Anastacia is set to make her long-awaited album with her new album Heavy Rotation. The follow up to her third album, Anastasia has been four years in the making, but is it well worth the wait?

I had high hopes for this record as Anastacia has one of the most powerful voices in music and is never one to shy away from an empowering track destined to make any woman feel like she can take on the world.

At first listen it seems like the CD isn’t as upbeat and powerful as the singer is so used to releasing, however, on listen number three and four you begin to realise that we have a singer who has matured and changed with the times.

We see the Anastacia we know and love coming back as she belts out The Way I See It whose lyrics make no mistake that she is just as headstrong as ever, despite what life throws at her; “Well you’re trippin’ if you’re thinking’ that I ain’t gonna speak my mind. Well pardon me for livin, expressing my opinion,.”

In the background we hear a beat that we are used to with singers such as Duffy and Adele, probably thanks to her having some help from man-of-the-moment Ne-Yo. However, that said, this is a track that blows all the competition out of the water.

The third song Absolutely Positively once again takes on the entire male race in just four minutes, thanks to the help of a cracking bass guitar and a slower pace. Her voice is just as good as it has ever been and I even found myself swishing my hair and reaching for my highest pair of high heels.

Keen to prove how dynamic her voice is, Defeatedopts for a more R n’ B sound which wouldn’t sound out of place on an album by Usher or Rhianna. I just bet they wish they had penned it first.

We pick up the pace again with Heavy Rotation and this is one perfect comeback song that I can see becoming a dance floor staple over the coming months. Think of Madonna and Britney Spears’ attempts at their reinvention and multiply it by 1,000 and this song is what you’d end up with; minus the messed up lives.

The rhythm makes you want to reach for a leotard and sweat bands and thrown down a dance-off competition fight in the centre of the office. It’s dancey tune perfectly complements Anastacias vocals and I begin to wonder if there is anything this woman can’t conquer?

I Call It Love is the first song where we really see ‘the old Anastacia’ come back in full-force, however, although this is what I wanted to see and hear when I first put it on, it has to be said that it’s a safe record that she knows she can sing, with all credit to her, it’s still incredible, but she certainly has nothing else to prove.

The tempo gets slow and intimate on Never Gonna Love Again as the background music gives way to Anastacia’s incredible voice as she conveys the terrible pain of losing a lover. This is a song that needs to be sung to a huge audience and I think it could be to her what I will Always Love You is to Whitney Houston.

The final track, Beautiful Messed Up World is another song that can just slip right into the charts, and it becomes obvious that Anastacia hasn’t wasted her years away from the charts and has kept her finger firmly on the pulse of modern music.

Although her previous records will never get old, it is clear that she has done her research when making this album as she seems to know what every fan of modern music wants and has packed it all into 12 songs. Whatever genre of music you’re into, if you appreciate a good singer, Anastacia is off the chart.

Verdict : 5/5

Skip to: Never Gonna Love Again if you want to warble into a hairbrush or Heavy Rotation if you can’t to dance around your bedroom!

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison