Macy Gray is best known for her distinctive, raspy singing and flamboyant sense of style—and though there's no way to hide the peculiarities of her voice, she goes a long way toward minimizing her eccentricity on her fourth album, Big. This is not to say that her previous records were outrageously out-there, but they did crackle with a certain manic energy. They also benefitted from her willingness to experiment with the conventions of neo-soul as she played up a larger-than-life persona that owed an aesthetic debt to the freaky funk stars of the '70s.
Yet Big is mainly comprised of amiable yet unmemorable R&B ballads that lack the unrestrained emotion and obvious hooks of her break-through hit "I Try," much less the unashamed yet mature sexuality that informed her highly underrated sophomore effort, The Id. Too much of the record settles into a mid-tempo haze that would be unremarkable if not for her vocal performance—but Gray's presence alone is not enough to elevate the mediocre songwriting.
The record features several guest appearances from high-profile stars—Nas, Fergie, Natalie Cole—but, curiously, most of them recede into the background. However, Justin Timberlake stands out on the upbeat funk-rocker "Get Out." Though he only cheers Gray on at the start and sings the relatively understated chorus, his pop mojo is in full effect—the track is sexy, groovy, and modern.
Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas produced the similarly excellent "Treat Me Like Your Money," but he nearly derails his own ingratiating, Prince-esque track when he provides a hacky, obnoxiously rapped cameo near the end. Both songs hint at a better, more exciting direction for Gray's music, but they come too late in the running order, and seem out of place on an album that is otherwise uninspired.
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