Barnes & Noble
Jumping on the neo-soul bandwagon of fellow Philly fillies Jill Scott and Jaguar Wright is newcomer Vivian Green. In fact, the pleasingly piped Green once sang backup for Scott, and the ingénue's engaging debut is sprinkled with a dash of her former boss lady's jazzy sassiness -- particularly the lead single "Emotional Rollercoaster" and the empowering "Superwoman." Elsewhere, the sultry soprano shines on the piano-heavy, mid-tempo groove "What Is Love?" and the torch song "No Sittin' by the Phone." With sultry vocals that require minimal musical accompaniment and self-penned, girlfriend-ly lyrics, this fresh-faced vocalist will have an easy time being Green. Tracy E. Hopkins
All Music Guide
The neo-soul movement spearheaded by Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill that gave birth to Jill Scott extended to the likes of India.Arie, Nelly Furtado, and Alicia Keys, with no end in sight as, in typical major-label record company fashion, A&R people beat the bushes for every young woman of color who ever listened to an Aretha Franklin record as a child and thought, "Why not me?" Columbia Records didn't have to look too hard for Vivian Green, a Philadelphia native who was singing backup for Scott, to find yet another contender. Green is a likable enough singer with the usual romantic obsessions and a sense of generalized vocal embellishment. Her lyrics betray the influence of Scott in their wordiness, and a group of producers provide familiar instrumental beds to support those sentiments. But Green is at her best on the largely acoustic "No Sittin' By the Phone," which has a jazz feel and a real sense of romantic anguish. William Ruhlmann