EDITORS’ NOTES

Prior to releasing her debut album, Emeli Sandé had been a pop songwriter for hire, but her true voice manifests with Our Version of Events. She’s optimistic atop the delicate piano of “Mountains”, and “Hope”, a '70s funk-indebted political number featuring Alicia Keys, but beautifully rueful on “Clown” and “Maybe”, which deal maturely with relationships gone awry. It’s a class act that sets Sandé up for her bold second act.