“I’mma do it like it ain’t been done”, Jessie J sings on the opening track of her latest album. If by “ain’t been done” she means release an album that won’t flop, she’s thoroughly mistaken.
The thing is, ‘Sweet Talker’ isn’t necessarily a bad
album. There are catchy hooks, some
heartfelt lyrics and, most of all, some impressive and passionate vocals. If there’s one thing that Jessie J does
better than most it’s sing. And she
really can SANG.
Yet, three albums in, it’s clear that she just doesn’t know
what sort of artist to be anymore.
Criticised at every turn, her previous albums have contained hip-hop anthems,
pop anthems, ballad anthems, feminist anthems and everything in between. Now the anthems are running thin, offering
nothing we haven’t heard before. ‘Sweet
Talker’ falls into an odd safe zone that accomplishes nothing. But where else can she go?
Seal Me With A Kiss
is an album highlight that at least offers something different (for Jessie at
least). Featuring De La Soul, it’s a 90s
style funk banger that proves to be a decent fit for her vocal riffs and ticks –
even if the middle eight rap from De La Soul is terrible (“girl you know I can’t
sleep ‘till I poke”). Elsewhere Burnin’ Up is another attempt to recapture
the essence of Do It Like A Dude; Keep Us Together is a catchy piano-led
mid-tempo pop track; the title track falls into the EDM trap; and Bang Bang is as shouty as pop tracks
come.
For the most part, the album is a series of (supposedly)
powerful ballads. Fire soars like an unstoppable inferno, her vocal becoming
increasingly crazed. The raw emotion of Personal is lost in typically
over-cooked singing. Get Away finally ends the album on a much needed
quiet note. The main criticism against
Jessie J is that her singing is emphatic to the point of hyperbole, her music
so overblown it slips into melodrama. ‘Sweet
Talker’ does nothing to address this issue.
She’s always been at her best when she doesn’t take herself so seriously
– Do It Like A Dude, Domino and, here, Seal Me With A Kiss – but in her desire to be taken seriously by both critics and public she’s
taken things too far. A frequent occurrence.
Her response is the dramatic Masterpiece. “If you don’t
like my sound, you can turn it down”, she spits, “Sometimes I mess up, I eff
up, I hit and miss, but I’m ok, I’m cool with it”. Is she?
Over the course of the three albums, you get the impression that Jessie
J is something of a perfectionist, yet by constantly striving for perfection
she’s shooting herself in the foot by releasing an endless string of ‘bangers’
that never quite hit the mark. In the
search for her enigmatic masterpiece she should probably take her own advice:
nobody’s perfect.
2/5
Gizzle’s Choice
* Personal
* Personal
* Seal Me With A Kiss
* Keep Us Together
Listen: ‘Sweet Talker’ is available now.
