R&B chanteuse Chrisette Michele returns with her second album, Epiphany, hitting stores today.
It wasn’t long after the release of her great debut, I Am, in mid-2007, that she hit the studio to work on her follow-up. Although I Am garnered a couple of Grammy nominations, it was not a commercial success; none of its singles reached the Top 20 of the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and the album itself barely hit the Top 30 of the Billboard 200.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Chrisette would take things in a new direction on her new album. She co-wrote each song on her debut but only three (“Blame It On Me”, “Fragile”, “Mr. Right”) on her latest. Ne-Yo wrote six and served as executive producer with contributions from Chuck Harmony and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, among others. None of the writers or producers from her debut had a hand in Epiphany, and it shows.
The album opens with the first single, the Ne-Yo-penned title track which has become Chrisette’s most successful single yet. Chrisette says she had a realization about relationships that led her to name the album Epiphany:
“I heard the song that Ne-Yo had written titled “Epiphany”, and the word just stood out to me. It stood out to me because I’d been through a lot in my last relationship, and the word ‘epiphany’ exemplified exactly what happened in the end when I realized I didn’t have to put myself through it anymore.”
On “Notebook”, Chrisette spills her heart and puts it “on every page” about a crush she can’t find the strength to tell how she feels. The ballad would make a great follow-up single, but another option is “Blame It On Me”, one of her favorite tracks and one of the best vocal performances of the album.
Sultry “All I Ever Think About”, written by CL mentionable Jayms Madison, is another stand out on which Chrisette details the tug-of-war relationships can be. Radio-friendly and hip hop-flavored “Another One” is an ultimatum that either a significant other get their act together or Chrisette is moving on to “another one”.
The self-proclaimed daddy’s girl says the ballad, “On My Own”, reminds her of her father. “I’m very close to my dad, but recently I’ve learned how to handle situations on my own, without having him step in for me, and it took a lot of me to be able to do that.”
The album winds down with the uptempo “Fragile”, followed by the Ella Fitzgerald-esque “Mr. Right”. Chrisette shines on “Porcelain Doll”, stressing female empowerment and says goodbye to the listener and a relationship with “I’m Okay”.
Epiphany is a solid effort and avoids the dreaded sophomore slump. Chrisette sounds superb, naturally and effortlessly, throughout, and anyone going through a breakup can easily relate to the material. Whether one of Def Jam’s most promising talents becomes a commercial success or not remains to be seen, but she’s definitely a treasure to fans of good R&B music.
MY FAVES: “Epiphany”, “Notebook”, “Blame It On Me”, “All I Ever Think About”, “On My Own”, “Mr. Right”, “I’m Okay”
Not feelin’ her.
Didn’t listen to it yet but those shoes, damn!!!
Now this is an album to spend your money on!!! not that other garbage posted earlier on.. luv Chrisette her voice gives me everything i need.
LOVE HER..!! CANT WAIT TIL I GET THE ALBUM..FOR MY MOM LOL
Love Chrisette!! Getting the album today.. Only downloading a few songs from Ciara’s album.. No need to purchase that one.
I just got the album this morning and listened to it on the way to work. Amazing. There are no bad songs and it well worth PAYING for. We really need to support our trully talented artists like Chrisette.
this chick looks like EVA THE DIVA FROM ANTM
Her last CD was hottttttttt! And I will be getting this one as well! Too bad the music industry doesn’t know how to promote real music!
If she came out with some bubblegum lyrics and pussy popping antics she would be hot in most of these immature music listeners/execs/buyers/ radio heads ears and eyes!
DAMN SHAME…but much success to Chrisette!
J.Dakar the first album did go gold….not many artist do that today without much promotion and no singles charting in the top 20. but I bought the album today from target..cant stop playing it… I ride with Chrisette real artist real music.
Good
I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee notebook as well….even though thats all Ive heard from this album im 10000% sure thaa album will be dope! Its sad that shes underrated because she truly is AMAZING!
I KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE TOPIC, OR DOESNT CONCERN THIS PERSON. BUT I BOUGHT BOTH THE CIARA CD AND ALSO CHRISETTE MICHELLE. I REALLY WANTED TO SUPPORT BOTH ARTISTS, AND THEIR HARD WORK. I DIDNT KNOW THAT HER ALBUM CAME OUT 2DAY, BUT I STILL SHOWED MY SUPPORTED EVEN TOU I DNT LISTEN TO HER MUSIC.
GO COP THAT ALBUM “FANTASY RIDE” 5/5/09
LOVEEEE IT.!!
GOT IT! IN LOVE WITH, “BLAME IT ON ME”, “PORCELAIN DOLL”, “I’M OKAY”, AND “ALL EVER DO IS THINK ABOUT YOU”, FOR NOW. GREAT MUSIC.
Get into her!
I was about to disown Concreteloop if I didn’t see a review for my girl! lol REALLY! Can’t wait to go cop that album after work!!!! True vocalist!!!
……..Not a big fan of her ever since I heard how bad her attitude is. Her voice is
……..unique, but not that great to me, Good luck to her tho
love this girl I’ll be picking this up today..sorry ciara. I need some real music right about now.
yeah whole album is solid but I’m really feeling notebook as well… reminds me of Mariah a little…in a good way!
What about her attitude?
Hey what about Letoya Luckett? Her album is out today right?
pretty good music..i like her;
I LOVE THIS ALBUM GOT IT TODAY IT’S REALLY GOOD!!!! I LOVE IT!!!
