The most recent release in a trademark legacy of tastefully poor grammar, MusiqInTheMagiq features the latest from soul singer-songwriter Musiq Soulchild, a relative sideshow even after numerous platinum releases. A stylistic step back from previous albums, most recently 2008's Onmyradio, Magiq takes Soulchild back to his roots in contemporary R&B—a genre on the wane as of late, in spite of its widespread popularity scarcely a decade ago (here's to you, Ginuwine). Indeed, given his original debut in 2000, Soulchild's eclectic style hails distinctly from the late 90s heyday of hip-hop soul, and MusiqInTheMagiq embodies this perfectly.
The songlist puts its best foot forward with Soulchild's hit single ""Anything,"" perhaps both his most well-known and anachronistic selection. Rampant auto-tuning, a brisk disco rhythm and interludes from rapper Swizz Beatz bring Soulchild his closest to a contemporary pop number to date and belies his signature smoothness present on the rest of the album.
Fortunately, Soulchild is quick to please with his following couple of tracks ""Single,"" ""SayIDo"" and ""Love Contract"" also sport the musical trappings of modern pop; they are love ballads at heart, largely free of the crass innuendo or language one might expect, but perhaps they are too saccharine for some tastes. ""SayIDo"" in particular reinforces Soulchild's smooth vocals via masterful harmony and a mellow orchestral beat throughout, making some of the most relaxing hip-hop in some time.
Similarly, ""Silver And Gold"" is short but sweet, an earworm of jazz chords overlaid with a laudably soulful chorus that matches and overtakes Soulchild's own lines, evoking his trademark feel of vocal freedom in the face of pre-composed lyrics. Amidst a compilation of contemporary soul and jazz, ""Silver and Gold"" stands out as a heartfelt callback to 90s R&B classics and signal of the album's egress to genre tradition—Musiq at his very best.
However, the album also features its share of rather strange and curiously specific love songs. The electronic beats on ""WaitingStill"" decorate a rather mundane serenade about being married and working—relevant, to be sure, but somewhat less compelling than preceding tracks. Subsequent selections are no less obtuse, with ""BackToWhere"" addressing romances with childhood friends and ""DoWeHaveTo"" simulating imaginary arguments with anonymous girlfriends, possibly provoking questions about Musiq's own history.
By far the most awkward among these is ""BeFriends,"" wherein Soulchild doggedly pursues a lost love with all the tact of a rabid stalker. Tasteful lines such as ""...I should be the one you want, why you wanna go and mess up everything?"" or ""The only thing to make it better is if you say you wanna be mine / don't you get it, baby, a good man like me is hard to find?"" quickly drive the song into uncomfortable thematic territory. Ironically, Soulchild seems to dawn slowly upon this aspect amidst deep basslines, gradually falling out of tempo and resorting to repeating the somewhat less provocative chorus for the duration of the track. Unfortunately, such humor is among the few clean ways to approach the song, which is undoubtedly the album's lowest point.
Yet Soulchild is quick to regain his stride, with ""Yes"" and ""Medicine."" On these tracks he returns to his jazz repertoire, which forgoes lyrical themes in favor of superb vocal performance. This is followed up by ""LikeTheSun"", another aberrant but contemporary hip-hop number backed by heavily-digitized filter. This is another of Soulchild's stylistic ventures that marks MusiqInTheMagiq among his most diverse collections—despite a few missteps, it is a superb homage to the golden age of R&B records.
