Alicia Keys, As I Am

Alicia Keys is beautiful, multi-talented (singer, pianist, activist, author, actress), well-respected (admirers include Bob Dylan and Bono) and - here's the catch - crashingly dull. The 27-year-old makes all the right moves but her vaunted self-belief seemingly leaves no room for vulnerability, humour, insight or any of the other qualities possessed by the soul giants to whose stature she aspires. Her fourth album starts well with the flashing anger of Go Ahead, but only the Stax-sampling Where Do We Go From Here is half as interesting. Amid all the rote hip-hop soul, two other songs peep out: No One, which comes as close as possible to the Black Eyed Peas' Where is the Love? without becoming a cover, and Superwoman, a titanically mawkish female empowerment anthem that empowers nobody so much as Keys herself. "I am Superwoman," she trills. "Yes she is," coo her backing singers. Oh, give it a rest.