How much is that Keyshia in the Best Buy? The one with the colorful hair...
That's what I want to sing every time I'm faced with the cover of Keyshia's sophomore disc Just Like You, on which a pair of disembodied eyes stare out (call the hair comment a hunch). Here Keyshia does her best puppy dog, whining to be taken home. And the fun won't stop there, if the album's title has any say. Keyshia's plea isn't just your average, everyday, "Take me home!" -- it's "Take me home and relate to me."
Fair enough. She is, after all, a people's diva. I'm not going to get too theoretical about the different kinds of divas, lest my gay synapses wage a 300-style war with my nerd synapses (the result of which would be...well, even gayer and nerdier than 300). But I think we can agree on the fact that your average diva is actually anything but average -- I'm talking the superhuman powerhouses that are Aretha and Tina and Mariah and Whitney. The rare people's diva, in fact, is average (or some approximation of that) and was modernized, if not created by, Mary J. Blige.
With a voice that's encouraging rather than intimidating (sing along to early Mary -- your voice is probably better. Winston's voice is probably better) and emotion not so much worn on the sleeve, but capable of sawing through arm flesh to show you just how vigorously her blood pumps, Mary's very shtick has been that of the relatable sister. And since Mary's drama has subsided, Keyshia Cole has been more than happy to pick up where Mary left off, pouring her heart into her music as sloppily as only she can with that wildly untamed voice.
Keyshia herself has admitted to this, telling Sister 2 Sister (which, seriously, for real, is like my favorite magazine for the same reason that I love Mary and, to a lesser extent, Keyshia: rawness), "(Mary and I) are alike in a lot of ways." It seems like an understatement when you compare Keyshia's sophomore album to Mary's -- Keyshia's Just Like You plays like a conscious update of Mary's My Life, complete with the heightened level of obviousness called for by our 13 years of "progress" as consumers. Mary presented her life and invited people in, implying that they could and should relate; Keyshia just flat-out tells you that she's just like you. You don't even have to strain your brain or anything -- Keyshia says it, you believe it, that settles it. At least in theory.
Mary's My Life, while occasionally tortured, was only truly tragic in retrospect, when she told later of how dark a time she was going through was when she recorded it (via this lens, the hyper-mega-classic first single "Be Happy," sounds more pessimistic than optimistic); Keyshia's entirely unsettled on Just Like You (though, curiously, or maybe not at all, she proclaims on the title track: "I'm just like you, you / I'm tryin' ta be happy"). Even the adlibs are similar -- compare this snippet of My Life's title track to this snippet of Keyshia's "Give Me More". She's just like you, especially if your name happens to be Mary.
I should right now explicitly state that Just Like You is no My Life. It's barely Share My World, for that matter. As someone who's extremely literal-minded, I can appreciate Keyshia's obviousness, but I'd never mistake it for craft. My Life is a towering work of contemporary R&B, a sophomore album that took everything good about the smash debut that preceded it (namely, a woman's voice so street it had the texture of asphalt, and those massively ragged beats) and intensified it, making for a decidedly less commercial offering. My Life is surprisingly full of love songs that are unsurprisingly full of desperation (for example, in "Mary's Joint," my favorite favorite favorite song on what's probably my second favorite album of all time, Mary takes time out from warbling her "I love you so / I can't let go"s to talk about unnecessary pain). It's nuanced sonically too -- Mary's tattered voice over her crackling beats make for an exercise in textures. See, while her personality is huge, when Mary is at her best, she is not bigger than her songs -- she's as good as them. The Queen of Hip-Hop soul's hip-hop and soul are inextricably bound when everything in her world is right (which is to say, when everything is wrong).
It would be an absolute revelation to hear an unpolished chick float her pain above head-nodding hip-hop beats in '07. But maybe the thing is that hip-hop beats in '07 are different than they were in '94, so the closest we come on to that on Just Like You is a frenetic take on Southern hip-hop via "Didn't I Tell You." Is it any wonder that this is among the best of its tracks? Maybe superficially, but not when you consider that so much of You finds Keyshia warbling over would-be tasteful edgeless arrangements that are ultimately bland. If she were an uber-woman, this would be no sweat (in fact, so much of You's production is akin to the adult contemporary lullabies of Whitney's and Mariah's debut albums). But Keyshia is not. She's just like you, and you're no superhero.
For every easily enjoyable track like the first single, "Let It Go" (using that Mtume sample again and getting away with it is pure, unbridled sass, which I appreciate as much as, if not more than innovation), there's at least two where Keyshia is out of her element. The bangers barely bang and they're truncated by the bland ballads anyway. You know how ridiculous kids look when they wear their mom's heels because of all that space between their foot and the back of the shoe? Just Like You is the album equivalent of that space. Scale down, Key!
During one of those clean-as-Whitney tracks, "Heaven Sent," Keyshia busts out into the weirdest call-and-response I've ever heard in my life: "Everybody say, 'I wanna be the one you love' (I wanna be the one) / Everybody say, 'I wanna be the one you trust' / Everybody say, 'I wanna be the one you need' (I wanna be the one) / Everybody say, 'I wanna be the one who is sent from above.'" But see, if she were really doing her job, she wouldn't have to make such a request. We'd do it, and we wouldn't wait to be asked.
I love your album reviews so much.
Posted by: Chaka_Kahn | October 04, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Keysha is cool! The Jill Scoot is the real fire!
Posted by: Dana | October 04, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Keyshia is such a wannabe Mary. Couldn't stand her with her off-key riffs in that garbage ass "love" song. Still not a fan.
