A Different Me (CD - 2008)

Oakland-born R&B songstress Keyshia Cole has been crafting top-shelf R&B that straddles the stylistic divide between the stridently modern, club-oriented R&B of contemporaries like Ne-Yo and the more backward-looking, classicist soul of Mary J. Blige. A DIFFERENT ME unquestionably favors the latter style. Even on tracks like "Oh-Oh, Yeah-Yea," which features dance-floor ready production from the Outsyderz and a guest appearance from Nas, Cole adopts a self-consciously dramatic, melismatic style of delivery that evokes the vocal virtuosity of divas like Blige and Whitney Houston. This is not to say that A DIFFERENT ME is a wholly conservative affair however. Though much of the album features a more lyrically introspective and musically ambitious side of Cole's artistic personality, tracks like the propulsive, Polow Da Don-produced "Make Me Over" ought to satisfy fans looking for more energetic material. minimize