Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The striking thing about Keyshia Cole's debut album is its been-there-done-that bluntness. As she begins to see another love go wrong, the Oakland-raised, Los Angeles-based singer decides that "I Changed My Mind" on her Kanye West-produced jam of the same name, and moves on. On another track, she declares "(I Just Want It) to Be Over" with an emotional economy that speaks as forcefully as her words. While the beats deliver club-friendly hip-hop and the twenty-one-year-old Cole serves up grit beyond her years, the arrangements feature angular strings, woodwinds and horns that punctuate, heighten and dance around the vocal drama without overwhelming it. The combination results in R&B that's simultaneously contemporary and classic. Cole blows her charismatic cool and oversings on "Love," an otherwise dignified ballad, but for the most part she rides the album's multiple peaks with a rare mix of street smarts and chops. Beware, singers who belabor your emotions: Keyshia Cole might make you obsolete.