While your average singer’s voice might be sugar sweet, Asa’s is a lot more like honey.
Full and smooth, her voice might not be a high Mariah Carey-like soprano, but her smoky, more low-pitched tones blend nicely with the jazzy sounds of her new album. “Beautiful Imperfection” was released to Europe in October 2010, but it officially dropped in the United States on Sept. 6.
This time around, Asa has pulled together an album that doesn’t really care about belonging to a special genre. Many of the tracks have a distinct singer-songwriter feel to them, but are mixed up with some old-school soul and a lick of jazz. Sometimes borrowing a rawer edge, though usually keeping that same softness as Asa’s voice, this album feels completely her own.
“Beautiful Imperfection” thrives on having a signature style that holds all the songs together, something that many albums nowadays tend to lack. However, in this case, it might prove to be too much of a good thing. While both the start and the ending parts of the album are strong, some of the tracks in between just don’t take off on their own.
Some of the most notable pieces on the album are “Be My Man” and “Bimpé,” both feel-good songs with highly relatable themes, though in different languages. The former is in English and is a song about chasing after a love interest, while the latter song tackles the issue of nosy relatives and is in one of Asa’s mother tongues, Yoruba.
We also have the beautiful track “Questions,” showing that Asa hasn’t completely left her socially conscious ways behind, even though it doesn’t measure up to the social commentary on her previous, self-titled album. With a melancholic instrumental break in between the lyrics, Asa manages to capture our ears and hearts in what serves as the last original track of the album.
Americans also get the benefit of bonus track “Bamidele,” another Yoruban piece that shows off the singer’s Nigerian roots. This seems to be her true element, and “Bamidele” is the most heartfelt track on the album.
“Beautiful Imperfection” certainly lives up to its name. Asa shows that she might have her flaws, but isn’t that what makes it all so beautiful? Without question, it makes the album more human, relatable, and infectious.
