Chris Brown ‘Fortune’: Review Revue
After a slight delay, controversial crooner Chris Brown‘s fifth album Fortune is finally out today. But while the LP is currently #1 on iTunes, critics, for the most part, aren’t exactly begging to, ahem, turn up the music this time around. Why is Breezy being so harshed upon? Did he really deliver a dud, or is it simply his bad boy status once again overshadowing his creative output? Head below for our roundup of what the Internet at large had to say about Chris’ latest record, then let us know your own thoughts on the album.
:: The Los Angeles Times feels Breezy doesn’t take enough chances: “A defiant, brash, glistening recording filled with state-of-the-art sounds and of-the-moment producers and songwriters, the album, while fresh in July 2012, feels stamped with a ‘use by’ date. This is due mostly to Brown’s reflex of curbing his creative impulses at nearly every turn, with a few killer exceptions, and showing a conservatism unbecoming such a self-styled renegade.”
:: The Washington Post agrees: “That the world seems divided into three camps when it comes to Brown — those who will always hate everything he does, those who will always love everything he does, and those who have no idea who he is or what he does — frees him to do pretty much whatever he wants creatively. That position is what allowed him to produce 2011’s game-changer, F.A.M.E, where he ditched the no-longer-appropriate puppy-love songs and debuted edgier dance tracks and more mature R&B ballads. Fortune is no F.A.M.E — it sounds like it, sure, but doesn’t move Brown to any new ground musically.”
:: New York Daily News compares Brown to Usher: “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.”
:: Boston.com thinks Fortune is rather poor: “When Brown opens up, he’s the best version of himself. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of those songs to make Fortune, the 23-year-old’s fifth album, a must have… The album veers from hip-hop flavored party jams to electronic, pulsating tracks meant for laser light shows to more emotional fare. The album suffers from Brown’s cocky rap-talk and the computerized noises that drown out today’s dance songs.”
:: The Toronto Star isn’t having it, either: “…since Brown chooses to confront his past (violent) sins two tracks in on ‘Bassline’ with unapologetic bravado — ‘You’ve heard about my image/ But I could give a flying motherf— about who’s offended’ — it’s hard to feel anything but pity for the ladies who might fall prey to Fortune’s subsequent, mid-section run of mildly explicit, R. Kelly-esque boudoir come-ons.”
:: The New York Post filets the Brown: “There’s some good production and some decent songwriting scattered about Chris Brown’s fifth album, and it’s hard not to wish it had been expended on someone, anyone else.”
:: The Washington Times also takes Breezy to task: “If he evoked a young Romeo on his early records, then the man who boasts, brags and barges his way through Fortune is more like a 20-something Lothario, with a dirty mind and an even filthier mouth. Never before has Brown sounded so carelessly graphic, like a high school football quarterback who dates the cheerleading captain and spills her intimate secrets to his teammates in the locker room.”
:: We’ll end on the following, from the Chicago Sun Times: “You’re not likely to hear more soulless, contrived pop product all year.”
What are your own thoughts on Chris Brown’s new album? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!
