Premise: High praise for the latest effort from the 44-year-old Southern roots singer, dubbed album of the year by Spin . Her  a craggy voice and unsentimental (sometimes gothic, sometimes macho) lyrics, refreshing in a world inundated by cookie-cutter Lilith-ready wimps (David Browne, Entertainment Weekly ). Critics predict that Williams will finally emerge from her long sojourn as a cult star to become a genuine pop star.

Hypothesis: Williams new album is very different from her older ones and has received high praise.
Relation: neutral