Ms. Kelly

That’s more like it. The first track ‘Work’ is discotheqtastic and I’m setting myself up for a great album of party music (it’s a genre, I’m telling you). But after that Ms Kelly is just a pale shadow of her old bandmate Beyoncé. Rowland just doesn’t have the distinctiveness and vocal power of her erstwhile colleague, so the production team have a lot more work to do to inject energy into these lacklustre tunes. Some songs such as ‘Like This’ are just straightforward photocopies of Destiny’s Child numbers and even the presence of Eve doesn’t save it from mediocrity. And the less said about ‘This Is Love’ and ‘Broken’ the better. They’re kind of like having your body brutally battered by feathers, toilet paper, or leaves. And ‘Better Without You’ sounds a bit like Enya for the love of Zeus. Anaemic stuff.

Key Track: ‘WORK’