Chrisette Michele releases a gutsy third album

Chrisette Michele has never been a run-of-the-mill R&B singer, and the Grammy Award-winner pulls even further away from the pack with the gutsy “Let Freedom Reign.” Now on her third disc, Michele bends her vintage vocals to take on love, loss and headier topics — and she raps too.

“Oh American citizen/ come collect your freedom/ no matter what you’re living in/ no more giving in,” sings Michele on the title track. She also drops this rap verse: “Keep us in the four walls of our church we’ll be quiet/ Most of us ain’t even Democratic or Republican/ and by coincidence/ we love the elected/ until they’re detected of being human.”