Faith Evans : Releases >>
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Heartbreak Hotel/Love to Infinity Megamix >>
You Used to Love Me >>
Soon as I Get Home >>
You Gets No Love >>
Ain't Nobody >>
Love Like This >>
Keep the Faith >>
If Faith Evans's self-titled debut was inexplicably entwined in the rise of the Bad Boy empire, her eagerly anticipated follow-up, Keep the Faith, has been further steeped in the history of hip-hop--before anyone heard a note. There are plenty of ballads here ("No Way" and "Lately I" being the best), and Evans doesn't hesitate to mine her emotional turmoil for lyrical material, but it's the welcome inclusion of sublime mid-tempo grooves ("Sunny Days," "Life Will Pass You By") and party jams like "All Night Long" that make this album a sure-fire classic. Forget the hype and enjoy the sound of Evans's gospel-trained voice riding the old-school beats in the addictive "Love Like This." The most interesting thing about this album is not Evans's personal trials but that despite them, her voice is still as sweet as the caramel kisses she sings about. --Rebecca Wallwork
A Faithful Christmas >>
Faithfully >>
A sadness is etched into Faith Evans's smoky vocals on Faithfully--an underpinning of regret and the blues that gives her a vulnerability and realness that's compelling. That hint of heartache is perfectly suited for love-lost mid-tempo ballads, like her 1995 hit "You Used To Love Me," and in many ways Faith (once married to the late Notorious B.I.G.) is a modern-day torch singer. Yet like Mary J Blige, her sister in sorrow, Faith has added more up-tempo rhythm to her moody mix, as evidenced by the thumping first single off her third CD. Set to a banging, West Coast-style beat, "You Gets No Love" (produced by newcomer Michelangelo Saulsberg) is club-ready and playful, yet Faith's wistful tone is almost overwhelmed by the bounce. That's why the strongest songs on this satisfying CD are cuts like the lush "I Love You" and the stand-by-your-man anthem "Do Your Time," both co-produced by P Diddy. She can sing just about anything but when Faith lets her love light simmer she creates a smouldering flame. --Amy Linden
First Lady >>
Faith Evans, wife of the late Biggie Smalls, has probably seen more sympathy in her 10 bumpy years in the recording business than she knows what to do with. But that doesn't curb our compulsion to cheer over her latest triumph, The First Lady, her debut release on Columbia after stepping away from Bad Boy Records, is a hoot-and-holler worthy affair that has nothing to do with misplaced pity. Out she storms on opener "Goin' Out Tonight" with Pharrell and Pusha T, thrusting her graceful but sturdy voice over a propulsive, hand-clappy beat. In the space of a single track, she's navigating the Motown-ish thumps and funky guitar riffs of the first single, "Again," to lay bare the facts behind her 2004 stint in rehab. Throughout, Evans' breathy voice seems incapable of jumping the groove—here's an R&B princess with a jazz diva's sense of timing—and on songs like "Mesmerized" she slinks into a `70s soul place that leaves us wishing we could time-travel together more often. Tacked to the end for fans who discovered Evans via the Coach Carter soundtrack is her collaboration with Twista from that film, the hip-hop track "Hope." --Tammy La Gorce