In the fermenting spittoon of mainstream pop artists, Ciara has always been that gold tooth that got dislodged in the chaw. All of her albums have multiple infectious, well crafted, down and dirty dance-pop and R & B tracks, and combined with that sickly sweet and soothing voice drizzled over surging feminine sexuality, you have the perfect Pop Goddess. I mean, look at the singles off her first full length Goodies: “Oh”, “My Goodies” and “1,2 Step”. Followed by other pop gems like “Promises”, “Love Sex Magic”, “Work It”, “Body Party” and of course my personal favorite, “Ride”, which during every listen makes me want to put on a pair of daisy dukes with my favorite fur and dry hump a limousine. This is one of those songs that gets everybody dancing–you know how many straight dudes I’ve seen gay out to this song? I know I am just naming off the singles, but throughout her albums, there are plenty of other jams that evoke the same alchemic pop formulas and beats that make Ciara so enchanting.
So, Jackie…I am not really sure who Jackie is, but she seems like the type of girl that on a sunny Saturday would rather go curtain shopping in yoga pants with her boyfriend than smoke blunts on the beach with the crew. Jackie is a tackle box without hooks, and you can’t catch the fish without the fucking hooks. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few tracks on here that had my head bobbing, “Jackie (B.M.F.)” is a dynamic five minute epic loaded with the krunk while occasionally shifting tempos into dancy club beats. “One Woman Army” also stood out and is an up-tempo, synth-riddled ass shaker. “Lullaby” and “Dance Like We’re Making Love” are catchier mid-tempo songs where you roll your windows up to hide your emotions in traffic. The rest of the album just seemed lazily thrown together and didn’t feel like a Ciara album… Jackie? Can we have Ciara back now? Thanks.
All in all, I can’t say anything bad about Ciara; that would be like stair-buttering Michael J. Fox. The fact that Ciara is still making albums and doesn’t look a day over flawless shows that she is one of the hardest working ladies in the biz and deserves to regain her throne.
3 out of 6 Doves: Prince overheard Ciara’s Jackie and he didn’t even miss a sip of his Minnetonka Spritzer. In fact he felt it was pretty complacent and safe; he has finger-wrangled some B list actresses that were more dangerous than this record. All in all it bores him, but he’s not angered.