Soulful, fiesty, rough-around-the-edges and more brash than a hot pink dress at an all-white dinner party. No one was prepared for a 20-year-old High Point, NC native to make it through the rounds of the nation’s top talent competition known as American Idol, much less win the top prize. But despite the odds, Fantasia Barrino seized her moment in the spotlight, fumbling through life as all young people do but still regaling her Idol and after fans with hit after hit. For those touched by the vulnerability and raw power in Fantasia’s vocals, she became a folk hero of sorts: imperfect, yet empowering, flawed yet fearless. This is where we find the now 32-year-old woman, five albums deep with the release of her latest project, The Definition Of…, compilation that’s as uneven, yet intriguing, as the woman who created it.

A tad shorter than 2013’s Side Effects of You, but far more ambitious in scope, the new album is anchored by the contributions of Ron Fair (Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige) as executive producer and main lyricist, with several other collaborators mixing it up in-between. The results reflect the sum of the parts, sometimes odd and other times brilliant to behold. Fantasia’s voice…..(click here for the full-length review at soultracks.com)