Sammie Come With Me Video

On his first album since his 2000 debut, From the Bottom to the Top, former kiddie star Sammie - who's now a 19-year-old - doesn't embarrass himself or his mentor, label head Dallas Austin, but he doesn't exactly set the world on fire, either.

Sammie's self-titled second album is solid, yet unspectacular. But there's plenty of material that'll probably thrill the album's target audience of teen and pre-teen females.

For the Ladies

At one point during "Feelin' It," the opening track on the sophomore CD by teen R&B singer Sammie, producer Jazze Pha playfully engages in a supreme bit of hyperbole when he blurts out "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest moment on Earth!"

But in doing so - whether he meant to or not - Jazze also set the bar very, very high for Sammie. So high in fact, that it can't be reached. And Sammie doesn't come close to it, though not for lack of effort.

Sammie opens with a lot of high-energy songs, mostly about girls - wanting girls, hooking up with girls, loving girls. And even when the album shifts to more mid-tempo tracks, the subject matter remains just as one-dimensional.

Throughout the album, the young, handsome singer caters almost exclusively to his most devoted audience segment - teenage females. Case in point: the Jazze Pha-produced first single "You Should Be My Girl," featuring the rapper Sean Paul (of YoungBloodZ).

Sammie's voice is sweet and solid, but it's also nearly generic. This being the case, on the album's early tracks, the producers are the true stars of the album and wind up overshadowing the singer with their trendy, over-produced songs.

After the initial high-energy, over-produced dance tracks, the album settles into a mellow, mid-tempo groove and Sammie settles in and reveals his true strength - piano-laced romantic ballads.

One of the better songs is "Choose Me," a lush, midtempo number about Sammie wanting a girl to - you got it - choose him. Another winner is "Another Last Chance," which also happens to be one the more mature tracks, as well as one of the few that will likely appeal to adults more than teens.

Since Sammie had been away from music for over four years focusing on education instead of entertainment, it's understandable that he wouldn't come out the gate with a five-star album. The good news is that despite a long layoff, his vocal talent is still on par with some of his young adult contemporaries like Omarion, Mario and Marques Houston.

The bad news is that none of the singers mentioned above are really stellar when it comes to vocal talent. The main difference between them and Sammie is that Sammie's songs are still family-friendly, wholesome entertainment, like Chris Brown's and Bow Wow's music.

While Sammie hasn't set the world on fire with his comeback album, since he's only 19, he still has plenty of years left ahead of him to keep trying.

Mark Edward Nero