::ALBUM REVIEW::
by J Matthew Cobb
Posted: July 29, 2009

Former SWV frontlady, now solo gospel singer Coko Clemons has made great strides in building up a strong defense on her decision to go down the gospel highway. Sure she possess all the great qualities of a solo R&B goddess (notice the little “g”): the looks, the stage presence, the warm vocals, yet she has proven time and time again that she knows how to belt a tune. Her successful gospel debut, Grateful, featured the sprawling gospel radio smash “I Get Joy,” an earful of engaging contemporary material produced by Donald Lawrence and a much-talked about all-star remake of the Clark Sisters’ “Endow Me.” Still, with most of Coko’s mainstream success almost a decade behind her, the struggle of redefining her as a gospel singer while reintroducing her to her longtime fans remains a part of her burdening status in the music world. On her follow-up album, The Winner in Me, Coko leans on her husband Mike Clemons for most of the production bulk while Tony Homer, David Caton and Shep Crawford tags along.

Of the obvious stand outs, “Joy of the Lord” brilliantly melds the duet powers of Coko with Israel Houghton for an upbeat, breezy contagious R&B performance that impresses on its first listen. “Let Me Go” does everything it can to bury the obvious Motown sampling of “Reflections” in the beginning. As the song parades on, sparse ‘90s urban R&B beats takes over and takes the song away from sounding like another old school remix. It’s a cool groove, reminiscent of India.Aire’s “There’s Hope” and abounds with car speaker adulation. Surprisingly, the ballads show off Coko’s growth; unmasking impressive capabilities of her wearing big, powerhouse wreckers. She, along with labelmates Youthful Praise, approaches the gospel-powered “Wait” with the tenacity of a Yolanda Adams church-infused ballad. “Oh Mary,” featuring a duet with Kelly Price, receives kudos for its creative script of taking present-day characters and somehow relating them back to Mary, Jesus’ mother, using the ageless gospel lyric. David Caton’s “Rescue Me” glows with a smooth radio glisten and a pop-twinkled chorus while the heartfelt title cut exposes a broad level of transparency and safeness that is typically attributed to CCM. Knowing Coko is able to incorporate her SWV musical fortunes with fresh innovation positions her comfortably as a singer that is growing in all the right directions.

There are a few missteps present. In her attempts to take the wit of Grateful and enhancing it with even newer risks, the album loses its edge of sensation in certain places with its entrapping of good melodies with gimmicky and puzzling additions. The grooves of “This Is Me,” using futuristic synths while conjuring the Missy Elliott brand from the latter SWV recordings, feels alienated from the lyrics. “May Be My Last Time,” a decent R&B jam, covers conventional contemporary gospel using a hip East Coast swagger, but is overloaded with lyrical repetition. “Make a Way” is half Beyonce’ hip-rock, half praise team chant and works well in their respected time frames, but the mesh feels like simple worship being forced into “Single Ladies” with an unneccesary Canton Jones rap.

While Coko makes some poignant and necessary moves towards redefining her as a seasoned gospel singer on The Winner in Me, the album doesn’t pack the big treats, super cameo spots and the glamour of Grateful. There’s even lesser known songwriters contributing to her latest arsenal. Surprisingly, that ends up working to her advantage. The songs - particularly the ballads - have great range, soar with musical accomplishment and allow Coko to find her own sound apart from her SWV past. She probably won’t get the attention she deserves for not bringing in a bigger staff on this round, but there’s enough potency on The Winner in Me to call this a welcomed improvement on her gospel trek. Even more impressive is knowing that the new staff of songwriters (David Caton, Charles Homer, Kerry Smith, Arthur Strong, Cherub Ruth) almost outshines the star. Before the album, they were practically unknowns. Now we should expect a stronger demand for their services to cluster up surrounding most of the triumphant work done here.