Alicia Keys: As I Am

Alicia Keys has always been the good girl with a bit of street. Her third album won’t disappoint either camps, drawing on a newfound confidence while coming across as her most earnest, I-am-woman-hear-me-roar release. That means less focus on the Keys and more on Alicia.

This is mostly a collaboration with her long-term writing partner and real-life man Kerry “Krucial” Brothers but there’s also a dreamy contribution from John Mayer on Lesson Learned – and a tribute to Prince on Like You’ll Never See Me.

As I Am suffers from some dodgy synthesiser beats, and there are much better songs than the album’s first hit, No One – the lively Teenage Love Affair for instance.