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Sunshine Anderson's first album is a great addition to the world of
soulful R & B music. "Your Woman" could very well be depicting your woman:
it's songs are honest and modern, treating relationships with emotive content.
This talented voice, which more than hints of Mary J. Blige, is put to
good use on all songs on "Your Woman.'' At a total of 18, those tracks give
great reason to put the CD player on "repeat."
A song especially worth repeating is "Heard it all before,'' the album's
first single, and the one that has justly given Anderson her current fame.
Like several other songs in the world of R & B, "Heard it all before" focuses
on a woman empowering herself against a poor male partner. The vocal style
depicts well the fact this woman has been mistreated, yet, because she
deserves better, she will end up triumphing over this pain.
Appropriately, the album moves forward to describe that in future songs.
The whole album can be seen as a timeline, with "Vulnerability" proceeding to
"Letting Down My Guard" to "Crazy Love." The way this is all arranged is
clever and adds to the listeners' experience. It's like a story unfolding.
The arrangements of the songs themselves are in classic R & B style,
though the elements of funk, folk and soul are hinted at in many of the
tracks on "Your Woman."
The everyday experiences sung about on the album (such as going out to
lunch or dinner) make "Your Woman" shy away from the trap that other
songstresses might fall into: wailing about unrequited love or intense love.
Sunshine Anderson instead gives us something rooted in reality, instead of
solely the romantic. In this way, there's a substance listeners can enjoy.
Sunshine Anderson's voice is also very enjoyable: soulful and emotive.
Hopefully, her success will extend beyond her first single, into more
well-thought and thoughtful albums.
Catherine Galioto is a staff writer. Contact her at msmatilda@rockzone.com.
