Description:
Three albums in, and Jamelia - the Birmingham schoolgirl who signed to Parlophone Records at the age of 15 - is already showing a pretty impressive longevity in the notoriously fickle UK pop marketplace. But whereas her first two albums, Grace and Superstar, seeked to paint Jamelia as a UK ghetto diva of the Beyoncé/Destiny's Child school, Walk With Me feels like a conscious step outside r'n'b's comparatively narrow genre constraints. It's not always terribly ingenious - take lead-off single "Something About You" - a rather transparent stab at a Pink/Avril-style rocker, boasting a chorus drenched in fuzzy guitar and
Three albums in, and Jamelia - the Birmingham schoolgirl who signed to Parlophone Records at the age of 15 - is already showing a pretty impressive longevity in the notoriously fickle UK pop marketplace. But whereas her first two albums, Grace and Superstar, seeked to paint Jamelia as a UK ghetto diva of the Beyoncé/Destiny's Child school, Walk With Me feels like a conscious step outside r'n'b's comparatively narrow genre constraints. It's not always terribly ingenious - take lead-off single "Something About You" - a rather transparent stab at a Pink/Avril-style rocker, boasting a chorus drenched in fuzzy guitar and rock drums. But there are some interesting experiments here. "Do Me Right", produced by electro legend Afrika Bambaataa, whips up a sitar-laden breaks beast curiously reminiscent of a slightly more pop incarnation of the Chemical Brothers. And the funky, New York-flavoured "Hustle" features a surprise cameo from the very English rapper Sway. Meanwhile, it's been a couple of years since the "mash-up" was an access-all-areas pass to the pop cutting-edge, but a pair of tracks - "No More, which samples "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers; and "Beware Of The Dog", a cheeky rework of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" - enact enjoyable smash-and-grabs on pop culture past.--Louis Pattison
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Manufacturer: Parlophone
Release date: 25 September 2006
EAN: 0094637355220 UPC: 094637355220
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