JHUD
American Idol finalist, Oscar-winning actress, guest vocalist for everyone from David Guetta to Meat Loaf – Jennifer Hudson is a hugely gifted singer who has, nonetheless, never established much of a musical identity. That should change with her third album, a time warp that reinvents the late Seventies à la Daft Punk. The modern R&B-as-disco-as-house thing is very well-trod territory (Kelis, Diddy-Dirty Money, Robin Thicke), but only Hudson has the range to recall the brassy melismata of Thelma Houston (''It's Your World''), the siren wail of Gloria Gaynor (''He Ain’t Goin' Nowhere'') and the spirals of CeCe Peniston (''I Still Love You'') on one LP.