Exclusive (Deluxe Edition/+DVD) [Digipak] - Chris Brown

===Michael Jackson (Junior) attempts to continue to thrill with his second album.===

Comparing anyone to a musical talent the size of Michael Jackson is a huge feat to live up to, and whilst Chris Brown has repeatedly attempted to pay tribute to his idol - most noticeably with a World Music Awards performance impersonating that of Jacko's well-known 'Thriller' - the rising star himself still struggles to earn any kind of stature in ...
...behind this review, and it's not to brainwash you all into submission that Chris Brown should be able to top our charts. My motive comes more to the recent breaking news of the 18 year-olds relationship with an umbrella salesmans favourite person, Rihanna, who is sitting pretty at two years Brown's senior as a global icon. For all those that want to see the pictures of the cute couple, scroll to the bottom of my review, but be sure to rejoin me for ... more

Michael Jackson (Junior) attempts to continue to thrill with his second album.

Comparing anyone to a musical talent the size of Michael Jackson is a huge feat to live up to, and whilst Chris Brown has repeatedly attempted to pay tribute to his idol - most noticeably with a World Music Awards performance impersonating that of Jacko's well-known 'Thriller' - the rising star himself still struggles to earn any kind of stature in the UK market. As always however there is a motive behind this review, and it's not to brainwash you all into submission that Chris Brown should be able to top our charts. My motive comes more to the recent breaking news of the 18 year-olds relationship with an umbrella salesmans favourite person, Rihanna, who is sitting pretty at two years Brown's senior as a global icon. For all those that want to see the pictures of the cute couple, scroll to the bottom of my review, but be sure to rejoin me for the second paragraph once you're done.

'Exclusive' is the follow-up to Chris Brown's self titled debut album, and whilst this album did not have the same shock and awe factor that there was such a talented 16 year old around, the album did chart at #4 in the US charts - down two places on his first album. As far as us not recognising the young American's talents, this is representative of a #31 placing in the UK charts upon the global release in November '07 - that is also down two places in the UK chart to his 2005 album. Christopher Maurice Brown, who shall be turning 19 in May, does not have one of the most noticeable stage names in the industry now, but as an R&B singer there is no larger rising star that can lay claim to his dancing, acting and stage presence.

"He's the only pop star out there right now who can both hang with T-Pain and show up on Sesame Street, and he's going to be around for a while" - Rolling Stone Magazine

1. Throwed (3.01) ===* * * *===
2. Kiss Kiss ft. T-Pain (4.11) ===* * * * *===
3. Take You Down (4.05) ===* *===
4. With You (4.12) ===* * * * *===
5. Picture Perfect ft. Will.I.Am (4.12) ===* * *===
6. Hold Up ft. Big Boi (3.48) ===* * *===
7. You (3.22) ===* *===
8. Damage (4.16) ===* * * *===
9. Wall to Wall (3.48) ===* * * *===
10. Help Me (3.17) ===* *===
11. I Wanna Be (3.46) ===* * *===
12. Gimme Whatcha Got ft. Lil Wayne (3.48) ===* * *===
13. I'll Call Ya (3.53) ===* *===
14. Lottery (3.42) ===* *===
15. Nice ft. The Game (4.31) ===* * * *===
16. Down ft. Kanye West (4.17) ===* * * * *===
17. Get at Ya (3.18) ===* * *===
18. Mama (4.24) ===* *===
19. Fallen Angel (5.34) ===* * * *===

Straight off the back of his remix to 'Umbrella', which generated waves yet never got a formal release, 'Wall to Wall' would be Chris Brown's comeback single on an album that he aimed to attract an older audience as well as keeping the already young following he had. With just hearing this first single and the rest of the album yet to leak, many were already writing the guy off as it didn't hit anywhere near as hard as his first single, 'Run It!', becoming his least successful single to date only peaking at #79 on the US billboard and #75 in the UK charts. This would be the first time the artist had a release that was more successful on our shores than his native country, although nothing to write home about and 'Run It's success easily eclipsed it - that original track topped the US billboard and peaked at #2 in the UK. In all truthfulness, there is nothing really that wrong with 'Wall to Wall', it was a grower that just lacked anything new. The concept of the song was about women chasing him, and had an, "I'm back," shout at the beginning to inform everyone of his return. Unfortunately, on screen the video translated into some midnight vampire slayer flick with Chris flying.

