Macy Gray - The Sellout

In the ten years since her incredible, genre-blurring debut album On How Life Is, Macy Gray has been pretty much all over the place trying to live up to the potential -- and strangely prophetic lyrical angle -- of her massive hit single "I Try." After Life sequels zig-zagged from hip-hop to dance funk, trendy studio pop gimmickry to shock value, Gray now says that her solid new album The Sellout, due June 22 via new label home Concord, is a story of getting past "who other people thought I should be" and to her own personal creative "salvation." Gray reflects, "I had got to a place in my career where I tried everything that was asked of me and in doing so I lost sight of who Macy Gray really is."

While the album's title track begins the track listing, you could argue that the album's closer -- "The Comeback" -- could have easily supplied an apt title. Over a year in the making, The Sellout has a warm, rich and soulful sound as well as some finely crafted melodies, the result, she says, of handpicking her collaborators and taking her time on the writing front. Not surprisingly, the new project is also her most diverse in style, covering sinewy pop/funk ("Lately"), acoustic folk with a dramatic beat ("Let You Win"), driving rock anthems ("Kiss It") and synth-pop sweets ("On and On"). The mix is completely modern but the atmosphere is timeless, best exemplified on lead single "Beauty In the World", a rapturous sing-and-clap-a-long that takes Gray's husky rasp of a voice and engulfs it in mellow acoustic jam. Recommended.

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Macy Gray - "Beauty In the World" (from The Sellout)

Macy Gray - The Sellout Album Sampler