Rightfully hailed as Britain’s R’n’B queen on the strength of two very successful album releases and a string of hit singles, Jamelia returns with her third instalment after a sabbatical to have her second baby. By the sound of Walk With Me, she must have spent a lot of her time listening to loads of pop and feeding her mind on the wonderful world of samples and mash-ups, as this record’s strongest points are all “borrowed” from classic tunes from the past!

Possibly in a bid not to highlight the overpowering presence of the sample-inspired cuts, the first single lifted off the album was, of all things, a rock song! And Something About You works rather well for her too, except that in the end Jamelia remains at her best when she’s working the smoother side of pop, as can be heard all too clearly on Know My Name. Jamelia’s return however is rooted way beyond what people have come to expect of her, and with tracks like the bouncy Do Me Right, the Stranglers-sampling No More and new (Depeche Mode-sampling) single Beware Of The Dog, she seems to be in pursuit of something bigger than an R’n’B stamp of approval. Sounding like a cross between Girls Aloud and Rihanna, Walk With Me seems to be geared at bringing Jamelia to a whole new audience! The end result does sound a bit disjointed, but the effort is commendable all the same!

Rating: 3

CD COURTESY OF WWW.LIB66.TK