Similar in execution to Ruben’s ” Sorry 2004″, while nowhere near as hackneyed or ridiculous, it’s a safe and slightly generic introduction to the artist that is Fantasia that allows her to quickly identify her genre demographic so as to monopolize record sales but a nice record nonetheless. A mellow, hook-ish tune about love lost that would sound right at home on urban AC playlists while still having enough appeal to not sound too out of place on pop radio. Truth Is is the type of lead single we should’ve expected from Fantasia. With nothing but elegant harp plucks, lite piano, and plaintive percussion, the song has such a mellow air of sophistication that allows Fantasia to give a more controlled while still soulful as all get-out performance that showcases another dimension to her vocal ability as well as her versatility. The same conceptual setup works to a classier, more understated (for Fantasia) effect on the Missy Elliott penned/produced title track, Free Yourself. That soulful rasp works well here, injecting that restrained fury and pain into the vocals and lyrics that sets the song afire and moves you to applaud Fantasia as she walks out the door. Against the smooth, if a tad predictable, production courtesy of the Underdogs, Fantasia plays the role of a woman neglected perfectly. But regardless of what the overall album sounds like, it sure does get off to a promising start with opener, and personal favorite, Ain’t Gon’ Beg You. Good in small doses on the show kind of a chore to enjoy for 51 minutes straight.
On the other hand, sometimes Fantasia lets her voice get carried away and it oversteps the soulful boundaries into caterwauling, resulting in moments where her voice grates. On the one hand, it definitely injects the album with the perfect amount of passion, pleasure, and pain in the right places at the right times. But recorded in a rush period of 3 months, Fantasia’s debut, Free Yourself, still had many wondering if she was going to avoid the AI curse and deliver a 1,2 knockout debut of an album or if she was going to generalize herself and her music and be content with riding on the coattails of generic music.įantasia’s uniquely soulful voice is definitely a blessing and a curse for this album. Her narrowly beating out the chipper Diana DeGarmo for the title wasn’t so much a shock as it was an affirmation that pure talent still can succeed in a fabricated society that thrives upon style over substance. She had it all good looks (c’mon – not the prettiest girl but far from ugly), stage presence, charisma, star power, and THAT voice and she simply commanded your attention every time she opened her mouth. The sweet yet sassy, down-to-earth, southern church gal from Alabama, armed with nothing but her big lips and THAT voice, set a new standard for the competition on that show and proved that she was the real deal. After crowning 2 winners, Kelly Clarkson & Ruben Studdard, and seeing the both of them release decent but genre-generic debut albums (1 of which rectified herself on her sophomore release), the show once credited with finding the next big things was starting to be viewed as less of a talent competition and more of a karaoke contest.īut Fantasia Barrino changed all of that. Fantasia Barrino didn’t need American Idol to become a star.
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