Young R&B star Mya got some mileage from her 1998 debut album's "It's All About Me" and "My First Night with You," but made her deepest marks that year with cameos on two film-related hip-hop singles, Pras Michel's "Ghetto Supastar" and Blackstreet's "Take Me There". Back with her own second release, Fear of Flying, she aims to solidify her identity. The promising title-perhaps a nod to Erica Jong's groundbreaking 1970s novel about liberated female sexuality?-turns out to be a reference to commitment-phobia. The high must be followed by heartbreak, the song implies. That theme resounds in various ways through many of the record's other tracks, from the sneering "Case of the Ex" to the bouncing "Lie Detector" (which showcases dancehall king Beenie Man). Mya grabs for a piece of her own freedom with the party celebration and Left Eye duet "Takin' Me Over", which comes as a welcome change of pace from the focus on failed romance. Fear of Flying is hardly a great album, but it does represent a real step forward for the singer. -Bob Roget.

Cruising in a BMW convertible with your lover on a hot day comes to mind when listening to delectable tracks like "You're So Fly" or "Still Be Loving You", on Damage's Since You've Been Gone. Then the scene suddenly changes and you are in the middle of the dance floor raving it up to the soulful garage track "Rumours". The UK R&B quintet aren't starved for variety on this outing-there is even a little Latino flava with "Maria". (Who is this Maria, and why do Carlos Santana and Damage both seem to think she is the only Latino woman worth singing about?) Moving away from the mainstream pop of their last album, Damage uncompromisingly present upbeat R&B with vocals and smoochy harmonies akin to D'Angelo, but uniquely their own. -Sama Sesay.

After a hiatus of several years, Lisa Stansfield released her self-titled CD, a collection of soulful musings and R&B rumblings. Heralded by many as the white queen of soul, Stansfield rises to the occasion with songs like "Never Gonna Fall," "The Real Thing," and "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up. " Her smooth voice effortlessly coaxes every drop of emotion out of each song with an admirable and classy restraint. Nowhere is this more evident than in the neo-torch numbers, "I'm Leavin'" and "I Cried My Last Tear, Last Night. " The album ends with the bootleg mix of her earlier hit, "People Hold On. " A juggernaut of a bass line rumbles underneath, also approximated in Tori Amos's dance mix of "Professional Widow. " Stansfield's voice glides over the infectious house groove, making the cut a dance floor staple. -Steve Gdula.

Linda Ronstadt was America's sweetheart of the 1970s, because she was able to combine a pretty face, a pretty voice and a safe personality. Her songs might be full of big notes and high emotions, but they satisfied every predictable expectation of a love ballad or good-time rocker. Mariah Carey is America's sweetheart of the 1990s for the exact same reasons. Music Box topped the charts, yielding number-one singles like "Dreamlover" and "Hero. " The titles, one a hollow Minnie Riperton knock-off and the other a stiff Barbra Streisand imitation, are tip-offs to Carey's reliance on untethered fantasy (she's the fantasizer in the lyrics and the fantasy object in the videos). These songs, co-written and co-produced like most of the album by Walter Anasieff and Carey herself, are constructed to show off her dizzying soprano, not to provide an original approach to a well-worn subject. Even when she gets a strong ballad to sing, like her current singles-Babyface's "Never Forget You" or Badfinger/Nilsson's "Without You"-she overdoes the self-pity bit so much that the song loses its dramatic tension. -Geoffrey Himes.

Michael Jackson was still going for pop hits with 1991's Dangerous, but he also front-loaded the album with six straight Teddy Riley-assisted cuts. This half-hour swoop of tense, aggressive, often angular funk was Jackson's most interesting music since Thriller, and still sounds, well, invincible on this remastered edition. After that, the record's uneven, but there's nothing embarrassing about it, either. "Gone Too Soon", a non-Jackson composition about teen AIDS casualty Ryan White, is a quiet statement (particularly played next to the choir-laden "Heal the World", "Keep the Faith", and "Will You Be There") showing that the star doesn't always have to get showy. The sprightly "Black or White" is explicitly pro-interracial romance, an angle its video didn't go near, and the urgent "Give In to Me" is almost scary. Scary good, that is. -Rickey Wright.

After a hiatus of several years, Lisa Stansfield released her self-titled CD, a collection of soulful musings and R&B rumblings. Heralded by many as the white queen of soul, Stansfield rises to the occasion with songs like "Never Gonna Fall," "The Real Thing," and "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up. " Her smooth voice effortlessly coaxes every drop of emotion out of each song with an admirable and classy restraint. Nowhere is this more evident than in the neo-torch numbers, "I'm Leavin'" and "I Cried My Last Tear, Last Night. " The album ends with the bootleg mix of her earlier hit, "People Hold On. " A juggernaut of a bass line rumbles underneath, also approximated in Tori Amos's dance mix of "Professional Widow. " Stansfield's voice glides over the infectious house groove, making the cut a dance floor staple. -Steve Gdula.

Eternal are back, this time as a duo, having lost long-serving member Kelly Bryan. The remaining two, Esther and Vernie Bennet, began their careers singing in a Croydon Baptist church; on their latest album, their voices are gloriously tinged with gospel influences. The former 1993 teen phenomena are no longer peddling the pop/dance songs written by their own personal hit factory: on Eternal, they have had a hand in producing a number of the tracks. The UK's most successful all-female pop group since Bananarama have written material that draws comparisons to artists such as TLC and Destiny's Child-first single "What'cha Gonna Do" gives TLC's hit "No Scrubs" a definite run for its money. They've also adopted a bit of a Latin vibe, hooking up with producers Stevie J-whose credits including Puff Daddy and Mariah Carey-and Emilio Estefan (husband of Gloria). -Shanti Sivanesan.

"Free at last / Out here on my own," Janet Jackson sings on the title track of her 1986 blockbuster, Control, an album about personal liberation, romantic longing, and, of all things, sexual responsibility. After two albums of middling dance-pop that were comfortably in the Jackson family mold, Janet dropped in on the burgeoning Minneapolis funk factory of producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and came up with five top 10 hits, including the opening triad of "Control," "Nasty," and "What Have You Done for Me Lately," as well as the yearning "When I Think of You" and "Let's Wait Awhile," that rare song (considering some of Janet's hits to come) about not having sex. In its own way, Control is the most convincing declaration of artistic independence since Stevie Wonder's "Music of My Mind. " -Daniel Durchholz.