This week I attended the taping of Chrisette Michelle's SoulStage for Vh1 Soul. Chrisette is interesting to watch, I like to think of her as a walking oxymoron. Out walks this cute, doe-eyed beauty exuding innocence and youthful goofiness. Then she opens her mouth and her voice makes you stand up and take notice. Her vocal range and mastery of her instrument speak to a talent well beyond her years. On her debut album, I Am, she sang about studying "Ms Billie, Ms Ella, Ms Sarah Vaughn and Ms Natalie Cole". This time around she can add one more name to her list. Ladies and gentleman the spirit of Phyllis Hyman is alive and well in Ms Chrisette Michelle.
On May 5, she releases her sophomore release “Epiphany”, executive produced by Ne-Yo. I was a little surprised by that but in all honesty Ne-Yo is a great R&B songwriter and vocal producer so the teaming makes perfect sense. He was able to bring out the subtleties in her voice that her performances sometimes lack, making her a little less over-the-top when necessary.
The first song she sang was her new single, also titled Epiphany. It is a stirring soulful slow-mid tempo about realizing a relationship is over and deciding to move on. What I like about SoulStage is it’s a lot like Storytellers, in that the artists tell little anecdotes about their songs. It could be what they were doing or thinking when they wrote or recorded a given song or what a song means to them. In this case Chrisette had an "oh snap!" moment, told Ne-Yo about it and this song was born. Her epiphany.
The next song came to her in a dream the night before; Blame It On Me is the obligatory power ballad every songstress needs. Check that off the list. At this point things got funny. The show was stopped so her hair and make up team could apply touch ups. We (the audience) just waited patiently as the three experts handled business.
Back to the show.
What You Do is a catchy mid tempo. Nothing special about the song but she performed well and it will probably be a single. Though personally I think it should just be album filler. Following this song, she shouted out to LA Reid, the head of her label, for supporting her vision and allowing her to "do her own thing", or at least letting her think she could (wink wink). Well played LA, well played. Next she did a few hits from “I Am”. If I Had My Way (love this song) was done with a jazzy flair and old soul feel. This is where she truly gave in to the Phyllis Hyman spirit. And although she missed my favorite note coming out of the bridge, she more than made up for it with an Ella Fitzgerald inspired scat to end the song. This led into the Grammy award winning Be Ok. This song had a false start so between takes and touch ups, Mr. Reid himself popped up for a hug and hello. Take 2 was amazing and featured more scatting during the bridge. She truly understands how to meld R&B with Jazz and is amazing to watch and listen to when she gives in to those moments.
... Another makeup touchup (sigh)
The next song is the one I was waiting for; a song that I could fall in love with instantly. All I Ever Think About Is You is ironically a song she didn't want to record in the first place but is now her favorite on the album. The story here is, LA called her as she was getting off a plane and convinced her that this was a song she had to record. So much for doing your own thing. But thankfully, she changed her mind because this song is crazy.
More touchups and now we're up to six hair and makeup handlers (insert exasperation here).
Her surprise song was Superwoman, made famous by Karen White (L.A.'s ex-wife). While vocally she did well, I was a bit disappointed with this one. Why? Well because she was reading the lyrics off a piece of paper on the floor, yes Chrisette, we all caught you looking, and yet still managed to get the lyrics wrong. Dude, this song was HUGE, you should remember the lyrics by heart. I know I do.
All in all she gave a great show and I was excited to hear more. So on my Chrisette high, the following day I searched the internet for the recordings hoping to hear the finished tracks. I only found a few and I must say they weren't what I thought they would be. Yes, a couple of them were still good, but are they good enough? I wasn't totally convinced and I couldn't understand what happened. Then it hit me. Chrisette is a true performer. Put her on stage and she will give you want you want, Power, emotion and fire. You will feel every word and every note like she is singing to you and you alone. This coupled with the fact that she never seems to sing a song the same way twice, makes her a must-see if she's ever in your area. Hell, I once saw her sing the alphabet and got chills from that. No joke, the frickin' alphabet. They never sang it like that Sesame Street. Now this is awesome when you’re at a show but unfortunately it sets a standard that most recordings can't live up to. The same thing happens with Leela James, Erykah Badu and sometimes Jill Scott. All of whom I love but real talk, the shows can be better than the product. Note to self, get album first and only go to shows after hearing the material.
So I'm officially starting over, I'll get the album on the 5th and try to see her at BB Kings on the 28th. Clearly I'm still a fan. Give me a vocalist over a studio artist any day. A talent this big is too hard to ignore.
Epiphany Sampler
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