Can’t decide in this or Ciara…
I heard a little of her CD on Tom Joyner Morning show, check it out at blackamericaweb.com/instudiojams
She not only won a grammy for the first album but she is a GREAT
Leave Ciara choose Chrissette
She not only WON a grammy for the first album by which I thought was great!!!! but she really is a great vocalist. She is to be appreciated and I def bought it today. As soon as I get in the car I will blast it with the roof-top down…….STAY SAVED CHRISETTE
just caught her on vh1 soulstage and i’m really loving her new material. “epiphany” is a great song along with “blame it on me” and “all i ever think about.” i liked some of the material on her last cd but didn’t love it overall…but i really think this one is a winner. she sounded great on vh1 by the way.
i gotta check this one out, I loved her last one, I heard about her on CL first
Who is she? anyways cop that fantasy ride its great
I will be buying this today!
This is a great cd. I just got it and its already blasting in the car, the house, and the ipod. Im definatly going to get tix to see her on tour.
damn can yall stop talkin about ciara for one minute
this album is nice!!1
better than the first one
check it out yall!!
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my fav is “blame it on me” and “notebook” as well as “all i ever think about”
I can’t wait to hear this album of her’s! Chrissete Michele is very underated and unfortunally overlooked by many………… so sad. I wish her the best on her sophermore cd, I hope it goes platnium because that’s what real music and true artist deserve and she’s most def a true artist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love the entire cd and my personal fave is NOTEBOOK. You rock!!!
If you’re in doubt of this chicks vocal ability or how GREAT this album is check this out when you have time.: http://tinyurl.com/d2rmfo
She is a true artist, picking up the cd for me & my mom.. Oh and her 1st album was good too.
Why did J. Dakar write like her first album was dreadful? In actual fact it was a fantastic album.. That album went Gold eventhough defjam didn’t promote it at all!! I think Chrisette should stick to writing her own material- there’s nothing wrong with working with others but the fact that she only wrote 3 songs on this album indicates that she or her label felt that the last album didn’t do well because of the quality of material which is soo untrue because she has amazing songwriting skills. The reason the first album did badly was purely because of lack of promotion! DefJam need to step they’re game up! How the heck are Rihanna and Neyo getting promoted left right and centre but Chrisette is pretty much unknown to the general public? hmmm.
*yawn* I just can’t get into her music. She’s too granola for my liking. Her and Jazmine Sullivan do nothing for me.
they wrong for photoshopping her pics. nothing wrong with being chunky.
This album is the best. “Blame it on me” is my jam. It’s a must have.
THOSE SHOES R SMOKIN HOT
She is soo underated! Love Chrisette. What a talented, beautiful girl! Definitely getting the album.
Im not liking this review. Chrisette had one of the best R&B cd’s to come out in awhile with her debut. “If i had my way” was a top 5 Adult Contemporary R&B hit and Hit #24 on the R&B charts and was nominated for a grammy and she won one for “Be OK” She had anthems on that first cd that will be appreciated 20 years from now like, Love is you, Golden and If i had my way. This new cd is lacking what made the first cd special and thats her connection to her songs. i like Ne-Yo as a writer and he did his thing on the title track, but this cd is not as good as the first. Outside of “blame it on me” and maybe “notebook”, its just ok.
Ok. Just got the album off of itunes. I like it, but I must say I am feeling the first one WAY better. Her style was so raw and so pure. You can tell with this one she is trying to get a little more commercial success and win over a younger crowd, but I think she compromised her style just a tad. And Ne-yo wrote most of her songs? Ne-yo’s style works well with Beyonce, Rihanna, and Usher, but it comes off a little awkward with Chrisette. Her style is on a different level than that. But anywho, the album’s not bad and I support her till the end.
***Sidebar: The album gets better towards the end***
“epiphany” is a wonderful album. very different from her debut (which i also love). kudos to chrissy for delivering another beautiful effort!
love love love this album. Such talent, such beautiful music to FINALLY listen to!
Although I bought the CD (digital download) from Amazon.com yesterday for $2.99 I will be venturing out this weekend to add the actual CD to my collection! This is a must have!!! Not 1 bad song on the entire CD!
Hopefully Chrisette gets the play she deserves!
Beautiful album, cop it!!!
I like Chrisette but I doubt I’ll buy the album. I’m glad she worked with NeYo on it. I do wish her luck tho.
Just listened to the entire album on imeem.com and “Blame It On Me” & “Fragile” are my favs right now. I think I only skipped over 2 tracks – she did a masterful job on this – her voice is AMAZING!!! Love it.
I will def be picking it up tomorrow.
When she did the tracks for Jay-z and Nas, I was anticipating her 1st album and was disappointed, she didn’t really pull off the jazz type vibe. BUT when I heard the song EPIPHANY on the radio I was really excited because I have not heard good R&B since Jill Scott’s last album…no that’s not true, Anthony Hamilton’s lastest album is Fire!!! The album EPIPHANY is really good, definitely worth getting.
I will be picking this up in 2 hours when I leave my JOB. I still have the first album in the car and on my ipod. A few of my friends are mad the slept on Chrissette
This girl is SERIOUSLY slept on…voice is outta this world…and she makes real music…I cannot wait to get this album! I am stays in heavy rotation already…Love her!
I see she hiding them toes…LOL!
‘ol girl is talented tho
Her album are nice neyo-soul at its best. I wish her success but I hope Ciara Fantasy Ride comes out on top! LOL no shade but Ciara needs this!
BOUGHT THIS CD , THIS MORNING AND IT HAS BEEN ON REPEAT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL DAY. CHRISETTE IS DEF UNDERRATED
LOVE HER 
Aw I love this girl, she makes me happy. Shes extremely talented and beautiful get em girl
I think Def Jam should release “playing my song” to top 40 Radio she would get a lot of buzz
been lovin CM since day one. Don’t sleep on true talent. Loved epiphany since i first heard it.