Skeptics might think sexy singer
Tami Chynn is a dancehall
Jessica Simpson manufactured by a major label looking to take
Nina Sky's teen pop-reggae success a little higher. A handful of tracks on
Chynn's debut are cut from the same cloth as
Nina Sky's big hit "Move Ya Body," but this gal is for real, born and raised in Kingston, JA and already has two Reggae Sumfest appearances under her belt. She also contributed a sizeable amount of the album's songwriting and seems eager to prove she can conquer a variety of topics while effortlessly juggling Jamaican and urban America styles, but there's one kind of song she just nails and the album front loads it big time. From the sexy and hooky "Hyperventilating" to the equally so "Tell Mi She,"
Out of Many...One is just about perfect. Every track seduces, every track surprises with a fascinating production touch or wry lyric, and the worldly confidence overflows as
Chynn freely borrows from hip-hop, R&B, and all sorts of Island music without ever sounding contrived, uncomfortable, or like a
Rihanna wannabe. With "Looky, Looky" -- which has the great hoochie mama/roots rasta mashing couplet "You can looky, looky/But you can't get with I & I" -- as its centerpiece, this first half would make for a killer EP, but as "Bliss Is" expands the album with a dreamy,
Prince kind of seduction,
Out of Many becomes more interesting than riveting as
Chynn wanders through heavier music. Nothing is filler, nothing is misguided, and the smooth "Still Afraid" brings warm reminders of the great reggae songstress
J.C. Lodge, but there's no denying this B and B+ material would sound much better if it was shuffled into the album rather than stuck together.