Jennifer Hudson, "I Remember Me" (Arista)
Jennifer Hudson knows how to live. She turned her loss on "American Idol" into an Oscar and Grammys for her debuts in film and music. She won roles in the hit "Sex in the City" flick, a successful Weight Watchers ad campaign and as Winnie Mandela in a coming biopic. She has a man and a baby.
That ebullience practically springs from Hudson's pipes and radiates through even the few lackluster moments on her sophomore effort, "I Remember Me." On a CD recorded (thankfully) with less production frippery than her first album, the powerful vocalist has just enough attitude and theatricality to express the dry humor of R. Kelly's "Where You At."
She's never too cold or too hot as her rich alto saunters through the cocksure "I Got This" and the forlorn "Gone," with occasional gruff huskiness in her voice. The sole misstep is "Feeling Good," a Nina Simone classic, in which the bluesy track's arrangement is somewhat formless for Hudson's formidable presentation. Still, she sounds dynamic. A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
Avril Lavigne "Goodbye Lullaby" (RCA)It's not easy for a skater/punk/mall rat to mature with grace.
Singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne can attest to that. Since her first rip-snorting CD, she's played the hard-pop princess, the contemplative Hot Topic goth, and the cool, fawning doe. At each stop, Lavigne used melody and age-appropriate lyrical grappling as her guide.
This time, Lavigne's reflections get the best of her, mulling as she does her divorce from Sum 41's Deryck Whibley with a moping, emotional display that seems more like limp affectation than anything else. She can't make angst work for her, in words or music. What works is when glossy hit-making mixer/songwriter Max Martin teams with Lavigne for the potent likes of the Farfisa-filled "What the Hell" and the catty, bratty "Smile." Lavigne may not do a whole lot of grinning on those cuts, even when Martin boosts the bass and lifts "Goodbye Lullabye's" energies. But it's better to look good than to feel good in pop. Cheer up, A. A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
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