Beyonce is flirting with pop/rock concoctions, John Legend has traded in the piano for a synthesizer, Common has left his brains for sex-drenched party jams, the heartbroken Kanye is confiding in auto-tune, and Brandy wants to be a bonafide pop princess. For better or worse, the stars of urban music are changing left and right in an attempt to salvage their careers, even when it’s not necessary. No matter what, I always knew I could turn to one man who continuously creates quality R&B and does not break the formula that we know and love: Musiq Soulchild. That is, until he released the lame attempt at A-town crunk & B, “radio,” earlier this year. It shook my world that this man could release something as simple and just plain trashy as that song. It was met with cold reception, and good riddance. Luckily, that is the only really drastic departure Musiq takes on this disc. The rest is just good ol’ Musiq in his tried-and-true form. 

Onmyradio opens with the best track, the thumping and vindictive “backagain.” His duet with Mary J. Blige, “ifuleave”–although quite reminiscent of “teachme,” from his last album–is an excellent track. Musiq supplies us with many other superb ballads on this set that we’ve come to expect from him: “loveofmylife,” “someone,” and most importantly, the heart-felt “sobeautiful.” “Moneyright” is a cool electro-R&B mid-tempo, with a struggling protagonist who wants to buy the world for his woman, but can’t. “Iwannabe” is a reggae-tinged track with soulful and charismatic vocals, including a welcome cameo from Damian Marley. Quite honestly, “radio” is the only stinker here. Onmyradio, like Musiq’s other releases, may not be the most daring album out there, but it is an undoubtedly quality R&B release that is quite refreshing will all this other radical change in the urban music industry.