Lady Love (album)

Production for Lady Love originally began in 2007, with a release scheduled several times in 2008. However, due to the fusing of Capitol Records and Virgin Records, funding for many artists was frozen until the completion of the merger, affecting not only the release of Lady Love but also the release of "Obvious", the third single from Luckett's self-titled debut album.[4] In early 2009, the release date for Lady Love was announced to be May 19, 2009, however it was later pushed back to June 16, 2009, before finally being set to August 24, 2009.[5][6]

Lady Love is a contemporary R&B album, which Andy Kellman of Allmusic described as 'directed toward the pop market [...] heavier on gleaming synthesizers and in-your-face production.'[7] The album begins with the 'conceited but confident up-tempo' "Lady Love"[3] which is followed by the 'startingly brash',[7] 'electronically soaked'[8] "She Ain't Got..." on which LeToya displays a 'fierce personality'[8] through her vocals and the lyrics, one line reading "Bout to put my foot down on homegirl's neck, to make her see that, she ain't got s*** on me".[1] From this point on, the album slows into more mid-tempos and ballads, such as the Ne-Yo composition "Not Anymore", which 'tells a story about a young lady who decides enough is enough and tells her no good womanizing partner to leave' and the 'break-up anthem' "Over".[3] "Regret", featuring rapper Ludacris, has been repeatedly likened to the Mary Mary hit single "God in Me", with its 'rat-a-tat snares' and 'alternately gliding and prodding vocal attack',[7] while LeToya's "breathy" vocal performance on the "steamy" and "sensual"[3] "I Need a U" – complete with a "burning" electric guitar solo – has been likened to the style of Janet Jackson.[9] On the "supremely smooth" "Take Away Love" (featuring Estelle), LeToya plays the part of a lover who is having difficulty getting her lover to realise that she "doesn't want a relationship with him" because she is "still in love" with her "ex" and he "doesn't understand that". While on the 'densely layered' "Good To Me" which has been described as 'serious and sexy at the same time' and likened to some of the material on Usher's Confessions album,[8] LeToya names and describes the qualities she wants in her ideal man, emphasising that he must be "good to [her]".[1] The tempo of the album 'slows down towards the end' with the songs "Drained", "Tears" and the Marsha Ambrosius-penned "Matter".[3] Shortly before closing the album, LeToya "shows off her upper vocal register" on "Don't Need You" which has been herladed as "LeToya's best recording to-date" by Timothy Michael Carson of About.com.[9]

Amidst much anticipation for the album release, Luckett released a five-track sampler on May 19, 2009.[10] The sampler features first single "Not Anymore" and 1 minute 30 second snippets of "Regret", "She Ain't Got...", "Lady Love" and "Matter".[11] The album was released on physically and digitally on August 25, 2009 in the US and worldwide a day earlier. An explicit version of the album is also available and bears a Parental Advisory label. To celebrate the album's release, LeToya hosted an album release party at Cain in New York City on August 27, 2009.[12]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[9]
Allmusic	[7]
Examiner.com	(Favorable)[22]

Lady Love received generally positive reviews from critics. Samantha Greaves of Examiner.com described the album as "very diverse", listing "Take Away Love" as "One of the gems on Lady Love" and praised "LeToya's ability to think out the box and to bring to R&B music something different than the vast majority".[22] Meanwhile, Timothy Michael Carson of About.com praised LeToya's "versatility" and "soft soprano vocals", but wrote that "many of the songs tend to sound alike" and so "Lady Love can quickly become a tiresome listen". Carson commented that "LeToya's vocals are what kept [him] replaying the album over", lending particularly praise to the tracks "I Need a U" and "Don't Need U" – which he named "LeToya's best recording to-date" – before describing the album as a "great listen".[9] Nathan S. of DJBooth.net also gave a particularly favorable review of "I Need a U", which he described as a "breathy and burning track that should set the sheets on fire". Nathan also lent praise to LeToya's "fierce personality" on the "remarkable" "She Ain't Got...". However, he noted that "Lady Love isn't a perfect album" and "at times it feels uninspired and overly deliberate" but wrote that "it's clearly the work of a woman coming into her own as an artist" and so promised that he is "not going to attach a “formerly of Destiny's Child” onto LeToya Luckett's name. She will finally be, simply, LeToya. She's earned it".[8] Andy Kellman of Allmusic gave a more mixed review however, describing the album as being "just as scattered and uneven as LeToya's self-titled debut", but noted that there are no "shortage of high points", listing; "Regret", the "pummeling, startlingly brash" "She Ain't Got..." and "the melancholy" "Take Away Love" as particular stand-outs.[7] On the contrary, Diana Ayok of SoulCulture rated the album 3.5 out of 5, noting it as "better and stronger than [LeToya's] first self titled album" and heralded it as "a genuinely impressive album" that she "would recommend" "to any R&B lover".[3]

In the US, Lady Love opened with first week sales of 32,900 copies, debuting at the top of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, replacing Ledisi's Turn Me Loose, on September 12, 2009, where it spent a total of thirty-two weeks and number twelve on the Billboard 200, where it spent a total of twelve weeks.[23][24]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and Allmusic.com[1][26]