TESTIMONY VOL. 1, LIFE & RELATIONSHIP - INDIA.ARIE
Honest and personal are two adjectives frequently associated with India.Arie’s music. This follow-up to her 2002 Grammy Award-winning “Voyage to India” is no exception. But here the singer/songwriter displays a broader profile of who she is musically while dissecting the stages of a failed romance from heartbreak to acceptance to transcendence. To help impart the personal wisdom she has gleaned from that journey, India.Arie draws on her country roots, pairing with Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox on “Summer”; covers Don Henley on the arresting “The Heart of the Matter”; and trades licks with Bonnie Raitt on the exuberant “I Choose.” She even plays the trumpet on “These Eyes” and piano on the set’s several interludes. The result is an ambitious, aurally rich suite of storytelling songs (a la mentor Stevie Wonder in his ’70s heyday) enhanced by Arie’s expressive vocals. Billboard
