Ruben Studdard.. I’m sure that is a name a lot of people have not heard in a while. I don’t think I’ve heard or thought about Ruben since his single “Sorry 2004”. I was recently downloading new music on my phone in preparation for my recent travels and I stumbled on Ruben’s new album. Even though I downloaded his album, I never listened to it because I was skeptical about what I would hear. One day, my music player was shuffling and the album-titled song “Unconditional Love” began to play and it stopped me in my tracks. I was so blown away by the the song that I had no choice but to go back and give the entire body of work a sincere listen. I’m glad I did because I was utterly amazed by this album in its entirety.
The album is a soulful and passionate piece of work and I couldn’t be more impressed. It was released on February 4th, 2014. It features original tracks alongside some outstanding renditions of timeless classics including: Paul McCartney‘s “My Love,” and Bonnie Raitt’s ” I Can’t Make You Love Me” to name a few. This album pushed me to go and do my research on Ruben and I found out that this was his sixth studio album!!! How did I miss all this good music? I can’t answer that but I will say that I will always have Ruben on my radar from now on. He is most definitely still the “velvet teddy bear” we fell in love with on American Idol in 2003. Ruben has a smooth, velvety, and comforting voice that in my opinion is unmatched. He is constantly evolving in his craft and keeps getting better with time. If you haven’t listened to the album yet do so and thank me later.
Favorite tracks: Unconditional, Love, Look What You’ve Done To Me, and I Can’t Make You Love Me, Hello Again and If This World Was Mine.
-xoTLO