4 out of 5

Label: Virgin

Director: Justin Stanley

Full of funk.  ‘Can’tneverdidnothin’ hits a little too hard and fast to balance out the more focused tracks in its latter half and still succumbs to major-label baladry for a song or two, but Nikka’s clever lyrics and jaw-dropping range push through those missteps.  Backed by the robust work of Justin Stanley – and given a meaty, raw sound by many collaborators – it’s a shame that Nikka was lumped in with the Britney girl pop of the early 00s… except in that it gave her some more exposure.  The full-on songwriting going on here (not just beats and ‘i love you’ coos over a template) puts her leaps and bounds beyond and outside popcorn pop, though the danceable beats and power of Costa’s voice are easy sells either way.  But check the layers and layers of real instrumentation going on here – all of those snippets of groove on opener ‘Till I Get to You’ – or the more ‘subtle’ shuffle of something like the slick ‘Funkier Than a Mosquito’s Tweeter.’  The impact of the opening songs can’t help but make the step into softer territory – starting with track 3’s ‘Fooled Ya Baby’ – a bit disillusioning, but once you get over that shock of singledom, most of these tracks build to equally excellent and surprising climaxes of sound and emotion.

While Costa’s following album would almost fully ditch major label conventions for any even closer approximation of legit funk and soul, ‘Can’t’ is still on Virgin, so we still get some fairly by-the-books tracks, and the amount of ‘love’ seeping into those songs – ‘Around the World,’ ‘Happy in the Morning’ – can be a bit numbing, but its part of the genre and there’s still some unbelievable vocal skills on display there, especially in ‘World.’

I’d say with ‘Everybody Got Their Something,’ it was easier to assume Ms. Costa was just another Christina or Britney.  ‘Can’t’ fully solidified that her style wasn’t a front (if her earlier ‘Butterfly Rocket’ album didn’t do that for you already…), and that, as the Allmusic review suggests, the style of intelligent pop music – palatable yet with some real heart and soul – doesn’t have to be a relic of ten or twenty years back.  If it’s not your thing it’s not your thing, but the funky, addictive beats and Justin Stanley’s studio wizardry are pretty undeniable – and then you get caught in the net of Costa’s masterful, fun vocals and its all over.