Eboni Foster - Just What You Want (1998)

A word for divas in waiting: beware. Fairy tales are fine, but in the world of music it's a buyer's market for princesses. With so many fairy godmothers working overtime to make sure that their charge wins the prize, it's often down to an indefinable "oomph" that vaunts one pumpkin carriage past the rest. Take Eboni Foster as a case in point: She's got the looks, the pipes, and the credentials (having played with Nuttin' Nyce), but no curtain call. Just What You Want is a good R&B effort, but one ultimately found wanting. Though tracks like "Crazy for You" and "It's OK" smolder at a medium-high flame, Foster's voice never really commands the material. Backing vocals creep into the spotlight, no doubt intended to buoy Foster's voice in a sweet suffusion of sound, but more often upstage it. The exception is "Sweet Valley," one of the few cuts that steps away from the bland R&B/pop formula and gives Foster something to sink her teeth into. On this track, Foster and backing vocalist Tara Stinson create an exotic, sultry tapestry of voices against a solid rock beat. Given the fact that Foster sounds like Green Gartside's sister, the producers would have done well to give her voice a left-of-center setting more often. Matching her voice with male rapper Sean Don is the worst part of "Crazy for You," but a better balance is struck on "Everything You Do." To its credit, Just What You Want is a smooth journey. The disc stays the R&B/pop course from track to track, so if you liked the appetizer ("Crazy for You"), chances are you'll like the whole enchilada. Eboni Foster does have a nice voice, but one better suited to backing vocals. In the end, Just What You Want is a fine showcase for a minor talent -- a shooting star across the sky that made one wish come true and then disappeared.