Brandy is a singer I have always had a hard time reviewing. There are times when I love her laidback, raspy style and there are other times I feel she is boring and repetitive. Never Say Never was a very impressive album with Brandy picking some interesting tracks that showcased the unique qualities of her voice. Full Moon was in my opinion, and overproduced mess, that basically worked against Brandy’s style and she got lost in the middle of it all. Afrodisiac seems to be a blend between the two. She has moments where the songs work and she has moments where the production brings out the fact she has a limited range and doesn’t give her what she needs. Brandy is a talent but she’s not the type of singer who could sing the phonebook and make you love it. She needs her producers and she needs to choose her songs very, very wisely.
The album begins with a musical update on how her life is going titled “Who I Am”. It’s lyrically mature about how the love with her former producer didn’t work out and how she tried to stick it out for her daughter. Basing on a piano riff that descends and ascends throughout the song musically it’s solid and she sounds good here. “Afrodisiac” is really produced to the hilt but the whole thing is interesting. Her voice cascades and works with other tracks of her voice and it sounds pretty good. The production is more of the star than Brandy’s voice but it all comes together nicely.
“Talk About Our Love” is the first single produced by man of the moment Kanye West. It’s a smooth song with brooding, darker verses offset by a more melodic chorus with West doing a spot just to let us know he produced it. It almost has this gothic vibe in the verses and it works very well. Kanye West is one of the few guest rappers on the album and his rap on this song is decent but not nearly as good as his individual material. 5/5
Kanye West also produces “Where You Wanna Be” which is another track on the album that works really well for Brandy. It sounds better on the car stereo than a home CD player but I am not sure why that is. It’s a very mellow, flowing track with some nice ad-libs that give it a lift. It features a rapper named T.I. who I actually like on this song. Brandy is an artist who usually benefits from her guest rappers. West seems to really understand the kind of settings Brandy sounds good in and I wish she had chosen a few more of his tracks because they work well together.
Timbaland may not have been one of the best choices of the producer for her overall because he has a very distinct and forceful presence in his production and the singer has to have a very distinct quality to be able to make the song their own. You can easily hear the difference between how Justin Timberlake, Aaliyah or even Missy Elliot works a Timbaland song versus how Brandy lets the song work her. A few of his tracks on Afrodisiac work but “I Tried” isn’t one of them. This song sounds good but it just doesn’t quite hit the spot and I never feel very connected to Brandy. She sounds kind of horse and raw but not in the Mary J. Blige way. There are quite a few tracks on this album that fall into this category. “Who Is She To You”, “Focus” and “Finally” all have that “tastes great, less feeling” feel in slightly different variations.
Of course, Timbaland is a good producer and his collaboration with Brandy “Sadiddy” should definitely be a release! A definite club track it works very well for Brandy. All she needs a guest spot from Ludacris and she would have the feminine answer to “Yeah” by Usher. Her low streamlined voice works for this song and Timbaland gives her what she needs to get into your stream of consciousness. The beat is shuffling and staggered giving the song a very strong base. Even the raspy quality works well for this song. It’s a great song to crank up in your car. A few of my friends told me the term “Sadiddy” means a women who is trifling in case you were wondering like I was. “Turn It Up” is another good track produced by Timbaland. With a nice little tribute to Aaliyah thrown in the second verse, it’s an energetic song to dance too.
“Necessary” has an interesting vibe that reminds me of TLC. Produced by Organized Noize this song gives a needed break to the Timbaland sound and gives Brandy a nice arrangement to work in. It’s a love song about how she wants to be important to the guy who is important to her.
“Say You Will” is one of two ballads on the album and it’s produced by Ron Feemster and Big Chuck. It’s a lovely little slice of old school sound and it’s a nice little gem. “Should I Go” finds Brandy pondering her place in the music business and has a lot of interesting observations about the music business. She reminisces when it was mainly her, Aaliyah and Monica in the game and how Aaliyah’s death effected her. It’s a very good song with it’s simple but interesting production by Timbaland featuring a sample of “Clocks” by Coldplay.
Overall, I would say this is a decent album but definitely not the best to come out this year. Brandy is a talented woman but this album doesn’t really satisfy me completely. There are moments where I may nod my head and times when I feel like I have a nice personal glimpse of her but as a whole the album is under whelming.
Afrodisiac is sensuous, soulful, even a little gritty, an album that showcases Brandy s passionate voice and announces in no uncertain terms that she ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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