So Amazin'

Fresh notes in Christina Milian’s style

Despite the comparatively low sales of her second album It’s About Time of 2004, the young American actress and R&B singer Christina Milian has by no means fallen in despair. On the contrary she got a nice stimuli to work twice harder and this year Christina presented us with a new hit-filled record So Amazin’. Apart from being refined by the presence of such hip-hop stars as Cool & Dre, Young Jeezy and Three 6 Mafia, this creation is a real breakthrough for Christina Milian placing her on the equal positions with famous divas Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez. The singer has evidently worked on her vocals and besides in her style there have appeared some fresh notes of a tougher hip-hop, and the contents of a lot of the songs have a personal character. The point is that during the break between the albums Christina has broken up with her boyfriend Nick Cannon and this event just could not but influence her creative work. The lead singles Say I and Who’s Gonna Ride are full of self-respect making it clear for everybody that Milian has got a strong spirit no matter what happens in her personal life. Her talent and thirst for singing are always there to help her out.

So Amazin’ is a vigorous album full of life

From the very first time you listen to So Amazin’ most of the thirteen tracks including two bonus pieces Wind You Up and Tonight immediately touch with their deep feelings and unusual melodies. The first self-affirming single Say I featuring Young Jeezy gives this tendency and it is easy to follow the change of the singer’s emotions throughout the album. Twisted is a tenser track hard on drums and with interesting lyrics, while the great beats of Gonna Tell Everybody make it one of the album’s standouts, the song has a flavor of irony mixed with revenge embodied in a top quality club hip-hop. The powerful Who’s Gonna Ride with Three 6 Mafia reveals Milian’s firm faith in herself and the title song So Amazin’, a collaboration with Dre (of Cool & Dre), is really catchy and full of life. Actually the whole So Amazin’ is vigorous some tracks like Hot Boy or Just A Little Bit being a little softer and others like Y’all Ain’t Nuthin more emotionalizing. Taken separately each song has a certain atmosphere and all together they give a full picture of what Christina Milian is feeling in this period of her life.

So Amazin’ offers more dancing beats

The image of a nice innocent girl is gone. Christina has matured into an experienced woman well aware of what she wants and what she definitely can do. She has learnt a lot of things and can now share with others or even help girls avoid the mistakes she has made: the final song on the album She Don’t Know is right about that. Speaking about her high tone vocals perhaps they are at times not so powerful as some sophisticated listeners could wish, but the ability to enliven them with passion and emotions really amazes. The introduction of hip-hop elements has done a lot of good to the new creation, and Christina Milian has demonstrated her ability to work in a different style. Remaining a great R&B album So Amazin’ offers more dancing beats and meets the requirements of those who prefer a tough hip-hop rather than soulful heartwarming songs. Yet it has preserved the most likeable traits of Christina’s performance – original melodies, perfect transcriptions and inventiveness in rhymes. Listening to the album one can only wonder how such a little and fragile woman can sound so firm and self-sufficient as does Christina Milian on So Amazin’.