These are the latest releases from three of today’s top pop stars. Battle Studies by John Mayer, Graffiti by Chris Brown and Untitled by R. Kelly. As everybody who keeps track of the US entertainment scene knows, they are also famed or maybe I should say notorious for problematic relationships.
Mayer is the kiss and tell guy. He is said to have babbled to the media about sex with his ex girlfriends, like Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson. Brown was charged in court and served a sentence, after he rendered black and blue the face of his ex Rihanna. R. Kelly doesn’t babble or beat up females. His problem is he likes girls young, too young for comfort. He is said to have gotten married or had relationships with 13- or 14-year-old girls.
Now aren’t these guys glad that they are not in public service. Think about having such sex lives dissected by a grand jury trial. I am sure they are also doubly glad that music transcends all boundaries. You can enjoy good music although you may not like the singer or composer or what he does in private. Therefore I do not see any reason why you should not enjoy these CDs.
Battle Studies by John Mayer. Does Mayer wear his heart on his sleeve? Maybe. Even the most casual glance at the titles of the songs in this CD can be read as confessions of a man with a broken heart. Start with the title and then go down this list, Heartbreak Warfare, All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye, Perfectly Lonely, Assassin, Crossroads, War Of My Life, Edge Of Desire, Do You Know Me and Friends, Lovers Or Nothing.
One cannot help but rejoice that Mayer has decided to collaborate with the young Taylor Swift for Half Of My Heart. His singing takes on a lilt while he is with country music’s newest diva and it is a bright moment in the album. You think, there is hope for this guy. But then he segues into Who Says and there is that sad guitar again.
Whether made for the broken hearted or not though, Battle Studies shows Mayer at his best with his very expressive guitar. It can now be safely said that it is here when Mayer ditched pop star and officially became a guitar hero. The music he creates is simply incredible and I am already excited about what I believe will surely come, a bluesy instrumental album.
Graffiti by Chris Brown. Nobody can blame listeners for minutely going over the songs here in search of references to his assault on Rihanna. Can he be referring to her in Famous Girl? Do we read sadness in Crawl? Has he put the incident behind him and is now once more eager to put other females in a sexy mood? His opening track I Can Transform Ya featuring Lil Wayne and Wait feat. Trey Songz are seductive make-out tunes.
Sexy and lightly danceable, this is a very safe collection for Brown. He has kept to familiar territory doing what he does well. If you stop looking for something that might be referring to Rihanna, I can see no reason why fans will not enjoy this one. On the other hand though if you can find some samples from a Michael Jackson song about being a man hidden in one of the cuts, then you can say that you now know what is really going on in Brown’s head.
Untitled by R. Kelly. Kelly has always had great pipes and these are still here. He even yodels with an R&B twist in one cut. Really, he is one of those guys who need not do anything else except sing. He is not content to rest his fame on that though and that is why he does things like Untitled which finds him extending his reach by doing rap, dance, europop, etc.
Fans will have fun with the variety he presents and the clever way he adapts his style to the new beats. Check out Exit, Echo, Elsewhere and the hit Be My #2. As for those who prefer to think of Kelly as the classic R&B balladeer there are the hit single Number One feat. Keri Hilson and Religious. For somewhere in between there are Crazy Night featuring R. City, Bangin’ The Headboard, Go Low, Whole Lotta Kisses, Like I Do, I Love The DJ, Supaman High feat. OJ Da Juiceman, Text Me and Pregnant featuring Tyrese, Robin Thicke & The Dream.