to listen or purchase
There is a childlike enthusiasm about Choklate that just shines through her live performances and halos her studio recordings. When focused and surrounded by the right musicianship, a harmonious Choklate on the right beat is a celebration of life, for however long the song lasts. With that sense of youthful wonderment, a creamy alto and a rapper’s flow, Choklate is a studio performer on par with artists like Algebra, Angie Stone, and Divine Brown—women who straddle the fence between smooth and hip hop soul, and who sometimes get saddled with too much middling material. When Seattle’s own soul star gets in a rut, it’s generally with arrangements and productions that sometimes fail to challenge her instrument to something beyond the pleasant to the enthralling listening experience Choklate has proven capable of delivering.
It’s the difference between the sterile portions of her 2009 To Whom It May Concern (sans the standout hit, “The Tea”) and the party bursting from her rightly hailed 2006 debut, Choklate. With the skill and care she showed on her delectable 2011 Fah La La La La: The Christmas EP, it appeared that the singer/songwriter had finally found her bliss again, fostering the question: With her latest release, could she deliver that unbridled joy again?
Fans will have three opportunities to learn the answer to that question. Chronicling her recent growth and artistic variance, Choklate plans to release three new EPs over the next year, coming out transformed in the public’s mind by the run’s end. Throughout these releases, there will be surprise big name collaborations like Musiq and a number of unexpected producers like Raphael Saadiq, in addition to her long-time collaborator, Vitamin D. There is definitely an ambition to reposition Choklate as more than an underground ingénue. The first of these releases, Fly, has already received quite a bit of buzz thanks to a lead track, “Wide Open,” that does exactly what Choklate does best: get the fun started.
Rollerskating her way into our hearts with a groove reminiscent of the great rollerskating songs of the ‘80s, Choklate’s video for “Wide Open” represents her unique brand of inner child at play. With shades of Alicia Meyers and Patrice Rushen, Choklate coos against a backdrop of showboating horns and thumping basslines to booty-shaking effect. While “Wide Open” is jumping jumping, the title track is a theatrical mid-tempo production heavy with soothing harmonies and jazzy trumpet; it also sports Choklate’s best layered vocal—her trademark. Keeping her standing as a hip hop soulster, Choklate duets with Musiq on a solid but unexceptional filler cut that’s more sing-talking than soul-sanging. Still, it’s nice to see the Pacific princess getting some long overdue recognition by A-list soul stars like the Philly Neo-Soul King Musiq Soulchild.
Lyrically, the song that owns the win is “Carbon Copy,” which summarizes Oscar Wilde’s famous quote rather nicely: “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” Its message also nicely reflects Choklate’s boho brand and philosophy of holding herself out as a unique presence on the soul landscape: “What’s for you is for you/And what’s for me is for me/Just do you/and I’ll just do me/’cause I don’t wanna be no carbon copy.” Vitamin D’s contemporary production is sound here, but compositionally the song goes nowhere after the hook, just repeating its refrains and deepening what’s already been stated. Despite its lyrical resonance and subtle bite, musically the cut’s smoothed out proceedings feel like a missed opportunity to arrange something as sonically powerful as its message.
On the project’s closer, with another driving production win, Choklate is determined not to miss another one on the aptly titled “Win.” Over an 808 drum with a rhyme that transcends the cut’s romantic topic to become a battle cry for life’s hustlers, The Foreign Exchange frontman, Phonte, confidently supports Choklate on one of the EP’s rare relationship songs. Defiant in her fight for love with a warrior woman’s fire, Choklate stakes claims on her partnership’s success before vamping out in a candid moment of giggles and sweet humor. This is what Choklate’s artistry is at its authentic best.
Despite a couple of moments of sound but unsatisfying filler, the overall effect of Choklate’s plucky first EP suite is one that leaves listeners wanting more. With two more EPs on the way, lucky fans will be able get more of their fix off the personality privileged performer. More inspirational than imagined, Choklate is indie soul’s own Auntie Mamie, a fun-loving lady who knows just how to bring some much needed light to dark and dreary places. Recommended.
By L. Michael Gipson