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Cutting ties with her original camp could have gone badly and instead it produced the most relaxed record of her first decade. Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, R Kelly and Babyface all contribute, and rather than pulling the album apart the variety gives her room. Everything is a warm, unhurried groove built on a familiar loop. I Can Love You brings Lil' Kim in and turns swagger into a duet.

Missing You is the crushing ballad that proves she did not need misery to sing about loss. Love Is All We Need is the sound of somebody standing up straight for the first time in three years. The production is more polished than the early work and a little of the grain is gone with it, which is the fair criticism. But the songwriting is sturdier, the singing is more controlled without being tamed, and it is the record where she stops being a scene's mascot and becomes a headline act on her own terms.