Omarion - 'O' (Sony/Epic) Released 09/05/05

Some albums are destined for summer days. They were made to be played in a car, with the windows rolled down, the stereo set on "make everything, including your fillings, rattle" volume level, and beautiful people making club-like shapes in the back seat…

Omarion has tasted fame with his previous multi-million selling R n B combo, B2K, but with this his debut solo effort he wants to open his books of influences to you, showing the diversity that has made his music the way it is. The album has already hit the Number One spot in the US, proving his established presence in the R ‘n’ B world, but now he will exceed all prior opinions with this astonishing album. The music skips and shuffles, the bass-line punishing the melody, surrounding itself so serenely, causing ripples and stop/start flirtations for Omarion to calmly set his rhymes of love, life and true passion to… His voice is soft and tender, but commanding. It’s like he’s reasoning with you, willing to hear your side of things, to try and understand where you’re coming from, but essentially his tone is implying that he knows deep down you will end up coming round to his way of things.

There are tender R n' B torch songs like ‘I’m Tryna’, that gently wraps you up into his world, like Stevie Wonder at his most forlorn. Then there’s the albums title track, ‘O’, simple like old school soul, but thunderous with it’s intent and those harmonies, oh the harmonies, gloriously spiritual like a prayer in the same mindset as Brian Wilson. But it’s the albums harder tracks that really shine the brightest. Album opener ‘I Wish’ has the block busting beats of prime-Usher, but instead of sounding like someone fronting their own strength, this is the real deal, the power, the brawn, the intelligence, the whole package. With ‘Drop That Heather’s militaristic/tribal rhythm it recalls Destiny’s Child, with an almost school playground chant like melody giving the song a strong sense of charm that will be impossible to deny. ‘Never Gonna Let You Go (She’s A Keepa)’s wondrous horn-ed disco floor funk stomping is sublimely irresistible, with Outkasts very own Big Boi giving a pumped G-like party busting rap, creating something inspirational as well as funky, like his own stupendous band. The album like most R ‘n’ B albums of this day and age does suffer with the odd filler, ‘In The Dark’ errs on the side of syrupy a little, and album closer ‘Fiening You’ can’t quite muster the muscle previously on display, instead going out on a whimper when it should’ve been a bomb.

With a key team of producers including Allstar, The Underdogs, Tricky and The Neptunes his success is assured, and with enough moments of greatness that justifies the hype, this is definitely a contender for urban album of the year. But his quest for world domination doesn’t just stop with music, his acting debut in the blockbuster hit ‘You Got Served’ and two other films already in the pipeline just goes to show what a multi-talented artist Omarion really is. In reality Justin Timberlake’s always going to be seen as the kid trying too hard to be with the bad boys, Usher is just a saccharin version of R ‘n’ B for the ladies, Omarion on the other hand is the real deal!