Michelle Williams. You know, the former Destiny’s Child singer turned Gospel/Inspirational singer. I love her Inspirational stuff, and when I got a chance to download an advanced copy of “Unexpected”, I jumped on it. Now mind you, Michelle is not one of those artists I would jump on immediately. It’s not like I’ll say “oh, it’s Michelle Williams new album!” I’ll be like “oh, cool. Michelle. This ought to be good.” Since I adore female R&B artists to the point I want to actually date one (just for the experience, ya know? I know… “I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that.), I gotta give my girl Michelle a chance.
Now, with the album title, her back showcasing a tattoo and having sensual, yet tasteful poses on her site and myspace page, it doesn’t take you long to realize that this is an R&B album… at least I thought that what it was suppose to be. It sounds more like a dance club album. Well, that’s unexpected (no pun intended). It was marketed as an R&B album, but every track sounds like something you would play at a club.
“Hello Heartbreak” the first single off this album also sounds like a club banger using T-Pain vocal distortions. “The Greatest”, her second single off the track sounds like an R&B track, but have cliché lines. It sounds like a love song dying to be a club banger… seriously. “Till The End Of The World” sounds like a love club banger. All the songs on this album got too much yang and not enough yin. The only tradition R&B songs I heard are “Thank U” , “Stop This Car” and “Too Young For Love”. These songs are on the last part of the album, with the titled “Unexpected” thrown in to throw off the groove (just a bit). Only one-two songs are worthy of getting on my Last.FM list… if I played them long enough.
Lucky for me, I didn’t pay for this album thanks to the Fye promotion, but sadly, Michelle Williams “Unexpected” is just as the title states. It’s Unexpectedly bad… and the only thing that is stopping me from deleting the album is the fact that my partner wants to hear it.
Honestly, I feel that Michelle Williams could have survived standing fourth place to the former Destiny’s Child singers. Michelle sounds like she’s trying to recreate “Jumpin Jumpin” with almost every song on the album. LeToya (ironically, the member she replaced) has a stronger standing in the R&B area, standing pretty much second to Beyonce. (If you want to know Kelly stands third. LaTavia fifth. What saves Michelle from fifth place is the fact that she’s more active than LaTavia). Michelle looks as thought as she still trying to find her sound, even thought she pretty much found it in Gospel. Sure, her second gospel album didn’t take off, but not everyone can hit homeruns. Will this one take off? If it doesn’t take off…
… well, you can say it wasn’t “unexpected”. (pun intended)
Verdict: Michelle Williams’s Unexpected – it’s like crewing Twizzlers… that’s really stale. Would dance to if it’s thrown in with other music. Otherwise, I don’t want it. I feel her record company should have kept this one on the shelf. I really want to like Michelle… I really do. 
Bi-Racial Hair (or I am Not a F’in Cookie!)
Zora killed the 2006 Urban Word NYC Annual Teen Poetry Slam. I saw this poem while looking for poetry to feature that wasn’t “Def Poetry”. This one got my vote.
The performance got a little bit of everything. Comedy, historical references, and a bit of sass. This is one of those videos I can’t embed due to the video author’s request, so instead, I’ll just link you to it.
Bi-Rachial Hair by Zora (Via YouTube)
Also, I can’t seem to find the author/performer of the piece. Since her myspace site is personal, I’m not going to link it.