New Music Review: Eve's 'Lip Lock'

I spent most of my flight from Milwaukee to LA yesterday listening to Eve’s new “Lip Lock” album, released on May 14, 2013, “pon the replay” to the point where the songs I love are the ones I adore and the ones that I’m over give me a bellyache. When I was researching Eve’s musical career for the blog post where I gave away a free autographed “Lip Lock” CD and lithograph, I remembered being surprised that “Lip Lock” is only her fourth full length album. That alone piqued my interest and raised my expectations. Was Eve someone who valued quality over quantity, or was she just too busy pursuing her acting and modeling career? Yes, the current trend in music is to release singles, but Eve came in the game when people still released albums on the regular.

In short, I like “Lip Lock” and think it’s worth adding to your music collection. She’s still badass in ways that draw people to Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé for their dose of girl power and party pop with “She Bad Bad” and “Keep Me From You” featuring Dawn Richard (yes, that Dawn Richard from Danity Kane and Diddy’s “Making the Band”). Yet, she explores a bit of her dark side with my personal favorite “Never Gone” a song that features vocals from R&B artist Chrisette Michele. It’s the latter aspect that I’m drawn to and what gives me an appreciation for this album. Pair “Never Gone” and “Make It Out This Town” featuring Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship with your morning cup of coffee and you’re ready for battle in this funny thing we call life.

Worth an honorable mention is “Mama in the Kitchen” featuring Snoop Dogg. It was kind of the secret special sauce, unexpected and sweet.

Oh, and that song that gives me a bellyache is “She Bad Bad.” Not even the remixed version featuring Pusha T and Juicy J is enough Alka Seltzer for my ears. It’s my own fault, though. It was the first single she released off her album, and I’ve been listening to it for months, so like that bag of jellybeans when you’ve eaten a few handfuls too many… I. Just. Can’t. Anymore.

If you were wondering, like I was, why the album is called “Lip Lock,” I read this tweet from Eve:

“I called it #liplock because my lips are one of my favorite features on my self plus I’m lyrically locking the game down.”