Ch. 1 Vs. 1

Photographer: Terrell Mullin.
The first solo album from the star of The Color Purple's Broadway revival, Harriet, and Genius: Aretha offers highly emotional and polished adult pop that integrates a little gospel, blues, soul, and folk. If Cynthia Erivo's voice wasn't so nuanced -- it can shift from conveying grief to bliss with little apparent exertion -- the rarely ceasing sense of gravity in her lyrics would be taxing. During only the first few songs, she sings of dying inside (after doom scrolling), self-immolation (the result of "playing with fire"), and the death of a baby in his mother's arms (from an unspecified cause). There's never any mistaking the songs for the work of anyone but an actress who happens to have a capital-V voice, as they're all suitable for a stage or big-screen production. The closing sequence -- consisting of a deeply moving piano ballad addressed to her absent father, a triumphant self-empowerment anthem, and a reassuring tribute to her mother and sister -- is undeniably powerful. ~ Andy Kellman