Cheri Dennis - In and Out of Love

You might call this damning with faint praise, but the strongest thing about Cheri Dennis's debut album, In and Out of Love (available in stores everywhere on Feb. 26, 2008) is the overarching theme that gives the album its title. Throughout the album's 16 tracks, Cheri explores the many stages of love and paints some vivid portraits of the ups and downs of relationships. Although her vocals are sometimes thin and occasionally generic, judging by some of the material here, Cheri's an artist with lots of potential; the question is whether she'll get a chance to properly grow as an artist and spread her wings.

Seeing as how Cheri is one of the few R&B artists on Bad Boy Records, a label that made its name developing and nurturing hip-hop artists, it shouldn't come as a surprise that many of the beats here have a hip-hop edge. This could be a detriment to other artists, but the somewhat upbeat music style actually enhances Cheri's work-in-progress vocal talents; at this point in her vocal development, singing soft, slow ballads probably is not the way to go.

But even though she's singing the type of relationship songs that typically merit slow, sad music, she makes the whole hip-hop/hit-pop thing that she's given work for her. A couple of examples are "Dropping Out of Love," (which samples the exact same music as the old Notorious B.I.G. hit "Sky's The Limit") and "Caught Up," a tale of being in love with two different people. Despite the relatively serious content, both are upbeat, catchy songs that sound more appropriate for the dance floor than the bedroom.

But for every hit, like the above-mentioned tracks, there's also some not-so-good ones. The sexual tracks "Ooh Ooh" and "Showdown" definitely lack heat and sensuality, and that's where Cheri's lack of seasoning as a vocalist comes in. Both of the songs have the lyrics, theme and backing music needed to make them true scorchers, but the vocals don't reach that level of greatness needed to make the songs truly memorable. Likewise, a few other tracks on the album have a generic feel to them, as well. And I won't even get into the album's poorly-conceived into track.

But despite all that, there are some memorable songs here, such as Cheri's first-ever buzz single, "I Love You," which features the rappers Jim Jones and Yung Joc; the powerful, attitude-filled "Remind You;" and the fun, addictive "Portrait of Love," featuring Cheri's labelmates Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe. So overall, this is an uneven album full of peaks and valleys, but the songs that peak are enough to make In and Out of Love worth listening to.