plorentz's Full Review: Just Like You by Keyshia Cole
Two years ago, I nearly wet myself with child-like fear and excitement over the glorious, confrontational fury of a song called "I Just Want It To Be Over", the opening salvo of R&B/hip-hop diva-in-training (and erstwhile BET network reality show star) Keyshia Cole's debut record The Way It Is. And while that record certainly had its rough spots and idiosyncracies, that messy unpredictability, coupled with the woman's righteous pissed-off-ness, was what made the record so effective. And it's precisely that messiness - or rather the lack of it - that makes her follow-up, the somewhat unfortunately titled Just Like You, such a disappointing bore.
It's not that the album is wanting for hooks. But too often, they feel like name-brand knock-offs instead of the real deal. One of the album's best tracks, "Fallin' Out", is a chewy piano ballad with a light, loungey lilt, an addictive rise-and-fall chorus with old school harmony oohs and aahs, and snappy vocal asides. It's an addictive listen, but it might as well have been the hidden bonus track on The Diary of Alicia Keys. Nor does the album suffer a shortage of producers: it discards them one after the other like underwear. No one producer gets a second chance on this album, and yet, unlike her first album, the grooves and general vibe of the record fairly invite us to be distracted by other things with their frustrating uniformity.
Even more frustrating is that those grooves, generally speaking, are terrific in single-track doses: all rubbery electro-bass sounds (shades of the Gap Band) and sophisticated pop jazz piano lines (think Brenda Russell) bumping uglies with sharp hip-hop cadences, the whole program runs like a Jheri Curl infomercial airing between early morning reruns of Pimp My Ride and MTV Cribs. "Sent From Heaven" feels like a gorgeous revelation, mainly due to the production's vague, anachronistic resemblance to Michael Jackson's "Human Nature". "Was It Worth It" manages something of a dirty industrial scowl, and "Shoulda Let You Go" almost matches Cole's earliest singles in sheer dismissive authority, but the best tracks here are the ones that seem the most effortlessly retro, from the Mario Winans-produced skippity-beats and vintage synthesizer pop of "Last Night" (with Diddy on the chorus) to the circa 1985 Whitney-worthy believe-in-myself ballad for which the record was named.
Just Like You is, in many ways, the kind of record I'd hoped Keyshia might make at some point - focused, tightly produced, good tunes. But coming in at just under an hour, the record could have stood some prudent editing, and for every moment of sweet caramel goodness, there's another ill-advised guest spot. I'll pass on the Lil' Kim, thanks, and Anthony Hamilton's stormy soul stylings are miscast on "Losing You" where he seems to fight against the melody's staccatoed syncopations - give that man some room to stretch! Just Like You looks and sounds like a shiny, expensive piece of work, but what it gains in professionalism and respectability over its predecessor, it loses in brash intensity. That's not an appealing trade-off, even if Keyshia does manage to knock out a heaping handful of decent tunes. She can do better.
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BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
"Just Like You" by Keyshia Cole
Confidential / Geffen Records
Released 9/25/07
Producers: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, The Runners, Soulshock and Karlin, Scott Storch, Gregory G. Curtis Sr., Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Jason Farmer, T. Rey and C. Broan, Ron Fair, Bryan-Michael Cox, Shawn Carroll, Toxic & Donald Alford, Mario Winans, J. Wells
57 min.
SONGS: Let It Go - Didn't I Tell You - Fallin' Out - Give Me More - I Remember - Shoulda Let You Go - Heaven Sent - Same Thing (Interlude) - Got to Get My Heart Back - Was It Worth It? - Just Like You - Losing You - Last Night - Work It Out - Let It Go (Remix)
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