Chris Brown apologizes, but does not give up

American actor and singer Chris Brown lately must have read many unpleasant things about himself in the tabloids main pages. He was a promising and brilliant R&B artist, and now we can see him surpassing not the best period of his career. The difficulty is that the singer’s life if far from an ideal one. After a break up with his girlfriend Rihanna, who is also a noticeable person in the music world, Brown was taken to the court on charges in physical abuse and assaults. We can say that the artist got it easy, being sentenced to a five-year probation and half-year community service. In his interviews, Brown states that he apologizes for the misdeeds he had made and still hopes for staying friends with Rihanna. He also does not consider his career to be over. In 2008, he started work over the new disc titled Graffiti, in which he decided to emulate such cult singers as Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, trying himself in different styles and directions. Brown does not believe that his fans would turn their backs on him forever only because of his family life tragedy. However, he decided to fix the situation with the help of a command of starry producers – those that worked with him on his earlier records and those, who assisted Brown for the first time. The disc Graffiti also has several collaborations with such artists as Sean Paul, Eva Simons, rapper The Game and is decorated with the backing vocals by Ester Dean.

Graffiti is filled with emotions and revelations

The new disc by Chris Brown has a huge amount of emotions. However, these are not the feelings that emerged in him on his debut disc or the sophomore attempt Exclusive. Tenderness, passion and joy gave way to regrets, tension and sometimes even bitter desperation. Well, we should not hurry to sympathize the singer – on the disc Rated R his ex-girlfriend Rihanna has already published her vision of the events, while only a truly rude person can easily through out of the head her photos after a quarrel with Brown. Nevertheless, Chris is still wonderful in the matter of vocals and music – it is hard to ignore the fact. The disc opens with the jolly and cynical R&B composition I Can Transform Ya Featuring Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz, which tells us about the role of the money in this material world. The single Crawl will narrate the listeners about all the difficulties Brown experienced after a break with Rihanna and the consequences of their relations on his life. The touching piano balladry piece So Cold goes about the same topics. The memorable pop track Famous Girl can be called the climax of the artist’s sincerity about his broken relationships. However, if we do not count the openly ironic and offensive lyrics of the songs, it is gorgeous in the musical direction, while the performance strikes with its emotional tension. The composition Take My Time (Featuring Tank) shows us that Brown did not forget about hedonism being his second name and tenderly croons a hot girl. After all, it will be hard for Chris to get a girl’s heart now. Lucky Me and Fallin Down are two more introspective compositions, filled with sarcasm and sincerity.

A big spot on the career is not equal to the end

What can we say about Chris Brown except for the fact that he turned into a law-troubled person a pariah before the face of the public after he had promised to be a future R&B and pop king? First of all, we should state that Brown is far from the ideal image of a family guy, but at the same time he grows and develops as a musician. His new album Graffiti is a witness to it. The artist both uses the well-known grooves that broke so many young fan hearts in the past and tries absolutely new roles. Someone will say that Brown hurried to make a comeback with Graffiti, but the singer himself is of the opposite opinion. Just the other side, in this work he tells to the listeners that having a break and sit quiet, waiting for the sunny days, was the easiest decision. Brown chose a difficult and daring way – he recorded the disc in spite of all the circumstances. You cannot call it a masterpiece, but Graffiti is also no ways the mediocre fulfillment. Moreover, the command of the starry producers knows the deal perfectly – they greatly assisted Brown to create both his fabulous debut and his brilliant follow-up. The guest vocalists on Graffiti also played their roles wonderfully – Chris Brown knows how to work both with the celebrities and young artists in order to record first-rate songs and constantly stay in the limelight. Overall, if we divide the personal life of the singer, which is doomed to be private, and his creative ambitions, we can say that Graffiti definitely bears the experimental and autobiographical character and is worth the attention of a rather wide auditory.

Ninelle Kazakoff

16.12.2009

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