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| by kenn on 8/13/2005 10:31:00 PM |
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Review: Teairra Mari's Debut Album
Source: BellaOnline
Teairra Mari is a 17 year old Detroit native who has been crowned "The Princess of The Roc." Her self-titled debut album is in stores now.
Teairra Mari can sing, but she is no Aretha or Patti Labelle. By this statement I mean she is not making R&B music in the traditional sense. The type of music that she makes is hip-hop influenced R&B music. Hard beats, loud beats, like hip-hop songs but with a singer verses a rapper. I spoke with her a few months ago and she mentioned she didn't want many features on her album. Most of the women who make the type of music that she does, have features, guest rappers on the album. For instance Beyonce (Jay Z was on Crazy In Love, Sean Paul was on Baby Boy), Brooke Valentine (Girlfight had Big Boi), Ciara (she had Ludacris, Petey Pablo, and Missy on her first 3 singles). Even male hip/hop & r&b singers are doing this, Chris Brown has Juelz Santana on his first single. Even Mary J. Blige has had rappers on a few of her singles as of late.
On to Teairra's album. It's a decent debut, but I think our ears are trained for the rap in the song. The album opens up with "Make Her Feel Good," which is a good song. I really enjoyed the song "No Daddy," it sounds like she sings from the heart. I'm sure a lot of young girls will relate with this tune. She does sound like Beyonce or at least like she studied Beyonce's style of singing on the songs "MVP," and "Stay In Ya Lane." Some songs are okay but seem like they will never end and would have benefited from a feature rapper like the song "New Sh*t," "Stay In Ya Lane," "La La," and "Get Down Tonight." Speaking of "Get Down Tonight," the track is good, the vocals are good but the song just got so boring after awhile, this could have really been enhanced by a feature rap or another singer on the song or something. It sounds like a good song, but it could have been a bit more. Plus the production isn't to the point where the track will just keep the listener amused for the entire duration of the song, I mean it's good but some songs just tire easily.
"Act Right" is a decent ballad.
"Phone Book" is a really good song that young girls will identify with, she sings about having a fight with her mom who doesn't agree with her choice boyfriend. "Confidential" is a really good song. I have heard people complain about the content based on her age, but this is show bizness, these kids sing what will sell and they are not the driving force behind the process.
I also hope that Roc-A-Fella establishes an identity for Teairra Mari outside of Roc-A-Fella. This is why. Because when Roc-A-Fella isn't on top anymore where does that leave this singer? Singers have longer careers than rappers. Remember when Ashanti was running around singing Murder Inc a few years ago? Speaking of Ashanti the song "Get Up On Ya Gangsta" is a very Ashanti sounding song. The album closes with the "No Daddy" remix, which isn't quite as impressive as the original version. The remix doesn't even include a rap. It's just a different track than the original.
Overall, I think she is a good singer and performer and hope that I enjoy her next CD more. This one is a good start, but I know she can offer more. A lot of these new artists say they don't need features they want the audience to get to know them, but sometimes the type of music that they make warrants a couple of features.
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