While R&B quintet Troop had yet to release an album since the late nineties, the group stayed active with touring and solo offerings from some members. In 2014, the group surprised fans by releasing a new song, “Santa Can You Help Me.”
Lead singer Steven Russell had already validated his legacy by writing numerous R&B hits for nearly two decades. With this song, though, he gets help from group mate Jon Jon. R&B fans will notice the music has a sample of the group’s cover of The Jacksons’ “All I Do Is Think of You.”
Featuring the classic Troop sound and harmonies, “Santa Can You Help Me” could’ve easily set the stage for Troop’s first R&B Christmas album. While Allen McNeil sadly wasn’t a part of the record, remaining members Steven Russell Harts, Jon Harreld, Rodney Benford, and the late Reggie Warren sounded great on the song. It doesn’t try to appeal to a modern demographic.
“Santa Can You Help Me” brings R&B soul to Christmas this holiday season with an expression of love. The song is about affection, accepting responsibility, and the sincerity many of us long for, especially at this time of year. While the song is eight years old, it still sounds better than some Christmas R&B tracks that have hit the streaming market this year.
Final Grade: B +
“Santa Can You Help Me?” is available on all streaming platforms.
This week’s Second Listen Sunday pick takes us back to 2006 to revisit “So Amazin’,” the third album from Christina Milian. Arriving in stores on April 19 of that year, the project was produced largely by Cool & Dre, sans one song, and saw the singer earn writing credits on nine of the album’s songs.
For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I want to showcase love for Rahsaan Patterson and his album track “Can We Wait a Minute” from his self-titled debut album, released in 1997.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to take a trip back to 2000 and show some love to the R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo and their third album, “X,” which was released in stores on December 5, just in time for a holiday stocking stuffer. Arguably, the group suffered from the sophomore slump with their second album, as only two singles were successful.