Chrisette Michele has come a long way since she emerged as contemporary R&B's answer to the jazz throwback singers in vogue at the middle of the decade, piping twee, Billie Holiday-esque verses into songs for Jay-Z, Nas and The Roots. On last year's Epiphany, Michele cut back on those girlish jazz tones and revealed the robust, mature voice behind them. Her new Let Freedom Reign is even better, a livelier, more balanced album that provides her with plenty of the Apollo-rocking showstopping ballads she does best"Goodbye Game" may be her finest hourwhile freeing her to play with looser, more contemporary sounds.
R&B fans have plenty of other new records to pick from this week. The most high profile is Jazmine Sullivan's Love Me Back, the sophomore effort from the 23-year-old Mary J. Blige-shadowing singer. The album unites her with a dream team of producers and songwriters: Ne-Yo, Missy Elliott, Los Da Mystro and Salaam Remi.
Salaam Remi also produced the title hit for Miguel's debut album, All I Want Is You, an achy, downbeat throwback to the mid-'90s that easily ranks as one of 2010's best R&B singles. The album is too scattered to live up to that tracktoo often it indulges Miguel's misguided electro-pop impulses or meandering, Kid Cudi-ish tangentsbut it's worth a listen for those few magic moments when Miguel's anguished voice finds the right groove to complement it.
One of the most commercially resilient figures in the history of pop music, 69-year-old Ronald Isley celebrates his release from prison with a new album, Mr. I, that shamelessly chases contemporary urban radio, right down to the T.I. guest verse, stuttering Tricky Stewart beats and Atlanta posse chants.
And Eric Benet pays homage to his '70s soul influences on his new Lost in Time.
Meanwhile, music from these three crossover rap/pop acts will likely be playing at a mall near you:
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* The Black Eyed Peas follow their inescapable 2009 album The E.N.D. with a new album that follows its formula closely, The Beginning.
* Party-rap auteur Soulja Boy releases his third album, The DeAndre Way.
* And Florida rapper Flo Rida (whose punny moniker I just now grasped while typing that sentence) makes his most explicit grab yet for a dance audience on his new Only One Flo (Part 1), a suspiciously short, eight-song, 27-minute album with production by Max Martin, Dr. Luke and David Guetta.
