Four fine albums deep into a career with no Top Ten pop singles to his name,
Musiq Soulchild went for broke with the single released prior to his fifth album. At least it kinda seemed that way: "Radio" sounded suspiciously like a cash-in on Atlanta snap, à la
Dem Franchize Boyz's "Lean wit It, Rock wit It," or even
Monica's "Everytime the Beat Drop," but it was a couple years late. It was almost shockingly out of character, if not clumsy and baffling. It appears as the last song on
OnMyRadio, an album that, for the most part, sounds otherwise just like a
Musiq Soulchild release. Highlights like "Until" and "So Beautiful" show that
Musiq continues to thrive most when working with mellow midtempo and ballad material. The latter, a collaboration with
Lee "J.R." Hutson (who played a significant role in the excellence of
Jill Scott's
The Real Thing), is one of the most unassumingly gorgeous cuts he has recorded, and the relatively upbeat and busy "Special" and "Money Right" deserve to be minor hits (at the least). A couple dramatic moments don't quite take full flight, and a handful of tracks are tepid and unmemorable, but
OnMyRadio is mostly another set of sturdily constructed laid-back R&B. "Radio" hopefully didn't scare off anyone. ~ Andy Kellman