Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics

1	Intro: Grains 0:48
2	Therapy / Gramps Morgan 3:58
3	Ghetto 3:13
4	Chocolate High 4:44
5	He Heals Me 4:59
6	Interlude: Grains 0:55
7	Pearls / Dobet Gnahore 4:23
8	River Rise 3:57
9	Yellow 2:56
10	Better Way 3:30
11	Interlude: Grains 1:06
12	Long Goodbye 4:05
13	Psalms 23 5:15
14	The Cure 4:41
15	Outro: Grains 0:33
16	A Beautiful Day Bonus Track 3:51

All Music Guide

India.Arie cited creative pressures as one factor in the gap between Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, her last album for Motown, and Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics, her debut for Universal Republic. Motown possibly was not content enough to yield to the instincts of an artist with three consecutive Top Ten albums and a pair of Grammy awards (to go with 14 additional nominations). Testimony: Vol. 2 is, if anything, merely a moderate progression from Testimony: Vol. 1, not sounding anything like a severe turn from Arie's past. However, the variety of guest collaborators naturally signals and fosters her most eclectic, hardest-to-pigeonhole set yet; in addition to Musiq (Soulchild) and MC Lyte, reggae artist Gramps Morgan, Turkish star Sezen Aksu, and African vocalist Dobet Gnahore (present on a cover of Sade's "Pearls") are featured. Regardless of the non-standard inspirations and unexpected guests, Arie could perform every one of these songs live with just her guitar and not risk shortchanging her audience. Given the new wrinkles, it's not startling that her outlook here has a wider scope, her viewpoint wiser and more outward looking than before, exemplified most through "Ghetto" -- which seems to take cues from War's "The World Is a Ghetto," building off the notion of people all around the planet facing the same plight -- and the slow, bluesy stomp of the firmly U.S.-centric "Better Way" (featuring Keb' Mo' on guitar). The tone of the relationship songs is more upbeat, and even occasionally lighthearted, relative to those of Testimony: Vol. 1, adding a pleasant contrast to the more serious material. If her former label could accuse her of anything, it's that she did not deliver a big single (she does not have a single Top 40 hit), and that's something that won't likely change anytime soon. Her fanbase, big enough to grant Arie gold sales, will gladly take a fourth steady and honest album over a big pop hit. Andy Kellman

New York Times

One of the most determinedly virtuous songwriters in R&B or pop, India.Arie strives to make faith, goodness and positive thinking seductive...As usual most of the songs feature India.Arie’s acoustic guitar and her forthright but still girlish voice, with its Stevie Wonder phrasing.

Billboard

Reinvigorated after the painful breakup chronicled in 2006's "Testimony: Vol. 1, Love & Relationship," Arie provides a multicultural dialogue about love and human politics. Gail Mitchell

USA Today

Whether dealing with heartache, reveling in newfound love or pondering the human condition, her songs resound with keen insight and warm passion. It gives her Testimony a ring of truth.