Written by Ashley White Monday, 15 July 2013 16:43
With this fourth studio album you can hear the comfort level she’s gained by being her true self and by loving herself and others too.
“I see it clear, my heart is here/ We got each other let’s take it from there/ If I could I’d love you all forever at a time,” Chrisette Michele sang. With each heartfelt lyric, I knew that I wanted that too – someone to spend “A Couple of Forevers” with as her first single from her fourth studio album Better suggested.
I’ve listened to Michele since she released her first album I Am in 2007, and I can see her growth through not only her music but her image as well. With this fourth studio album you can hear the comfort level she’s gained by being her true self and by loving herself and others too.
The entire album is filled with songs that make you feel good, reflect, and want to be better. “Be in Love” summarizes how love wasn’t good the last time she tried, but guess what, she’s going to get up and love again. In “Let Me Win” Michele reasons why the guy she likes should give his interest and heart to her because she’s into him and vice versa. After all, “This game is like gamble/ Here’s my heart you handle/ Need you to be gentle/ You should let me win/I’m not your heart of playing/Don’t know what to say/ I’m trying to catch a break boy/ You should let me win.”
One of the most resilient love songs starts upbeat and is entitled “Love Won’t Leave Me Out.” In this song, Michele has come to understand that what you’ve been through doesn’t determine what you will be in the future. From love’s ugly scars and her broken heart to a girl with a brand new start in love, she has no doubt that she will indeed find a love because “after self-evaluation/ I found I lost me in translation/…/ Now I know how to love somebody/ I know love is out there for me/ I know there’s no way that love forgot/ Love won’t leave me out.”
True to the message of Better, Michele reveals that every experience - good and bad - has allowed her to be more open and receptive to true love when it comes. The title track “Better” resonates with me a great deal as it will to most of its listeners. We all strive to be better in every aspect, and we expect everything and every person we encounter to make us better. Michele captures this sentiment precisely with these lyrics in “Better:”
“Love’s gonna make me/ feel better, better, better/ Love’s gonna make me/ Feel better, better, better/ ‘Cause getting to love’s got me losing/ I’m not my best, but I’m right where I need to be/ Might not be right here, but he’s on his way to me/ Love’s coming soon/ I’ve found my prince/ It won’t be right ‘til I’m in love with him.”
In comparison to Michele’s previous albums: I Am, Epiphany, and Let Freedom Reign, Better certainly shows her depth as an individual and an artist. Michele always blesses her listeners’ ears with jazzy, seductive and powerful vocals, so it’s never a worry if she’s going to deliver – she will. I always anticipate who Michele will collaborate with, and she did not disappoint on Better. On this album you can hear the magic she made with rapper Wale for “Rich Hipster” and 2 Chainz for “Charades” all laced with the forgotten art of interludes transitioning throughout the tones of the CD. Michele also collaborates with fellow neo-soul artist Bilal and Dunson on “Can the Cool Be Loved?” the final track, and Nello Luchi on “Love in the Afternoon,” which concludes the deluxe edition of Better.
If you’ve ever been passionate about something or in love, you may feel like “You Mean That Much to Me” speaks to the very essence of your heart. “You are the anchor to my lifeline/ ’Cause you mean that much to me/ So take all this love from me/ I’m giving you every part of me/ All of this heart and me/ Here is my offering.” Every time I listen to this song with its sexy electric guitar in the background, I smile. It is truly an amazing feeling to love and to trust blindingly and to give that to somebody that you know cherishes it – that’s exactly what musicians do – paint their souls on canvases and hope that it’s as loved and cherished as the passion they put into creating it. Writing nine of the 16 songs (and 12 on the deluxe edition), Better really is Michele’s masterpiece.
I love that Michele (and other artists lately as well) gives us 16 tracks (20 tracks on the deluxe edition) on this album. The quality plus the quantity is what makes Better worthwhile to your musical repertoire. In “Supa,” Michele sings to her lover and explains that though she may seem like she can be all sometimes, she can’t be “supa all the time,” a statement which highlights that she’s human and she might not always be A++ because she needs his support and coddling, but none of that makes her any less of a lady or a lover.
However, even the best relationships can sometimes go sour and you realize that you’re alone again, but you don’t know how you’re going to go back to just being with yourself. In the last interlude entitled “In My Bed—Sleeping Alone” Michele explains, “I have these big windows in my place - half of my bedroom is just glass so every morning when I wake up, I wake up to the beautiful sun and sky in my face. Bad part is I’m afraid of the dark, so nighttime isn’t always sweet. My favorite part of a relationship is holding each other through the night. Safety, you know? So the hardest part of breaking up for me is sleeping alone. I want to hear you breathe, that quiet time is quality time to me. When I left my last love, I cried myself to sleep in the beginning. Finally, I told myself ‘the morning won’t be like the nighttime, so if I can’t do anything else I just got to ‘Get Through the Night.’”
To use Michele’s own words to bring to a close the review of Better:
“I know I’m extraordinary, but you can’t expect me to be on 10 all the time/ I’d lose my mind yeah, I could go crazy wearing this S all day, across my chest all day/ I’m saying oh, let me get this straight, you got an attitude ‘cause I don’t want to do things your way/ I can’t believe this, I don’t need this; I’m going to find someone that’s gon’ love me/ When I’m pretty, when I don’t look my best/ When I don’t feel like I got to have a S on my chest, have an S on my chest; yes, S on my chest/ I can’t be supa all the time,”… but she is, and this fourth studio album proves that her perfectly written lyrics coupled with her extra special vocals allows her to use every situation to reflect and grow. Get Better with Chrisette Michele. A- | Ashley White