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Aaliyah
07/25/2001 8:21 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
By the standards of today's pop charts, Aaliyah is a grizzled vet at age 22. But the former teen R&B star, who first hit back in 1994 at the then-tender age of 15, apparently wanted there to be no mistaking her for any of the current musical kiddie corps. Her third album--and first in five years--is grown-up with a capital "G."
Yet despite the presence of Timbaland behind the boards for a few cuts, and a song (the ballad "I Care 4 U") contributed by Missy Elliott, this is certainly no Misdemeanor joint, either. Aaliyah gets her freak on here in a much more mellow and sultry fashion, typified by the easy-flowing "Rock The Boat," which gives a lover some fairly direct instructions on boat-rocking.
At times the reliance on heavy-breathing, laid-back grooves is a little annoying--Aaliyah doesn't quite have the pipes to carry off melodramatic fare like "Never No More," and a few more club bangers on the order of the springy, sassy "U Got Nerve" certainly wouldn't have hurt. Overall, though, the mature, midtempo funk can't quite keep down Aaliyah's still-kittenish vocals, making this disc a pretty listenable blend of youth and experience.
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