**1/2 Kelly Price
MIRROR MIRROR
(DefSoul/Universal)
Price’s second CD follows the tried and true parameters of new-jill radio pop. No surprise there given
her history as a back-up singer and arranger for Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Notorious B.I.G., and
Puff Daddy — but because her chosen genre is such ý narrow one, she risks sounding generic. She needs
superior songwriting and inspired vocals if she’s to get any individual attention, and the
songwriting is indeed superior on the almost Millie Jackson–ish “Married Man,” “She Wants You,” and
“At Least,ý the Whitney Houston–inflected pop ballad “As We Lay,” and the album’s title number, where
the more that Price has to say and comment on, the more forward she sounds. These eloquent songs
bring out all the sass, the drollery, and the heat of passion that she’s capable of — she has
range and power and heart to spare. Still, her flawless voice falls short of Millie Jackson’s brawn
and brain, and it lacks Tina Turner’s oomph, Whitney Houston’s sweet fire, Janet Jackson’s wiggle.
Truly great singers (one thinks of Billie Holiday) often show their stuff by making mediocre
songs and worse sound immortal and more. Price in a mediocre song almost sounds as if she were
doing her own karaoke.
— Michael Freedberg
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