The arrival of Chaka Khan’s first studio album in 12 years, “Hello Happiness” (Diary Records/Island Records), poses some uncomfortable questions. Chief among them: Whose album is this, anyway?

Producer David “Switch” Taylor boasts an impressive pedigree working with cutting-edge artists such as M.I.A. and Major Lazer. Along with his label partner, Sarah Ruba Taylor, he puts Khan in a contemporary context, though not without some cost.

At 65, Khan remains a robust yet pliant singer and percussionist. After her tenure with funk titans Rufus in the ’70s, she continued to expand her audience with feminist anthems such as “I’m Every Woman” and collaborations with Prince, Meshell Ndegeocello and Mary J. Blige. She entered rehab in 2016 and re-emerged last year. She appeared at major festivals such as Pitchfork in Chicago and ushered in her Switch collaboration with a hip-shaking single, “Sugar.”

“Sugar” carved out a path to the dance floor, but it also made Khan sound like a heavily filtered singer-for-hire as she belted out the hook. The song anchors “Hello Happiness,” and the remaining six tracks are essentially more of the same, with Khan’s voice rarely in the forefront. Her vocals become just another texture in stretches of the title track, vamp over electric guitar and organ on the rock-ish “Don’t Cha Know,” wander through a wilderness of echoing dub-reggae bass on “Isn’t That Enough” and breeze past the tropical vibes of “Ladylike.”

Her multitracked voice folds into the production swirl, often reciting vague bromides such as, “You make me feel like a lady” and, “You make me so happy.” “Too Hot” provides the sole exception, a growling blues number that suggests a female answer to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins at his raunchiest, backed by girl-group harmonies, Gothic organ and a creeping groove. It’s terrific, with Khan at her most visceral and daring. “I’m in control, I need somebody to hold … a man who likes it rough,” she sings, her voice scraping the bottom of her range and then rising to pierce through the steaminess. It’s an all-too-rare reminder on this album of the heights that Khan can still scale in the right setting.

Greg Kot is a Tribune critic.

greg@gregkot.com