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Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia
Ok, though I was one of the people who said My Story is not my favorite (though I actually really like it when I think about it), I actually disagree with you about NEXT LEVEL. I think My Story does have more ambiance than most of her albums, but NL is one of my absolute favorites of hers because of its ambiance I feel it displays. It has the aura of positive, energetic emotions mixed with a very futuristic sound and complex feelings of gratitude, sheer enjoyment, and self-esteem.  I think the interludes really make this work, though.
But seriously, talking about My Story really makes me want to buy the album so I can listen to it. XD |
The interludes on NEXT LEVEL are the best she's ever had. But I feel the futuristic sound it was going for is always interrupted when the singles come into play.
Actually, looking at the track list again, the only songs that fully commit to that ambiance are EnergizE, Sparkle, Rollin', and of course the interludes. Seriously the interludes are the most "futuristic/digital" sounding pieces on the album. There are fragments of that ambiance lightly peppered into the other album tracks, but not enough to really drive the concept home. She didn't commit to the sound enough. Additionally, the digital sound she went for, came off as a bid dated. Almost like a parody of electronic music. Look at LOVE'n'HATE as an example - what the Hell is it trying to be? Lol. It's like a rejected angry Destiny's Child song trying to be rock and electronically edgy at the same time.
Going further, I found many of the album tracks less-than-stellar. Rollin' is a little annoying, LOVE'n'HATE is bad, and Curtain call is not my thing. It took a while for the title track to grow on me, and my love for identity faded rather quickly. I felt this album was the least authentic to her persona. The concept was wonderful, but the execution for me was just very amateur. I didn't feel like she was part of the music - her voice and the arrangements weren't in perfect harmony and there's a clear division between her and the other layers. Like she's just singing stop them instead of amongst them.