When you’re blessed with a distinctive voice, impressive range and talented songwriting skills you owe it to yourself and listeners to not settle for the mediocre, but instead raise the bar higher with each new release. That is the position that singer-songwriter and “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” TV star, Kandi Burruss finds herself in with her sophomore album, Kandi Koated. On the album, Kandi straddles the line between the sounds of adult contemporary, hip-hop and 1990s inspired R&B with mixed results.
The album opens strongly with a seductive intro that immediately pulls you in thanks to Kandi’s cooing and falsetto notes. The first track, “I Want U,” doesn’t disappoint thanks to its booming bass, throwback R&B production and instantly relatable lyrics about longing for someone. It’s the lyrics that help make many of the tracks appealing since Kandi effectively captures the raw emotion of romantic relationships.
However, the album hits a major snafu with the song, “Lucky.” While the song has some of the best production on the album with percolating beats perfect for the bedroom, the lyrics are disappointing. On the track Kandi happily sings about sleeping with another woman’s man in lines like, “I know you got a girl/But a good man is hard to find.” The morally questionable lyrics which stray from Kandi’s overall image as a woman of empowerment make her sound desperate to be edgy while offering no substance.
A few other songs fall short due to generic beats. On the single mother anthem, “Superwoman,” Kandi and Tiny’s vocals merge beautifully, but the production underwhelms without any memorable touches to linger in the listener’s head. “Leroy Jones,” which is an ode to her stepfather suffers from sounding like an attempt at pop radio awash in synths and a heavy drum pattern that detracts from the song’s sentimental value.
Kandi does deliver a full package on several tracks including the Ne-Yo written and produced, “Me & U,” “I Just Know,” and “Haven’t Loved Right.” On these cuts her vocals soar, lyrics are touching and the production complements all the aforementioned without sounding dated or too commercial.
What this album could have greatly benefited from is more solid production with live instruments to create a warm environment for Kandi’s rich vocals and honest lyrics. Those ingredients would surely have sweetened the “koating” on this, Kandi. –souleo
