Ciara is trying hard not to come off as Rihanna-lite but it’s not likely to happen with her forthcoming album, Ciara.

By: Nick Krewen Music, Published on Tue Jul 09 2013

R&B/POP
1.5 stars
Ciara (Sony Music)

“Ladies this is your sound/So as soon as it comes out/You should get yourself on the floor/And get your sexy out.”

So commands Ciara, the former Queen of crunk (remember crunk?) on “I’m Out,” (featuring Nicki Minaj).

The Texas-born Atlantan, who’s in something of a career free-fall, is praying that, at the veteran age of 27, this new self-titled album will be the one to resurrect her top-of-the-charts stature and dispel any notion that she’s Rihanna-lite.

We won’t know the stature of the former until next week, and as for the latter, let’s just say Rihanna won’t be losing any sleep. Granted that the opening track has Virgin Island producers Rock City and Co-Captains injecting some mad Caribbean slam beats on the opener; and the Rodney Jerkins’ tick-tock track “Read My Lips” has enough of a hook to sustain mild interest, but for the most part the remaining eight tracks on Ciara vary from easily forgettable to cliché-riddled dull.

As a stylist, however, you’ve got to give Ciara props for trying to vary it up, whether it’s attempting to rap (“Super Turnt Up,” which annoyingly comes with an attached “Feat. Ciara” in case listeners weren’t smart enough to put two and two together) or actual non-auto-tuned singing during the spicy ballad “DUI,” where the singer is being seduced while she’s driving behind the wheel.

But if it weren’t for her hormonal overdrive and a couple of Nicki Minaj guest spots, Ciara would be critically shorter on content than it already is. More hype than substance.

 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2013/07/09/ciaras_new_fulllength_a_easily_forgettable_review.html