Reality Show

After a five-year retreat from the spotlight, Jazmine Sullivan returns with poised authority on *Reality Show*, her third full-length collection of perceptive, emotionally raw R&B. We’ve always known the Philly musician is a talented singer—her agile vocal fireworks light up tunes like \"Mascara” and “Masterpiece (Mona Lisa)”—but *Reality Show* is a huge artistic leap forward due to Sullivan’s gutsy songwriting. When she lays into tunes about everywoman trials (the disco-tinged “Stanley,” the soulful “Silver Lining,” and the sinister “#Hoodlove”), *Reality Show* is equally gritty and gratifying.

The Philadelphia singer Jazmine Sullivan encapsulates the breadth of R&B's emotional range not by riding the margins, but from a proud position at its center. She's such a singular artist, there's an easy temptation to contrast her excellent new album, Reality Show, with everything else.

Love Me Back wasn't quite two months old when Jazmine Sullivan, a singer's singer and songwriter's songwriter, tweeted that she was going to take an indefinite break from music.

Even after being missing in action for half a decade, in the space of 12 tracks, Jazmine Sullivan shows why she's a highly underrated artist...

Part of what makes Jazmine Sullivan’s Reality Show so remarkable is how often it dares to foreground her pen over her pipes.