Feel free to call it a comeback! Team Breezy has united to make Chris’ latest studio effort a smashing success.
Chris Brown‘s fifth studio album Fortune hits shelves July 3, and much like the singer’s polarizing public persona, the album will either be completely adored or totally hated by listeners. It’s a pretty major departure from his usual collection of energetic dance songs and punchy beats, instead showcasing his more “serious” side. The question is: Will you embrace the new Chris?That answer — at least from Team Breezy — appears to be a resounding “yes,” as the deluxe edition of Fortune is already in the No. 1 spot for iTunes album downloads!
Brown’s latest bout of perverse publicity has far less consequence. Men fighting men seems less offensive than embarrassing — and irresponsible in a public place. But if the incident will do nothing to lessen the impression of Brown as a brute, it does serve to highlight his music’s savvy stylistic shift.The most adventurous sections of “Fortune” leap on the dubstep bandwagon. They move Brown one step from the giddy dance-pop style influenced by David Guetta on his last album, 2011’s “Fame,” and one step closer to Skrillex’s disruptive approach to club music. It’s a style that, in the last year, has intrigued stars all the way from Korn to Justin Bieber.The closest parallel to Brown’s particular twist would be Usher. “Fortune” follows the general strategy of Usher’s just-released “Looking 4 Myself.” Both butch up the star’s dance beats and broaden their sense of pop. But Brown’s does so with far better material.While he originally concieved “Fortune” as an extension of “Fame,” the new album turns out to be a more exciting and varied work. The harder cuts have more force than anything in Brown’s past, the softer ones, more sweetness.On the roughness front, “Bassline” matches the fractured and changeable beats of dubstep to synthesizer textures buffed with a futurist sheen. “Till I Die” and “Mirage” borrow the street sounds of hip hop without losing R&B’s melodic shape.Ballads like “Stuck on Stupid” and “4 Years Old” recall the puppy-dog persona Brown started his career with when he was a teen. At the same time, he intensifies his later R. Kelly-like, horndog character in fabulously filthy cuts like “2012” and “Strip.”But the album’s signature pieces lie in songs like “Turn Up the Music” or “Don’t Wake Me Up,” which balance avant dance music arrangements with the more conventional kind. They’re good singles, performed with Brown’s usual acrobatic vocal panache.Will that be enough to finally shift the accent away from all of Brown’s ugly press and back to his music? If not, it should be.
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