Faith and God have taken Angie Stone to greater heights, personally and professionally, and that revelation is exemplified time and time again throughout Dream. Her voice is crisp and strong as ever, and musically, she's finally in a place where she's loved, appreciated, and trusted enough in her craft to do what she does best.
I'm referring in part to Angie's new deal with Shanachie. Simply put, Shanachie “gets it”. When most labels and executives are flexing their power and calling the shots, they’ve given Angie the power to take over the driver’s seat. Her confidence exudes in tracks like “Dolla Bill” “Begin Again”, and “Didn’t Break Me”, while she still shows her vulnerability on songs like ‘Magnet” and ‘2 Bad Habits”.
There’s a small level of predictability in the fact that you know you’ll get a quality product with Angie Stone. “Dream” is void all the fluff, useless skits, and nonsense that many fill their albums with. She gets right to the point and gives it to you raw. It’s difficult to point out the best tracks here because they’re all pretty high on the list. Overall production is solid throughout the LP, and Angie is backed by some of the most powerful names in entertainment, including Walter W. Millsap III of Conjunction Entertainment and Marv Mack of TopNotch Music. It also must be noted that her new management is working diligently at reversing the damage of past relationships.
Even without having a thing to prove, she still shows the world that she’s still a prime contender to anyone who thinks they can trump her. Her new allegiance with Conjunction and TopNotch will prove to be profitable, and not just financially. Stone has gone practically unnoticed with her last few releases, despite having released some of the best music ever. Her notoriety is sure to increase this time around, as she’s with a crew who values her input, and trusts in her talent.