Chrisette Michele Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
Chrisette Michele's very good debut, I Am, won a couple Grammys but did not did not have corresponding commercial success. None of its three singles reached the Top 20 of the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The album itself barely dented the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. She co-wrote each one of its songs and passed on the opportunity to record "Irreplaceable," later taken on by Beyoncé and made into one of 2006's biggest singles. Consider all of this, Grammy part excepted, and it's understandable why Chrisette would be steered in a different direction. Chrisette evidently did some of the driving, since one of the inspirations behind the album's title refers to the realization that she can benefit by allowing more input from songwriters. She co-writes only three of these songs, with executive production from "Irreplaceable" writer Ne-Yo, who also gets writing credit on six songs; Chuck Harmony touches several cuts, while smaller contributions come from the likes of Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Allstar, Bei Maejor, and Tim Bosky. Given the different strategy, and the fact that none of the producers or songwriters here had anything to do with I Am, it's a little surprising that the results are not all that different. It's also somewhat ironic that it's less rounded; the material, while mostly well-crafted, runs together as a block of slow, serious songs broken up by only a couple brief upswings in energy. Chrisette, naturally, sounds outstanding throughout, as a supernaturally talented vocalist whose songs are nonetheless easily relatable to anyone going through a breakup -- or, to a significantly lesser extent here, newfound love -- but the album could have really used more rhythmic punch than a token throwback strutter. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Chrisette Michele sometimes seems more eager to please her elders than express herself straight-up. Take, for instance, "I've been studying Miss Billie, Miss Ella, Miss Sarah Vaughan, and Miss Natalie Cole," from "Let's Rock." That's reverence. And then there's "Take me back in the day, when lovin' was pure," from "Golden." She was born in 1982. Above all, there's her voice, a gently scratchy instrument that occasionally plays up the fact that none of its antecedents were born after the '60s. But that's just her voice, which adapts to each mostly fresh-sounding production on I Am, though there is no denying she is not going to impinge upon the territories staked out by most other R&B artists her age. Following strategically placed features on Jay-Z's Kingdom Come and Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead -- her roles on "Lost One," "Still Dreaming," and "Can't Forget About You" could've been mistaken for dusty samples -- the album straddles old-but-new/new-but-old rather adeptly, and the ease with which she shifts from approach to approach is impressive. (She also co-wrote each song.) The album could've used a couple more upbeat and assertive songs in the vein of the shuffling, Run-D.M.C.-sampling, will.i.am-produced "Let's Rock" ("Let me get a verse, yeah I got nerve, don't need to rehearse, I just need to blow"), and a track with a production credit to the website SalaamRemi.com titled "Good Girl" ("Oh why do my sisters steady find misters who swear what they give her is better than quality time?"). They are two of the finest surrogate Lauryn Hill tracks of 2007. As unassuming as it is, "Mr. Radio," one of several productions from apparent newcomer Mo Jaz, is the album's key standout. Chrisette's leisurely dismissal of the love songs she's tolerating is far more seductive than her targets, and the performance is so unforced that it might just be the way she talks. Serious skills. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
