Robin Thicke, the Grammy Award-winning, blue-eyed soul man who broke into the R&B scene with his big hit “Lost Without You,” is back with his third album Something Else, released on September 30, 2008 on StarTrak/Interscope Records. I really expected a lot from this album because it was the follow-up to one of my favorite albums of all time. If you also enjoyed his hugely successful last album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke, then you will also like his latest which has the same classic R&B style that he has become known for.

Since gaining mainstream success with his previous record, the 31-year-old singer/songwriter has gotten more confident in his singing and it shows. He sounds very expressive on this album with a lot of falsetto. Although this album does not have cameos from artists like Faith Evans and Pharrell Williams as the last one did, Thicke more than delivers on his own. He displays a charisma and charm that only few artists come close to matching.

The first single “Magic” is up-tempo, disco-inspired track that has reached as high as number 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The lyrics talk about someone reversing their lovers past hurts in relationships and Mary J. Blige appears on the remix. The opening song of the album is “You’re My Baby”, a soulful track which reminds me of “Teach U A Lesson” from his last album. The jazzy “Ms. Harmony” is the “Lost Without You” of this album, speaking about a woman in a musical metaphor. The beautiful horn-sprinkled “The Sweetest Love” is a “sweet” love song that is scheduled to be his next single. The emotional “Dreamworld” finds Thicke fantasizing about a world free of racism and reminds me of “2 the Sky”. He gives an example of where he and his wife, actress Paula Patton, can move around without getting stared at. Other songs on the album include the sexy ballad “Loverman”, additional up-tempo tracks “Sidestep” and “Hard on my love”, the firm and funky “Shadow of doubt”, and the title track “Something else”.

Robin Thicke has outdone himself with this album. Most artists have trouble recreating the effect of a really successful album, but he has gone above and beyond. Something Else is an instant classic and I give it an “A”.

• laporsha lowry