Ciara

It’s time to get strapped in for the ultimate Fantasy Ride with that uber- hottie known as Ciara. The ultra-fine vocalist gets by with a plenty o’ help from her friends on Fantasy Ride, and she’s certainly operating according to the guiding principles of current popular music by doing so! It’s a party on Fantasy Ride, and Ciara has no cap on her guest list.

You can’t get much sexier than a duet with Justin Timberlake, the very man who brought sexy back. But it’s Ciara’s unwavering aim to be 100% sexified. She refuses to be beholden to a singular style or sub-genre with this record, so she happily samples from all eras of urban, R&B and hip-hop music as the listener rides sidecar with her. Ciara also adopts an alter-ego, a comic book’ish character dubbed "Super C," on this release. While that gimmick may work on the promotional front, it doesn’t do much to enhance the album or the music, which is a bona fide selection of hits.

“Love, Sex, Magic,” the entertainer’s thunderous romp with Timberlake, is where the Texas-born diva shows off her idol worship of Janet Jackson, thanks to her breathy and babyish voice and her suggestive dance moves.

Ciara also partners up with Young Jeezy on the broody, auto-tuned “Never Ever,” which is a slow and smooth, semi-ballad that also puts the singer’s emerging sexuality at the center of the stage. She grooves out on “Like a Surgeon” and reunites with previous collaborator Ludacris on the club-tastic “High Price.” She also teams up with Missy Elliott on the thumping, anthemic “Work,” which will cause you to work up a sweat on that dancefloor!

Fantasy Ride and Ciara hopscotch across a variety of moods and styles and the result is never, ever snoozy. This is one ride you’ll be happy to take.

— Amy Sciarretto
05.13.09

The final version of Ciara's third album, issued after several months of delay, is quite dissimilar from the one detailed in an August 2008 Billboard cover story. According to the article, Fantasy Ride was to be divided into three sections tentatively titled "Groove City," "Crunk Town," and "Kingdom of Dance." At some point between then and the album's May 2009 release, this concept was mercifully scrapped, quite possibly because the track list underwent some changes. Regardless, it would not be difficult to construct an imaginary three-part Fantasy Ride from the finished product, with each song easy to slot into one of the designations. Had Ciara stuck with the city/town/kingdom concept, "Groove City" would have been the most populous and happening of the three. A couple of these ballads and slow jams are up there with the highlights from Goodies and The Evolution -- no coincidence that both were written and produced by the-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart (Rihanna's "Umbrella," Beyoncé's "Single Ladies"), the Jam and Lewis or Neptunes of their time. On the hypnotically winding "Like a Surgeon" (not a cover of Weird Al's Madonna parody), the-Dream provides some of his best, gimmicky, post-R. Kelly similes and metaphors, delivered by Ciara with all the necessary arrogance: "I appreciate your recovery time, but you need a physical one more time." "Keep Dancin' on Me," its opposite in sentiment, is as resigned and alluring as the-Dream's own "Fancy," swapping dejection for a kind of blissful yearning. Blink and you will miss what was to be "Crunk Town": "High Price" is a decent "Oh" revamp, with booming, low-end, creature-feature synths, and Ludacris all part of the mix, though Ciara's outlandish operatics are a new (and nice) touch. The five uptempo tracks that would have been "Kingdom of Dance" are uneven, exemplified by the hobbling flop that is "Love Sex Magic," an easily forgettable Justin Timberlake collaboration, and "Work," an over-stuffed dancefloor mess that does not benefit from Missy Elliott's hoarse hectoring. Even if Ciara imaginatively develops the "Super C" superhero introduced in the disc's booklet, she and her collaborators will have to work extra hard on the next album to ensure that she does not stall in a creative cul de sac. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide