Fantasia: Lose to Win
Details
Pros:
Fantasia's voice trends a bit more pop on this round, so crossover potential may be thereCons:
The usual sampling formula overcomes song's potential.On new single, Fantasia uses the sample machine to gain favor with old school crowd
On new single, Fantasia uses the sample machine to gain favor with old school crowd
When you’re as embattled as Fantasia Barrino, without a lifeline to fall on and without Justin Bieber’s PR rep on your shoulders, you have to use music to pull you out. The wounded Idol winner has been down this familiar road before. Remember when she got all cocky with “I’m Doin’ Me,” after denying all the crazy allegations surrounding her affiliations with a married man and the rumored baby bump (all of those allegations proved to be true). Other stars in the R&B circle like R. Kelly and Chris Brown have used the seduction power of music to escape the wrath of message board Armageddon, only to go on the defense once again to help salvage their career from being devoured by media vultures. But Fantasia is one of those subjects that is now at the point of no return.
On her latest song, Fantasia uses the trusty ol’ school sample to congregate her 30-and-up demographic back to her support group. Last time, she used a Motown number on her ode to soul food. This time around, she raids the Berry Gordy library once more for the Commodores’ “Night Shift” as the backdrop to her message song about bouncing back from defeat after a relationship crumbles. It’s totally an undercover message song that corrals around the religious crowd, and hopes to raise Fantasia from the pits of obscurity. She sings, “If it makes you cry, all you do is fight/Can’t get no sleep at night/Sometimes you gotta lose to win again.” Does the formula work? Well, it depends. R&B fans with a huge diet for old school will look at the track as a safe copy-and-paste experiment. Then there’s some that will see it as a musical apology for her more recent acts of stubbornness. But for those willing to see past the gimmicks, even the slight bend of pitch in her voice that seems to suggest she’s going for nasal pop, Fantasia needs to return back to the drawing board and rediscover who she is as an artist, even if she has to lose it all just to win again. You can’t seriously depend on old school samples your entire career and expect to have one in the end.
LISTEN TO: FANTASIA – LOSE TO WIN
[audio:http://www.hifimagazine.net/music/fantasia-losetowin.mp3|titles=Fantasia – Lose to Win]
