Moodring

Mood rings were the must-have fashion accessories of the early ’90s. They gave a novel, if slightly inaccurate, indication of the wearer’s emotions at any given moment. Yellow-green for anxiety, black for irritation and blue for inner harmony. This record has little to do with mood rings, except that if I were wearing one whilst listening to it, it would turn ebony as the midnight sky. If the promotional concept was for Mya to reveal a spectrum of emotions and ‘musical moods’ then the result is totally off the mark. Sixteen mostly forgettable tracks show Mya in an unprecedented state of um… sexual readiness. What is the mood ring colour for randy?

Moodring kicks off with the desperate assault of ‘My Love Is Like…Wo’, with Mya waxing lyrical about the ‘wo-ness’ of her ass, her kiss, her body, etc. An embarrassing video clip accompanies the song, as Mya flings off layer after layer of clothing faster than you can say ‘woah’. The record continues with Mya trying her hand at everything from funked-up retro disco tunes (‘Sophisticated Lady’) to a feeble foray into reggae (‘Things Come And Go’, featuring Sean Paul). A gem that shines alone in this bunch is the catty rave of ‘Whatever Bitch’, where Mya gets the claws out and gets her freak on.

Unlike her last two offerings, Moodring was co-written and produced by Mya. A whopping 60 songs were reportedly recorded for this album, and if these are the best 16 then one can only wonder what those were like that didn’t make the cut. Perhaps the only saving grace herein are the big name guest production credits – Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Damon Elliott, Knobody, Rockwilder, Omen, Tricky, Jam & Lewis, and Ron Fair. But the result is a thoroughly unconvincing, schizophrenic record. Even the semi-decent Missy-produced ‘Step’ comes off sounding like a mediocre remix of Work It. Take a cold shower Mya.