Disabilities have been overcome time and time again in musical history. Blind vocalists such as
Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli and Ray Charles have all overcome their lack of sight to become some of music's most inspiring artists. Whilst one of the greatest composers of all time, Ludwig van Beethoven, continued to compose stunning symphonies, even as his hearing rapidly departed from him. Although Fantasia Barrino's disability may not be as limiting as loss of hearing, her inability to read can only be considered a barrier, especially in a competition that forced her to do weekly covers of famous songs. But as the eventual winner of American Idol, Fantasia got by week after week, never letting her disability hold back her lavish performances. Perhaps the defining moment of her quest from single-mother to multi-millionare, was her cover of George Gershwin's
Summertime. In front of millions of viewers, Fantasia demonstrated her stunning vocals in an emotionally charged display, a performance that has not been touched in any of the latter seasons of American Idol by any contestant. Personal favourites aside, Fantasia Barrino was the clear choice, and showed perhaps the most potential out of any American Idol contestant ever.
Given his amazing repertoire spanning several decades, it is hard to criticize the producer of Fantasia's debut album, Clive Davis. His influence on artists such as Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow and Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys is undeniable, and his star on the Hollywood walk of fame is certainly deserved. Yet with
Free Yourself, Clive Davis has fired in the wrong direction. It is obvious that Davis' aim was to launch this album to the top of the charts, and the single
I Believe did just that. The entire album opts to follow in the footsteps of fellow mainstream R&B artists such as Mariah Carey, Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Lopez. Generic funky beats and catchy melodies are the name of the game, as Clive Davis crafts a bubbly, divalicious image for Fantasia. Aside from the two covers,
Summertime and
You Were Always on My Mind, and the inspiring
I Believe, Clive Davis crafts the album as if he were producing for an average vocalist. Yet as the American Idol winner, Fantasia clearly didn't get to where she is without some singing chops. Although she adapts beautifully to this over-produced R&B style, like she adapts to every other genre; the high amount of gloss somewhat enshrouds her stunning voice. Backing vocals and catchy melodies become more of a focus, with Clive Davis heavily utilising generic R&B production techniques. At times this over-production works nicely, in songs such as
Ain't Gon Bag You and
Truth Is, which simply add beautiful rhythms and melodies to her versatile voice. For the most part though, her vocals are held back, hidden and underutilised. Imagine if you will, taking the production techniques used with
50 Cent and applying them to Seal. That is what Clive Davis has done with Fantasia Barrino.
To many, the highlights on the album will be the three songs taken from American Idol,
Summertime,
You Were Always on My Mind and
I Believe. Although the rest of the album makes for a decidedly average R&B album, Clive Davis is given another chance, a chance to recapture some of the magic of her live performances of the three songs.
I Believe certainly captures this, launching her voice into the stratosfear with equally delicious backing vocals. It is truly a grandiose, with a wide sweeping pop-orchestral backing sound, similar to Seal's
Don't Cry and R. Kelly's
I Believe I Can Fly. As an idol for youths everywhere, the song follows the clich'd idea of inspiration, yet overcomes any tackiness with breath-taking vocals.
You Were Always on My Mind is not quite as beautiful as
I Believe, yet thankfully stays away from that generic R&B sound that plagues the album. Neither does it quite capture the beauty of the live American Idol performance, yet it still manages to do its thing in a more crafted manner. Whilst her live performances sounded like improvisational genius, the two covers, and really the rest of the album, sounds sound like a set of instructions. Fantasia has been told what to do, how to sing it and how to make sales. Perhaps the saddest example of this is the cover of
Summertime. In her first live performance of it on American Idol, she set the insurmountable summit for all other contestants to try and match. The raw emotion of her performance is lost in the album version, the backing instruments sound entirely generic, following a path, rather than paving a new one. The emotion, creativity and finesse needed to properly cover Gershwin's
Summertime seem lost under a glossy plastic wrapping. What could have been the albums finest point has turned into the pit of the album, along with cringe-worthy
Baby Mama.
What makes
Free Yourself so disappointing is that it could have been so much more. Fantasia's talent make nearly any genre within her reach, she has the potential to reach the level of Stevie Wonder and the early Mariah Carey albums. Clive Davis has clearly set the top of the R&B charts as his goal with Fantasia, and although the overall effort is comparable to many other popular R&B female vocalists, in the grand scheme of things
Free Yourself is decidedly average. Make no mistakes about it, this album is by no means bad, it is just entirely forgettable. Fantasia Barrino should be the type of artist that people will look back on in 20 years, and proclaim as astounding. Not another average R&B 'diva' in an already overcrowded genre. A few songs on the album show Fantasia at her best, and provide a glimpse of what is hopefully to come. Given all her potential, Fantasia is bound to become one of the greats some day. In the mean time,
Free Yourself provides listeners with something to tide themselves over with until she reaches the summit of her abilities.
