Chris Brown - Chris Brown

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Mediocre
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	Loveable and good songs
Disadvantages:	The album is very limited

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I can't say it is hard to get confused when it comes to this youngsters album, as Chris Brown released his debut album in late 2005, the album would appear with different versions and different covers (as highlighted by the wide variety of albums by the artist to review). All versions of the album went by the self-titled name of 'Chris Brown' however the track amounts vary from 8 to 15. For the purposes of this review, I shall be reviewing the eight track version of the album. Welcome to Chris Brown's world.

When Chris Brown first burst on to the scene it would be with the single 'Run It', that is the first track on the album if you do not count the Intro (See The Light). Run It was an immediate success and truly was the song of the summer for 2005 and gave Chris Brown the fanbase he so wanted. Chris was himself only 16 at this point, and listening to the album you find many references to his young age, and perhaps this is how he attracts his main audiance. Chris Brown makes 'teenybopper' music (music for teens for those a bit confused) but with that edge his music can get away with being for an older audiance as well. I'm not sure if Run It was just such a huge favourite of mine at the time because I was 16 as well at the time, although it's still a track for me that lives on through the ages. Even its remixes aren't to be scoffed at, although the many remixes do not feature on the album there's a few good ones out there on the internet for you to listen to.

This is going to sound sad, but Chris Brown is one of those artists that I found the need to learn about, and it wouldn't take me long to find out about how his birthday is the day following mine. It's hard to believe this is as young as he is looking back at his first video, that features Juelz Santana, but I guess Americans' just seem to have that way of looking older than EVERYONE at a very young age. Plus the showbiz does make people grow up. Christopher Brown, is as you would expect, the real name of the artist and not a stage name. Chris was born and raised in a small Virginia town.

Following up Run It would be no easy feat, although with the fanbase there he couldn't really do much wrong, and the Britney Spears of R&B brought out track three from the album entitled 'Yo (Excuse Me Miss)'. The song was a much different direction to Run It, and there is much less of the party infulence and more of the young love/romantic side of the artist, infact whilst we're on the subject of likening Chris to Britney, it was a similar situation with 'Sometimes' following up 'Baby One More Time'. The video continued to highlight Chris' strange dancing style that he is now famous for, and one of my most memorable Chris Brown moments is his performance of this single at the BET Awards 2006 where Chris performed live and the performance included a make-shift hot air balloon. Whilst Chris Brown may not be the best live singer, there is something unique about his voice and with the standard that he can perform at it will be interesting to see if following this obviously very manufactured and put together album by his management, he will have any long term future where he can think and write tracks for himself.

Whilst Chris Brown has released two further tracks from his album ('Say Goodbye' and 'Poppin') those two tracks do not feature on the cutdown version of the album, and the third and final single to feature on this version of the album is 'Gimme That' featuring Lil Wayne. With five tracks in total released from his debut album, it's clear to see this album was milked for all it had and perhaps that wasn't the best move from a non-making money point of view as a lot of the released ended up being very low key. 'Gimme That' had a good video to match what was an enjoyable track, and Lil Wayne's appearance is always a good thing. Perhaps this appearance actually opened Lil Wayne up to a much wider audiance, as his guest appearances have definitly risen since this track.

My favourite non-release from the album has to be track six, 'Ya Man Ain't Me', as even as a now 18-year old the song is easy to relate to you. Chris Brown maybe singing for the girls, but there is an appeal there that he established from the very first single with the men as well. The whole album is very 'puppy love' orientated, but the album is pretty well produced from that point of view. His voice has definitly been sharpened up for the final cut as well. Since the album the biggest thing to note for Chris' career is his appearance on the remix of Rihanna's 'Umbrella' where the song suddenly becomes 'Cinderella'. It's very cutesy and perfect, but Cinderella makes Umbrella even more obsessive and that's either an absolutely terrible thing or a brilliant thing -- and my vote goes to the latter. A second album is due later this year, and I'm glad his management decided to leave it two years before the release of 'Exclusive'. With him now being 18 years old there should be a more adult feel to his album, although it has been said that he will not turn his back on his core audiance and that is very obvious in his first single from his follow up album, entitled 'Wall to Wall'. So what is the longevity to Chris Brown's career? Only time can tell, but this works well as a short album and Chris Brown is a name that makes me sit up and listen.. and of course he's a character that has the money making potential that he has shown in his movie appearance in dance flick 'Step Up'.

1. Intro (See The Light) (0:56) - TWO STARS
2. Run It (3.49) - FOUR STARS
3. Yo (Excuse Me Miss) (3.49) - FOUR STARS
4. Young Love (3.38) - THREE STARS
5. Gimme That ft. Lil Wayne (3.06) - FOUR STARS
6. Ya Man Ain't Me (3.34) - FOUR STARS
7. Winner (4.04) - THREE STARS
8. Thank You (4.26) - TWO STARS