The Rhode Island-raised R&B singer Blu Cantrell released “So Blu” as her debut album back in 2001. It saw her break through in a way which would allow her to really blow up in popularity for her second album when her most well-known song ”Breathe” in collaboration with Sean Paul came out in 2003.
1. “Waste My Time”
Getting the album underway, this song has her breaking into some fly material which sees her working on beats form Tricky Stewart. The way in which it is composed is very representative of the sound of the time (and what had come through from 1998 up to this year) and so it showed that although she wasn’t doing anything new, she was prepared t do what the R&B fans wanted to hear at that particular time.
**Four Stars**
2. “Hit ‘em Up Style”
This was really the song which launched her into fame and it really deserved the attention it receive at the time as for a debut single, it was a big one, and it saw her making a big impact with an empowering recording for the girls which has her standing up for all the women who need to put their men in check when they suspect they have been messing around.
**Five Stars**
3. “Till I’m Gone”
Here you see more of Tricky Stewart’s influence on the music as his input compels the artist to go for a song which shows the breadth of material she is willing to reach
out to on the album from the first few songs, and with this one you get one which sees her making the best out of her vocals by doing a decent love song which specifically has her making break-ups the focal point of the lyrics. It is good, but not all that special for what you get on it.
4. “U Must B Crazy” The way that the music centres around relationships is brought into this one too, and I felt that in this case it was really needed for this one as you find that the way in which she goes about singing this particular song is right in line with expectations on the kind of overall sound which would be required to carry such heavily-weighted lyrics.
**Four Stars**
5. “The One”
This is a song which lightens the material significantly as you find her performing a song which appears to take on the format of an &B ballad of the time, in the style which someone such as R. Kelly would have come up with for the time, but the way in which it is doe with some pretty fly and exciting production means that she is able to get more out of it and gets more listeners into this kind of risky work.
**Four Stars**
6. “I’ll Find A Way”
The legendary duo of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are behind this particular tune, and with the experience of working with the likes of Janet Jackson, Alexander O’Neal and New Edition shows that they had already covered many acts which fitted her kind of attributes as a R&B musician who crosses into the more traditional work at times, and the stuff which she is given to work with seems to back this up, but it wasn’t really for me.
**Two Stars**
7. “Swingin’”
The Jazz bass guitaring which begins this one shows that we are in for more of something which we have had hints of in other points on the album and in this case you see her getting right down into the Swing mode with a Bebop song which takes things right back to a time which she was heavily influenced by.
**Four Stars**
8. “10,000”
This was one of the songs on the album which I would regard as a filler. It sees her performing a song which sounds to be quickly thrown together as it take son the form of your typical Pop-styled R&B song of the time, and there really isn’t all that much going on in it at all and so it doesn’t really serve much of a purpose here.
**One Star**
9. “When I Needed You”
The mood of things remains just as it was in the song prior to it, and I felt that this held it back as it is clearly an improved song, but the fact that it it positioned where it is means that it just sounds as if it is reinforcing the kind of things which you got before in order to prolong these emotions. It is a gentle one and has her fiendin’ over her past lover.
**Two Stars**
10. “All You Had To Say”
The jazzy sounds of earlier become prominent once again for this particular song as it sees that she attempting to blend this kind of material into something which fits in with the trends of the time. It is a nice one, and I felt that it really did what it needed to do in showing what unique features her music has.
**Four Stars**
11. “I Can’t Believe It”
This one has her getting into a full-on ballad, and it just wasn’t something I had any moderate level of interest in, and so I simply couldn’t engage with any aspect of the music within it as it just isn’t something I can get down to as she is backed with minimal production, and takes on a very traditional form.
**One Star**
12. “So Blu”
When this one initiates, it comes with a surprising blast to shock you into engaging with what the artist delivers with this eponymous song, and I felt that this was justified as we needed to bit of a boost and this attracts you into a song which is pretty effective at conveying her dark emotions whilst opening things up through light production.
**Four Stars**
13. “Blu Is A Mood”
Bringing the release to a close, you have a song which I anticipated (based on the way that a lot of the other songs were going) and with this you have the artist getting into one where she turns her attention towards the smoothing side of R&B, and she appears to do so by taking things back a little and performing a retro one which appears to be backed by some light, Cool Jazz instrumentals. It is a calm, and satisfying end tot he release.
**Three Stars**
Personally, I felt that this album was an inconsistent one, and it sees that the artist comes with a pretty varied album which brings in something new to the game, but doesn’t quite reach her full potential when trying to get down with the kind of things which were that popular at the time (aside from the case of her debut single). It isn’t a bad album, but contains some songs you need to look out for.
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