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Beatstreet

Fantasy Ride

RCA/Jive

In her third studio album released in May this year, Ciara (pronounced Sierra) has put forth an assorted pallete with a string of guest appearances. A bunch of the usual suspects from the hip-hop scene — Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, The-Dream, Ludacris, Chris Brown and Young Jeezy — come together to create a time-pass song list.

This 14-track release opens up with a curtain call – “Ciara To The Stage” followed up by her collaboration with Justin Timberlake “Love Sex Magic” and “High Price” featuring Ludacris.

The album starts off rather feebly. I sat up to listen for a minute when I heard some A.R. Rehman-esque music, remarkably similar to a track from the film “Bombay.” However, “Turntables” featuring Chris Brown is just another fast-paced club number. This unremarkable journey hits a speed breaker with the number “Like A Surgeon” which is simply atrocious and even hilarious in parts. Sample this: “I appreciate your recovery time, but you need a physical one more time’.

The smooth and sweet ballads “Never Ever” and “Lover’s Thing” (feat Young Jeezy and The Dream respectively) whiz by.

The tempo picks up in the Missy Elliott inspired “Work” with multiple layers of synth and an up-tempo “Pucker Up”.

The frantic antics of the tracks so far give way to a much mellower sound in a few down-to-earth ballads. Moving into less ambitious but better sounding tracks such as “Keep Dancin’ On Me”, “Tell Me What Your Name Is” and beautifully tragic “I Don’t Remember”.

Ciara does manage to shine through the album, despite a substantial number of tracks being collaborations, on the strength of her strong vocals and superstar demeanour. With decent vocal skills and an air that makes her sit comfortably in this genre, she is probably a diva in the making. For Ciara fans, the album offers a wide range of tracks, some vocal antics and an assorted collaboration list. Others, like me, will just have to wait to be converted.

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