Like Pam Grier with a stand-up bass in place of a sawed-off shotgun, this jazz fusionista earned the baff led admiration of millions when she snatched the 2011 Best New Artist Grammy away from Justin Bieber. A dazzling player skilled at butterfly-zoo arrangements, the 27-year-old steps toward pop here, echoing Stevie Wonder and Aja-era Steely Dan. Despite a charmingly lithe voice, her song writing has a way to go; high points are covers (Wonder’s "I Can’t Help It") and some groove enhanced Q-Tip co-productions. Someone call Questlove: Those 'fros could make magic together.

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Karma Chameleon”

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."