Is she Chaka Khan with a helium balloon? Al Green on hormone replacement therapy? No, Macy Gray is one of the few truly original singer/songwriters of our day, and that is the true glory of her music.

"The Trouble With Being Myself" is radical, fresh, exciting - and, at the same time, classic soul music. Just like on her first two releases, Macy stakes her own ground with ballads, hip hop and sunny pop music that sounds like nothing else on the radio.

From the opening song, "When I See You", Macy makes it clear that soul music is alive and well in this era of samples and studio-engineered voices. "When I See You" is Memphis horns, Rufus scratch-styled guitar and Sly-ish keyboards. It's a great lead off track, but only hints at the promise of this disc.

"My Fondest Childhood Memory" dips into Jamician ska shadings, and tells a hilarious story of taking revenge on your parent's lovers. It's somewhat derivative of "I Committed Murder" from "On How Life It", but it hits you with an incredible beat, and those awesome Macy vocals.

"It Ain't The Money" teams Macy with Beck, which can only be described as a meeting of musical geniuses. It's a hard hip hop flavored track, but has such an experimental, play in the studio feel that you can't call it rap.

"She Ain't Right For You" is beautiful, lush and Macy's best ballad yet (which says a lot, considering what a great song "I Try" is). The track creates more heat than a bonfire - and is perfect for Macy's slightly off-kilter vocals. You can't help but fall in love with a song as beautiful as this.

By the time I got to "Speechless" which is the 10th track, I was amazed how deep this disc is - on most retro-nuevo soul albums, themes and music styles begin repeating themselves after 4-5 songs - but "Speechless" again makes Macy's originality, and talent, shine bright - it is a sun-drenched love song that plays down strong instrumentation in favor of letting Macy put her voice to work - and truly gives her an opportunity to shine.

An artist like Macy - a little left-of-center, a true original, someone who demands that her music take center stage, rather than serve as beckground material - has it tough in today's marketplace. I hope this project finds its audience, so that the "business" end of the music business is encouraged to experiment with different sounds and artists. Macy cannot be pigeonholed, and clearly is a tough sell. But she is brilliant - and deserving of attention, and praise.

Macy is in a class of her own. This cd is almost perfect. I love her unique voice. She is funky and soulful. Nobody matches the soulfulness of her voice. The songs are unique, strange, and wonderful. She is so quirky and real.

Macy Gray sadly would suffer a slight decline in her popularity, a common problem with some whose debut to critic's can never be bested in their eyes. Macy continued to release new music in her own distinct vein with 2001' "The Id" & this, 2003's "The Trouble With Being Myself". Though the critics finally "got" this record, beyond her fans, Top 40 radio had moved on from the neo-soul movement, & one of the most promising soul singers fell into obscurity sales wise.

I myself was one of the few who purchased this great album back in 2003, & continues to spin it today. This album to me is what we need more of in RnB: original, yet accesible beats & melodies, a voice that no one can forget, & thought-provoking lyrics. This record gives that & more.

"When I See You" opens the album with a fresh slice of funk, finding Macy still knows how to party & make that feel good music. Another highlight is "Jesus For A Day" which I really can't put into words, but can only say 'wow'. I also enjoyed "Things That Made Me Change" & "Speechless" which found Macy dealing with many introspective issues as with on her debut, but with the idiosyncratic nature of her sophmore follow-up.

I like how Macy adrresses the idea of love as something tangible, but that once you have it, you have to be able to hold onto it without losing what you "grabbed" it for in the beginning. She seems to channel the up's & down's of romance well through song.

I recommend this to any Macy Gray fan who never got a chance to listen to this underrated album, which combines what made both of her previous efforts great.

the music overpowers macy's great voice.. real bad job of production..would not recomend this album to show off macy

...is that it succeeds as a standard 'next' album, when the euphoria of a highly successful previous score (On How Life Is) has set in and we can roll right along with more music. BUT, it offers little to match the pizzazz of "I TRY".

There is no doubt in my mind that Gray is one of the most distinctive soul voices around but with the idiosyncratic nuances of her "style" that harkens back to Sly Stone of yore, she really needs some variety on a record...or, as happens in the case of The Troube With Myself she runs the risk of being a little, er, monotonous?

If you don't mind a SIDE B to the first album then this is a pretty decent compilation of husky vocals and jiggly hiphop. But, like me, if you expected something offbeat or at least a slightly different streak from her past music, there's deplorably little here. (Unless of course you count in some REALLY zany numbers like "My fondest childhood memories".)

To cut it short, I'd say Gray's latest is quite a worthy chill-out purchase to sit back in your balcony with, but not a standout effort by any stretch of review.

Noteworthy number: "Happiness". You'll be humming it immediately.