Donell Jones' Journey of a Gemini: A Solid R&B Album

In most cases, male R&B singers have to follow the same basic pattern if they want to experience some noticeable success. Their material has to be able to get the clubs hype, make the ladies swoon, make the fellas (at least) nod their head, and tug at everybody’s heartstrings at least once. 

Basically, they have to do everything that omnipresent hit-makers like R. Kelly and Usher have already done - both to the extreme of making the need for male R&B singers virtually obsolete. But even they need the occasional reprieve from the spotlight in order to recharge their creative juices. And it’s moments like these - when a fan has worn out their copy of Confessions and Chocolate Factory and is pining for some good ol’ R&B - when artists like Donell Jones get a chance to shine.

In the same vein of artists such as Avant, Jon B, Carl Thomas, and Jaheim, Donell’s managed to make a well-known name for himself in the urban circuit while remaining a virtual unknown in the mainstream. Over the last decade, he’s released a trio of smooth R&B albums that painted him as a slick R&B lothario who knew the way to a girl’s heart and the way inside her panties. And though he’s managed to eke out a couple million sold in the process, his career has remained largely overshadowed and underappreciated.

But now that things are quiet on the Kellz/Usher front, Donell’s emerged from label scuffles with a new contract and his 4th album, Journey of a Gemini. And while his brand of smoothly crooned R&B has only garnered him moderate success in the past, he refuses to tamper with his formula and still manages to deliver his strongest set of R&B come-ons to date. Usually the autonomous musician, Donell reached out this time to some friends and reigned in Ryan Leslie, Tim & Bob, Mike City, and the Underdogs to help him construct and stabilize the record’s smoothness.