However, I'm a huge fan/lurker of this blog. I openly heart you in secret. lol
Looking forward to Monday's ANTM recap and your take on the villainess Bianca.
Posted by: LoveMyselfFirst | October 04, 2007 at 01:08 PM
I just heard "Let It Go" this morning for the first time...and I thought it *was* Mary until I walked into the room and saw the video on tv. While I loved the video, I don't know that Keyshia can stand alone without Missy and Kim.
Also, what is Alicia Keys doing with herself? Her latest song makes me think she's taking a turn with her career... towards nowhere good.
Posted by: Amber | October 04, 2007 at 04:43 PM
She's just tryin ta get rich, Rich.
Posted by: sean | October 04, 2007 at 05:05 PM
Great review, Rich. Also, words cannot express how much I love the 300 banner.
Posted by: Katie | October 04, 2007 at 08:04 PM
Oddly enough, I actually like this cd because it's so much more mature than her last cd (which, admittedly, I didn't listen to all the way through because I had an unnatural dislike for her back then. Her ghetto wasn't endearing like Mary's and Lil Kim's were back in the '90's. Plus her warbling "Love" still makes my ears bleed.). But I digress, I like the cd. Jill Scott's is the best though. Much better than Beautifully Human.
Posted by: Jennifer | October 04, 2007 at 08:18 PM
i love that you compared this album to "My Life". that riff was EXACTLY the same.
anyhow, when i was in 5th grade, mary j was the shit. that album was so amazing to me. even though i couldn't relate to anything she was talking about. she just felt so wise...and withered.
i always laugh when i read your stuff. thanks for making things interesting.
Posted by: chesca | October 04, 2007 at 09:43 PM
Eh, they're all just versions of Mavis Staples.
Posted by: milkyaqua | October 04, 2007 at 10:15 PM
I'm another person who had no business listening to Mary's My Life at about age 11, but my mom's music was what I listened to--period. (It was the Saturday afternoon rule: TV off, music on and helping her clean.) Listening to some of the tripe out there today I'm glad she did. I tried to get down with Keyshia, but I just can't.
Posted by: Neka | October 04, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Further, the new video for "Shoulda Let You Go" is now on the net and it sounds exactly like "Enough Cryin".
Love your review!
Posted by: Whitney | October 05, 2007 at 01:49 AM
I love any review that begins with a Patti Page reference.
Still enjoying your stuff, Rich!:)
Posted by: Ian | October 05, 2007 at 12:02 PM
Damn you hit it on the nail!
Posted by: Zjukebox | October 05, 2007 at 12:23 PM
i'm from the bay area....so i kinda feel her, really only cause she is from the bay....i like her, but i cant help to think that she is really trying to be mary. NO ONE will ever duplicate My Life
Posted by: sonia | October 05, 2007 at 05:00 PM
RICH!! Look at this :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5_b1M7M78 Winston has a fan :O Offtopic but yea, I'm posting this on your lastest post cause you probably wont read the comments from a while back.
Posted by: amy | October 05, 2007 at 07:51 PM
I just can't get this recent interview Keyshia did for Baltimore radio out of my head. She goes to the interview about as enthusiastic as my backpack and then blames it on her staff after the formal interview is over. It's that attitude of hers that repels me more than her wannabe Mary vocals. (Although I do like "Shoulda Let You Go," at least for the time being.)
Posted by: RD | October 06, 2007 at 09:25 AM
You always speak the truth, Rich.
"...for the record, I love you, I love you" almost as much as I do MJB.
Posted by: alyssa | October 06, 2007 at 01:38 PM
Wow.
I'd much much MUCH prefer you wrote a full-on album review/retrospective of "MY LIFE" instead of some Keyshia Cole album.
Like Cesca and Nika, I had no reason for listening to this album on repeat when I was 9, but it still is one of the 3-4 albums I absolutely cannot live without. That album means so much to me.
Your album reviews are amazing and on-point (from one soul/R&B semi-geek to another full-on soul/R&B geek), PLEASE write more about the R&B from the '90s. They're always dead spot-on. Thanks.
Posted by: AL | October 06, 2007 at 06:21 PM
Hilarious interview:
http://92qjams.com/messagewall.asp?id=3059&pollid=15570&iframe=
Posted by: Whitney | October 06, 2007 at 07:37 PM
Excellent review and comparasion to My Life again you're on point :)
Posted by: Christina | October 06, 2007 at 08:14 PM
Keyshia... eh. Jill Scott... yes. Hate on me, haters!!
Posted by: Shana | October 07, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Why can't I get the image of you--reclined on your sofa in a fluffy terry cloth robe and a towel wrapped turban-style around your head, reading Sister2Sister with Winston on your lap and a glass of passionfruit Alize in one hand--out of my head?
You're almost as sassy a black woman as I am.
Posted by: BabylonSista | October 07, 2007 at 06:37 PM
Didn't realize you liked Tina. You have to listen to her new song on Herbie Hancock's new tribute album to Tina Turner. "Edith and the Kingpin," it's unlike anything she's done before and it really is gorgeous.
Posted by: KJH | October 07, 2007 at 11:04 PM
Umm... out of the top five albums on the billboard this week. Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace is my fave.
Posted by: Gyn | October 08, 2007 at 04:08 AM
strangely as much as this album not being spectacular..i kinda enjoyed it. i guess i just got old and trite.
Shouldve Let U Go = Enough Cryin. I second that motion.
Have u heard this cute mashup of Elliott Yamin & Mary J?
Check it out.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/371774108be906/
Wish someone would mash Keisha and Mary just to show she totally swiped Mary's swagger..
Posted by: musico74 | October 08, 2007 at 11:32 AM