Erm, excuse me. Who is this robot and what have you done with Alexandra Burke?
It's a shame really. She showed such promise on the X Factor, with probably the strongest voice the competition has yet seen and a stunning performance alongside Beyonce. Four years later and Elephant proves that Burke is still struggling to make her mark on the music industry. Whilst she started her career with some decent, if uninspired, RnB pop, she's now reduced to this sub-par dance pap.
Elephant is produced by Erick Morillo, well known for his Ibiza trance hits but he brings little to the table here besides a typical four-to-the-floor beat, some pounding synths and a customary dubstep breakdown. I mean really, dubstep is less a trend and more a virus contaminating the minds of pop-producers the world over. Give it a rest.
What's most criminal though is Burke's vocoded and over-produced vocal. The girl can sing, yet instead we're subjected to a cyborg clone devoid of personality. Elephant is catchy enough, but it's clear Burke is clinging on to her career by her fingernails, oblivion mere inches away.
Never mind the elephant, the music industry is in the room and it's laughing at you. Awkward.com.
2/5
Listen: Elephant is officially released on March 11th.
