Big

Macy Gray strives for success

Macy Gray is an artist who needs no special presentation. This owner of one of the most unusual timbres on a modern pop scene entered the elite of world famous stars long time ago. And though her career can’t be treated as the most successful one she can still boast with a pretty populous fan base situated on both sides of Atlantics. During last few years Macy Gray’s popularity was slowly but constantly decreasing, and a reason of this fall was probably in that fact that since the release of her recent album in 2003 her admirers could content themselves only with best hits collections, but not with newly penned songs. Macy decided to improve the situation, and now she is ready to conquer musical Olympus again with her fresh album Big released in March. Big is intended for her die-hard fans in the first place. Macy Gray’s new songs are made in the same vein as the material of her first and extra popular album On How Life Is. That means the songs are based on the fusion of funk, rock, soul and R&B music. Her unusual, husky voice sounds original as ever and makes this record recognizable among numerous releases of this year.

Big is a stylistically diverse album

The album’s main figures, after Macy Gray of course, are Justin Timberlake and Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am who acted like producers on the majority of tracks. Big also features cameos of Natalie Cole, Fergie and Nas and this serves as a good proof to Macy’s ability to work with various music styles. The first song and the album’s single Finally Made Me Happy (Ft. Natalie Cole) caries an expressive retro spirit emphasized with the perfect vocal Soul-passages of Natalie Cole. In Fact, a large share of the album is placed in the boarders of classic R&B or at least has a strong flavor of it. One of the best songs where Macy managed to convey this peculiar air in bright and saturated colors is I Am So Glad You’re Here (Ft. Fergie). This is a soft and beautiful song, which gradually develops juiciness of arrangements without breaking its unhurried rhythm and finally turns into richly decorated Soul jewel. But Macy is ready for a modern sounding too. Such songs as Okay, Ghetto Love or Treat Me Like Your Money (Ft. Will.i.am) are refreshing and much more lively units. A little bit of low dance beat, a little bit of guest star rapping, a little bit of new, bold ideas and we can hear absolutely different Macy Gray, bright and cheerful in music yet caustic in lyrics at times.

Big doesn’t sound as a typical pop album

Big is a sufficiently strong album; it has both a diverse material and interesting performing godsends. Macy Gray’s voice is considered to be one of the most peculiar among R&B singers not just for nothing. Sometimes it may seem that she copes with melodies and high notes with difficulty but this is exactly where paradoxical matter lies – her husky timbre really sounds, and it sounds great. The charm of the album is that it doesn’t look like typical polished pop, on the contrary it has a share of adventurism, which is characteristic for debut records. It is a bit edgy but at the same time the arrangements and the songs’ stylistics add a necessary R&B luster to it. The old fans of Macy Gray will be pleased with this record. She managed to keep the style of her early albums and add some fresh feel into general sounding. And though Big can hardly stand higher than Macy’s first album it definitely has an advantage over her recent albums. And if Big is a forerunner of what’s to come than it becomes doubtless that her career is yet really far from its decline.