Jazmine Sullivan
Love Me Back
Release Date: Nov 30, 2010
Genre(s): R&B, Pop/Rock, Contemporary R&B
Record label: RCA
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Album Review: Love Me Back by Jazmine Sullivan
Exceptionally Good, Based on 7 Critics
Based on rating 5/5
Jazmine Sullivan's crowbar-wielding 2008 hit, "Bust Your Windows," was a tsunami of R&B man-hate. On her follow-up disc, the 23-year-old diva plays a little nicer, adhering to the Mary J. Blige school of gritty, nuanced hip-hop soul. "10 Seconds" luxuriates in the moment before a lovers' spat goes Hiroshima, and on the Eighties R&B nugget "Don't Make Me Wait," she comes on to a dude while testing his pop-music IQ.
Based on rating 9/10
One of the fears Jazmine Sullivan expressed near the end of her debut was that of being dropped by her label. Three remarkably distinctive Hot 100 singles, gold album sales, and five Grammy nominations later, the singer/songwriter’s safety was ensured. Thankfully, the J label isn't merely keeping Sullivan around but allowing her to remain her creative, imaginative self.
Based on rating 4/5
She may not be a household name outside of her native America but this 23-year-old has already duetted with Stevie Wonder (at the tender age of 13), been nominated for seven Grammys and written songs for Jennifer Hudson and Mary J Blige. It's an enviable CV which looks likely to be improved by this follow-up to her excellent debut, Fearless. Whilst most of her R&B contemporaries resort to histrionics in order to display emotion, Sullivan's vocals sound lived-in, cracking and fraying on the stately 10 Seconds and deftly wrapping themselves around the beat on the sample-heavy, Missy Elliott-produced Holding You Down.
Based on rating B+
Jazmine Sullivan never really needed to be wanted. If boys didn?t like her, fine — she?d just calmly bust their car windows with a baseball bat. But now the Philly singer?s begging America to Love Me Back, and these warm soul tracks and two-Gucci-?handkerchief ballads make it difficult not to. True to her nickname ”Mini MJB” (as in, Mary J.
Based on rating 3.5/5
The pressure to follow-up on even a mildly well-received debut can be paralyzing (here's looking at you, Lauryn). Jazmine Sullivan, who heroically fessed up to her fears about fame, success, and intimacy on her aptly titled 2008 album Fearless, seemed like the type of artist who would triumph under said pressure. So it's disappointing that she doesn't raise the bar on her sophomore effort, Love Me Back—but she doesn't crumble under the weight of expectations either.
Opinion: Fantastic
Sullivan’s second album is an instant and self-assured blast of a record. Natalie Shaw 2010 While Philly-born popstress Jazmine Sullivan is a relative unknown here in the UK, her career in the US is thriving. Her debut album Fearless received seven Grammy nominations, and it’s no surprise for the way she slaughters the microphone. Sullivan has produced one of 2010’s highlights in the ever-urgent Love Me Back; it’s a person exposed, emotionally fragmented and delivered with verve.
Opinion: Very Good
Jazmine Sullivan Jazmine Sullivan gets straight to the point, often in pithy one-syllable words, on her second album, “Love Me Back” (J Records). In “Good Enough,” one of the many songs in her repertory aimed at some unappreciative jerk, she sings, “If I’m not good enough, then baby ….
'Love Me Back'
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