Issue date: 9/18/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo [Click to enlarge]

LeToya Luckett, formerly of the R&B group Destiny's Child, released her sophomore album "Lady Love" Aug. 25. Her firm vocals and sharp production have allowed her to pursue her solo profession, leading her to acquire a spot for her album on the Billboard chart. Marvelous triumph comes with time, effort and sacrifice from the artist and crew, as this exceptional album took roughly three years in the making. Personally, if an album's manufacturing period is elongated for such an extended phase, the material LeToya initially aspired to bring to the table is bound to be out of style, discarded by the listener as its matter might be out of date and the message being transmitted by the lyrics might have weakened as time passed.


The album features productions from Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and Slim Thug, with cameo appearances from Estelle, Ludacris and Mims. Due to the fact that LeToya features notorious artists, this album is considered a success to fans, no matter how long the development took. On the other hand, I question LeToya's album success as I put forward that her vocals might not be the reason of her triumph as much as the popularity of the featured artists. For my part, on no account have I heard of LeToya before, but I might consider purchasing her album because of the featured artists represented in the album. Fundamentally, LeToya is selling the artists that provide the accompaniment to her tracks, not the talent she endows her listeners with as a solo artist.


The primary single of the album, "Not Anymore," discusses love and betrayal and was written by musician Ne-Yo. "Regret," the album's third single, particularly disturbs the peace as Grammy Award winner Ludacris contributes to the track with his rapping flavor and divisive style. Because the track concerns the blunder and lament of breaking up with one's partner, I was strongly misdirected with the significance of the song since LeToya portrays herself as a sturdy woman throughout her lyrics in the album. She simply contradicted herself within her own compositions. Furthermore, on her single "I Need A U," Luckett defines the man every young woman has been hoping will appear in their lives, the man of everyone's dreams and the man who is nevertheless absent from her life. Frankly, I simply see the lyrics of this track as a personal method of promoting her single status to other celebrities and a real life excuse for exposing herself into the dating world.


For the most part, LeToya's tracks in the album consist of the throbbing result of a broken heart and the events that lead to the consequent. LeToya's "Lady Love" consists of 15 tracks, an integrated European bonus track well-known as "Swagger" and an iTunes bonus track, "Don't Let Me Get Away." The album is advertising itself based on the additional material rather than the value of the album and the themes it inflicts on the listener. Furthermore, the album is promoting its content based on the celebrity status of the artists LeToya is working with, not on what LeToya has to present to her fans herself. It is as if LeToya is not sufficient for her own fans, so she needs to put in recognizable artists for her album to stand out. Overall, the album is catchy and promising, although it is not something I would be fighting for when it was released. Moreover, promoting "Lady Love" to future listeners is a thumbs down in my perspective.

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