Her name brings to mind pigeons and boiled sweets, which is as good a way as any to grab some attention. Combine that with masturbation and the mighty Missy Elliott (who signed her to her Gold Mind label), and you have a winning formula to be lifted from the tired soul songstress production line and swept to the top of the charts.
Tweet's 'Oops (Oh My)', the steamy ode to lone sex produced by Missy and Timberland, made it to number one in the US Billboard R&B chart. And sure enough, it's one of the hottest moments on her debut album. But there are others (an achievement in itself compared to the genre's recent one-hit-wonder trend - dynamite singles and dustbin albums). The misty duet with Bilal, 'Best Friend', is that rare display of lilting strings, exquisite vocals and heartbeat bass that proves that grassroots soul is still very much alive.
The album is riddled with several more saccharine packages of love highs and love lows, like 'Beautiful', 'Heaven' and 'Always Will', all bordering on the gushy with the exception of 'Drunk', a slothful, ambient slur with Prince written all over it.
Tweet has the kind of voice that doesn't overpower her music but lets it breathe. And, sometimes you just want a Tweet and not an Aretha or a Whitney, a singer who combines silk with sass and is just as capable of making you dance. The one true club track here, 'Boogie 2nite', is bursting with hip hop attitude and feelgood disco and makes a likely contender for another chart topper. That Missy, she knows a high-flyer when she hears one.
