R&B singer Chris Brown is somewhat of an enigma when it comes to music. Now and then, he will release a song that harks back to the promise he showed when his career first started.
More often than not, though, he chooses to do what’s popular instead of tapping into his full talent. As Brown prepares to headline the “One Of Them Ones Tour” and release his tenth album, Breezy, I wanted to spotlight one of the singles from that album, “Warm Embrace.”
Linking up with producer Don City, Chris samples one of the all-time great slow jams, Guy’s “Let’s Chill.” One of the most surprising things about the song is that Chris avoids auto-tune and reverts to his tenor. When Brown sings the lyrics, “I can see your mind is overworked, boo/Tension in your body when I touch you/Girl, you deserve it I’m gon’ make every second of this worth it/Love how you do everything you do with a purpose, babe,” they come across more convincing.
While I like the track, I won’t pretend it’s anything groundbreaking or falling into the song of the year category. Only Chris knows what direction he’s taking with Breezy arriving on June 24th. Per a tweet the singer sent out on June 7th, his tenth album will have twenty-four songs.
Final Grade: B
“Warm Embrace” is available on all streaming platforms.
Nineties R&B was home to many female groups, so standing out took more than good looks and a major industry endorsement. I still remember seeing Allure in a Vibe ad and thinking how gorgeous those four women were. The question was whether they had the talent to compete in the music scene.
In 1996, I first heard the Houston quartet Ideal on the Original Gangsters soundtrack. Their interpretation of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues,” featuring the Chi-Lites, caught my attention.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I want to revisit 2004 and highlight Romeo’s debut solo album, formerly of Immature. Titled “Food for Thought” and released on June 22nd, this project marked the singer’s change of name to Young Rome in an effort to distance himself from the youthful sound of his group, much like his bandmate Marques Houston had done a year earlier.