The smooth sound of Craig David

R&B is the sound of the moment. Aspiring singers everywhere can duplicate not only word for word but sigh for sigh, adlib for adlib and everything else in the R&B hits of today. Nelly, Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight, Joe, India.Arie, R. Kelly, etc. etc. Watch a talent show and there will surely be a Celine Dion or James Ingram somewhere and excellent imitations too.

The trend does not allow much room for individuality. In fact it can be rightly said that because of the R&B trend, Pinoy singers have brought back the plakang-plaka syndrome which plagued the music industry during the ’50s and ’60s. Back then they had local versions of nearly every foreign singing star. Think Elvis, the Beatles, Pat Boone, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, etc.

It is small consolation but this situation is not unique to the Philippines. Because of the popularity of R&B, there are also plenty of young singers trying to do their own kind of R&B in other countries with unfortunate results. What they are forgetting is that R&B is a music genre that is distinctly American. It is a mix of jazz, rap, gospel, spirituals and the black experience. That is why plenty of R&B stars nowadays trace their music roots back to singing in church like Toni Braxton.

This is the reason why the music industry is keeping a close watch on new star Craig David. The great looking 22-year-old is the first successful R&B singer to emerge from the UK. Now the UK is no second fiddle to the US of A as far as pop music is concerned. There have even been times in the past when it has taken the lead. Think the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Phil Collins. The new kind of R&B seemed like a tough nut to crack until David showed up two years ago.

It helped that David is a looker but it was his clear tenor that first grabbed attention followed by the music which in Born to Do It was fluid, sexy and elegant R&B. Although a product of the British club music scene, the sound he wisely chose to introduce himself with music that had a wider market reach. And true enough the world responded with open arms including the US of A where there had always been a strong bias against foreigners trying to do R&B.

Born to Do It with the sleekly-produced tunes Fill Me In, Seven Days, Rewind, Walking Away and others made Gold, Platinum and even Multi-Platinum in 20 countries. It has since sold over 1.5 million copies and David became the first UK artist in the R&B mold to crash big time into the hit charts of the world. It is no wonder then that his second effort Slicker Than Your Average became one of the most awaited albums to be released.

The album is a class act notable for several things. Foremost among these are three outstanding ballads that David also co-wrote. One is the lovely You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till the Well Runs Dry). The other is the soaring Hidden Agenda. Then there is Rise & Fall, which is a collaboration with Sting using the pop star’s classic from the ’80s Shape of My Heart. Both guys sound great. The album also marks David’s return to his Garage music roots. Set in the lively two-step beat that is the Brit music genre’s best known trademark are Eenie Meenie, 2 Steps Back and Fast Cars.

The first single release is What’s Your Flava, which mixes everything. It is a blend of Garage, R&B, Hip Hop and soul, spiced up with a vocoder. The other songs included are Slicker Than Your Average, Personal, Hands Up in the Air, Spanish, What’s Changed and World Filled with Love. David sings with the confidence of a star who has arrived at the top and eager to show everyone what he is capable of.

David shows a lot and he is in excellent form. Take note though that Slicker Than Your Average is his second album. That means that this is his dreaded sophomore effort and critics and I must add, the music market, have not been always kind to new artists coming back after surprisingly huge selling debuts. Their demands border on the unreasonable and woe to those who fail to measure up. Those unfortunate souls are instantly sentenced to spend the rest of their careers in the dustbin where all the one-hit-wonders reside. Let us all hope that Craig David survives that.