RSSBrandy’s New Album Something’s Missing
Dec 09
Music album review Comments Off
Listening to Beyonce’s new album, especially the fabled lead single If I Were a Boy, there are some confusing elements present. The single itself is more Brothers Grimm than Disney, kind of creepy and disturbing if you listen too closely. But this is Beyonce, and the pop hooks abound regardless on I Am… Sasha Fierce to the point that the double-disc collection is a little too much.
But this is Beyonce after all, and…what? This is a review of Brandy’s new album, Human? Quite right. My bad.
Listening to Brandy’s new album, especially the lead single Right Here Departed, it’s hard to believe it, but the singer has lost whatever musical identity she had established for herself back in the day of Never Say Never. This is a Beyonce album, pure and simple, with a little Janet Jackson-esque spoken word interludes thrown in for good measure.
The songs are not bad at all and Brandy has a smooth voice for radio. The problem is that she has recruited a host of producers and writers that are responsible for virtually everything you hear in the mainstream these days and then some. So while Long Distance is a gorgeous ballad, it could have be anyone singing it. Same with Piano Man and Warm It Up with Love, which are indistinguishable from anything on I Am… Sasha Fierce. My favorite song, and probably the most “Brandy” sounding track is the title track. It’s also the most interesting composition on the album.
There’s some stinkers here, notably Something Missing and Fall with its bizarre skip-beats in the chorus and repetitious blather. But what’s really missing is any semblance of a unique identity. This is as generic pop music as it gets these days, and that’s saying something.
