Republic Records
Urban Contemporary, 2014
Winning karaoke reality TV shows, such as American Idol and The Voice, doesn’t necessarily translate to commercial success, and The Voice winner Tessanne Chin is just another one that discovers how true this is. Sure, you can say that something is better than the near-nothing these folks’ careers tended to be before their TV exposure, but it can also be argued that, unless the genre in question is country, the post-show debut releases are treated as an obligation that need to be pooped out and promptly forgotten after the people involved have wiped their rear ends and hands clean. There has been virtually no promotion for Tessanne Chin’s debut effort, after all, and I only knew of it when I accidentally stumble upon a topic in a forum.
About Count On My Love, it’s basically a Celine Dion record infused with some charming mild reggae inflections. In fact, it sounds more like Celine Dion than Celine Dion herself these days. If you find yourself missing the no-nonsense straight up pop songs like Love Can Move Mountains and If You Asked Me To instead of Celine Dion’s more tuneless efforts these days, the songs here can meet that prescription. I Heart U is a fun mid-tempo song all about love and sweetness, while People Change has Ms Chin actually sounding just like Celine Dion at several instances throughout the song. Tumbling Down is a horrible first single, mostly because it’s nowhere as catchy as a debut single should be and the title is like a self-fulfilling prophecy, but Ms Chin’s crystal clear and sweet vocals give this song a quaint and uplifting vibe that is infectious.
Indeed, Ms Chin’s voice is the best reason to listen to Count On My Love. The songs here are pretty generic by themselves, but the delivery is strong and commanding. Whether she wants to remind me of her Jamaican pride through the flawlessly confident title track or channel a more hopeful vibe in Lifeline, Tessanne Chin makes sounding so damned good seem like an easy thing to do.
The only issue I have here is the exclusion of Tessanne Chin’s gorgeous take on Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.
Count On My Love looks to be another effort that is to be buried and forgotten, if the sales numbers are anything to go by, but that’s okay. If you like finely delivered adult contemporary tunes and you like this one as much as I do, we will all be special members of a very special elite club that knows of the existence of this buried treasure, heh.
