Moore Love

After a nearly seven year absence (at least solowise), Chanté Moore finally released a new CD entitled Love The Woman (came out the 17th). I had found out about the release a few months ago on her official website and definitely looked forward to her upcoming album. I decided to purchase the CD during my lunch hour today for $9.99. The last time I went out and bought a CD the day of its release was in September 2005 when Toni Braxton released Libra. Chanté, along with Toni and En Vogue, is among a select few artists that I go out and buy their CDs on release day.

I remember falling in love with Chanté's voice from the moment I first heard Love's Taken Over. At the time I would hear it playing on the radio and unfortunately it was never during a time when they'd announce who the artist was. So for over a month I was struggling to figure out who Chanté was. Fortunately one day I finally figured it out and immediately bought her CD at K-mart.

I swore back then (1992) that I would marry her one of these days. That was when I was trying to do the 'straight thing' during my college years and remember being pissed when Kadeem later scooped her up. A few years later I was pissed to hear that they split up, presumed due to his cheating.

So Hemingway how does Love The Woman stack up against her previous works? Well for one thing, Chanté doesn't seem bitter anymore. I suppose the love of a good man (I admit to questioning their relationship at first.) has been good for her. The one song where she laments over a cheating mate (Guess Who I Saw Today), she's more coy about telling her man he's caught, unlike Exposed single Bitter, where she jarringly repeats the N-word over and over. Guess Who I Saw Today is a clever jazzy talky tune reminiscent of Vanessa L. Williams jazzy tune titled What Will I Tell My Heart. Overall Chanté's voice sounds as lovely and strong as ever, even if a lot of the song choices aren't that memorable. But I've only listened to the whole album once and a couple of the songs a few times. I enjoy her sound overall and I would say that she strikes a happy medium between her first album Precious and her previous album Exposed. Fans of either album will find a few songs they will like. Her first few songs are catchy mid-tempo songs that slightly remind me of Exposed but is less for a lack of a better phrase 'her trying too hard to get street cred'. The first song Always Gonna Be Something starts off with a lovely piano solo before pulsating into a nice R&B jam along with synthesized claps. Her lyrics especially hit home for me in relation to Rock and I. "You had a hard day at work. She had a hard day too. And now you both have an attitude. But just remember that you both love each other very much. So go 'head and make up." And yep, it's always gonna be something.

Another song Special finds her uplifting sisters in general unlike her single from her album This Moment Is Mine titled Chante's Got A Man, which appeared to be poking fun at sisters who had no good men.

Chanté even manages in a bonus track (supposedly exclusively available at Circuit City) with the long title This Could Be The Start Of Something Big to incorporate some slight scat jazz that's quite catchy. She uses her infamous high pitched scream sparingly unlike Mariah, which makes the few times she uses it such a treat.

If you love Chanté overall, I would definitely recommend getting her CD. It's an overall good listen and it's nice hearing in Chanté's voice that she's truly happy again.