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Rating:(3.5/5)
All is fair In Love and War; at least that’s what they say. Amerie’s new album actually seems to be more about her war with love. Her first single "Why R U" describes what the album is about to a tee “loving you is so hard (I keep trying, baby), I just end up with scars (I keep fighting, baby). Loving you is like a battle that I can't afford to lose…” Amerie uses this album to tackle the troubles of love. Many of the songs on the album are about wanting to end a relationship, yet being still attached and hoping for a change. Quite honestly, the album is kind of bi-polar. The songs are either about being deeply in love or having a war with it; however, no where does it seem to intersect. They more or less collide with each other over a mix of hip hop, soul and rock. The first half of the album is full of high-energy material. The second half are where the more subdued ballads are.

At times she’s deeply in love like in the very sexy "Red Eye," where she seductively offers to "Let me blow your mind sky high...so many things that we can try, if you're not scared to fly. I don't gotta be your only girl, I just want to take you around the world..."

Other times, there’s tracks like the angry rock influenced "Higher" which is an up tempo song for the clubs, "You keep taking me higher, just to drop me off. Do you feel like a man? 'cause you got my heart in your hand and you took me as high as you can, higher just to drop me off!" This one has a crazy beat that will have you going, yet hating every dude in the club who reminds you of “him”.

Another good track is actually a heartbreak ballad titled "The Flowers" which is about what a guy could have done to keep her “You should’ve did so much more to show you loved me. I’m wishing you would’ve gave me the flowers/ I’m wishing you would’ve held me for hours.”

One song I can do without is "Swag Back". It may be because I want someone to bury the word swag…somebody…anybody…please! I never want to hear it again. It is way over used. It’s a song about getting over a heartbreak and she finally has her “swag back” and moving on. She even goes as far to drop in a “nobody on the corner got swagger like mine.” Sheesh.

"You're A Star" is the epitome of an album filler. It's a pointless interlude where she spends 1:52 talking about how good her lover makes her feel. Ironically, this comes right after "Swag Back".

Overall, I think the album is decent. I was a little disappointed because I was looking for the “1 Thing” type of song to emerge and it never did. That was an amazing song and I guess hard to duplicate. Overall, I think Amerie will please her current fans and maybe even pull in a few new ones. Hopefully Def Jam will take some of the focus off of Rihanna for two seconds in order to promote this album a little. Can we get another single??

*Side note - I love this album cover!

# of songs on the album: 14

# of songs worth a listen: 10