Erykah Badu - "Soldier" (mp3)
I tend to mentally associate Erykah Badu with artists like Bjork or Tori Amos, deeply idiosyncratic women that were briefly pretty major stars in the 90's, probably the most welcoming era for female eccentricity that American pop music has ever known, and have since retreated into a comfortable cult following. Even though that comparison doesn't totally line up -- somehow I reckon Badu's fanbase isn't as heavy on gothy teenagers as Bjork's or Amos's -- I think there are some strong parallels there. And while those singers are more or less completely off the pop radar, Badu does have a moderately successful new single and is going to be playing some pretty big venues this year, since the Okayplayer audience is pretty damn loyal. But as much as I like "Honey" and the rest of her new album, and am glad for the fact that she's become something completely unique unto herself, for which Billie Holiday comparisons don't really say much at all anymore, I am a little bummed that she'll pretty clearly never make any songs as great and radio-friendly as "Next Lifetime" or "Tyrone" again.
New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) is the kind of murky, weird, ambitious R&B album that other critics tend to love way more than me, and even within that realm I think Raheem DeVaughn put out a better one a few weeks earlier. I'm still slowly getting into, but I have to admit my favorite stuff is still the more contemporary-sounding songs like "Soldier" and "Honey," although I also love the slow, gorgeous J Dilla tribute "Telephone." I'm pretty interested to see if New Amerykah: Part Two (Return of The Ahnk), due in July, and the third album the series later, are going to come off as more of the same after this, or throw some serious curveballs. I'm way in favor of artists putting out albums once or more than once a year, but I think the whole approach that's become popular in recent years of making a double album, and then putting out its two halves seperately, is generally kind of a bad idea. But maybe Badu's the one artist with enough tricks up her sleeve to make it work for her.
I tend to mentally associate Erykah Badu with artists like Bjork or Tori Amos, deeply idiosyncratic women that were briefly pretty major stars in the 90's, probably the most welcoming era for female eccentricity that American pop music has ever known, and have since retreated into a comfortable cult following. Even though that comparison doesn't totally line up -- somehow I reckon Badu's fanbase isn't as heavy on gothy teenagers as Bjork's or Amos's -- I think there are some strong parallels there. And while those singers are more or less completely off the pop radar, Badu does have a moderately successful new single and is going to be playing some pretty big venues this year, since the Okayplayer audience is pretty damn loyal. But as much as I like "Honey" and the rest of her new album, and am glad for the fact that she's become something completely unique unto herself, for which Billie Holiday comparisons don't really say much at all anymore, I am a little bummed that she'll pretty clearly never make any songs as great and radio-friendly as "Next Lifetime" or "Tyrone" again.
New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) is the kind of murky, weird, ambitious R&B album that other critics tend to love way more than me, and even within that realm I think Raheem DeVaughn put out a better one a few weeks earlier. I'm still slowly getting into, but I have to admit my favorite stuff is still the more contemporary-sounding songs like "Soldier" and "Honey," although I also love the slow, gorgeous J Dilla tribute "Telephone." I'm pretty interested to see if New Amerykah: Part Two (Return of The Ahnk), due in July, and the third album the series later, are going to come off as more of the same after this, or throw some serious curveballs. I'm way in favor of artists putting out albums once or more than once a year, but I think the whole approach that's become popular in recent years of making a double album, and then putting out its two halves seperately, is generally kind of a bad idea. But maybe Badu's the one artist with enough tricks up her sleeve to make it work for her.
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