“Officially Missing You” sung by Tamia is without a doubt one of the most loved R&B pop songs. It is not just the listeners who adore the song; musicians also share the common love for it. The widespread popularity of “Officially Missing You” is due to Tamia’s luscious vocal appeal and mellow music style despite its hackneyed lyrics.
 
With its recognizable acoustic guitar sound, the song has been playing around the world since 2003. Loved by many, the song has been re-made. For instance, Geeks, a Korean hip-hop duo, and Soyou, one of the members in Sistar, re-cut the song. The highpitched voice of Soyou gives listeners pleasant bumps and goes fairly well with the song.

Nevertheless, Tamia has a more fitting voice. On her track, she successfully moves her voice from a deep, low tone up to reach the high notes. High notes might not be her calling card, like they are for Soyou, but she has a greater vocal range and can hit so many more notes. In fact, she showed on her first album, Tamia, that she has a five octave vocal range. No wonder Tamia's version is better than its imitations. However, despite the fact that she is a great singer, not many of the young people nowadays know her.

   
▲ Tamia sings softly but with richness. Provided by eurweb.com

Why is that? Well, Tamia has been a professional artist since 1995, but she has released only five albums as follows: Tamia, A Nu Day, More, Between Friends and Beautiful Surprise. Simply put, she sang beautifully but has been away from her profession for too long. Even “Officially Missing You” is a bit out of current trend, having been released more than 10 years ago.

But when she does release new music, it's sure to hit the United States (U.S.) Billboard charts. Indeed, she was rewarded many times as the proof of her career success—along with six Grammy Awards, she won five Juno Awards. One of the factors contributing to such success is that Tamia not only has a rich voice but she is also capable of singing in various genres—R&B, neo soul, hip hop soul, pop, gospel, jazz and soft rock.

Whatever genre she sings, however, there is a similarity within almost every song. She has a specific style that allows her to make the songs sweet and soothing. To some, they might sound like lullabies, good for a good night's sleep. In addition, her vocal sound might not resemble that of the currently popular sound, husky nor raspy. Nevertheless, Tamia’s voice does a great job in releasing its listeners from the stress of everyday engagedness due to its calm nature. So most of her songs including “Almost”—another hit song of hers—smooth the tension.

While her tender music style is a strong point, the lyrics of her songs are a bit old-fashioned. The same main theme for all her albums—love—is at fault. The songs, “Almost,” “Love I’m Yours,” and “Loving You Still.” are all about love, and their lyrics differ little from other love songs. Her latest release from 2012, Beautiful Surprise, is not a surprise at all for that reason.

Sure it could be said that love is an awesome fortune. But she has been singing about it too much. Indeed, it is a bit cliché and cheesy. A little change in what she sings might do no harm but it might be for the better. Love lyrics aside, Tamia sweetly appeals to our ears. After finishing off the day, plug in your earphones and try listening to her songs. Then you may relax peacefully with her enchanting vocals flowing through your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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