Perhaps trying too hard to "Finally [Make You] Happy," Macy Gray's most recent album, Big, moves away from Gray's identifiably scratchy brand of R&B/soul towards a more sell-out sound of popular funk. The album takes a divergent path towards a soul-alicious rhythm, blending sounds familiar to producer Ron Fair's pop-funk treatment of the Black Eyed Peas.
Gray does not completely abandon her soulful roots - she borrows beats from both James Brown and Billie Holiday in her tracks "Ghetto Love," where she boldly takes the intro to "It's a Man's Man's World" and in her track "One for Me," where she throws in a few chords from Holiday's "Strange Fruit". But dabbling with the classics doesn't return this singer to the unique sound that brought her fame with her previous albums The Id and On How Life Is.
Although Big slightly disappoints, Gray redeems herself through tracks like "Treat Me Like Your Money" as she collaborates with Will.I.Am for a sound that no other artist could produce.
Despite this move toward a larger Pea-ce of fame, Gray's messy style still creates an eclectic, electric sound that only she can sing.
