Review: Joss Stone - "Introducing Joss Stone"

On her third album, British singer Joss Stone breaks free of the controllers who had molded and shaped her image and persona on first two albums. Introducing Joss Stone is sort of her emancipation document, a public announcement that's she's officially her own woman and this album represents the true her. So who is Joss Stone? If this album's a true indication, Joss is no longer an innocent, completely wholesome girl; she's blossomed into a sassy, sexy young woman with a huge appreciation for - and an uncanny ability to mimic - 1960s and '70s R&B and Soul singers.

Joss Stone's third album is definitely a creative leap forward for the young singer. On this album, she sounds more comfortable, more self-assured than ever. A perfect example of her apparently newfound confidence is the hip-hop influenced song "Tell Me What We're Gonna Do." (You can stream the song HERE.) The track, which features the rapper Common, is the audio equivalent of a refreshing Sunday afternoon walk in the park with your significant other. It just oozes brand-new love, and Joss's strong, powerful vocals on the song are realization of the potential that she displayed on her first two albums.

Another track with an outstanding vocal performance is the album's first single, the sassy, uptempo "Put Your Hands On Me:" "Baby I'm hungry, I want it, I need it, bring me your sugar and pour it all over me, baby," she sings at one point.

Other than Common, there's only one other guest vocal performance on the album, by Lauryn Hill, who appears on the song "Music." On the track, Joss holds up her end of the bargain by giving an above-average performance, singing about how much music means to her. But the track is thrown off by a complex and densely-layered rap/spoken word performance by Lauryn. Lauryn, once one of the music industry's shining stars, clearly has a message to give on the song, but it takes so much time and effort to decipher what she's saying on "Music" that her vocals become an unneeded distraction.

One of the few other problems with the album is that it's top-heavy with hits; meaning, the very best songs on the album are packed up front, in the top seven or eight tracks. After that, there's a noticeable dip in quality. Not in the singing, which is on-point throughout the album, but in the production and songwriting.

Some songs, like "Proper Nice" (a falling-in-love story) and "Bad Habit" (about not being able to stop dating a boy who brings more bad times than good) are so full of cliches they're actually boring, despite Joss's usual powerhouse vocal performances.

The best song on the second half of the album by far is the 13th track, "What Were We Thinking," an emotional tour de force: "Try to turn it off, but it's hard to see, through this emptiness, slowly breaking me, maybe hurt me just a little less, then I can start to breathe" she sings, with pain and hurt in her voice.

So for those who have followed Joss Stone through some, most or all of her career, the good news is: Introducing Joss Stone is definitely her best album so far. The bad news? Like the young Mariah Carey, Joss still hasn't completely learned to harness her bold, marvelous voice and she's still getting by to some extent on raw talent.

But there's more good news: it's evident by this album that Joss is still growing as an artist, and as long as she continues to grow and evolve, she'll eventually rise to the top of her field.