After 2011's excellent Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape and the hit "Novacane," Frank Ocean fulfills his promise with this revelatory hour documenting his L.A. life, from the privileged teens running wild on "Super Rich Kids" to the nine-minute stripper tribute "Pyramids" (his most indulgent track). Singer-songwriter introspection (via a guitar solo from John Mayer on the oddly titled "White") and The Neptunes (the Pharrell Williams-produced "Sweet Life") lend substance to Ocean's journey in Hollyweird, but his sympathetic lyrics and warm voice make it intimate and casually brilliant.
Fortune finds Chris Brown on cruise control after reviving his career with two great singles, "Deuces" and "Look At Me Now." He offers a sequel to the latter in "Till I Die," a rap roundelay with Big Sean and Wiz Khalifa, but it isn't as good. He's still going full bore on electronic dance music, cranking out "Turn Up the Music" and "Don't Wake Me Up," but his most impressive moments come when he seduces his female fans on ballads like "Party Hard" and "2012." "Don't Judge Me" could be a subtext for his controversy-filled life, but you wouldn't know that from the lyrics.
Where is the old Kellz, the unashamed hedonist who wanted gangsta girls and compared a fine woman to a Jeep? Write Me Back is the second R. Kelly album (after 2010’s Love Letter) to abandon R&B debauchery for classic soul, as he impersonates Barry White (“Love Is” and “Share My Love”) and King Floyd’s “Groove Me” (“Fool for You”). “Feelin’ Single” is a highlight; so is “Believe That It’s So.” And an outstanding concession to modern tastes in “Fallin’ from the Sky” suggests that Kellz can still make relevant music when he leaves the past behind.
Joss Stone has a voice so big that she occasionally overwhelms her songs. She can't help that she's a powerhouse in the mold of Aretha Franklin, but thankfully, she's capable of style and technique, too. Her best performances on The Soul Sessions, Vol. 2, a sequel to her 2003 platinum collection of classic soul covers, build the drama from a simmer to a hot cookin' boil, from Womack & Womack's "Teardrops" to the Honey Cone's "While You're Out Looking for Sugar." She even tones it down on a cover of Sylvia's "Pillow Talk," where she coos breathily like a sex kitten.
Robyn too earnest and avant for you? Gaga too mainstream? Ellie Goulding too straight-laced? Then Marina's your dance-pop diva. Electra Heart spins all variety of the stuff with sassy, sugar-coated abandon: Epic '80s pop synth-onies cut with operatic drama ("Homewrecker") flow into high-diva neo-disco ("Power and Control"), icy-cool club cuts and broke-down dance-hop bangers -- and all of it is cut with flamboyantly fierce deconstructions of feminine stereotypes. Check out "Primadonna," a "Material Girl" for the modern hipster, but it's "Bubblegum Bitch" that says it all.
A reputed player who makes sensitive songs about wanting to “Love Somebody” in a salty, sardonic falsetto is hard to take seriously. But let’s try, and not just because Adam Levine & co.’s fourth album has already spawned two huge hits. At once savvy and self-mocking, Overexposed has its finger on pop’s pulse (disco beats, dubstep breaks), even as it stamps M5’s lite, melodic funk all over it. Is it a cynical masterpiece? A string of chart-aimed singles? A claim of ownership? Cuts like “Daylight” or the dirty jazz-inflected “Wasted Years’” suggest these flash artists might just be sincere.
This remake of the 1976 movie bears a heavy load. It's Jordin Sparks' first star turn, and Whitney Houston's last. It features new songs by R. Kelly mingled with Curtis Mayfield's originals. But for the most part, the Sparkle soundtrack does indeed sparkle. The velvety nuance of Mayfield's tracks stand apart, but Kels acquits himself admirably with a clutch of vintage-hued cuts. Carmen Ejogo's breathy purr connects the dots particularly beguilingly (she even makes "Something He Can Feel" her own). Sparks, on the other hand, struggles a bit, but Whitney sounds stronger than she had in years.
2012 is a good year to be Missy Higgins and a great year to be an artist from the Southern hemisphere in general. Higgins has been doing her thing for some time now. But The Ol' Razzle Dazzle is a tightened, finely tuned version of her winsome adult-alt pop-rock. It helps that Higgins, with her sensual, husky alto, can sing anything: sultry Southern blues-rock ("Watering Hole"), country ("If I'm Honest"), even a bit of disco ("Temporary Love"). It also helps that she made good friends with one Gotye, so maybe Americans will finally get in on her solid, lovely sound.
It's crazy that this is J.Lo's first hits comp, isn't it? Dance Again showcases just how long the once-and-future fly girl's been in the game, stretching back to her 1999 debut and zooming through so many pop scenes and styles: Diddy-era East Coast hip-pop, the house-inflected dance beats of the late '90s, various Latin crossovers, R&B ballads of all stripes, funky-fresh b-girl throwbacks and today's clubby EDM. She's worn a lot of hats, y'all. And while her voice may be thin (though you can hear it getting stronger over the years), it's clear La Lopez has enough style to wear anything well.
