Adele, Aretha Get Upstaged as Emeli Sande Plans Invasion
By Robert Heller - 2012-06-27T23:00:01Z
Her first name is Adele, and shes the latest British soul singer to try to conquer the U.S.
Shes not Adele Adkins, the multi-Grammy-winner behind Rolling in the Deep. Shes Adele Emeli Sande, a former medical student whos being compared to Aretha Franklin.
Sandes dropped her first given name, not surprisingly. She still has the voice, the songs and the attitude -- with a support slot on Coldplays North American summer tour.
She will be worth the ticket price alone, based on her recent U.K. shows which have been continuing at a workaholic pace all year, including at Londons O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, Lovebox Weekend on June 16 and the Hackney Weekend on June 23.
X-Factor mogul Simon Cowell has praised her, as have a phalanx of grizzled critics, normally the implacable enemies of anything touched by Cowell. Soul doyenne Alicia Keys and upstart U.K. rappers like Wiley and Professor Green have recorded with her, while Sandes debut album Our Version of Events has topped the U.K. charts.
Watching her perform, its not difficult to fathom Sandes popularity. A shocking-blonde super-size quiff dominates the top of her head. The performance matches the hair. Sande sounds as though she may have jet engines instead of lungs, all the better for belting out the big choruses she repeatedly rustles up.
It also suits Sandes musical style. For all her soul roots (she proved herself capable of deploying just enough wiggly vocal acrobatics to keep the occasional plain verse interesting), her basic four-piece band and two backing singers frequently slide into poli! shed cla ssic mid-tempo rock.
In the first half of the concerts, its all a bit like Air Supply. Crafted songs never quite transcend various combinations of stand up for who you are platitudes and well-tried cliches.
The stripped-back drums and chugging guitar of Tiger bring to mind Eye of the Tiger by 1980s rockers Survivor.
Read All About It (Part III) is crooned earnestly over a solo piano before exploding into Bon Jovi power-balladry with swelling keyboards and ludicrous drum roll.
Then My Kind of Love switches leagues. The song, Sande explains in her gentle Scottish burr, was inspired by her experiences when training to be a doctor in a Glasgow hospital (she quit medicine in the fourth year of studies). She watched the interactions between patients and their visitors, and the result shows what Sande can do when her inspiration matches her technique.
A piano ballad, Hope, errs more toward the generalized sentiment of Lennons Imagine than to Adeles intimate confessional style.
A slew of other numbers -- Mountains, Next to Me and new tune Wonder -- suggest she will find her own audience. Heaven is pleasingly reminiscent of Massive Attacks classic Unfinished Sympathy, Sande soaring above the slick dance beats and swelling strings with uncomplicated pop pleasure.
Rating: ***.
What the Stars Mean:**** Excellent*** Good** Average* Mediocre(No stars) PoorOur Version of Events is on Virgin Records priced about $13 in the U.S. Download rates vary across services. Sande is playing three European festivals (Lounge on the Farm and T in the Park in the U.K. on July 6-7 and the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 14) before joining Coldplays North American tour starting July 23 in Toronto.
Information: http://us.emelisande.com/
(Rober! t Heller is a music critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
Muse highlights include Scott Reyburn on art market, Jason Harper on cars and Rich Jaroslovsky on technology.
To contact the writer on the story: Robert Heller in London at roberthelleruk@yahoo.co.uk
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Emeli Sande
Tim Alban/Getty Images via Bloomberg
Emeli Sande at Cardiff's Cooper's Field on May 25, 2012. Sande's debut album "Our Version of Events" has topped the U.K. charts.
Emeli Sande at Cardiff's Cooper's Field on May 25, 2012. Sande's debut album "Our Version of Events" has topped the U.K. charts. Photographer: Tim Alban/Getty Images via Bloomberg
Emeli Sande Album
Virgin Records via Bloomberg
Sande's debut CD "Our Version of Events," released in 2012. U.K. singer Em! eli Sand e is embarking on a North American tour supporting Coldplay.
Sande's debut CD "Our Version of Events," released in 2012. U.K. singer Emeli Sande is embarking on a North American tour supporting Coldplay. Source: Virgin Records via Bloomberg
Emeli Sande
Paul Bergen/AFP/Getty Images via Bloomberg
British soul and R&B singer Emeli Sande in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sande is a former medical student who is being compared to Aretha Franklin.
British soul and R&B singer Emeli Sande in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sande is a former medical student who is being compared to Aretha Franklin. Photographer: Paul Bergen/AFP/Getty Images via Bloomberg