Artist: CiaraAlbum:GoodiesGenre: Crunk/hip-hopAlbum Highlights: “Goodies,” “Next To You”Web Site: http://www.ciaraworld.com
“Goodies” is a strong first release for Ciara. Although she’s the latest of a long string of artists popping out of the ever-so-hot South right now, more notable is that Ciara is the latest female R&B singer to come out Atlanta’s LaFace Records.
If you’ve heard of TLC and Monica then you might know what I’m getting at. Both were leading urban R&B artists of their time and this might be reason enough for you to keep an ear out and see what this young 18-year-old has to offer.
Most of the tracks on this album don’t really push things artistically but that isn’t bad because it really makes this album an easy listen and it certainly works. The beats are pretty tight and her singing flows quite well. With a few exceptions, most of the songs don’t really stand out too much on their own but collectively they really showcase Ciara’s range as an R&B singer. The songs really do cover a broad range of contemporary urban R&B, from the faster to medium paced club bangers, to full on love ballads and the straight up R&B that lies in between.
The first time you may have heard Ciara’s vocals was in Petey Pablo’s super sexual “Freek-A-Leek.” Petey returned the favor in “Goodies”-the album’s leading track and first solo single. Besides Petey Pablo, Ciara guest stars a handful of today’s leading artists who lend a few lines here and there without taking the spotlight from Ciara for too long. They include T.I., Ludacris, Missy Elliot, R. Kelly and Executive Producer, Jazze Pha.
“Girly.” The subject matter of this album definitely comes from a woman’s perspective, and rightly so, but not in a clichéd “girl power” kind of way. Ciara brings a little more attitude and street credibility to her work “crazy sexy cool” style, which saves this album from being utterly irrelevant to the opposite sex. Young women will definitely relate to the subject matter that Ciara deals with. That isn’t to say that Ciara’s lyrics are particularly deep but it offers different perspectives on relationships, fun, serious or otherwise which most young people can relate to.
All in all you could never say that Ciara’s music runs as deep as say, Lauryn Hill, but on the flip side she’s certainly not as plastic as Ashanti. I’d keep an eye and ear out for Ciara. With the right writers, producers and her own talent, perhaps she has the potential to follow in the foot steps and be as successful as TLC and Monica before her. In the mean time, Ciara has given herself a solid platform to start from and if her artist guest list is anything to go by, she also has a lot of seasoned talent who believe in her “goodies” too.
