Often when artists try to accomplish too many goals on one CD, whether musically, vocally or stylistically, their tracks just do not come out sounding great or innovative in any aspect. Tamia falls victim to exactly such a scenario on her third album, More, as the songstress tries to cater to fans in both the pop and R&B genres. Attempting to fit into both musical worlds, her repetitious songs come across incredibly bland and monotonous. While More does feature some decent pop ballads, the CD as a whole is highly unmemorable. As an artist who has been nominated for numerous awards, Tamia's voice surprisingly still does not stand above the crowd. Tamia's first album, A Nu Day, released back in 2000 went gold. However, she is best known for her ballad, "Stranger In My House." Along with being a four-time Grammy-nominated artist, Tamia has also been nominated for Soul Train Music Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. She can also be heard on the radio these days with Fabolous on the hit track "Into You," which is featured on More. Also, Tamia is currently on the road with the "Ladies First Tour," opening for Missy Eliot, Alicia Keys, and Beyonc.

The main problem on More is the appearance of some really awful song writing and producing. Tamia, however, did not write the majority of the songs on her album. Yet, those that she did, such as "Whispers" and "Why Ask Why" explain why more of her own work was not featured on the album. It seems Tamia feels that interesting songs are created by repeating the same grouping of notes over and over again for four minutes. Although Tamia does get help on her third album from superstar producers Jermaine Dupri and Mario Winans, even their influence fails to produce any standout tracks. Her latest single "Questions," produced by R&B star R. Kelly, only leaves one asking why this dim-witted song was even written. Her remake of the Burt Bacharach classic, "Close To You" is so painfully tedious that it drains the song of all its romantic substance.

Most of the lyrical content can't even redeem these insipid songs. Tamia chose songs on More whose messages reflected her personal and spiritual growth within recent years. If such is the case, then all Tamia has been doing lately is putting up with lame boyfriends as the majority of her tracks are spent either yelling at her exes or feeling sorry for herself over men. The emotional value of her songs is about as meaningful as the music itself. Her lyrics on "Mr. Cool" evokes either hysterical laughter or an urge to break her CD in half for its shameless stupidity. On the track she asks, "Mr. Cool, I'm open on everything you do. I wanna know if it's cool. I'm saying I like the way you move. I wanna know, Mr. Cool." Wow, now those are lyrics with a lot of weight behind them.

After listening to More, it is blatantly clear why Tamia will always be billed as an opening act. Her voice simply fails to stand out as anything remarkable among other R&B and pop divas of our generation. Tamia seems content to stay in a narrow vocal range throughout most her songs, even though tracks such as "Tomorrow" reveal that she can hit the high notes. She also clearly has power behind her voice as heard on "Into You" and "Why Ask Why," but rarely shows it off on any other songs. It seems strange that she would choose to hide her full vocal ability rather than flaunt it.

While Tamia's R&B songs, such as "Poetry" and "Still" are mediocre at best, she actually has some success with her pop tracks. Her pop ballad, break-up track, "Officially Missing You," is so sweet and winsome that she actually succeeds in garnering sympathy for her heartache situation. In "Smile," Tamia sings about having to put on brave face through personal pain. The track's power and flow building up to its end when Tamia actually puts some emotion behind her notes makes it definitely one of the few enjoyable tracks on the CD. Of course, Tamia sounds sizzling on "Into You," as would any singer who collaborates with hot young rapper Fabolous.

Unfortunately, Tamia doesn't have a lot of musical growth to show for all her work leading up to More. She does nothing on her latest effort to distinguish herself vocally from other artists and does not even try to fully tap into her potential as a singer. While she tries to broaden her appeal and growth stylistically with her pop/R&B collaborative tracks, her efforts only further limit her vocal range and overall creativity. When it comes to More, Tamia just leave you wanting less.