KHAN DO!
Veteran diva Chaka Khan returns after 12 years — and proves she’s the queen of funk, jazz AND rock
CHAKA KHAN: Hello Happiness (Diary)
Verdict: Upbeat comeback
ARIANA GRANDE: Thank U, Next (Island)
Verdict: Pop Titan hits her peak
Chaka khan is often tagged the Queen Of Funk, but it’s a nickname that doesn’t do full justice to her talent.
The singer, born Yvette Stevens, made her name as a member of Chicago funk ensemble Rufus, but she’s equally at home singing jazz, rock and gospel. She has worked with Ray Charles and Rick Wakeman. and, as a soul singer, stands proudly in a line stretching from aretha Franklin — she performed the gospel staple Going Up Yonder at Franklin’s funeral — to alicia keys and Beyonce.
her first solo album in 12 years revels in such versatility. It’s short — just seven tracks — but still incorporates a dazzling array of styles. at its best, it revisits the swagger of hits such as I’m Every Woman and I Feel For You, but it’s also modern enough to avoid becoming a parody of past glories. Like fellow americans nile Rodgers and Mary J. Blige, khan, 65, has sought British help: hello happiness is given its contemporary edge by electronic producer Dave ‘Switch’ Taylor, once of dance act Major Lazer, and his writing partner Sarah Ruba.
The pair contacted Chaka in the hope that she would contribute to another project, but their meeting went so well that an entire album ensued.
The mood is upbeat. In 2016, khan entered rehab to conquer an addiction to prescription drugs, and the life-affirming title track is an energetic testament to her recovery. Its loping jazz-funk sets the tone for the swirling disco of Like a Lady that follows.
The quality of the material occasionally dips. The electronic Don’t Cha know is a seductive groove, rather than a fully finessed song. The propulsive Like Sugar, underpinned by a classic Fatback Band sample, is a better floor-filler.
khan also dips commandingly into Latin rhythms (Ladylike), reggae (Isn’t That Enough) and, on album highlight Too hot, summons up a tough, bluesy power that is a timely reminder of her Chicago roots.
IF THE emergence of singles-orientated music streaming was supposed to herald the death of the traditional LP, nobody told ariana Grande.
In releasing her fifth album just six months after her fourth, she appears to acknowledge the supremacy of the longer format for those careerdefining moments. She’s not alone, with The 1975 and Foals opting for multiple album releases this year.
Thank U, next is a sequel to last year’s Sweetener, the Florida singer’s first album since the Manchester arena atrocity killed 22 and injured hundreds of her fans in 2017.
If Sweetener was uneven, overshadowed by stellar producers, the superior Thank U, next puts greater emphasis on her raw vocal talent. It also arrives in the wake of further upheaval, being framed by the death of her former boyfriend Mac Miller in September and a split from fiance Pete Davidson in October.
If Grande had decided to take more time out, nobody would have begrudged her the break. Instead, she has poured her heart into some absorbing new music.
In places, this feels like a break-up album, though there’s clearly more on her mind than her split from Davidson. The former Broadway entertainer, still only 25, seems mature beyond her years, and this deceptively soft, medium-paced record bristles with a mixture of pain and hard-won positivity.
On Imagine, ariana hankers for the smooth relationship that seems forever out of reach, while needy, all finger clicks and mellow keyboards, finds her coming clean about her vulnerabilities: ‘Lately I’ve been on a roller coaster, trying to get a hold of my emotions,’ she sings.
It’s a theme she revisits on the outstanding Ghostin. Produced with see- sawing chamber strings and synths by Max Martin, it’s a song about the guilt of staying in a relationship while longing for someone else: ‘I’m a girl with a whole lot of baggage,’ she admits.
neat touches abound. Fake Smile opens with Memphis soul star Wendy Rene’s after Laughter (Comes Tears). The title track is a good-hearted break-up song.
There’s playfulness, too, on NASA, a ballad packed with inter-planetary puns, and the R&B track Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored, which samples *nsync. Given its swift arrival, it would be tempting to see Thank U, next as a stop-gap to tie in with ariana’s world tour, which visits the Uk in august. But it’s nothing of the sort. Confident and coherent, it’s the sound of the world’s biggest female pop star in her creative pomp.
BOTH albums are out now. Chaka Khan plays London’s Mighty Hoopla festival on June 8 (mightyhoopla. com). Ariana Grande’s UK tour opens at London’s O2 Arena on August 17 (livenation. co.uk).