For those of you who haven’t heard the name Jessie J – where have you been? She is hands down the freshest talent to hit the music scene in a good while, and I must say, her arrival couldn’t be more welcomed.
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I was fortunate enough to see the magic go down, in person, at East London’s XOYO. And whilst the venue felt more like an oversized basement, what it lacked in character, she made up with her limitless energy and natural charisma. She had us in fits of laughter as she mocked her youtube haters (if that’s you, be ashamed!) and had us singing along like drunk Asians in a karaoke bar.
From the very get go, her unrefined stage presence commanded the masses in “Mamma Knows Best” and her bold and outstandingly impressive vocals, which alongside her exceptional band, guaranteed a hyped crowd (my shoulders and head bopping don’t lie). Following suite with “Stand Up”, and its infectious reggae rhythm which merely carried on the spirit.
I couldn’t actually find any footage of ‘Who You Are‘ from the XOYO gig, so I’ve added a video from another performance!
She stole my heart with her raw honesty in “Nobody’s Perfect”, reminding us of our flawed human condition to make mistakes, and inspired the hell out of me with “Who You Are” – a unanimous favourite that consistently gives me goosebumps and recently featured on the soundtrack of the US film ‘Step Up’. Originally written for Miss Alicia Keys, thanks to childbirth, “L.O.V.E” made its UK premier and wowed us with this upbeat number, which effortlessly showed off her extensive vocal range and provided us with yet another notable track to look forward to buying/downloading.
This exceptional lady proves that music isn’t always about just the beats, melody or telling a story, she uses her music to reach out to her listeners and encourage then to make a change, minus the preachy undertone. Through “Price Tag” she opened up my mind to but a small fraction of the problems with the society we are currently a part of, highlighting how materialistic we’ve compliantly become and our capacity to revolutionize the sad phenomenon. All whist getting “everybody (to) look to the left, everybody look to the right” and echoing “ba-bling ba-bling” in funky unison.
What’s so great about Jessie J is she is home-grown talent at its best. An Essex girl, proud of who she is, she makes certain we know it. “Do it like a Dude” was quite possibly my favourite track to see her perform. The ending to her show; she was fierce. The grit in her voice and liberated attitude as she vibed to the beats, had the crowd buzzing in approval and showed us exactly how the ‘mandem’ do it in the UK. Yet despite the big bang of a finale, it did little to settle her loyal supporters who kicked and screamed for an encore. Which she delivered in true soulful Jessie J style, performing one of my favourites, the R’n’B slow jam anthem “Casualty of Love”.
After obsessively watching a number of her youtube uploads, thanks to a recommendation by a fellow music lover, (finally) seeing her perform in the flesh is an experience I would advise all to seek. The best thing about having the luxury of seeing her live, is not just being present as she adds her own unique and straight up mind-blowing flare to her tracks – like when she imitated a voice sampler during ‘Do it like a Dude’ (madnesssssss I tell you!) – but its seeing her gestures and facial expressions as she dominates her platform and invites us willing listeners, to hear and feel the experiences, which inspired her songs, through each word she voices. Witnessing an artist exhibit that level of pure sincerity, passion and vulnerability on stage…is like finding a diamond in a coal mine.
Jessie J is most definitely about to blow up in the music world. With a down-to-earth realness accompanying a talent like hers…I can boldly say “if you don’t know by now, you will!” there’s no doubt in my mind about that.
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