Christina Milian - So Amazin'

So Average

Despite a successful acting career, a handful of hits written for other artists, and several appearances on mixtapes and other albums, Christina Milian seems to have fallen into the poor-sales trap. Her debut was never even released in the US, and although her second album was led by a hit single "Dip It Low", it was largely ignored as well. Thus, many came to view this album as Christina's last chance to do well, or else she'd be dropped by her label. Incidentally, or perhaps as a direct consequence of the poor sales, Christina has since left her label and began working on a new album instead. "So Amazin'" was intended to be a more urban album, and while it works pretty well, much of it remains rather bland.

"Say I" was the perfect choice for lead single and for opening track. Although the chorus is a little on the annoying side at first, it is a quick grower. The song talks about taking control of your own life, thus making it one of the more positive R&B tracks without being overly pushy about it (although most people probably didn't notice the lyrics much). Young Jeezy's rap actually makes a decent contribution, despite the complete nonsense that his lyrics end up being. "Twisted" is definitely a production highlight, although the lyrics could be better. This is one track that showcases Christina's voice, despite being somewhat overshadowed by the production in places. "Gonna Tell Everybody" is both a fan favourite and an album highlight, by far. This is one of the tracks that Christina herself contributed to, and although it isn't the best in terms of writing, it definitely one of the most personal tracks. It is precisely this that makes it such a highlight.

"Who's Gonna Ride" bears far too close a resemblance to a slowed-down "Say I", at least in the chorus. The bridge is the true highlight of this track. Although Christina sounds good (and quite venomous) on the verses, the lyrics could stand a few re-writes. The Three 6 Mafia cameo actually saves this song toward the end from becoming completely repetitive. Title track "So Amazing" is a decent club banger, complete with breathy vocals and mediocre lyricism. Christina sounds good, although Dre really contributes nothing. Despite the lacklustre lyrics, this is actually an decently enjoyable track. Nonetheless, the album does have much better offerings. "Hot Boy" fares better, although the growling in the chorus comes close to ruining it. Once you get used to that, however, the track becomes more of a standout. Dre's verse is also better in this one than the previous track (but is it really necessary to have the same guest artist twice in a row?).

"Foolin'" is a definite album highlight, with some of the best and most fluid vocals Christina has to offer. This truly shows what Christina is capable of, and it's really a shame that more of the album didn't attempt this old-school sound. "Foolin" has a sort of live feel, which sets it apart from the rest of the heavily produced tracks offered here. "My Lovin' Goes" once again uses the drawn-out syllable style in the chorus, like "Say I" and "Who's Gonna Ride". The lyrics are nice and simple, although some may find them rather immature. Nonetheless, Christina sounds good here particularly due to the comparatively downplayed production. It's far from the best this album has to offer, but holds its own as a decent album track. The only real issue is around the 3-minute mark, when the song appears to come to an end, and then starts up again with an instrumental after a few seconds. There's nothing wrong with the instrumental, it just doesn't make sense to make it sound like the song ended just before.

"Just A Little Bit" is more in the vain of Christina's earlier pop work, which works to her advantage, cheesy as the track is. Again, this track showcases what Christina can do when she's not being overshadowed by the production. Her vocals are crisp and clear, particularly on the bridge. Unfortunately, like much of the rest of the album, it inexplicably falls short of being a truly great song. "Y'all Ain't Nothing", a Ne-Yo crafted gem which is widely overlooked by critics and fans alike. This track has Christina talking about all she does for her man, despite his lack of appreciation. Compared to Ne-Yo's later hits with various artists, this track doesn't fare quite so well. However, it is somewhat kept from being a highlight because Christina's vocals are a little too subdued. When she lets loose toward the 3:30 mark, it gives a brief glimpse of what this track could have been. Finally, "She Don't Know" is one of the true highlights and one of the more memorable tracks. This one tells about a cheating man from the perspective of the other woman. Over a Latin beat, Christina infuses some Spanish lyrics, as well as some of the most convincing vocals this album has to offer. It would be interesting to see Christina do more in this style on future albums.

