as a substitute on this double date that better resembles a game of musical chairs. “One Night Stand” continues the girl group playfulness as Sullivan croons about a one-night stand gone wrong (she caught feelings, breaking rule No. 1. But the bigger offense of the tryst may be ignoring her lover’s philandering ways on “Live a Lie.”).
On the serious tip, “Call Me Guilty” gets inside the mind of a victim of domestic violence. Committed to ending the struggle, the lyrics tell the story of a woman who will either die or end up in jail. A seemingly unfair trade-off, represented by the exchange with a police officer who yells, “You have the right to remain silent,” to which she responds, “No, I have the right to stay alive.”
Continuing in the tradition of destroying cars, à la Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” is “Bust Your Windows.” The scorned woman gets her revenge over a hand-clap-driven ditty and lines such as, “You’ll probably say that it was juvenile, but I think that I deserve to smile.” Equally emotional is “Lions, Tigers & Bears,” a symphonic questioning and rebuke of love. “Fear” lets the piano take the lead as Jazmine lists common excuses we make when it comes to facing thing we’re scared of before declaring, “You ain’t human without fear.”
Equally challenging, engaging and fun, Fearless is a dynamic debut album from rising star Jazmine Sullivan. Given all of those qualities, it’s hard to not be anxious for the follow-up.
That’s My Jam’s Rating:
5. Get It Now
4. Get It On Sale
3. Get It As a Gift
2. Get It To a CD Exchange Store
1. Don’t Get It At All
Track List
1. “Bust Your Windows”
2. “Need U Bad” featuring Missy Elliott
3. “My Foolish Heart”
4. “Lions, Tigers & Bears”
5. “Call Me Guilty”
6. “One Night Stand”
7. “After the Hurricane”
8. “Dream Big”
9. “Live a Lie”
10. “Fear”
11. “In Love with Another Man”
12. “Switch”
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1 comment:
I like Jazmine Sullivan's new album. She's got a really cool style. I love it!!
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