JennJoy's Full Review: Ashanti [PA] by Ashanti (R&B)
This review is part of the second annual “You Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine” write-off hosted by MattA75. Each of the participants was matched up with someone whose music tastes differ from their own. We exchanged albums with our partner and were challenged to review something outside of our usual arena. Check out the list of participants at the end of this review.
My partner for this exercise is Cletta1201. I sent her an album by one of my favorite artists that I love, but many fans and critics pan. I was interested in seeing her reaction to it, and you should mosey on over to her excellent review to read the results. After receiving my CD selection in the mail, Carletta told me that she was originally going to burden me with a copy of Celine Dion’s latest, but had a change of heart since I had sent her something I enjoy. Knowing the genres she leans toward, I knew this would be a test for me regardless of what she sent.
When Ashanti’s self-titled album arrived, I listened for the first time with an open mind. I didn’t know what to expect and tried to listen without analyzing anything. After this first listen, I almost began to wish Carletta had sent Celine Dion. I could have easily panned Celine, but my feelings about Ashanti were mixed.
The first ‘track’ is Intro--a mix of samples, mostly featuring songs by other artists that Ashanti has been featured on. This is nearly a minute and a half of clips that do absolutely nothing for me and confuse me as to why anyone would open an album this way.
Foolish is apparently a hit—or so I’ve heard, because I don’t listen to much on the radio and I don’t watch MTV. The first thing that strikes me is that Ashanti has a beautiful voice. She has a nice range that moves between sultry and sweet. I find the song to be somewhat catchy, but I have trouble telling if the instruments are real or electronically created even though the credits say, “all instruments played by 7.”
I dig Call because the music evokes a dark, rainy night with gently pounding beats and guitar (?) that sounds like rain falling on metal. The song’s lyrics are repetitive, but clearly intended to be so as it fits the track’s mood. This is a song I wouldn’t turn off if I heard it on the radio.
Fight (Over Skit) is the only reason I can see that this album comes with a parental advisory sticker. The skit is supposed to be a couple breaking up and there is some colorful language involved. The total lack of any emotion makes me shake my head and wonder what the point of this is. Also, seeing as this is the only point that has any real “explicit” language, I don’t understand why it would be included for any reason other than as a lame attempt to make Ashanti seem somehow rougher or harder than the rest of the album makes her out to be. The next song, Over evens has the word a curse or two fleshed over.
Thank You is easily my favorite track on this entire album. It’s a simple song where Ashanti thanks someone (or perhaps everyone) who has helped and supported her. I like Thank You because it features just Ashanti singing, there is no music. For me, this shows off the best side of this young chanteuse.
I feel the need to mention that even listening to this album was definitely hard for me. Although I am interested in a variety of genres of music I am not very interested in this album at all. I generally focus on vocals and lyrics in anything I listen to, but this album just lacks all around substance in my opinion. There is just nothing here that moves or excites me. I come away with these thoughts:
Why do so many of the songs have someone plugging Murder Inc. at the beginning? Gag.
How come I can’t tell whether the instruments are real or not? That disturbs me.
How many people does it take to write an Ashanti song? The number ranges between three and six, with only one song attributed to a single person. None of which are Ashanti.
Why even bother with the skits? I find them so annoying.
Why can’t Ashanti decide whether she wants to come off as sweet or tough? She needs to pick one because mixing the two just doesn’t work for her.
I can understand why people enjoy this album, even if I don’t—-it has Top 40 appeal and can easily cross between R&B, hip hop and even the pop crowd. I probably wouldn’t recommend this to any of my friends and I had to wear headphones to listen at home to keep my fiancé from clawing out his ears. Overall, I didn’t find Ashanti unlistenable, but I probably won’t be pulling this one of the shelf again anytime soon.
Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. Foolish
3. Happy
4. Leaving (Always on Time Part II)
5. Narrative Call (Skit)
6. Call
7. Scared
8. Rescue
9. Baby
10. VooDoo
11. Movies
12. Fight (Over Skit)
13. Over
14. Unfoolish
15. Shi Shi (skit)
16. Dreams
17. Thank You
Other participants in this write-off are: lambchops, paulyoungotti, freak369, thevoid99, aerocat, cletta1201, kcfoxy, kristinafh and matta75 (hosting). Check ‘em out!
Ja Rule, J. Lo, Big Pun, Fat Joe. She s worked with some of the industry s best--writing lyrics and singing hooks that help their records reach the to...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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