'When Loving U Was Easy' verges on Idol material, its sobbing accusations culminating in a gloriously indiscreet, almost painful climax worthy of Fantasia or Kelly Hudson. Perhaps the secret ingredient which enlivens Amerie's best work is her quality of earnestness: The best songs here are a trio of dead-serious ballads in the second half, all of which relinquish the urge to score points with savvy listeners. She does better when she doesn't try so hard: The more clipped disco-funk of 'Take Control' might be closer to 'anonymous' r&b (one could just as easily imagine it coming from Nicole Scherzinger or Christina Milian) but it's also a much better song the enjoyment comes from listening to how Amerie still makes it her own, the song's own excitement strained through her expressive, almost hesitant phrasing. The enjoyable but overrated 'Gotta Work', an energetic funk number that liberally samples Sam & Dave's 'Hold On I'm Coming', verges on empty formalism: one senses that its signifiers have been pressed into service primarily to remind listeners of how much they enjoyed '1 Thing' or J Lo's 'Get Right', and coalesce into a song only as an afterthought. This sense of making staged set-pieces rather than songs carries over into more familiar territory. The danger for her is that in trying so hard to clinch this new style she leaves little room to assert her own individual qualities: most worryingly, the self-consciously fun 'Some Like It' is a gruesome pastiche, assembling dozens of hooks and reference points, but with no heart to pump life into them. She pulls off this gloriously inconsequential sound on 'Crush' and 'Crazy Wonderful', combining sugar-rush explosions of fizzy synth clouds with charmingly twee vocals. *Because I Love It'*s big, risky strategic manoeuvre is a plush, post-coital riposte to Ciara's recent electro-pop revivalism, with many of the songs here investing in a deliberately frothy eighties sound that smears together Prince, Jam & Lewis, and the SOS Band.ДЄs with Ciara, Amerie's tying herself so resolutely to the retro mast pays mixed dividends. Having now parted ways from Harrison, on the more successful Because I Love It Amerie attempts to fashion for herself an individual persona, a quest that carries her further away from the attractions of her debut. Despite containing her breakout hit '1 Thing', 2005's follow-up Touch was a weaker affair: A handful of stunners and an ill-advised Lil' Jon collaboration aside, it felt like a retread of her debut in broader, less nuanced brushstrokes.

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