I listened to this after seeing Nivea on BET's Finding series that largely takes a look at some artists who were in the limelight for a short period in the mid-'00s. I remember some of these songs from back in the day when I started looking for music on the internet. Nivea said on the aforementioned show that she wasn't played on urban radio as she was considered 'too pop', like a black Britney Spears... If you listen to this you'll hear that that's all bullshit and a sad representation of the music business.
This is a consistent album. Overall it's quite upbeat and hip hop influenced. Her ex-husband, The-Dream, handles much of the production in the infancy of his career and does a good job. As was common for this time period, Lil Jon provides a beat and verse for the single 'Okay'. He rarely swung and missed and didn't here either. Apparently it was made a while before the album's release and it's one of the strongest cuts. 'Quickie' is another track with a lot of influence from hip hop and the following 'Indian Dance' which perhaps in this sensitive age wouldn't be made, provides some bounce. As Lil Jon was, R. Kelly was ubiquitous during this era and provides 'Gangsta Girl' which sounds a lot like some of the stuff he was making for the 'Chocolate Factory' album.
As far as the softer moments go, the title track is my least favourite here. 'I Can't Mess With You' is a winner thanks to the 'You Are Everything' sample. The chorus and some of the vocals/adlibs of 'No More', 'So Far' and 'Breathe (Let It Go)' make them other standouts. I swear the Red-Cup Version of 'Okay' sounds like something else. It provides an R&B slant on the crunk influenced single.
Nivea's voice isn't powerful but sweet. She is a better vocalist than Ciara, but that's the type of singer I feel she can be compared to. Lyrically, it's quite sexual with a tonne of innuendo on a number of songs. I've enjoyed giving this a few spins. No song sounds the same and while there are some average lyrics, there are a number of catchy moments as well. 3.5-3 / 5
"No other single was released from Complicated due to a recall on the album for having a content-protector and some discs would not play, so Nivea decided to leave Jive Records not long after the album's release." - Ouch!
Best Tracks: Okay, Breathe (Let It Go), I Can't Mess With You, No More, Quickie, So Far
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