Best known for her cover of Don Henley’s “Heart of the Matter,” soul singer India Arie strikes a chord with her newest album, Testimony Volume 2: Love and Politics. “Heart of the Matter” cracked the United Kingdom top 100 charts and appeared on the soundtrack to the super-popular “Sex and the City: The Movie” in 2008. An extension of her first volume, Life and Relationships, Arie’s new album blends the political power struggles of society with ideals of love on romantic, personal and humanitarian levels.
Filled to the brim with messages of self-worth, Arie strays from her normative R&B genre into a more eclectic, world music feel. Intended to induce prayer, meditation and quiet contemplation, Love and Politics combines soulful tracks about minorities and democracy (“Better Way”), self-achievement (“Psalms 23”) and intercultural connections (“Interlude Grains”) to convey ideals of self-empowerment.
Throughout her musical career, Arie has involved herself in numerous collaborations with other popular artists including John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder and Akon. Love and Politics offers further collaboration with an assortment of guest appearances serving as its own political statement to diversity in today’s society and to the bonds formed across cultural highways. The CD radiates with feelings of hope, love and political equality, which have become especially relevant to this historic election year.
“What I mean is ‘politics,’ as in the social structures and power struggles that happen wherever a group of people are co-existing,” the singer explains in the liner notes, “‘politics’ as in how young, black America is narrowly represented in the eyes of the world through the media (especially through our music and videos).”
Arie’s goal with this album was to express both her beliefs about democracy and love in congruence with lush, soulful lyrics that one can listen to with meditation and relaxation in mind. Standout songs include the second track, “Therapy,” a collaboration with singer Gramps Morgan which addresses the psychological and physiological need for a relationship with the proclaimed “perfect man.”.Its upbeat, energetic feel and unique lyrics are sure to make it an album favorite. India also refers back to this ideal lover in the tracks “He Heals Me” and “Chocolate High.”.The album also includes a bonus track, “Beautiful Day,” an uplifting, self-empowering song about being grateful for life and all its “New hopes/ New dreams/ New ways.”
Arie’s attempt to move outside her normal R&B/soul box to a new, rich world-view proves mostly successful. Fusing the troubles of contemporary politics with the desire for love and her hopes for the future, the singer reaches out to today’s society with prayers of forming new connections across cultures and between lovers. Her message-laden songs may become a bit heavy at times, but those who take the initiative to listen closely with contemplation and meditation will find it both a rewarding and soulful representation of love and peace.
