Hallelujah, here's a complete Burke
4/5
The biggest TV audience of 2008 tuned in to watch Alexandra Burke win The X Factor, but, as plenty of others have found to their cost, winning a talent contest is certainly no guarantee of success.
For every Leona Lewis, who went on to release the UK's fastest-selling debut album and cracked America, there's a Steve Brookstein and Shayne Ward to consider.
But somehow, Alexandra always seemed too good to fail and with Overcome she's got an album worthy of her considerable singing ability. You'll know current single Bad Boys but there's plenty of more up-tempo, 80s-influenced pop tracks to go with it.
Bury Me (6 Feet Under) channels Supremes-esque Motown, while The Silence, They Don't Know and her chart-topping cover of Hallelujah make up the obligatory ballad quota.
As Simon Cowell himself might say, this one's got a bright future ahead of her. AW
Whitney Houston – I Look To You
3/5
This is the comeback that we've been eagerly anticipating, but is it worth the build-up?
Sadly not. Seven years after Just Whitney, and all her personal struggles, there's enormous pressure for "the Voice", as we know the R&B diva, to regain her former star power.
Unfortunately, her once-amazing vocals seem to be lacking in songs like Million Dollar Bill, Call You Tonight and Nothin' But Love.
There's a hint of her old form in A Song For You, but it soon turns into another dancefloor filler, her voice obscured by heavy beats.
The star credits on Whitney's sixth studio album are promising – Alicia Keys penned Million Dollar Bill, R Kelly wrote Salute and Akon offers his vocals on Like I Never Left – but overall, it's devoid of the wow factor. SL
Annie – Don't Stop
4/5
After five years of label wrangling and false starts, Norwegian pop princess Annie's follow-up to her much-loved and grossly underexposed debut is finally hitting the shelves.
Happily, it's everything that her fans have been hoping for.
Girls Aloud collaborators Xenomania are among those on production duties, while Richard X contributes the majestic lead single Songs Remind Me Of You.
This is an album packed with perfectly pitched electro-pop, atmospheric 80s-tinged ballads and brilliantly withering put-downs – what more could you ask for?
Hopefully it'll be second-time lucky and these songs will find the success and exposure they deserve. SH
Foreign Beggars – United Colours Of Beggattron
2/5
Ever since Dizzee Rascal broke on to the scene in 2003, a slew of young British rappers has been trying to make it in an increasingly crowded genre.
Foreign Beggars have fared better than most – members have collaborated with everyone from Bjork to Gorillaz – and their fourth album is a bid to break into the mainstream.
Unfortunately, while the rhyming remains slick and original, their message often gets lost in a haze of over-production. The laidback Move Higher and bouncy Contact are undoubtedly the pick of the bunch, but there isn't really enough on here to sustain the attention for longer than a few tunes. NH
Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence
4/5
Quiet Is The New Loud, the 2001 debut by Norwegian acoustic duo Kings Of Convenience, is, putting it simply, a stunning album.
The gentle playing style, almost-whispered vocals and their deft talent for creating memorable melodies was one of the year's surprise successes. Follow-up Riot On An Empty Street went some way to repeating the formula, although lacked some of its predecessor's charm.
After a few years away, during which Erland Oye, one half of KOC, formed The Whitest Boy Alive, they're back – and with a new album every bit as heavenly as their first offering. There's nothing new here, but the day we get tired of songs as gorgeous as Mrs Cold, Boat Behind and Freedom And Its Owner will be a sorry one indeed. AW
Ingrid Michaelson – Everybody
2/5
These days it seems hard to find a new artist who does not come with the handy "as featured on hit US show Scrubs/Grey's Anatomy/The OC/House/Gossip Girl (delete as appropriate)" billing.
Indeed, so universal is the claim that it no longer means anything.
In New Yorker Ingrid Michaelson's case, one could conclude that American networks must be chronically short of anodyne, cutesy songs to flesh out their montage scenes.
While there are occasional hints of an interesting writer at work – the odd melody or turn of phrase – mostly, Everybody is frustratingly one-paced. RD
UP'N'COMING Loughborough band Quartershade release their new single Lights Out on Monday. It's produced by Paul Tipler (Idlewild, Forward Russia and Leicester's mid-90s Britpop hopes Perfume).
Reviews by Andy Welch, Shereen Low, Simon Harker, Nick Howes and Rory Dollard.
Alexandra Burke
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