I got this cd the other day and i was very excited to listen to it...this was my first time buying a CD in a very long time and i'd almost forgotten how much i enjoy liner notes...i read them all. all her thank you's (there were like 5 pages worth).. what struck me the most tho, were her photographs. she is so beautiful. and she just looks so happy and at peace. especially the one photo of her in Hawaii by the waterfall. just amazing...
so i loaded the cd up onto my nano and took a listen on my way to work. maybe my expectations were too high though because i was not that impressed.
Now there's no denying that India has a nice voice and she writes very well. She has alot to say and i'm glad someone is saying it. It's a refreshing change from the empty ,vacuous, materialistic subject matter of the average songs you hear on the radio these days.
but the music was a bit unremarkable and sometimes boring. elementary, even. I'd have much preferred this be a spoken word album because i loved the lyrics to most of the songs...but the vocal and musical arrangements..the musicianship displayed...B.L.A.H. My main gripe is that there was too much talk-singing (damn you, R. Kelly) and meaningless runs. Oftentimes her voice was not as full of emotion as the lyrics would seem to require...
i hated writing that because i wanted to like this album so badly. but i gotta be honest. i can't not speak on mediocrity. Jehan has given me such a healthy appreciation of really well-produced, high quality, professional music and vocal stylings that it's really glaring when something is not up to snuff.
but at the end of the day, I'm incredibly thankful for India.Arie. She is a welcome change to the music industry's obsession with light skin, straight noses, long blond hair... India looks like me. Her nose and lips and skin are like mine. I rarely get to see a reflection of myself being successful in the entertainment business. AND she's not selling sex. AND she's talking about positive uplifting things. She's important and relevant. She's opening doors and carving pathways for an army of little dark black girls to pick up an instrument and march in behind her. I will always respect and support her for that.
3 comments:
So sorry you don't love it. I feel the same way each time I listen to one of her albums the first time. Then after the gazillionth time, I find that I know all the words and work the lyrics into my everyday conversations.
As much as I respected her desire to thank everyone she's ever met, I would have preferred to have the lyrics included in the liner notes. But I guess nobody asked me...(as usual).
oh i did like the lyrics alot...i just had problems with the music. i will listen again tho because when i wrote that entry last night, i was in a very foul mood..
I like the album because of the truth in it. I did not like her version of "The heart of The matter". She is such an original, I feel she could've wrote her own song instead of covering some one elses. hey, but no one asked me either! Over all, it minsiters to my spirit because of the journey that I'm on.
Damali, Princess, could ya'll stop by a sista's blog and show her some luv?
I'm still finding my niche but I think I'm off to a good start!
Paz
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