James Arthur (Deluxe Version)

James Arthur’s 2013 debut album creates a musical storm around his passionate soul voice. The gospel- and funk-infused songs provide a sure-footed platform from which this *X Factor* winner can preach and plead, particularly on the colossal opener, “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You.” There’s a gruff ferocity to his singing—he’s intense enough to rap a solemn rags-to-riches tale in “Flyin’”—and his rock-solid certainty comes from hard-won life lessons, whether delivered in apologetic self-recrimination (“Supposed”) or the 3 a.m. howling pain of “Impossible.”