After all the anticipation and her finally landing a hit single with the pretty great "Turnin' Me On," I have to admit that I've always liked the idea of Keri more than Keri herself; a girl who looks like, well, ^that^ but has been behind the scenes writing hits for the others is just a real beauty'n'brains combination in and of itself. But I was conveniently overlooking the fact that I've never really loved any of the songs Keri's written for other artists, so really it's her voice and persona (both of which are a bit thin and underdeveloped) that the album relies on. And upon close inspection it turns out that she's likable-but-not-charismatic in the Kelly Rowland mode, which, hey, there are worst things than that, but In A Perfect World is ultimately not any kind of 'a star is born' moment.

It is, however, a pretty decent R&B album, and it's kind of nice to see it doing well. For all her ballyhooed connections to Timbaland, Polow Da Don and other hitmakers, she's actually better without riding their coattails. Solo cuts like "Alienated" and "Slow Dance" are the heart of the album, and even "Energy," which always struck me as kind of a non-starter as a lead single, sounds pretty good popping up toward the end here. Meanwhile, the Akon song is pure hell to me, and I can't really fuck with any of the Timbo tracks except for the positively ancient and formerly misidentified "Where Did He Go?, but Polow and the off-brand producers turn in some good shit. "Knock You Down" is some bullshit, though, I can't wait for them to move on to another single.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 7:02 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.