This is Michael Mixerr. Today I will talk about the Elektric Blue EP by Nicole Wray. This EP was released in 2001 by Elektra Records under Missy Elliott's Goldmind Inc. label.
The songs were I'm Lookin', Wanna Cruise, Bangin' (Don't Lie) with Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Missy Elliott, Mama Used To Say (No Joke) with Redman and Missy Elliott, and Without You on the first version.
The songs for the second version were Elektric Blue (Intro) with Missy Elliott, I'm Lookin', Wanna Cruise, Bangin' (Don't Lie) with Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Missy Elliott, Mama Used To Say (No Joke) with Redman and Missy Elliott, Talk With Time, and Without You as the outro.
I'm Lookin' was a late night love song about looking for someone to love and hold on to. Also making sure the love was real. You might remember seeing the music video for this song on Midnight Love on BET back in 2001. This should have been the first single!
Wanna Cruise is one of those late night cruise songs. A song that you can cruise to when you're in your car cruising down the highway at night. Late at night would be the best! This should have been the first single!
Bangin' features Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Missy Elliott. Bangin' is an upbeat fast paced song about a man sleeping with another woman and about what Nicole will do to her main man after the love. Timbaland produced this song with his usual double drums over fast paced beats.This has a Rock feel to it. I love the horn synths in the background. This should have been the first single!
Mama Used To Say (No Joke) samples Mama Used To Say by 80's British electronic musician Junior. Rockwilder produced this song and Wanna Cruise. This song also features Redman and Missy Elliott. It's one of those skating rink type of songs as Missy Elliott put it herself on the Elektric Blue album sampler in 2001. This has a Rock feel to it. This should have been the second single!
Talk With Time is a sweet, subtle song great for storybook telling time. It's about her and her boyfriend not getting to see each other because there is not enough time. The clock is ticking in the background. Her brother Kenny Wray is on this song.
Without You is a song to surf to at the beach. This song was on the original Why Do Fools Fall In Love soundtrack. That's another great song. Fast paced too!!
I will talk about the other song that made it to other promos for this album as well as the 2001 album sampler on CD. Such as Too Controllin', Single Life (Interlude), Gonna Love You, and more!!!
Too Controllin' was too short. It needed two extra bridges with Missy Elliott. I do agree that Missy Elliott should have been in that song. You can hear the organ that is well known and used in church in the background. And the piano as well.
This is song was good but short. Single Life (Interlude) was too short as well. I love d Nicole singing, but the song was too loopy. It needed to be longer.
Gonna Love You is clearly a cover of a Babyface song. It has the same melody as TLC's I Miss You So Much. This sound like a 90s song more than a 2000s song. If it were a single, it would have hit #77 on the charts. This is based on my research. I found out that the 2001 single for I'm Lookin' only hit #66 on the charts for the BillBoard.
The singles should have been done in this order!: Bangin' (Don't Lie) as #1, Mama Used To Say as #2, Without You as #3, Talk With Time as #4, Sweetest as #5, Wanna Cruise as #6, and I'm Lookin' as #7. That is how it should have been done to me.
If Nicole and Elektra had promoted Bangin' (Don't Lie) and Mama Used To Say (No Joke) as singles and made music videos, the album would had more of a chance for an official release instead of promo albums and album samplers on CDs. Those two songs would have hit #3 on the BillBoard for 2001. Nobody was interested in late night love songs as they once were in the mid 1990s. She needed more fast paced songs. Nicole should have known that.
I rate this EP/album, Elektric Blue EP, 5/5*****.
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