Mya - Liberation (2007)

'Liberation' was intended to be the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mya Harrison, and would have been her debut release with her then new record label Universal Motown, following her departure from Interscope in 2005 after the mediocre commercial success of her previous effort 'Moodring' in 2003. Before leaving, she had begun work on an album for Interscope called 'Control Freak', which was set for a summer 2005 release, with production by a host of other producers. In search of a new vibe for the album after the change of label, she drew inspiration by leaving Los Angeles and moving back to Washington, D.C., where she bought a house and enlisted her brother to build a recording studio, where she began experimenting, laying down rudimentary tracks and learning how to engineer. Pushed by her newfound abilities in mixing and production, she intensified work on the re-worked 'Control Freak' album, with most of it eventually being completed in a stretch of only three months. When complete, she submitted the album, now titled 'Liberation', to her new label, with production on the record being handled by Scott Storch and J.R. Rotem with additional contributions from Bryan Michael Cox, Kwame, Carvin & Ivan, longtime contributor Tricky Stewart, and it also featured guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, Charlie Baltimore and Lil Wayne. Two singles were extracted from it, the Storch collaboration 'Lock U Down' and R&B ballad 'Ridin'', but neither song made an impact on radio or in the charts, and so a proposed third single 'Walka Not A Talka' was cancelled, and due to the industry's budget cuts, the album suffered numerous delays and pushbacks. However, while delaying the album's release yet again, Universal Motown accidentally leaked it in Japan, and so they had no choice but to release it as a digital download only in Japan in October 2007. This digital release was the only thing that Mya ever issued on Universal Motown, leaving the label in 2008, and although 'Liberation' was never released officially, Mya did heavily promote the album at the time. She has said that she "felt as though 'Liberation' was her best project to date, and she wanted it released in the US, but things happen, so maybe it wasn't meant to be ...", and the digital version did garner some mixed reviews from the music press, and so it's certainly worth a listen to hear Mya "break out and swagger into an intriguing new role", as suggested in a review in Vibe magazine. 

Track listing

01 Liberation (Intro)
02 I Am (feat. Charli Baltimore)
03 Walka Not A Talka (feat. Snoop Dogg)
04 Still A Woman
05 No Touchin'
06 Lock U Down (feat. Lil Wayne)
07 Lights Go Off
08 Ridin'
09 Switch It Up
10 Give A Chick A Hand
11 All In the Name Of Love
12 Life's Too Short
13 Nothin' at All