What Keyshia Cole has for most of her college R&B singers is credibility and authenticity. She proved this for the first time with her debut album The Way It Is (2005), which gave her several times a comparison with Mary J. Blige. The Way It Is ended up selling more than a million times and accounted for two US top ten hits. Successor Just Like You also achieved platinum status in the US. It is
… again a typical R&B album, with some prominent producers behind the buttons and guest contributions from a large number of rappers, but Cole manages to rise above average with her vocals. In the uptempo tracks as well as in the slower songs she knows how to convey the message (which is usually about broken relationships) and the feeling convincingly. Cole presents himself with Just Like You as the most natural pretender to the throne for the 'Queen Of Hip Hop Soul'. (IV)more
