★★★★☆

Mahalia Burkmar is releasing her debut album at the grand old age of 21, eight years after being signed by Atlantic Records. As it turns out, it is coming at just the right time. Love and Compromise is essentially a teenage-relationships diary set to music, the subjects ranging from splitting up with a first love and being alarmingly blasé about it (I Wish I Missed My Ex), to dealing with a new boyfriend’s old flame (He’s Mine), to the minefield of casual dating (Karma).

The Leicester singer’s straightforward lyrical approach makes her tales of romantic adventure easy to relate to, while the music falls into the soulful tradition of Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, with a touch of