Overall Mark: 3/5

Despite definite talent in terms of both songwriting and singing (doubters should listen to "Believer" for proof), it is baffling that Christina has yet to put out a truly consistent album. While very few of the songs here are truly bad, many of them seem to be missing something which would make them truly interesting. Despite calling this her most personal album, Christina displays very little emotion throughout, which may be precisely what would have made this album great. With the proper support behind her, it's likely that Christina would be able to make a truly great album eventually. Between her existing album, she certainly has enough indications that she is capable. The hints of what she can do present on this album serve more as a cruel teaser than anything else. When she's not good, the material tends to be mildly interesting yet forgettable. But when she's good, Christina proves herself able to make some wonderful hits and truly engaging tracks. It's just too bad that there aren't more of those here.
April 26, 2008

GREAT CD

This album is really nice. It is really a shame that it is not getting the airplay that it deserves. June 26, 2007

It's Not As Amazing As I Would Have Liked

Cool & Dre, the rising production team behind the Game's "Hate It or Love It," handle all but one track on the third album from Christina Milian, and it is Milian's strongest album yet, if only by a narrow margin. The album is short on ideas, which are often taken from recent hits, and Cool & Dre aren't ashamed to swipe some of their own. The beat on "Say I," featuring Young Jeezy, is remarkably similar to the one used on "Hate It or Love It." "Who's Gonna Ride," featuring Three 6 Mafia, does nothing to mask its willingness to capitalize on Three 6's "Stay Fly." "Hot Boy" couldn't have been made without the existence of Destiny's Child's "Soldier." The other setback is that Milian's weakness remains ballads; the few that are here are more like placeholders that merely apply some forced variety to the album. But the club tracks are perfectly functional and appealing, even when they're secondhand, and a lot of it has to do with Milian's flirtatiously pouty charm. February 25, 2007

So UNAmazin', Just Download "Say I" (1.5 Stars)

Whether way you put it, Christina Milian doesn't have what you would call a grab on music. Yes, she's spun the two hit singles "AM to PM" and "Dip it Low", but c'mon, two hit singles and two flopping CDs (or, well, now three). If I had to compare her to someone, Jamie Foxx. Actor and singer. Okay at both, but not exceeding in either category (though Foxx is a darn good actor). And this is Milian's third go around with So Amazin'. Like anyone I followed this album for her previous works and that hot song "Say I". Yes, it flopped, but I still think with good promotion that song could've been huge. But, due to album sales and poor success with that single, she was dropped from Def Jam. So even with this whole paragraph, why on earth did I even bother with this? I got it for free! Well, I should also say you get what you pay for as well. Yes, she was cute on her UK release only self-titled and sexy on It's About Time. But this go around, she's a fake ghetto chick. Now, that's fine if you do it on the album cover only; not the actual music. But she literally does do it on the music, and pretty much kills the CD except for two songs, "Say I" and some random average song out of the death dragging tracklisting.

