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Fantasy Ride – Ciara

Much awaited and much delayed, Ciara finally releases her album ‘Fantasy Ride’. Alter egos, it seem, are the flavor of this season as far as pop divas are concerned. Quite like Beyonce and Sasha Fierce, Ciara proclaims to exhibit her inner self in the form of Super C on this album. Super C, though just takes on duties on the more aggressive tracks, leaving the finer nuances to be pronounced by Ciara herself. The album is already building up its magic with ‘Love Sex Magic’, where she has collaborated with Justin Timberlake to create a smouldering flare of seduction with plenty of spice talk thrown in for fun. As the lead single, the funky bass laden grooves are enough to raise the temperatures and much else (just as Timberlake whispers ‘pardon the pun’). Another association though, just manages to raise a few eyebrows. ‘Turntables’, though rendered well, doesn’t go down as well, largely because Chris Brown after his infamous Rihanna assault. Assisted by top of the line members of the industry like Polow da Don on the misty ‘I Don’t Remember’ and using the production capabilities of Tricky Stewart ensures the album is ahead of the pack amongst most stuff released by R&B females.