Like
Whitney Houston and
Mariah Carey,
Deborah Cox straddles the line between soul and pop, appealing to adult contemporary and R&B fans in equal measures. She is a confident and stylish singer, but her self-titled debut is helped considerably by the powerhouse producers working behind the scenes. Featuring tracks produced by
Babyface,
Dallas Austin, and
Daryl Simmons, among others, the record is filled with immaculately crafted dance-pop and ballads. Not all of the songs are up to the production standards, however. Like many singers in her genre,
Deborah Cox is only as good as her material, and the songs on her debut are uneven. She shines on the hit "Sentimental" and several other cuts, including "Never Gonna Break My Heart Again" and the poppy "Who Do U Love," but nearly half of the record consists of undistinguished material. Nevertheless, the best songs on the album suggests that
Cox has the potential to develop into a star. [In 2012,
New Skool Sounds reissued the album and added fifteen bonus tracks made up of club mixes, extended versions, and dubs.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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