Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 02/10/06
Label: Parlophone

Jamelia's third album is one of those rare mainstream pop records that doesn't include even one bad track hidden among the hits. The problem is that neither does it include any really great ones. The overall impact is of studied and dedicated averageness.

A shame, since Jamelia's previous record was such a leap forward from her first and seemed to promise the birth of a new, versatile and vivacious pop star. It also boasted two of 2003's best singles in the fierce, emotionally raw "Thank You" and the shimmeringly subtle "See It In A Boys Eyes". That there is nothing here that even approaches those two peaks seems to reflect Jamelia's retreat from pure pop to the FM middlebrow once ruled by Gabrielle. Disappointingly, she seems perfectly at home here, and the album contains little of the wit and warmth she brings to interviews.

The closest "Walk With Me" gets to excellence is the lead single, "Something About You", the latest in a long line of guitar-driven pop anthems released by female solo singers in the wake of Kelly Clarkson's stupendous and successful "Since You Been Gone""Beware Of The Dog", with its ingenious Depeche Mode sample and savage drum loops. What a shame that while the producers were throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the production, they forgot to chuck in a proper chorus.

A similar problem besets the Stranglers-sampling "No More", though it does boast a powerful, strident vocal performance that is all too rare here. Elsewhere, the material leans towards safety, both lyrically and musically. "Know My Name" is a rather tired-sounding rant about boorish heterosexual men that every female with even a vague R&B background seems compelled to write, while "Do Me Right" is a throwback to the summer of 2002, when Holly Valance briefly convinced the world that sampling Eastern strings was a good pop idea. It was not, of course. The contractually obliged big ballad comes with "Go", which finds Jamelia urging an unhappy lover to move on, but which exposes her rather limited and oddly inflected voice.

A pleasant enough listen, finally, but more made for Heart than from the heart. A pity.

    by Jaime Gill