Lloyd: King Of Hearts

Lloyd took a break from his usual seduction routine on 2009’s Like Me: The Young Goldie EP, a free mini-album that played off the oddness of his slithering, feathery voice. The EP’s dark, confessional tone demonstrated a range the singer hadn’t previously hinted at, and it might have made a thrilling template for a full-length if he’d opted to continue down that path. But Lloyd isn’t really the tortured type. Far from it—he’s modern R&B’s most irrepressible romantic, matching his contemporaries’ bottomless libido with the boyish mirth of a young Michael Jackson. Instead of following Like Me into the shadows, Lloyd’s fourth album, King Of Hearts, doubles down on his amorous enthusiasm, pushing it to such delirious extremes that these songs feel risky and uncharted even as they play to his most obvious strengths.