Tamar Braxton, ‘Calling All Lovers’ (Short Take Review)

Braxton Shows Off Mad Pipes Throughout ‘Calling All Lovers’ 

Let’s keep this one short and sweet – Tamar Braxton steps up her game on her third LP Calling All Lovers. The once delayed album is quite impressive and goes to show that prejudging an album is a bad choice. Here are some highlights and takeaways after listening to Calling All Lovers.

“Simple Things” wins the award for most soulful performance from Calling All Lovers. Tamar sings her butt off, showing her incredible vocal grit and incredible range. We always knew that Tamar could sing, but she gives all of the goods and more on this stirring, memorable throwback soul joint.

“If I Don’t Have You” represented one of the first hint of the sheer power of Braxton’s pipes, though it was greatly underrated. Hearing it contextually, the true beauty and grandiose nature of the song shines undoubtedly. Again, “If I Don’t Have You” has a soulfulness that clearly comes from the past, which fuels its overall soundness.

Plenty of other moments shine over the course of Calling All Lovers. Prior to “If I Don’t Have You” comes two big-time vocals on “Never” and “Circles,” both feeding off the momentum catalyzed on “Simple Things.” “Raise the Bar” reminisces back to “Love and War,” sounding like its companion piece/follow up. Penultimate track “Free Fallin’” thrives in the adult contemporary vein – a familiar but tailor made script for Braxton.

Ultimately, Calling All Lovers is a fine R&B album. More notable is how much better Calling All Lovers is compared to Braxton’s sophomore effort Love and War. Yes, Love and War had hit Grammy-nominated single “Love and War,” but Calling All Lovers packs a mightier punch with more well-rounded songs and more prodigious vocals. This is how the female R&B album should be done.

Tamar Braxton • Calling All Lovers • Epic • Release: 10.2.15

Photo credit: Epic