Natalie Album: “Natalie”

Description :

Personnel: Natalie ; Justin Roman. <p>Recording information: Houston, Texas (2005). <p>Texan singer Natalie emerged from Houston's Latium collective, which also spawned Frankie J and Baby Bash. Like the latter, she is not glued to one musical style and draws inspiration from diverse elements of the pop universe. A former Houston Rockets dancer, Natalie embarked on a career as a rapper before giving full sway to her sweetly sensual, limber singing voice, unveiled on her eponymous first album. <p>Natalie admits to an adoration of 1980s icons such as Madonna and Janet Jackson, and her 2005 record feels like a throwback to that era, frolicking in that enchanted land between pop and R&B, and then pulling the vibe back to its present day with a hip-hop sensibility. The opening track and first single, "Goin' Crazy," embodies that innocence-versus-desire spirit with lush production, soft-jazz synthesizers, and an R&B/hip-hop interlude. Natalie brushes off the purity a few tracks later for the positively erotic "Ooh," where the singer coos seductively over a contemporary beat before cementing her MC cred on "You Don't Love Me No More." Natalie's skills are manifold, and she displays them vividly on this engaging debut.

This cd is really quite good. She has a reasonably good voice and the music is catchy and fun. The first song 'crazy' is excellent and I wish for her it had been a bigger hit. The airplay in the States was good and here in Australia it was practically nill (one reason I love going to the States - to hear good music). Go get this album.

I enjoyed this cd and would recommend it.

i love her album. for one she reminds me of my favorite singer janet jackson everytime i hear my favorite song on the whole lp, "stay" i love her and hope to see more of her in the future!

Natalie has a beautiful voice, and her songs are something that many people can relate to. My personal favorite is Goin' Crazy, where she realizes how deeply she loves someone who has left her. To qoute the song "I never knew I'd ever love a man so much." In general, Natalie has wonderful percussion and backround singers. I reccomend her album to anyone, but girls may enjoy it a bit more than guys.

Natalie's debut album is one of those albums that I checked out blindly: I hadn't heard any song off it before listening to the whole thing. I also didn't know until looking at the liner notes that she's down with Frankie J and Baby Bash. I sat down and listened to the album though, and, well, I wasn't impressed.

First off, Natalie doesn't have the strongest set of pipes (and no offense, but I'm not sure how the editorial reviewer's comparing her to Jennifer Lopez, Amerie and Ciara is supposed to HELP her cause). Things start off very shaky at the beginning. First comes the single "Goin' Crazy", which I think is overrated because I don't hear any feeling in Natalie's voice (especially during the chorus). And the failed club-rocker "Energy" features Baby Bash being wack as usual.

"You Don't Love Me No More" made me want to answer the question. I said, "Maybe it's because you tried to kick a verse." Yes, Natalie is actually RAPPING in this song, as well as in the aptly-titled "Emptiness", and I just groaned. (The sad thing is, though, she still sounded better than Baby Bash.) "Where Are You" also suffers from a weak chorus.

The only songs that are truly listenable all the way through are "Stay" and possibly "Ooh". And the remake of Nu Shooz's "I Can't Wait" doesn't help or hurt the album. Anyway, I wouldn't mind having a poster of Natalie on my ceiling, but as far as vocals go, she seriously needs to work on them and THEN come back for another album.

Anthony Rupert