Ella Henderson - Chapter One (Album Review)

The Xfactor was once a force to be reckoned with. It governed the charts in the run up to Christmas, with retro covers performed by hopefuls week on week appearing in the top 10 decades after their original release. In some ways the Xfactor did a great service to commercial pop music by increasing music sales in the Autumn/Winter period. Things haven't been so immense down Xfactor street in recent years though, with winner's sales figures nowhere near what they once were and no winner having quite the success of Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke. The format is weakening and its transparency is becoming all the more apparent with constant gimmicks and ridiculous contestants. Thankfully, it doesn't take a winner to release an incredible album. Alumni Rebecca Ferguson's Heaven is the perfect example, runner up to uber douche Matt Cardle (somehow now on his fourth album) it sold over 500,000 copies in the UK and quite rightly so. The shock exit of similarly likeable contestant Ella Henderson in week 6 was flabbergasting, a travesty at the time. It's clear that it was probably for the best because here she is a few years on with her debut album Chapter One and it's a damn doozy. 

Cheryl - I Don't Care

"LOL I DC!"

I'm not really a fan of Cheryl Tweedy Cole Toilet Attendant Batterer Fernandes-Versini when she tries to sing songs with 'meaning'. Pffft, what is this 'meaning' she's trying to put into her 'music'. Silly silly Cheryl with this silly new song. We all like her a lot more when she's singing on Calvin Harris' Call My Name because it's so ridiculously good, and dancing around and not having a semi-credible rapper feature on her song. That's when I like her anyway. 

So she's releasing this new song called I Don't Care and she says "FUCKING" in it because it feels "so fucking good" to not care. She doesn't care guys! Anyway, the song is at first, kind of promising because it sounds so poppy with its camp beats and silliness. It turns out not to be so great because it's just really hard to take her seriously, attempting to sing a song with that aforementioned 'meaning'. In a nutshell it's a bit like a Katy Perry bonus track reject. Yep, a song that Katy Perry wrote and was like "Nah man, this is too pish to even be a bonus track on my deluxe album reissue complete sweet shop, but I reckon that hot woman Cheryl Call My Name I met as a judge on Xfactor would like it on her next album." 

1 . 5 / 5

NEW MUSIC: Gwen Stefani - Baby Don't Lie

It has been six years since we heard anything from the pipes of Gwen Stefani, solo artist. Sure we heard her last year when she reunited with No Doubt for a comeback which it ended up being more of a blowback. Alas, she's trying to make sweet with her nostalgic fanbase with a new single that feels like it's come out of nowhere but is actually already out in America. Jammy buggers.

Just as a reminder, Gwen Stefani released amazing solo material between 2006 - 2008 and almost all of it was super good; recall singles The Sweet Escape, What You Waiting For(?),  and of course Hollaback Girl. Here she is, grovelling to us with her new single from an album I didn't even know was being recorded, Baby Don't Lie. It kicks off with snaps and clicks that threaten to burst into Hollaback Girl Deux, but don't. Instead we're treated to a reggae flavour array of tropical synths and tinny drum beats and a catchy vanilla chorus. It's not the most original, sass filled, forward thinking piece of pop you'll hear in 2014, but it is enough to give you summer vibes in the depressing British winter. 

3  /  5

One to Watch: Tinashe

Have you heard of Tinashe? If not, you're about to. She's 21, American and showing herself to be an R&B deity. Check out All Hands On Deck below from her debut album Aquarius, out now. It's a bit like the awesome R&B that came out of America in the late 90s early 00s before the genre became, well, shit. The album is brilliant by the way. She co-wrote the whole thing and did some knob twiddling (easy tiger). If you take the time to listen to the album you'll be presented with songs that Ashanti would have been proud to call her own when she was... younger. There are even echoes of Aaliyah in there with clattering metallic synths and smooth beats. 

Full album review coming soon...

Jessie Ware - Tough Love (Album Review)

Still waiting on that ASDA delivery.

The soft flutters and twinkling synths of Devotion, the title track from Jessie Ware's debut album were the perfect introduction to an album that was one of 2012’s finest collections, an album packed with charm, passion and Ware’s soulful, classy tones. Her sophomore album Tough Love opens in a similar fashion with the haunting arrangement of its own title track. The question is, has she managed to match or exceed the expectations of her fans? Does Tough Love continue perfection? In a commercial landscape littered with so much crap, Jessie Ware is a Goddess, perhaps even a saviour of contemporary pop music. Her debut album came along at a time when pop music had become more predictable than ever and the charts had become less about quality and more about brands churning out continuous money making singles with lazy lyrics and overused producers. 

She may not be a producer herself but her ear for a melody and a heady synth arrangement is mesmerising. Tough Love has made clear sonic and vocal progress from her days on Devotion. Ware stated in an interview that she tried different ‘things’ with her voice on this album and it’s apparent from the incredible title track and its unexpected falsetto and the likes of Say You Love Me; Co-written by Ed Sheeran, this is Ware at her most exposed, most emotive and there are moments where her voice is startling. Then you have the echoing riff of Miguel collaboration You & I (Forever); its simple chorus is complemented by understated vocal delivery and gorgeous background harmonies and listen out for the sumptuous vocal riffs in the middle eight which are my album highlight. Then there's the awesome Cruel, an Okumu (co-writer of Devotion) and Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Little Boots, Haim) production with a killer chorus, synth beats and string arrangement.

Jessie J - Sweet Talker (Album Review)

Even the album art is annoying.

It would be nice if an artist like Jessie J would be the kind of artist who reshapes the pop landscape. It would be nice if an artist like Jessie J used the talents she has for singing, performing and just being a Popstar and released consistently good records. It’s no secret that she’s not really done any of that so far. With one of the most distinctive voices in pop music she should be ruling the charts, figuratively killing all of her competitors. If in combat, she used her last album Alive as a shield, she’d be dead. It wasn’t a terrible album, but commercially it was a disaster in comparison to the immense success of her debut Who You Are. Now she’s back with third opus (or attempt at artistry) Sweet Talker and we are all hoping it’s a return to the sass that fuelled Do It Like a Dude and the pop mastery of Domino. 

It isn’t. Jessie can rest easy at night that she hasn’t released the worst album of all time, however it’s not much ‘harder’ than her last effort which she herself deemed “too soft” and it’s not much better either. Where Alive did succeed was with predictable yet memorable (on occasion) hooks on the likes of Wild and Daydreamin’. Here, we’ve got Jessie J frantically trying to piece together the fragments of her broken reputation as if she’s trying to inject the generic into the album’s circulatory system to get sales figures up. For once it would be nice to hear her experiment and leave musical reliability to P!nk.