WORDS Orla Delargy

These days, a pop album with only a few club tunes is a rare thing, so Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire is a welcome change. Most definitely a love album – Keys explores her feelings for music-producer husband Swizz Beatz – tracks are often down-tempo and simple, pared back to vocals and piano or guitar.

Though unlikely to get much airplay due to serious heavy breathing, Fire We Make is a great Marvin Gaye-style slow jam, the perfect accompaniment to luuv-making. More chart-friendly tracks recall Beyoncé’s Run The World (Girls) with their marching-band drums and, unfortunately, Keys has chosen one of the weakest examples, Girl on Fire, as the lead single. This includes the obligatory Nicki Minaj verse and plenty of “woah” notes which drag on – wailing that will no doubt be rehashed by next year’s batch of X Factor hopefuls. A nicer feature of the album is when Keys’ two-year-old son, Egypt, sings along on When It’s All Over. Ignore what hits the charts and explore the rest of this album which stands out as a return to R&B.