Tweet - Southern Hummingbird

This hummingbird needs to fly the coop...

Tweet's debut, "Southern Hummingbird" is drab, boring, depressing and uninspiring. Most of the songs just drag along because there is nothing great about her voice and the production is some of the worst I have heard in a long time. I am in no way saying that an artist's debut should be happy-go-lucky, but my God, don't bore the listener the entire way through! Another gripe is that this album is too long, clocking in at over an hour and having a total of seventeen tracks. If one chooses to administer a lengthy album, create a few different moods with the songs. Even the songs that were released are just decent, "Oops, Oh My" and "Call Me." There is nothing spectacular about either of these songs.

"Drunk" and "Motel" are blatant lyrically, and I appreciate her honesty in these songs, but they are lackluster as a whole. "Drunk" is about consuming lots of alcohol in an effort to escape life's hardships and "Motel" is about a woman who saw her man entering a motel with another woman. The production on these songs is insufferable and Tweet doesn't even bother giving us a treat vocally. Her vocals are decent on "Motel", but she gives us nothing to remember. "Boogie Tonight" is another lackluster song. It's a poor excuse for a party starter. The production sounds like an amateur playing around in the studio. Bilal duets with Tweet on "Best Friend" and they do an okay job together. Having a huge crush on your best friend is this track's subject matter. The production on this song is very typical for an R&B track; the producers offer nothing worth mentioning.

There are a few cuts that I halfway enjoyed such as "Beautiful" and "Complain". Tweet extends herself vocally, coming out of that alto she constantly sings in. It's true, her sound is at it's best when she sings in alto, but her soprano and second soprano hold its own on "Beautiful".

Overall, I had a difficult time getting into this album. Honestly, I never got into it. Therefore, I couldn't recommend this album to potential buyers. Guys, you'd be better off leaving this one on the shelf. Trust me, you aren't missing anything.

Mikeisha's Top 5

1. "Oops, Oh My"
2. "Best Friend"
3. "Complain"
4. "Beautiful"
5. "My Place"
November 5, 2007

Pleasant, angelical vocals and most importantly, real.

Tweet has a soul. It's evident on most of these tracks.

Her best song EVER is Complain. Great restraint, heart-wrenching and true lyrics, and very relate-able. A step ahead of the "music" of today.

Thank goodness for people like Tweet, Kelly Clarkson, Erykah Badu, Christina Aguilera and Nelly Furtado.

Nothing but realness/fun comes out of their music.

Complain, Drunk, My Place, Always Will and Best Friend are in a category of their own! September 24, 2007

Simply pure and profound ......

Tweet's debut album was nothing short of a pleasant surprise for me. Even if it had been filled with club bangers such as "Oops...Oh My", it would have been worth it. But the song that made me go out and purchase the album was "Best Friend" w/ Bilal which was playing on a jazz station here in Miami. Both he and Tweet were singing their a**es off in that song. But when I first heard the album it was filled with most of those deep and heart touching songs, my favorite one being "Smoking Cigarettes." Now I don't even smoke but I definately know what ya girl Tweet was feeling when she wrote that one. "Complain" is another one of my personal favorites. And also the album has several other club mood setters such as "Boogie 2Nite" and "Call Me", both will definately get you in the mood for a night out. I wasn't even about to write a review because several other reviewers already gave their well written opinions of this bound to be "classic." But I just had to put my piece in b/c this album is some good, real, pure music. Not that studio processed stuff that is coming out every week. Tweet is definately not just a passing fad. We all can relate to the s@#t that she has gone through or we will at some point in our lives. I just would like to thank her for sharing her life, talent, experiences, joys, and pains with us. Oh yeah, and this woman can really sing. As I said initially, this was a pleasant surprise for me. I am sure that you too will not be disappointed.

July 24, 2007

"Southern Hummingbird" - Tweet Succeeds With Flying Colours

Singer / songwriter / guitarist / ex-missy Elliott protégé Tweet may not have the dance moves of singer / songwriter / dancer / Missy Elliott protégé Ciara, but she definitely has superior vocals; the type of vocals that naturally ooze soul and sex appeal at the same time while still being able to smoothly hit a high or low note with ease. And Tweet's debut album, "Southern Hummingbird", which she largely produced, co-produced and/or co-wrote alongside Missy Elliott, Timbaland and others, definitely trumps Ciara's debut album "Goodies".

