Melinda Watts

There's just something about most gospel music that makes it nearly unlistenable to almost anyone who's not a true devotee, and it has little to do with the religious subject matter. Instead, it's the blinding sheen of sonic purity and over-production that leaves so much of the music feeling otherworldly, and the new disc from rising star Melinda Watts does little to quell this trend. The capable vocalist's producers do their best to incorporate many of pop R&B's current bells and whistles, slipping in touches of Auto-tune on the uplifting "Try Again" and attempting some tight reggae skank on the chomping "So Good." Expectedly, Watts does best when free of all the excessive studio wizardry, giving her all with the choir's backing on the slow-building ballad "Come Boldly" or overtop a bed of classic piano and strings on "Purpose Driven Life." But while there will no doubt be great hope for this disc in the gospel world, it's hard to imagine many on the outside leaning in to steal a listen.