A slow burner that’s been steadily creeping up the US airplay charts for months, Canadian R&B singer Melanie Fiona demonstrates the correct way to deal with the kind of spacey, submarine production whose popularity has been increasing of late: sing the hell out of a strong song over it, not match it in aimless drifting.

‘4AM’ is like a cross between Drake’s ‘Marvin’s Room’ and Alicia Keys’ ‘Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart’: disembodied, helpless melancholy whose single-minded commitment to an emotion results in a song of wrenching epic bleakness. It’s also the best way to combat the callow self-pity of those who sing about the tribulations of the VIP section, sung from the perspective of the woman left behind as she realises that “this muthafucka thinkin’ I’m stupid”.

Alex Macpherson