If there's anything to be surprised about, it's that Missy Elliott & Timbaland's musical innovation and experimental chaos are virtually nowhere to be found on this album, especially when you consider the fact that this album's lead single is "Oops (Oh My)", easily one of the sexiest and best singles to be released within this decade. Tweet's sultrily crooned celebration of sexual self-pleasure over Timbaland's unconventional, yet smooth and club-ready production, not to mention Missy Elliott's whispered, raunchy guest verse - long story short, anyone who wasn't turned on by the R&B siren at this stage must've had serious problems. The unsurprising bit, however, is that nothing even comes close to matching the originality or the undeniable sexuality of the aforementioned track, as the majority of "Southern Hummingbird" leans far more heavily on old-school-inflected, musically raw ballads and slow jams than the musically innovative club bangers that Timbaland & Missy Elliott are widely known for.

Thankfully, such lack of musical experimentation doesn't lessen the quality of Tweet's record. "So Much To Say (Intro)" sets the mood for the album as Tweet recites poetic, reflective lyrics and smoothly croons over surprisingly organic production.

Despite Tweet's natural sexuality, what truly sets her apart from most of her contemporaries is her honesty and her remarkable degree of restraint, never reaching for notes she can't hit (Cassie, Ashanti, etc.) or howling and screaming like an escaped mental patient (Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, etc.). Such a fact is especially displayed on the following tracks - "Smokin' Cigarettes", where Tweet, over guitar strings and subtle synths, confesses to smoking in order to relieve her heartache and emotional urgency; the acoustic guitar-driven "Motel", where Tweet calmly tells her unfaithful ex-lover to "go to Hell", right before booting him out of her life; "Complain", a stellar ballad where Tweet, over beautiful instrumentation, contemplates life and how she wouldn't complain if her man came back; and the equally stellar ballad "Drunk", where Tweet confesses to resorting to alcoholism to escape emotional and worldly pain, while doing so with a vocal delivery that's slow, smooth, urgent, depressing and weirdly drunkenly. Other ballads like the spiritually expressive love ode "Always Will" & her duet with Bilal on the gorgeous "Best Friend" manage to lighten the mood and diversify the album's range of emotions and moods.

Speaking of range, Tweet (thankfully) has the smarts to enliven the set with some much-need club jams. "Boogie 2nite" & "Make Ur Move" infuse elements of Funk and/or Disco into their musical structure, while "Call Me" smothers Tweet's hypnotic vocals and sexually suggestive, self-surrendering come-ons over Middle-Eastern-tinged, bouncy production. Then of course there's the previously mentioned "Oops (Oh My)".

As a whole, Tweet has come out with a very strong debut that is easily worthy of purchase and/or hard drive space. Lets hope her 2005 sophomore album, "It's Me Again", matches the greatness of this classic R&B album. Lets also hope that it doesn't have anything as horrible as the two bonus tracks tacked on at the end - "Sexual Healing (Oops Part 2)", a terrible redo of the original that strips the song of its original sexuality and includes a pitiful contribution by Ms. Jade ; and "Big Spender", a horn-driven boast-fest that Missy Elliott inhabits solely by herself for a painful 3 minutes and 10 seconds. 5 stars!

5 Best Tracks:
"Oops (Oh My)" (feat. Missy Elliott)"
"Smokin' Cigarettes"
"Drunk"
"Complain"
"Call Me"

Special Mentions:
"Heaven" (smartly incorporates a beating heart into a ballad about liberation from a bad relationship)"
"Beautiful" (piano-driven ballad that's great for laid-back listening)


January 6, 2007

3.5 stars

I would love to say that this album is flawless, but it's not. Most of the songs are excellent, but some of the acoustic guitar songs are just too weak. The genres of this album are all over the place. Some are very acoustic guitar. Some are Timbaland procuced hip hop and R&B or mindless uptempo numbers. And then some are more neo-soul, organic ballads. Tweet's melodies are nice, but it's obvious that the record label was trying to make her go in all different directions with this album and she should've just chose one. November 24, 2006

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