If Mary J. Blige wants "no more drama" in her life, Sunshine Anderson is more than happy to pile on gobs of it.

For the R&B singer's likable second album, she spends three quarters of her time braying about men who conveniently forget to mention the children they've had with other women, guys who make a booty calls and then neglect to show up, lovers who cut you off from your friends, men who send you deep into debt, and those who, on top of all those qualities, aren't even that good in bed.

"I had to fake it more times than I can count my hands," Anderson sings on the CD's opening track.

Zingers of this sort are hardly rare in R&B, but Anderson sings them with an admirable sense of proportion. Unlike Blige, who rivets listeners with her take-no-prisoners wail, Anderson needs no such abandon to attract. She trusts her instrument enough to find soul while hitting the notes straight on.

It helps that Anderson has been given so many notes worth hitting. "Sunshine at Midnight" boasts lots of strong tunes and fine beats, especially in its angrier first half.

It also arrives with a dramatic back story.

Anderson, who hails from the same town as soul singers Anthony Hamilton and Fantasia (Charlotte, N.C.), struggled for years before finding a solid early backer in singer Macy Gray. That scratchy-voiced star managed Anderson around the time of her debut, 2001's "Your Woman." While the album sold well, her label folded soon after it came out and it took seemingly forever for Anderson to find her footing again. Six years passed between her debut and this new CD, during which time Anderson sank into a deep depression.

Luckily, the new album has the rallying cry of a comeback. It's released on a label run by Beyoncé's dad, Matthew Knowles. The music's defiant tone dovetails well with the persona Beyoncé long ago honed. While Anderson isn't as compelling in the happier, slow jams that take up nearly half the tracks, the album's finale strongly revives the feeling she communicates best: vengeance.

Originally published on January 21, 2007