Amerie - Touch

When we first heard Amerie on the heartfelt, Why Don’t We Fall In Love, we expected success but despite delivering an excellent album to critical acclaim, she didn’t have the sales to show for it.

Now three years on and with a number of release from the likes of Ciara, Beyonce and Mariah Carey there is a lot of competition in the female solo world. But when the single 1 Thing hit, not only had Amerie returned with a bang, the soundtrack to the summer was set.

Produced by the much under rated Rich Harrison, 1 Thing is so different from anything on the radio at the moment that you can’t escape it’s heavy drum beat and enthusiastic vocals.

The partnership of Harrison and Amerie has brought together an album that sounds unlike anything currently out there at the moment. Touch is a classy affair with it’s soulful retro R’n’B stylings combined with Hip-Hop beats which you could see your favourite MC’s spitting over.

The album also lets us get to know Amerie a little better as she unleashes a sexier side on the track Touch, produced by Lil Jon, and this Crunk and B number sounds much better than recent singles by Ciara and Brooke Valentine.

But not to disrespect those two artists, Amerie sounds more like a seasoned vet than one of the new school coming though, such is the superiority of the songs.

If hard pressed to name highlights than the b-boy feel of Man Up, which features
Nas, Like It Used To Be and Rolling Down My Face. Enough evidence that the future of R’n’B and modern Soul is in good hands.