Here’s a thing – in my last post I took Beyonce to task for sounding repetitive. Now we move on to Amerie, whose singles have a very similar big snare and swelling horns sound. Unfortunately for Amerie, she has the same problem that her singles sound very, very similar to each other.

Then she has the double problem that her sound is very like the aforementioned Miss Knowles.

I can’t explain, but I consider Amerie the fresher sounding artist in this particular showdown. Maybe it’s because she’s got a distinctive, throaty vocal and sounds a little bit edgy in comparison with Beyonce’s smooth multi-layered recordings.

In other respects, the two artists are extremely similar: big, funky R&B sounds, have a very eclectic dance style and love to show off their legs. Still, I think Amerie wins on two counts: hotpants and attitude.

Anyway, I’m backing Amerie for the moment. But she’s got to start differentiating herself from Beyonce. Those last three singles: 1 Thing, Take Control and now Gotta Work all sound pretty similar to each other. She needs to show us another side before it gets stale.