Despite being a 31-year-old mother and wife (to Swizz Beats, who coproduces "New Day" with Dr. Dre), Alicia Keys still acts like she's the prodigy who made Songs in A Minor a decade ago. She's a woman that calls herself a "girl on fire" trying to realize her talent, and she uses that ideal to build this mostly successful album of experiments, from Jamie xx's ambient R&B on "When It's All Over" to Pop & Oak's dancehall riddim on "Limitedless." The vision breaks when she plays with her son Egypt at the end of "Brand New Me" -- it's a brief moment, but it's a sign that she's not a girl anymore.
Trilogy, which compiles Canadian artist The Weeknd's three 2011 EPs, reveals the enormity of his achievement: three nine-song suites and three new cuts ("Twenty Eight," "Valerie" and "Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun)") totaling over two and a half hours. He and producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo nestle references like Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Happy House" ("House of Balloons") and Michael Jackson's pleading voice ("D.D.," a cover of MJ's "Dirty Diana") into erotically charged bedroom R&B inflated to gothic extremes. It's a world driven by animalistic lust and desires.
On the first and most effective half of Keyshia Cole's fifth album, she's the wronged one, the woman who "tried everything from praying to breaking things to getting out of line" on "Zero." Meek Mill, the man who gets "zero" love, does a good job as the ex-boyfriend trying to win her heart back; and Ashanti has a nice vocal on the title track as the "other" woman; but Lil Wayne's "a b*tch is a b*tch" shrug nearly ruins "Enough of No Love." Nearly every track is about relationship problems. Ironically, the few that aren't, like "Wonderland," are the least interesting of the bunch.
Brandy's comeback after years of tabloid hell has some of the best beats of her career. With help from producers like Major Lazer's Switch ("Slower") and Bangladesh ("So Sick" and the Chris Brown-assisted "Put It Down"), she makes songs that evoke both futurist neo-wave and classic girl-group R&B, while weaving an effortless vocal performance around her smooth, bird-like trills. Two Eleven's weak spots are its lyrics, which range from the clumsy chorus of "Do You Know What You Have" to the overwrought theme "Scared of Beautiful." But with music this fantastic, you'll hardly notice.
When Ne-Yo resuscitated his career with guest turns on Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" and Calvin Harris' "Let's Go," you knew he'd double down on dance pop with his new album. But R.E.D. isn't as alienating as you'd expect. The radio star has an effortlessly smooth voice that radiates good spirits -- recalling Michael Jackson circa Off the Wall -- and it serves him well on flashy rave tunes like "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)," "Be the One" and "Shut Me Down." For his urban fans, there's the outstanding numbers "Cracks in Mr. Perfect" and "Stress Reliever."
Whitney Houston landed over 40 chart hits during her lifetime; this posthumous compilation only has 14, as well as a duet with R. Kelly (a new version of "I Look to You") and a cut from sessions for her as-yet-unreleased final album ("Never Give Up"). So it isn't a completist's dream, nor does it include all of her best performances. Instead, I Will Always Love You samples from her iconic pop moments, like the star-making "Saving All My Love For You," and her smash covers of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" and George Benson's "The Greatest Love of All."
Bobby Valentino is years removed from his brief pop heyday with Ludacris' Disturbing tha Peace, but he still has industry clout. His Dusk Till Dawn includes guest appearances from heavyweight rappers like Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane; Future's guest spot on "Tipsey Love" works best. Despite the cameos, Bobby doesn't offer any surprises, but he excels at a certain kind of R&B ballad -- the babymaking kind, of course. He's not one for subtlety, either, and even titles one track "Put It In," for heaven's sake. Other highlights include "Are You Ready," "Nothing On You" and "1st Class Love."
Solange Knowles has struggled for years to step out of the shadow of her older sister, Beyoncé. Now freed from a major label, True confirms that, yes, she's sort of a hipster. Her songs, co-produced with Lightspeed Champion, drip fashionably with '80s pop and synths. Yet she has a knack for lyrical whimsy. On "Don't Let Me Down," she sings, "I can't get up/ I moved the mountains in my mind." She twists the phrase "played around with your heart" on "Lovers in the Parking Lot" with poetic ease. She's on the cusp of an artistic breakthrough, if she can only figure out how to get there.
Anthony David's fifth album doesn't have a breakout hit like "4evermore," his lush pairing with Algebra Blessett from 2011's As Above So Below. But it's a more imaginative and satisfying effort. Algebra returns for "Official," and while they don't generate as much heat as "4evermore," it's a pretty duet. On the ballad "Movie Night" he sings cleverly, "If it's good, we can get through it/ If it's no good, we can get to it." For "On My Way to Crazy" he uses a chicken-scratch rhythm akin to GZA's "Liquid Swords," and he flips a lovers rock arrangement for "Livin' It Up."
Where has Cody ChesnuTT been? The guitarist who was once primed to be the next great soul artist tells us that he has been saved by the Lord, and swaps the raunchy funk 'n' blues of 2002's The Headphone Masterpiece for redemptive throwback soul. "I used to smoke crack back in the day ... now I'm teaching kids in Sunday school," he sings on "Everybody's Brother." His spiritual growth leads him to regret his past, and he tells his son "Don't Follow Me," while mourning American narcissism on "What Kind of Cool (Will We Think of Next)." Through it all, his honesty is his saving grace.
With its sprightly and rockin' blues rhythms, Pour Une Âme Souveraine is Meshell Ndegeocello's most optimistic and accessible album in years. She creates a poppy highlife beat for "Suzanne," writes a driving folk gospel rhythm as Toshi Reagon takes over "House of the Rising Sun," makes a haunting swirl of keyboards and guitars for "See Line Woman," and breathes lustily while changing the pronoun on "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" from "he" to "she." Throughout, Ndegeocello consistently re-imagines Simone's work while staying true to her idol's iconoclastic spirit.
Jesse Boykins III isn't exactly the ingénue he proclaims himself to be on "I'm New Here." He's been on the fringes of New York's indie-soul scene for years, but Zulu Guru is his first project with international distribution. Boykins' collaborator, Melo-X, is a negligible rapper, but he swathes Boykins' breathily light voice in deep, sensuous electronic grooves. "Outta My Mind" is just a drum machine and heavenly vocalese; "Searching Her Ways" dips into pulsing garage-house rhythms; and "The Perfect Blues" layers African-flavored percussion rhythms into a story of NYC heartbreak.
