Macy Gray, it is likely, will spend the rest of her career chasing the success of her debut - which is unfortunate in two ways. First of all her first album was not as consistently strong as most people remember. True, On How Life Is, contained the almighty "I Try," which is one of the great songs written in the last 10 years and will live on forever - I heard it playing in the supermarket the other day. Second of all, in terms of song-to-song consistency, her two follow-ups have been as good if not better records, though not greeted with the same open arms by the worlds critics.

On the Trouble With Being Myself most of her troubles have nothing to do with herself. She nails every note on this record like a crackly voice Diva. And though this album does struggle to find a musical identity to match Macy's uniquely distinctive voice, it does succeed much more often than The Id. There are a few times when this album loses your attention because of it's generic sound, but her first single "When I See You" brings an interesting mix of Earth, Wind & Fire hooks with her sexy promises. Beck steps in for a nice cameo on "It Ain't the Money" a song that incorporates the most hip hop element, with rapping also supplied by Pharoahe Monch.

Track 3, "She Ain't Right For You." is the song that comes the closest to recapturing the magical hook of "I Try," it's a pretty song and one of the albums highlights, but . . . Still and all, this record, in terms of overall consistency, is her strongest yet. If you go back and listen to her first record there was alot more filler than there is on this record. Once she finds a musical identity to match her unmistakable vocal skills, she'll turn out a Masterpiece that people, in the rosy hue of constructive memory, consider On How Life Is to be.