Fearless; Jazmine Sullivan

Jazmine burst into the music scene last year with her debut album, Fearless. Truly speaking I had no idea about her till a few weeks ago. I came across one of the songs from her songs on Glee and traced it back to her album. After a few minutes of waiting I had the album and after one listen I was pretty much hyped about it. To pit it in just a sentence I'd say; One of the BEST R&B albums ever!

No denying it at all!

Jazmine is undeniably one of the best R&B artists of the current generation. Previously she had appeared on writing credits for artists like Jennifer Hudson, Cristina Milan and Fantasia. It was later that the rapper Missy Elliot took interest in her. She took Jazmine under her wing and signed her to J Records.

The following songs can be found on the record;

1. Bust Your Windows
2. Need U Bad
3. My Foolish Heart
4. Lions, Tigers and Bears
5. Call Me Guilty
6. One Night Stand
7. After the Hurricane
8. Dream Big
9. Live a Lie
10. Fear
11. In Love With Another Man
12. Switch!
13. Best Of Me (Bonus Track)

Being a songwriter herself, Jazmine co-wrote many of the songs. My favorites from the album are 'Bust Your Windows', 'Lions, Tigers and Bears', 'One Night Stand', 'Dream Big' and 'Fear'. I would especially recommend the 'Lions, Tigers and Bears' and 'Fear'. These are pretty much Jazmine at her best.

Being a R&B album, it is definitely not complete without a few club bangers. 'Bust Your Windows', 'One Night Stand' and 'Switch!' provide some snazzy upbeat tunes for the listeners to bust a move. As mentioned earlier, 'One Night Stand' is a definite stand-out.

'Bust Your Windows' claimed the #1 spot on the US R&B Charts, but for me it somehow lacks somewhere. The Glee cast member, Amber Riley (Playing the character Mercedes Jones) did a much better version of it during the show's run. But I guess also somewhat influenced by Jazz artist, Jazmine included that it to a certain deal. Personally speaking it seems like an R&B version of Carrie Underwood's Country Hit 'Before He Cheats'. What do you think?

'Need U Bad' which was the first single off the record and has writing credits to Missy Elliot is also a good one. Somehow I'm not entirely feeling it. It's good but not great.

Being an R&B artist, there have to be some cool ballads and we get a plentiful classy ones right here. The best of all has to be 'Lions, Tigers and Bears'. It is the third single off the record and I am pretty much crazy about the video and would totally recommend you to check it out. Another ballad that caught my attention is 'Call Me Guilty', though I'm not a big fan of the message the song is delivering. It's sort of a guilty pleasure.

'Fear' which features writing collaboration with the great Stevie Wonder is an absolute classic. To have a song like this cut out for a debut album is a huge deal for a starting artist. This is probably a track that's going to be staying in my play list for a long-time. Do give it a listen, I have a feeling it will soon be your favorite as well.

'My Foolish Heart', 'After the Hurricane' and 'In Love With Another Man' are three other ballads that can be found on the record. Good stuff but they didn't grow on me as compared to the other tracks. 'Dream Big' was the first single to be charted in the UK and did a successful run over there. It's a cool song, as mentioned earlier it's one of my favorites.

If your an R&B enthusiast, then you're denying yourself a real treat by missing on Fearless!

Copyright © Saad Khan 2009 (Karachi, Pakistan; saadkhalidkhan@gmail.com)