New from Jamie Foxx: 'Intuition'
Jordan Levin - Miami Herald
Dec 16, 2008
Jamie Foxx "Intuition" (J-Records) 2 1/2 stars
Unfair as it may seem that Jamie Foxx gets to be a movie star AND a pop star, the guy can sing, with a buttery voice that can slide into a sweet falsetto. Not that you get to hear it too often on "Intuition," Foxx's follow-up to his hit 2005 debut "Unpredictable." Except for the vocals, this is pure electronic music, a dense swirl of beeps and beats and effects. And even the voices (whether Foxx or a who's-hot list of guests that includes Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and T-Pain) are so often altered by that auto-tune chipmunk drone they're practically interchangeable. (How do we know there's not some poor anonymous sucker doing the actual vocals for all these guys?)
The production can be inventively deelish. The first single, "Just Like Me," featuring rapper T.I. and produced by C. 'Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash, is a catchy, comic song about a woman who one-ups Foxx at every turn. "I Don't Need," a bouncy electro funk with a New Jack Swing feel featuring and produced by Timbaland, is an irresistible dancefloor burner. There's some luscious electro swirl sounds on "Digital Girl," with West and The-Dream, about a captivating online lover.
But there's a lot of almost identical syrupy slow jams, and one voice can't make all the squealing computer sounds in the world sound romantic.
When some actual instruments show up on the final track, "Love Brings Change," a slow R&B ballad produced by Foxx, it's startling - could that be a real piano? You can hear some emotion. It's the most old-fashioned, radical and intuitive thing on the whole album.
iPod Picks: "Love Brings Change," "I Don't Need"
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