Music Revue: Jaheim "A Really Chill Christmas"
Jahiem Provides A Smooth & Soulful Christmas
Sixteen years into his musical career, New Jersey native and R&B crooner Jaheim gives his fans a musical gift with his first Christmas album, “A Really Chill Christmas”.
While some of his newer material, hasn’t lived up to his full vocal potential, with “A Really Chill Christmas”, Jaheim appears to have studied the playbook established by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for Alexander O’Neal’s classic 1988 Christmas album, My Gift To You. Like O’Neal before him, Jaheim has made an album that contains quality new material as well as a few covers of Christmas classics.
Opening with a cover of Nat King Cole’s, “The Christmas Song” which he entitles “Chestnuts”. Jahiem brings a natural smooth & jazz vibe to the song, similar to how Cole did. By taking this route it’s a quality cover “Christmas Wedding” is the next track, and it’s a very nice ballad for the grown & sexy crowd. Jaheim’s strong point has always been his ballads, and he shines on “Christmas Wedding.” Jaheim then transitions into the album’s title track “A Really Chill Christmas,” which opens with an intro by an excited little boy, telling his parents he wants to open his presents.
The album isn’t without its missteps though. The first which comes in the form of “Xxxmas,” which in a word is horrible. With its gunshot sound effects and profanity-laced lyrics, the song seems out of place on the album. Granted, Jaheim, started his career with an R&B thug persona, but at this point his career there is no reason to chase a young crowd, which he attempts to do here.
The second misstep is two jingles for radio shows. While I am a fan of both Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner and their iconic morning shows, the jingles come across as filler material.
Thankfully Jaheim gets back to business with “Snow Makes The Grass Grow” featuring Angie Stone & Dave Hollister. The trio of singers complement, each other well vocally, and it’s always a joy to listen to auto-tune free R&B.
“From Me To You” is the last original song and it’s another winner. The song has a Chicago steppers vibe to it and is a vast improvement over the album’s other up-tempo track.
Jaheim closes the album with two covers; the first is the legendary “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway. When you take on a song by an artist as iconic as Hathaway, you have to do your A GAME. Jaheim sings the song with ease, but the musical arrangements aren’t as strong as they could’ve been and the rap part was unneeded. “Auld Lang Syne” closes out the album and is a much better cover than the previous song.
With “Auld Lang Syne” shows off his natural God-given talent, and I could easily see this song being played on New Year’s Eve during watch night services, as it has a gospel feel.
Christmas albums can sometimes feel like a label obligation or a ploy to get money. However with “A Really Chill Christmas,” Jahiem has produced a quality Christmas album, with songs you can enjoy year round.
Final Grade: B
