We all know a K Michelle: a magnet for drama who needs a mere baptismal sprinkling of white wine to start violently venting about it all. But while a road trip with her might be trying, listening to the Love & Hip Hop star is enormously enjoyable when paired with the quality songwriting here. Any album that opens with the line “Who the fuck told you hoes to open up” is going to have a fair bit of sass, but it’s low on bland aggro – aside from the obnoxious Rich, on which she complains about her “rich-people problems”, Michelle’s travails are told with a rounded humanity. Drakeian ennui, smooth dance-pop and Outkast-sampling southern hip-hop back them up, but it’s the diamond R&B balladry such as Time and All I Got that really shines. Over country-soul on If It Ain’t Love, she belts: “It’s crazy, amazing / We fucked it up.” Has an unworkable relationship ever been told with such economy?
