Released: August 23
It was the surprise of the spring when Vanessa Williams returned to pop with her infectious single Legs (Keep Dancing), with the promise of a new album apparently signposting a fierce new era for the entertainer.
Co-written by Kipper Jones, who wrote her debut single The Right Stuff, and marking her first studio recording in 15 years, since 2009 single The Real Thing, it became a contender for the song of the summer and a staple of LGBTQ+ venues worldwide, but dive into ‘Survivor’ expecting wall-to-wall dance floor staples and you’ll be disappointed.
Follow-up single BOP! is most closely aligned with its precursor, featuring vibrant contributions from ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ alum Trixie Mattel and R&B duo LION BABE and building upon that energy with an uplifting lyric that proves to be the perfect direction for the music veteran, while the high-energy EDM anthem Here’s To You is a love letter to //‘my brave ones, my day ones’//.
Across the remainder of the record, however, she leans into a broad array of genres, from silky smooth opener iLike Moonlight, through the jazz-inflicted La Costa, blues-soaked Junk Man and swing-leaning Come Dance With Me.
It goes without saying that Williams’ delivery across each of the 13-tracks is faultless, but the eclectic nature of the set results in a sonic inconsistency that becomes inescapable and the fusion of contemporary dance-pop with classic-sounding tunes somewhat jarring.
There’s a feeling that the project was conceived as two separate bodies of work – a pure-pop outing and a collection of smooth tunes in line with her more recent recordings – and it’s undeniable that ‘Survivor’ would have worked better as the latter, with a separate EP of commercial pop cuts.
This way, songs like the uplifting, empowering title track and sassy I See You – both mid-tempo, R&B-tinged tunes with a throwback vibe that harks back to Williams’ ‘90s work – would have space to flourish and thrive in their own right, rather than risk fading into the background on such a busy set.
It’s impossible to overstate that the performances on ‘Survivor’ are superb and Williams is in fine voice – it truly is a joy to have her back in the studio after all this time. Hopefully, ‘Survivor’ is just the beginning of her pop comeback; as an album it’s far from her strongest, but there’s plenty here to indicate the artist has unfinished business in music yet.
