Birds Of A Heather
Heather Headley
In My Mind
(RCA)
Headley passes for good R&B these days by limiting risk, hardly a good sign for her or the genre.
Ranked against Mary J. Blige’s The Breakthrough, In My Mind holds its own without the vocal histrionics and cachet from megastardom, but it hardly makes the case for either. While the Ciaras, Milians, and Ashantis roam MTV Heather Headley tries to remember what she’s supposed to do if she’s not going to strap on some hot pants and hump an Escalade. The trouble is, no one knows what to do. Along with exec. producer Stephen Ferrera, she treads water and attempts statements without taking stands (title track) while rebuffing no-good men (“I Didn’t Mean To,” “Me Time”) time and again. But it still tries to stack itself against the teen crowd — lazily placing Shaggy and Vybz Kartel in the “reggae” songs because they’re, you know, reggae — and never once trying to be its own album.
— Steve Forstneger
