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March music reviews
Checking out the hottest sounds in music this month.
By Larissa Primeau
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Adele 19, Universal Music
This young chanteuse hails from South London, UK and if you fell in love with Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, you'll have to make room in your heart for one more.
Adele Adkins attended the same arts school as Kate Nash, Lily Allen and Leona Lewis. They must be putting something in the water at that school (and judging from British teeth, we know it's not fluoride!) Snide stereotypical jokes aside, one thing the British are managing to do these days is produce talented young female artists.
Here's the story of Adele: She graduated from BRIT School in Croydon in May 2006. Soon after her friend Jamie.T (another UK artist I've showcased on ellecanada.com music reviews) signed her to his label Pacemaker Recordings and released her first single "Hometown Glory", in which she sings her praises of Tottenham. Her myspace page soon exploded with hits, BBC started to notice that her star was on the rise and by December of 2007 she was awarded with the first Brit Awards Critics' Choice prize. She was also selected by UK music critics, editors and broadcasters as the winner in the BBC 6 Music's Sound of 2008 poll for acts to emerge in the coming year.
She's currently in the throes of her first world tour and all this before she turns 20 on May 5th. To say this has been a whirlwind for Adele would be an understatement. She often evokes comparisons to Amy Winehouse, but in my opinion her music has yet to reach the caliber of production and songwriting that Winehouse has attained. This isn't to say that she's not as talented as her fellow BRIT alumnus, perhaps just a bit raw at the moment. This year's Grammy sweetheart Winehouse, had an album before Back in Black called Frank which failed to make an impact outside of the UK and in my opinion is good but not great. It often takes time for young singers to refine their sound and Adele is definitely on the right path. Her debut album 19 is a great start. Singles "Hometown" and "Chasing Pavements" are the best on the album, but the rest of the album is simply not on the same level as the aforementioned songs. If she can manage to write and perform an entire album as good as those two songs, the comparisons to Winehouse will stop and we might just see a new British chanteuse collecting a Grammy or two.
Adele is one of the next big things coming out of the UK and you definitely won't regret checking her out.
Read reviews of Pascale Picard and YOAV.
Image of Pascale Picard courtesy of www.umusic.ca.
Read more:
February music reviews
2007 film recap
Top 10 fashion faux pas of 2007
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