Fleur East - Love, Sax & Flashbacks

Fleur East is a pop star, and she was as soon as she stepped out on stage in week one of 2014's Xfactor live shows and knocked out a brilliant rendition of Meghan Trainor's mildly successful 'All About That Bass'. Now one year on since she finished with a silver medal behind nice guy Ben Haenow she's back with her debut album Love, Sax & Flashbacks.

Preceded by the epic single 'Sax', you know it as the Asda Xmas ad soundtrack, the album is packed with energetic, frivolous pop fun. If an album is supposed to be an expression of an artist's true self, their experiences and their current state of mind then Fleur has been living the life for the past 12 months. She sings about being ditched in a club by a love interest on 'Breakfast', then potentially pulling one of his attractive friends to end the night on a high note. The song is laced with mild 80s influences, a sound that explodes on 'More and More', a pop masterpiece that echoes Whitney Houston from start to finish.

The entire album has a retro flavour, the aforementioned 80s numbers more so than anything else, but there's nostalgia throughout. Classic pop smacked together with the horn arrangements that made Sax so punchy shine bright on 'Gold Watch', the album's strongest chapter. Fleur chants 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' above a thumping pop arrangement so exhilarating it could become a staple party hit, should her career continue on for years to come.

Fleur's voice isn't powerful, but it is distinct, smoky and pleasant. Her vocals are solid throughout, she knows her limits, however when she raps its glorious. When she bites on 'Love Me or Leave Me Alone' it's brilliant and her turn on the verses of Jackson 5 sampling 'Kitchen' is convincing, before the middle eight kicks in and she chants 'Tina Tina Tina Turn-up'. Given what I said re her vocals, her best performance is on 'Over Getting Over You', a pop-dance campfest with synths and chants in abundance; even a reference to the youtube sensation 'Ain't Nobody Got Time for That'.

Love, Sax & Flashbacks isn't perfect and at times the production comes off a little cheap. It is fun though and it's refreshing to have someone take it back to the dance floor and approach the industry as a performer. Whether this is a strong enough album to connect with the Ed Sheeran, Adele loving British public remains to be seen but one thing is certain, it's the birth of a star.

3.5/5

Fleur East - Sax

When Fleur East finished second to Ben Where Haenow in the 2014 Xfactor final I wasn't as angry as I thought I would be. I expected sparks to fly from the foot shaped hole in the flat screen, but it remained unscathed. The format has a habit of crowning winning failures and its eliminated alumni surpass the performances of their vocal chord stretching assailants (ref. Rebecca Ferguson). I knew, when that silver medal was handed over (there are no medals), that this was in fact a win for Fleur's future in the music business and going by how amazing she is as a pop star in training, a win for pop fans all over.

Now she's finally here, with her first ever single 'Sax' in tow. Lifted from her upcoming debut album Love, Sax and Flashbacks, it's a euphoric brass explosion, bursting with sass, snappy verses and a breakdown Mark Ronson would be proud to call his own. It's certainly reflective of 'Uptown Funk', a song Fleur actually put on the map (kind of), but the similarity isn't an issue when it's such a brilliant result. It'll be interesting to see if this is a one off success, because it will be a success. I really hope it is a sign of great things to come though.

5/5