For those of you who have been sleeping on the R&B scene, you may not know that 23-year-old Arista recording artist Deborah Cox has come out with her second album after three years. This Canadian singer has produced an album that is sure to please the ballad junkie, such as myself.

Cox’s new album “One Wish” is number one on the Billboard R&B Charts and number five on the Billboard Hot Charts. It provides the listener with a mix of dance cuts, along with “curling up with your honey” type music. I personally like the slow cuts offered; such as the second track “It’s Over Now,” produced by Kay-Gee of Naughty By Nature (also producer of Next). This somewhat mid-tempo song is about a woman who has put up with a man that she has basically had enough of. It is followed by the first platinum single from the album “Nobody Supposed To Be Here.” Let’s face it, we’ve all been in that heartbroken state when we didn’t want to be bothered with anyone, and along comes that somebody that makes you forget what you were mad about. This track was co-written and produced by singer Montel Jordan. If you watch music videos, MTV or BET, or listen to the radio, you’ve heard this song. It’s only being played every day, at least every two hours.

The next cut, which is one of my favorites, is a duet with lead singer R.L. from Next. You know him as the cute, younger looking version of Teddy Riley from Blackstreet and former group Guy. “We Can’t Be Friends,” also co-produced by Jordan, is a song about breaking up and trying to fight whatever still keeps your heart warm for that person. Yes, we’ve all been there also. “Couldn’t We” is another, you guessed it, love song about trying again. While this didn’t appeal to my taste, it’s still worth listening to. The next song, the title track, “One Wish” is a pretty laid-back cut produced by DJ Quik, and you Quik fans will recognize the beat right away.

Another slow single put in the category with the aforementioned “We Can’t Be Friends” is “I Won’t Give Up.” It has a nice, slow, relaxing beat with just a little bass tweeting in the background, definitely a favorite of mine. The song after is “One Day You Will,” a slow song that can be associated with the many “I Will Survive” type songs we hear so often on the radio.

The album ends with the remix dance version of “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here,” you’re sure to hear it in the local club scene. Finally, Cox rounds everything up with a dance mix named “Things Just Ain’t The Same.”

Although Cox left us hanging for awhile, she came though and gave the people, or at least the ballad junkies, what they wanted, and that’s the name of the business.