Truth Hurts is not just another contemporary R&B vocalist to compare to
Alicia Keys or
Ashanti. For one thing, the executive producer on her debut
Truthfully Speaking is
Dr. Dre, and the album was released on his Aftermath sublabel of Interscope. She also benefits from a laundry list of the best commercial hip-hop trackmasters around:
Dre,
DJ Quik,
Timbaland, even
R. Kelly. Despite this star-studded credit list,
Truthfully Speaking is a bland record;
Truth Hurts' vocals, while evocative and rangy, aren't incredibly strong (especially when she's stretching a note), and she usually needs a backup chorus to keep the songs sounding good. The single "Addictive" is bizarre, with an Indian filmi vocal sample sounding stronger than
Truth Hurts herself, and a brief appearance by
Rakim strictly phoning it in. A few of the productions make for good tracks, though most of the time
Truth Hurts struggles to keep up with the best in the contemporary R&B field. [
Truthfully Speaking is also available in a clean version.] ~ John Bush