My initial impressions to his second release were not positive either, although as time went on I was shown just how wrong I was, and 'Kiss Kiss' featuring T-Pain went on to be his second US Billboard #1 staying there for three weeks. With summer coming to a close, this was a party track that gave you something to smile about in the awful weather, and had the distinctive radio style introduction and T-Pain vocals. 'Kiss Kiss' was without a doubt something that Chris Breezy had never tried become, and accomodated an older audience, including an official remix featuring hot in herre singer, Nelly. Whilst the video remained somewhat childish in having the singer dressed up as both a geek and jock, the song received honours of being MTV's essential R&B song of the year as well as charting at #48 in Rolling Stone's 100 best songs of 2007 across all genres.

"And I will never try to deny that you are my whole life, cause if you ever let me go I would die so I won't run" - Chris Brown

'With You' was selected as a third single release even before the album had been released and as a ballad that had been produced by the same people behind, 'Irreplaceable' (Beyonce) and 'Hate That I Love You' (Rihanna ft. Neyo) there was reason to get excited about it. Although the release is still quite new, it has already became Chris Brown's third most successful single charting at #2 in the US and despite not being released physically until late March '08, the single has already reached #19 in the UK. If you have not heard the song yet, I would brace yourself to get romanced on radio airwaves later this month, as once again this is like nothing Chris Brown has done before and is more adult than the other smoochy single he released on the UK market in the shape of 'Yo' off his debut album. The repetition of the title in the lyrics and the over-the-top attitude towards love could cause many to write the song off, however even the critics have jumped on the track as Chris' defining moment. Whilst I don't want to keep referring to Rolling Stones magazine incase they have some favouritism towards the star, they have referred to this track as 'the convincer' and About.com referred to it as his 'best vocal peformance yet'. So those who have been left irritated by Chris Brown's unwhelming vocals previously may want to give this a check.

From this young artists opening three singles we have already seen a wealth of possibilities, and when they realised that the old formula of his early career wasn't going to work they slammed him forward with a big R&B star. Then add to the mix a differing single release with that acoustic-guitar loop of 'With You', his biggest slow dance release, and you wonder what track he may pull out of the bag next. If internet reports are anything to go by, Chris Brown is set to allign himself with yet another big American music name with either the release of 'Down' featuring Kanye West or 'Picture Perfect' featuring Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas. My personal perogative would be for him to release 'Down', with a big name performed by his side it is likely to get him more recognition than ever, and whilst the track does go along the lines of the more rocky infulence we're seeing in R&B music lately (Timbaland working with The Hives, the success of Amy Winehouse) it does work as a standalone single. Will.I.Am on the other hand is someone I am waiting to see do something more than say he got it from his mother, and I grew tiresome of 'Picture Perfect' quickly. The fact that we could be looking at five or more single releases from 'Exclusive' shows why Rolling Stones did name it as their 34th best album of 2007, but also with a large track amount always in the twentys you would expect it to have almost the potential of a compilation album. I do expect that the management team behind Chris Brown figured that if anything went wrong with the quality at least they had the quanity there to make the pricetag.

"Chris Brown will always be mine ya'll got dat?" - chrisbrowngurl (fan)

Due to the extensive nature of the album I have had to even go and find myself some more quotes, and all those crazy screaming fans on the internet couldn't wait for this release. 'Exclusive' was originally supposed to be titled 'Graduation', however that was changed due to the release of Kanye's album of the same name, the whole production of the album was also done during a time where rumours were flying around the internet of a possible sex scandal - similar to that of Neyo's naked pictures and Ray J's sex tape. Growing into quite the topic for the rumour churning websites brings me nicely on to 'Nice' featuring The Game - who himself is now facing a jail time, and was previously good friends with rapper 50 Cent. I suppose this wasn't true to Chris Brown's roots to collaborate with such a notorious person, however what was true to the roots here was it's production at the hands of Scott Storch - who was responsible for working on Chris' first album as well as helping artists the size and profile of Dr Dre, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Brooke Hogan. 'Nice' is another of my favourite tracks on the album, and has a distinct infulence from The Game.

'Throwed' works excellently as a lead track to the album, and interestingly it hasn't been pawned off as a single, which is always a good sign of strength in depth. Lil Wayne works with Chris again on this album, just as he did with the hit 'Gimme That' on his debut album, 'Gimme Watcha Got' is not exactly the same league though and Chris' work with larger stars has exposed Lil Wayne for not being the biggest star wanting to work with him. Big Boi is the last star to feature on the album, and 'Hold Up' is not at all memorable. Whilst it was good to see so many other names come in on 'Exclusive', luckily Chris does still express his talent on his own in some good songs not set for release yet, including 'Damage'. 

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