In My Mind

Heather Headley

Every couple of years neo-soulsters get to worrying that the well has run dry--Heather Headley, long forgotten since 2002's This Is Who I Am despite a gargantuan voice and a sexy stiletto-heeled swagger, is the latest to step up and offer sweet relief. In My Mind has fun with its title: from the opening bits of the bittersweet title track down through the gospel-lite of "Change," the closer, these songs hew so closely to the major themes running through the average woman's mind in any given 45 minutes that the effect is like letting your own thoughts spool out onto disc. Two-timers, long-lost flames, breakup fantasies, crises of confidence, family dramas, fun with the girls, and self-improvement fixations all get their due, and in a style that translates roughly to "step right up--I know you've been there too." Busting up the diary-ish aspects of the disc are Vybz Kartel, who puts the party in "How Many Ways," and the equally long-lost Shaggy, who shakes Headley's Trinidadian tree on the uptempo "Rain." -Tammy La Gorce

In My Mind Album: