[usr 4.5]

Chrisette Michele drops a soulful gem with “A Couple of Forevers,” the promo single for her fourth studio album, Better.

Kelly Rowland is pushing the boundaries for women in R&B through innuendo. Chrisette Michele has a different agenda. Michele seeks to keep the traditional, classic elements of R&B alive – something that she has been doing from day one. It’s important that traditional R&B is maintained and doesn’t completely fade.  That doesn’t mean everyone needs to be a proponent of neo-soul or soul, but it means that the underlying idea of “rhythm and blues” is kept alive.

On new single “A Couple of Forevers,” Michele manages to make a classic sounding, traditional R&B single that doesn’t sound like an anachronism.  The production is lush, the songwriting genuine, and Michele’s distinct, soulful and jazz-infused vocals intact.  Has Michele has never sounded more nuanced? “A Couple of Forevers” is drenched in classic soul sensibility, further accentuated by warm backing vocals.  The track epitomizes true love at its peak – finding that one, true soul mate.

Final Thoughts

It’s rare that a song in 2013 can truly convey such emotion, particularly in the “new” R&B that has likened “love” to “sex,” or made the two fallaciously interchangeable. Too many artists have played into the overtness of the times as opposed to ‘pulling back’ and striking a deeper punch with better balance.  Michele manages to portray genuineness in a time where the emotional seems to be second to the physical.  But when you have an eclectic instrument like the voice of Chrisette Michele, shouldn’t she perform refined material that truly shows it off?

Chrisette Michele • Better • Motown • Release: 6.11.13

Photo Credit: Motown