What Will It Take?
I know I often blog about my love of music that sounds like it belongs in the fryer and served with a biscuit, but just so you know, I also have a great appreciation for strong vocalists and lyricists. I’m talking the likes of Fiona Apple, Lauryn Hill (or whoever wrote The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Faith Evans, Kelly Price and so on.
When I’m really in the mood for some soul music, I’m blasting My Life, Baduizm, and Brown Sugar, not B’Day (although when it’s time to work out, twirk, or get my morning jig in…Bey wins).
Notice all of the albums I just listed are from the mid-90s. Well, that’s because a huge chunk of R&B music – at least in its traditional form or some variation close enough to it – sucks. I have the likes of Teedra Moses, Keyshia Cole, and Amy Winehouse to tide me over, but for the most part, I have to dip back a decade prior for something substantive.
That’s one reason why I’ve taken to Jazmine Sullivan so much. When I heard her rendition of “Resentment,” I fell in love instantly. Beyonce sounds quite good on her version of the song, but I don’t really feel it. There’s sounding pretty and there’s emoting a feeling with your voice. Jazmine is the latter, and for that type of song, it’s what’s required.
I bought her album out of respect for someone with genuine singing talent. I don’t find her album to be perfect, however. Much like many of the albums released this decade, it strives too hard to sound universal. I get that artists (particularly Black ones) don’t want to be limited by any single genre of music, but sometimes it’s OK to just go with what works best for you.
I really appreciate some of the singles from her album. To me, “I Need You Bad,” “Bust Your Windows,” & “Lions, Tigers, & Bears” are some of the best R&B singles to come out this decade. It’s a shame not one of those songs reached their full potential because her labor didn’t give her the proper push.
I know she’s not the best performer yet, and I just acknowledged that her album is only decent, but c’mon, look at half of the non-singing, no-rhythm having, wack ass chicks labels are still trying to stuff down our throats. There are so many girls that look, sound, and dress the same and they’re all very much interchangeable and forgettable.
Why isn’t Jazmine’s label pushing her more? She was nominated for 9 Grammys and she didn’t perform. What is that about?
I really like this cotton commercial. Jazmine sounds fantastic. It makes me want to scream “EFF YO POLYESTER!” to strangers.
But this is only so much. While I think it’s commendable she’s managed to score multiple top 40 hits and rack up 400k in sales with very little promotion, she could be doing so much more if her team gave a damn.
Why does it seem like J Records only knows how to promote one artist at a time. That artist being Alicia Keys. Mario’s last album was pretty good but no one heard it. Monica’s image may not have been the most commercially viable, her last album was pretty solid. I barely heard a peep from either, though.
What is this chick going to have to do to get ahead? Bust her gut to get folks to care about her busting windows?
If Jazmine Sullivan were a bulimic with an addiction to peroxide, would we be seeing her all over the place? I see Christina Milian’s ass every where. Do I need to set up a PayPal account so us fans can put our money together and rent Jazmine a boyfriend for press?
Let me know what I have to do, because even if she does sing like she smells or looks like Snuffleupagus on occassion, she deserves to be larger than what she is.
Do you know how long it took Keri Hilson to score a hit? How many years Christina Milian has been trying? Imagine if that much effort went into Jazmine. Mmph.
I Stan For Cynics
April 27, 2009 at 10:12 pm
once again we’re on the same page. i was literally just listening to js’s CD today and wondering when someone was going to take the rei? gns and make her the star she deserves to be. she can sing her face offf! but her material is so substandard. what a waste of talent and potential.
what if she’d had someone to force 5 singles down our throats until she broke top 10 *cough* keri *cough* or a daddy to strong arm the industry? w/that voice? unstoppable.
lioness411
April 28, 2009 at 5:47 am
I don’t even think it’s that, I think we don’t hear anything about her because the industry is all style over substance, in the 90′s you could have a group of girls that looked like xscape and if they could saaang, they’d make it! now all you have to do is be tall, light skinned, weaved-out and you are everywhere! there is new CLEVELAND girl out named BRITNI ELISE I swear this girl sounds like a young Beyonce before she went all commercial, She is cute, but I don’t think she has the looks that spell cross over dollars so she probably won’t make it,
look at Teedra Moses, everyone I know loves this girl and we still haven’t had a second album, but people like Cassie are tossing out singles every other week! P.Diddy, signed another Cleveland girl (Got give the city shout-out) Cheri Dennis, and did nothing with this girls career, but instead chose to push Cassie out there who became an instant joke based on her dismal performance on 106 and park- it’s sad! damn I miss the 90′s!
Anonymous
April 28, 2009 at 10:26 am
Nice post, but do you always have to mentiom Her?
MissTee
April 28, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I dig JS….but I’m starting to wonder if she a beast on the low….ain’t that her on that Jadakiss song? 1st she’ll bust ya windows….now she gettin’ her dude to blast somebody???????? Anyway, I wish she’d get more shine too
BTW…..PLEASE TELL ME ANTHONY HAMILTON WAS LEFT OFF YOUR LIST AS AN OVERSITE! SOULFUL AIN’T GOOD ENUFF TO DESCRIBE THAT MAN! Loves him….I don’t think I’ve ever seen you give an opinion of him. What about Musiq Soulchild? He’s not high on my list, but he koo….but most of what I read about him suggests he’s 1 of THEE most hated on in the game (and it was from the outset). Why is that? I thought I was up on all the celebrity low-down there is, but I’ve never been able to figure that one out…..
pearl451
April 28, 2009 at 12:49 pm
preach!!! i also love me some jazmine. last october i saw the roots, estelle, and gym class heroes in concert, and estelle hated on jazmine saying “she’s not tryin to bust anybody’s windows” before she sang this song…but I own and paid for jazmine’s album and not estelles’s…so there
daniecal
April 28, 2009 at 1:14 pm
On one note I can see how we all want our favorite artists to get recognition and success. But why cant people realize that not EVERYBODY is meant to be a superstar?
For instance I stan for Van Hunt, and I stan HARD. But I know if he gets to a major label, they wouldnt have a clue as to what to do with him. Not on ly that but he is an artist who’s very possesive and protective over his music. SO he’d either have to be watered down to appeal to “mainstream” or have all his projects shelved because he wouldnt conform to the labels suggestions.
So I am content to having a QUALITY album appear from him evey few years or so.
but this good music Vs bad music , is no new arguement. It has NEVER been solely based on talent, and over the years that has just become the rule.
I shutter to think of what would happen to Jazmine Sullivan, if her label tried ot push her into mainstream. They’d probably starve the girl sick. We have to realize that the entertainment industry is REACTIVE not proactive. If a big broad could go onstage and net as much profit as anyother of todays starlets, then u’d see a sea on BBW, onstage.
I just think that sometimes with really creative artists, a major label, with major restraints on their artists direction, image, and sound. Can kill the artist we love, or end up breaking the artist themselves (see Lauryn Hill). In pursuit of major profits, and mainstram acceptance.
Dr. Kiti
April 28, 2009 at 9:43 pm
I’m with you on this one (sidenote: thank you thank you thank you for introducing me to Jazmine Sullivan!). I played her album nonstop for I don’t know how many months before it started to skip (I just have to burn another copy
I wish there were more artists like this out there and for that reason, I refuse to buy the music that’s being put out now. It’s garbage and it pollutes my mind, fucking up my workday.