Album: Adele, 21 (XL / Columbia)

Her label has thrown the works at the second album by croak-voiced Brit-School brat Adele Adkins, with top producers from both sides of the Atlantic (Rick Rubin, Paul Epworth) and a roll-call of songwriters you’ve never heard of but who wrote half the top 10, conspiring to create a more rootsy sound for 21 than her debut 19.

There's no "Chasing Pavements"-style killer, but she has murdered the Cure's "Lovesong" using Heart FM-friendly jazz-lite as her weapon.