We’ve been desperate for a no-skips album this year. We’ve been craving a record that’s easy on both the ears and the mind. We’ve been in need of a project built on irresistible beats and silk-smooth R&B vocals. Little did we know this surprising duo would be the ones to deliver it. Chlöe trades her sister Halle for legendary producer Timbaland and, on Resurrection, once again proves she thrives in a partnership. No shade to her excellent solo work.
Timbaland dominated the late ’90s alongside Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and Ginuwine before doing it all over again in the 2000s with Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Brandy, among many others. For him to handpick Chlöe for a full collaborative project is perhaps the biggest compliment an R&B singer can receive. Yet for her to say yes and take the risk of potentially sounding ‘outdated’ is an equal compliment to the producer.
Does it sound outdated? Yes. But in the best way possible. As the album unfolds, you hear echoes of some of Timbaland’s biggest hits. We can easily imagine ‘Talking Dirty’ and ‘Belong To You’ as songs the late Aaliyah would be recording today. Chlöe does an excellent job of lending her angelic voice to the smooth, nostalgic production. The ‘Rock The Boat’ singer would be proud. ‘Believer’, in turn, instantly transports us back twenty years. It even features the signature “One time, two times, three times” that has become synonymous with so many of Timbaland’s productions.
The familiar sound we all love is paired with new territory for the producer. We get funky on the fun and confident ‘Better Than She Can’. It’s here that Chlöe takes the reins and leads the song rather than the other way around. It’s her commanding lyrical delivery that immediately grabs your attention. The places her voice can go are simply unmatched.
Something we noticed right away is how effortlessly Timbaland adjusted his song lengths to today’s attention span. He used to be known for producing extremely long tracks; ‘Mirrors’ by Justin Timberlake, for example, stretches to a whopping eight minutes. On Resurrection, most songs do not even reach the two-minute mark, making them perfectly suited to today’s ‘TikTok generation’. Yet within those time limitations, he still manages to take his beats in different directions without ever becoming repetitive.
On a project this strong, there is hardly any need to pick favorites. However, it is on songs like ‘Caught’ and ‘On Your Own’ where the chemistry between the two collaborators shines brightest. The laid-back R&B production respectfully leaves room for Chlöe to showcase exactly what she is capable of vocally. The result sounds both timeless and current, especially at a time when artists like Kehlani and FLO are proving that traditional R&B still has a place in today’s charts.
We are more than happy to relive Timbaland’s iconic sound through new music sung by one of today’s finest vocalists. This is everything we could have wished for and we cannot wait to make it the soundtrack of our summer. Now all that is left to ask is for them to do it all over again and bring Halle along for the next project.