Like Rihanna, Chris Brown’s latest studio album has been eagerly awaited for months now. In my opinion, this is the first time in a long while where the mainstream public have been more interested in finding out about the lyrical content of these new tracks, rather than judging them on how pleasing they are to the ears. With this in mind, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the success of this album hinges on this young man’s lexical choices.

The highlights of this album? Umm..I know this will sound biased but I’m really, really struggling to find any. I quite like the slow ballads “Crawl”, “Lucky Me” and “Fallin’ Down”, but they find themselves inhibited by Brown’s relentless self-pity and self-indulgence. However, with Lupe’s inclusion on “Girlfriend” Chris has secured quite a coup.

Some of my friends are fans of “I Can Transform Ya” (I can’t stomach Swizz Beats) which means they will probably enjoy listening to “Wait”, “I.Y.A” and “Pass Out” as they are up-tempo songs too. But for me, none of the aforementioned tracks come close to reaching his previous highs of “Run It”, “Wall To Wall” or “Kiss Kiss”.

What Chris should have done was to take some time away in order to produce something with genuine artistic merit, instead he has strayed too far into dangerous territory. There are too many numerous self-serving references to the “hardships” that Chris Brown has had to “endure” following the much-publicised break-up of his relationship with Rihanna, but, with track 6 – “Famous Girl”, he delivers his coup de grâce . I’m not going to go through the whole song, analysing each sentence for signs of mental deformity like many other reviewers have done. I’ll let you guys do that for yourselves.

01. I Can Transform Ya (feat. Lil’ Wayne & Swizz Beatz)
02. Sing Like Me
03. Crawl *
04. So Cold
05. What I Do (feat. Plies)
06. Famous Girl
07. Take My Time (feat. Tank)
08. I.Y.A.
09. Pass Out (feat. Eva Simmons) *
10. Wait (feat. Trey Songz & Game)
11. Lucky Me *
12. Fallin’ Down *
13. I’ll Go
14. Girlfriend (feat. Lupe Fiasco)

Chris Brown – Famous Girl

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chris Brown – Pass Out

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chris Brown – Lucky Me

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Chris Brown – Fallin’ Down

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.