It's August 24, 2010... almost four years since the release of Fantasia's second album "Fantasia". During the last four years we've witnessed this chanteuse blossom into a mature, strong, beautiful & mulit-talented artist.
Speaking to being mulit-talented, we've watched Fantasia become a Broadway starlet and a reality television personality, two ends of the entertainment spectrum. This just further defines the breadth of the versatility in her many, many talents.
But, as far as music, from the studio... Fantasia has been away from us for far too long. But, with just a couple listens to the tracks on "Back to Me", I know that Fantasia is truly back to us, pun: intended.
The album opens with "I'm doin' me", a mid-tempo personal anthem that all us who've been a little unlucky in love as of yet should listen to and heed. The lyrics and production is solid on many of the more up beat tracks, but just like this particular one; I find them a little too formulaic for this voice.
We love Fantasia because she kicks off her shoes running around sweating on stage, reminiscent of Patti LaBelle. And out of those expressive fits of passion, she belts out and sometimes screams some of the most beautifully raw vocals you can ever here.
Tracks like "Bittersweet" return the soulful, blues/filled Fantasia to us. She amazingly evokes the pain of icons such as Billie Holiday and also yields to smooth, rhythmic melodies reminiscent of contemporaries such as Mary J. Blige as she does in the track "Trust Him"
Coursing through the tracks, we come upon "Collard Greens & Cornbread". And, I have to say, as a fan; this is why I love Fantasia. She keeps it real. She's a southern girl who knows where she's come from, where she's headed, and that futures are unknown but can still be promising.
This album is the soul, rhythm & blues album that her audiences have been waiting for.
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