"Twisted" proves Christina Milian should have no writing credibility whatsoever with "It's so amazin, my heartbeat is racin, when I see your facin". Need I say that it gets worse the further you go down the song? Also the mentioning of the Bob Marley drug gets you nowhere. And the production of this song and the album is by Cool & Dre. Other than this work they've had a couple select hit singles like The Game's "Hate It Or Love It", but otherwise they are some pretty unknown producers as far as making pop music. And even worse to say that their production on this album is mostly lame. Especially on "Twisted", they uses plentiful horns and upbeat tempos to try to get a ghetto feel out of Christina Milian who, if I remember correctly, is as ghetto as Radio Disney. And that's no lie. "Gonna Tell Everybody" is better but what is that saying? The production is simple, and tries to be passed off as some sort of 90s styled soft rap thing when also keeping the original CM sound of 00s teen-pop. It fails. Vocally the track is pretty mediocre, Christina Milian sings off-key more than a couple of times in the chorus. And, speaking of the chorus, "I'm gonna tell everybody that you cheated" is the actual chorus. "Who's Gonna Ride" gets things even worse when Christina Milian once again fails to be ghetto. This time she starts rapping and oversinging "I ain't the one to cuss but f--- ya/Way before you went and copped that truck/When you're a-- got laid off boy/I should've listened to my ladies, when they told me". Well let's see here I highly doubt that Christina Milian has ever had a boyfriend that copped a truck before. Anyhow, Cool & Dre's overproduced synth drum pattern can't do anything to improve the song. And neither can Three 6 Mafia, they neither help nor hurt the song. "So Amazing" doesn't compliment the above, actually more-so it sounds exactly like the above which puts me once again to another point. This CD is about 43 minutes. It sounds like it is 15. Really all the songs have similar production until the end of the disc. Same overproduced jabber-jabber. Back to "So Amazing", well, Christina Milian still oversinging is apparent. The overproduced Cool & Dre music is still apparent. And, just completely odd lyrics are still apparent as well ( "Come over boy/Turn me over boy/Play with me/Lemme be ya sleepover toy") You know, this three-word rhyming (especially going from boy to toy) is getting old. Were is Ne-Yo when you need him most? And don't even get me started with "Hot Boy", which starts with "I can cook a steak up/while you hook up a steakout" and gets even worse into the song. Also I notice that Christina Milian only covers two things on this entire album. And that would be sex and living in the ghetto, one of which she has no experience with. Even parting away from the ghetto theme and attempting to create a man-theme, "Foolish" completely fails and moves into Ashanti World, and for the most part that is not a good thing. Christina Milian was always only an average vocalist so when she oversings, well, things get over just "shaky-bakey". And all things put aside, the editorial review calls "Milian a Beyonce-J.Lo wannabe if you will--and the case can even be made that she skimps on the vocals in spots." Sorry, but I don't think calling her a wanna-be J. Lo helps her cause. At least production on "Foolish" is a bit better than the rest as far as overproduction, but still no identity can be found other than she wants to fake a ghetto presence and oversing while doing so. At least there's one song that regains Milian's earlier talent, and that would be "My Lovin' Goes", but even that comes off as an average dance track. And lyrics still sound like someone half her age wrote them ("I'm writing you this letter to tell you how I'm feeling inside/To let you know that I like you") Well, at least she's not rapping. "Just A Little Bit" also attempts to go back to her It's About Time roots, but Cool & Dre wasn't producing her album with corny jazz-rap wannabes either. And halfway through the song I'm already sick of this album as a whole and furthermore sick of the uh-ohs throughout the song.

So, what else does this album have two offer? One, a completely boring jazz-wanna be ballad called "Y'all Ain't Nuthin". And it doesn't help that "She Don't Know" is the same song with different lyrics. In overall terms, Christina Milian's 3rd album was painful to listen to. Tons of "ghetto talk" and overproduction completely destroy what Milian has to offer. And her last two albums show she can pull off at least an average album. This time it doesn't happen. This time around Milian follows an overproduced ghetto-wannabe album that Raven Symone wouldn't touch with a 30 foot pole. Ah well, at least I got it for free. But even then, don't even download this. See if she offers something better the next go. 1.5 stars.

Track Picks:
"Say I"
"My Lovin' Goes" February 9, 2007

The beats make this album

With a few relative failures in the past, Christina Milian was in need of a hot cd. This is it. From the lead single "Say I" which blends inspiration with rap (Young Jeezy guest stars) to "Twisted" which has a dope beat and reeks of Dre, this cd is great. "Gonna Tell Everybody" and "Who's Gonna Ride" both use pain to describe her break up with Nick Cannon in different ways, hurt and scathing comments, respectively. The title track is great, a club track, with a constant hum of a beat and a rapping Christina. "Foolin" has Christina singing to an ex who had her as a side girl. It samples something old school in the background, which goes well with the modern beat and lyrics. "My Lovin Goes" is a simple and run-of-the-mill R&B song, but what sets it apart is it's reverberating chorus and background croaking. The next song, "Just a Little Bit" is too much of a lovechild of Say I and Dip It Low, very garden variety, but her vocals are crisp and refreshing, like a Sprite. A scathing diss track "Yall Aint Nuthin" showcases Christina's lyricism and prowess at singing with feeling. Lastly, "She Dont Know" is a good ending to a great cd, with spanish themes reminiscent of Mariah Carey's "I Only Wanted". This is a must-have album for any hip-hop, r&b, pop, rap fan who enjoys great vocals and immersing beats. January 22, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...