Kelis: Flesh Tone

Kelis's influence is detectable in Lady Gaga and Rihanna, yet her own music is perennially underrated. As with her previous records, her fifth studio album doesn't sound like anyone else – she and producers David Guetta, Benny Benassi and others have concocted a dance, cosmic techno and R&B mix that's stamped with her unique take on things. Since her last studio album, she's divorced rapper Nas and had a baby, but there's little bitterness in the style of 2000's Caught Out There; rather, it's the euphoria of motherhood that dominates. Acapella is stripped-down techno, spaced-out vocals and a touching lyric ("Before you, my whole life was a capella/ Now a symphony's the only song to sing"); equally striking is Brave, a disco track that declares strength to be better than coolness, and Intro, a relationship postmortem in which the usually ferocious Kelis sounds like she's drowning in pain. Flesh Tone may break no new musical ground, but it's very good.