Prior to the release of
I Owe You, the debut by urban gospel starlet
Kierra "KiKi" Sheard, EMI Gospel went all-out to make sure the album fulfilled expectations. After all, the label had just won a bidding war to sign the teenaged songstress -- daughter of
the Clark Sisters'
Karen Clark-Sheard, granddaughter of church music matriarch
Mattie Moss Clark. That's a lot of pedigree to live up to, so she was introduced with a bang: "You Don't Know," the stomping,
Rodney Jerkins-produced first single, became a smash at gospel radio, spending several weeks at the top of the charts. The song turned out to be an interesting thesis statement for the whole of
I Owe You, as it rolled into one its mishmash of styles and sensibilities -- particularly top-shelf urban pop and churchified contemporary gospel, plus a fair share of vocal acrobatics and dazzling,
Clark-like harmonies. Outside of that song,
I Owe You is much more conformist, breaking up into a number of parts but never quite reaching the neo-gospel, cross-generational ingenuity of its inaugural song. On the one hand, there's
Sheard the urban gospel sister, a fiery, commanding vocalist who isn't afraid to get down like colleagues
Mary Mary and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 in songs like "Closer" and "Let Go." On the other, there's
Sheard the budding R&B diva, a delicate, smooth songbird with enough soul to sound every bit as
Janet or
Aaliyah. Lastly, there's
Sheard the
Clark, a potent, shrieking church soloist with a squall that can blow the roof off "Praise Offering" and "Done Did It." That
I Owe You can be so easily compartmentalized is not necessarily a sign of versatility, but an indicator that
KiKi is merely following the lead of others. This is not a big deal in the case of debut albums, but the see-if-it-sticks mentality is ultimately too jarring to take in all at once. It's nice of
Sheard to let herself be all things to all people, but here's hoping the follow-up to
I Owe You is truly more her, not who her handlers want her to be. ~ Andree Farias