New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) by Erykah Badu

Recent years have seen the weird sister of neo-soul take a radical turn. 2008's New Amerykah Part 1 caught the electric gloom of the pre-Obama era; Badu's latest turns its skewed sights on love in both soppy and calculating fashion. "I'm driving your Benz/ I'm fucking your friends," she sneers. The old school "Out My Mind Just In Time" combines piano, strings and neologising with elegance: "I am a recovering undercover over-lover." With the addition of recent single "Jump In The Air (And Stay There)" - mystifyingly absent - The Ankh would have been even stronger.