Review Summary: A decent record, but one that just barely makes the cut with regards to Seal's standards.
After the romanticism of his previous album, Seal’s next outing could have either continued down that road, or chosen instead to return to the classic style of his first two records. However, instead of focusing fully on either, Seal attempts to do both on
System.
By this time, Seal was on his way to marry fashion model Heidi Klum, and this clearly had a deep impact on the album. On the other hand, Seal probably felt that fans longed to hear songs akin to his 90’s hits. This tug-of-war could have been what marred the album's development.
The most blatant example of the influence of Seal’s love life on
System is
Wedding Day, a duet with Klum herself. She plays a small part in the actual singing (she’s a fashion model, after all), but Seal’s performance isn’t too impressive either. While his vocals remain impressive, his lyrics couldn’t get any cheesier:
This day, we're gonna win it,
Givin' you all above,
Many minds will recall with us tommorrow,
Followin' our love,
In my heart a place,
A most special place,
And it's all for you,
You're my girl, you're my, angel,
The Right Life seems to attempt a restoration of the introspection of Seal’s 90’s classics. Sadly, the lyrics don’t even make sense, and it feels as if Seal wrote this song for its own sake. The beats in the music help to make the song entertaining, but nothing more than that:
Cause in a month some child wants to make love
Fantasize about some vision
Funny how the lost guy makes the deal ("the deal" [x6])
Just when you thought you were lonely
They put you under the right spell
Wake up tomorrow you're gonna be
Living the right life
Amazing, possibly the most memorable single from here, runs in a similar vein as
The Right Life. While it is indeed an entertaining song, it also feels superficial and doesn’t quite cling to the listener. The lyrics simply feel devoid of any concrete or abstract meaning (as a side note, two versions of the song were recorded here):
Say you don't know how to do it now
So you run
It's not that you're bleeding, but you're through with it now
So you run, so you run
I know that you need it, you can't live alone
So you run, so you run
Everyone says you're amazing now that you're clean
Only you know who the real ones are cause you've seen
There's only one question I want to ask is it healing
When you hear everyone say you're amazing
Does anybody ask you?
Don’t get the wrong impression:
System is a decent record, and should please any devout Seal fan. He still manages to keep his voice in shape and, overall, delivers on what he does. Having said this, it's pretty much a forgettable album that just barely makes the cut with regards to Seal's standards.
