FEATURE:
Second Spin
India.Arie - Voyage to India
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I have featured India.Aria before…
when I covered her amazing debut album, Acoustic Soul, for Vinyl Corner. That was definitely a fantastic and huge memorable debut that has so many great songs on it! When it came to the anticipated follow-up, the results were perhaps not quite as immediate to some. I think that Voyage to India is a phenomenal album, and one that has been underrated. It was released on 24th September, 2002. Whilst there are no songs on the album quite as stunning as Video, or Brown Skin, I think that her second album has plenty of gems on it! I will bring in a couple of reviews for the album soon. If you are new to India.Arie, I would say to start with Acoustic Soul and then move on to Voyage to India. I think that songs like The Truth, and Get It Together are amazing. Voyage to India debuted at number-six on the Billboard 200 and at number-one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 109,000 copies in its first week. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2006. At the 2003 Grammy Awards, it won Best R&B Album; the single, Little Things, won Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Maybe there was a weight of expectation after the success and impact of Acoustic Soul – some critics feeling that India.Arie’s second album was not quite as moving and fresh. I have seen negative reviews for Voyage to India. Uncut gave it one star; Q gave it two stars.
It has received this weird mix of serious acclaim and others writing it off. In a three-star review, this is what Rolling Stone wrote:
“With her second album, Voyage To India. Arie seems more and more like a soulful, self-reflexive version of Tracy Chapman. As with her 2001 debut, Acoustic Soul, Voyage to India is all about the integrity of the acoustic guitar and saying Important Things about life. Arie produced or co-produced nearly all of these mellow, meditative songs -- a collection of bright acoustic guitars, sumptuous bass lines, earthy midrange singing and lyrics that often have the deep emotions and romantic notions of a teenage girl's diary. On "Complicated Melody," she says of her man, "If he were a song, he'd be a complicated melody/That complicated fellow he/I almost cannot sing it on key." The melodies on this album aren't so complicated, but Voyage to India has a similar proud beauty”.
I suppose there is this pressure with the second album. The artist has to prove that the debut was not a fluke and that they have the originality and consistency to come up with something special. Many want a repeat of that debut – so that they are not disappointed -, whereas others are critical if an artist copies their first album. India.Arie’s Voyage to India is a marvellous album and I think, if you have not heard the album, you will not be disappointed.
In a positive review, AllMusic had a lot of love for one of the best releases of 2002.
“Despite an excellent debut, India.Arie still had much to prove with her second record. Several of her neo-soul compatriots, from D'Angelo to Erykah Badu to Macy Gray, had faltered with sophomore albums, and it appeared she may have already said everything she had to say on Acoustic Soul. That anticipation, and trepidation, is exactly what makes Voyage to India such a beautiful surprise; it's a record that easily equals her debut, boasting better vocal performances but also better songwriting and accompanying production. As on her debut, there is a marked balance of organic and artificial: an acoustic guitar paces many tracks, though the edges are shorn off for a digital feel; the beats are often sampled, but there are still plenty of handclaps and fingersnaps; and the arrangements are simple yet obviously very polished. The improvement in her songwriting is most obvious from the first three tracks (after the short intro). The themes driving "Little Things" (keeping it simple), "Talk to Her" (the importance of honesty, warmth, and communication in relationships), and "Slow Down" (taking life one day at a time) certainly have been covered already, many times even, but India.Arie writes with a fresh perspective that makes it sound as though she's the first to broach the topic. And, finally, her delivery is the best of any neo-soul vocalist, barring only the incomparable Jill Scott, alternately earnest and playful and sexy and questing. It all adds up to one of the most glowing comebacks of the year (if she ever left), an important record whose stamp -- the Motown logo -- isn't the only thing it has in similarity with a classic LP by Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder”.
Rather than repeat what she did on Acoustic Soul, Voyage to India is India.Arie maturing and evolving as an artist. This is something the BBC remarked upon when they assessed the Colorado-born artist’s second album:
“Voyage to India was a strong follow-up. In 18 short months, its maker had matured. Although Arie often sings like a love-struck family-centered teenager, her vocals are confident and assured. This album’s 12 tracks are linked with short acoustic interludes: Growth, Healing, and Gratitude. Arie’s straightforward sincerity stops this all being mawkishly or new age.
The album’s lead single, Little Things, was based on a subtle phrase from the 1977 track Hollywood by Rufus and Chaka Khan. Like everything here, the lift is discreet and in the best taste. The Truth, a simple reflection on the contradictions of love, is arguably the album’s finest moment. Cataloguing the reasons she loves her partner, she lists, among others, the way her man treats his mother, before concluding, "Love from personal to universal, when most of all, it’s unconditional." When the digital beats step up a little on Slow Down, it comes almost as a surprise. Get It Together – subsequently to be heard in the 2004 animated film Shark Tale – is sweet and touching.
Arie won two Grammys for Voyage to India – Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Little Things and Best R&B Album. It was compared to the best work of her Motown predecessors Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. She, like them, had complete artistic freedom at the label. Although it never really breaks a sweat and at times it sounds a little clinical – The Times once said that her records sounded as if they had been conceived in a laboratory – it’s a swooning, mellow hour in the company of a true talent. Supported by her freewheeling live performances, Voyage to India reached the US top 10, and, while only scraping to 89 in the UK, it bolstered India.Arie’s reputation as one of the finest singers and writers of the early 00s”.
I shall leave things there. I was disappointed when I saw some negative and mixed reviews for Voyage to India. One does not hear India.Arie played as much as she should be. Her music is beautiful and very much her own. I hope that stations play her more in the future! Voyage to India is a magnificent album that I would ask people to…
SPEND some time investigating.