The pictures on
Ashanti's album covers mean something -- not just because she's gorgeous, but because they signal in which musical direction she's heading. On her first album, she was a streamlined, diva-esque spin on
Alicia Keys; on her second, she was styled like
Beyoncé Knowles, the
Destiny's Child leader who had released her solo debut a week before
Chapter II.
Ashanti is malleable like that. She has a sweet, appealing voice that has no defining characteristics -- she doesn't have the dizzying range of
Mariah Carey or
Whitney Houston, the sexiness of
Janet Jackson, the riskiness of
Aaliyah, the elegant smarts of
Alicia Keys, the sheer ambition of
Knowles, or, needless to say, the hell-bent skankiness of
Christina Aguilera. She sings well and sounds good on modern R&B tracks, fitting into the fabric of the production more than delivering the song. That lack of personality, incidentally, makes her a good vocal foil for rappers, since she never overshadows them. This explains why
Irv Gotti used her as the diva for his Murder Inc empire; he's also savvy enough of a producer (along with his colleague
Chink Santana) to keep
Chapter II entertaining -- more entertaining than her debut, actually -- all the way through. The key is that the production is seductive, whether it's on the actual ballads or the bright, sunny dance numbers, and that
Ashanti's crooning fits right in without ever drawing attention to herself. She's not enough of a singer to really belt out the tunes and depart from the melodies with showy runs that are all about her, so she just sings the material straight, which is quite refreshing. The songs have about as much personality as
Ashanti's voice, but that actually is a point in its favor, since it keeps everything on an even keel and makes
Gotti and
Santana's stylish production the star. They are the secret ingredients that make
Chapter II good romantic mood music for the summer. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine