Now, I’ve been a fan of Ella
Henderson since she burst onto our screens on the X Factor back in 2012.
Described as the next Adele after a number of blindingly beautiful
performances, her shock departure made me want to scream curses at the
television set. However I am happy to say that Miss Henderson has made a career
for herself despite only coming sixth in the popular Saturday night television
show and isn’t this an album to show off her powerful voice. When I decided to
listen to this album I was a little worried; many of the X Factor stars bring
out an album packed to the brim with covers of all our favourite songs then
slowly fade into the horizon without a peep. The same I don’t think can be said
of this soon to be starlet!
So unless you’ve been living under
a rock somewhere you will have heard the first track ‘Ghost’ storming the charts,
being blared over various radio stations and blasted in clubs all over the
country. As I said before, she has been compared to Adele and my can you hear
it here. Her voice has a powerful and deep sound but when she hits the high
notes it has an ethereal quality that you just can’t beat. The lyrics are
catchy and I have found myself humming this song continuously at work; it is
dying to be a karaoke hit in the future and in no means do I think that’s a bad
thing. Empire is the second song on the album and it is clear that Miss
Henderson is back with a kick; the lyrics and her voice soar with such a heady
sound you can’t help but be astounded that it comes from such a young singer.
Produced by the incredibly talented TMS, who if you didn’t know also produced
the song DNA for Little Mix, Empire really shows off Ella’s voice to the max;
the chorus is huge, the vocals are sublime and it is the perfect Friday going
home track to get you excited for the weekend.
Track three is my favourite song
from the album and that is Glow, I heard this on Radio one a little while back now
and just immediately downloaded it and started obsessively playing it. This is
a more mid-tempo stunner and Ella’s voice is really showed off. It really shows
that Ella has moved on from her X Factor days and instead of the song being
laden with cheesy key changes and an over-the-top assault of gimmicks and runs
it is executed in a way that makes her voice sound very haunting. If you liked
Coldplay’s track ‘Princess of China’ I think you will definitely be a fan of
this tune. The next song Yours makes less of an impact; it’s quite slow but the tempo
gives the listener something different. It reminds me of Adele all over again
(I’ll try to stop making remarks but since Adele has gone a little under the
radar recently we need a big powerful female voice back in the frame.) This is
incredibly lulling and soulful and I listened to it recently on the way to work
and felt a little weepy so be warned!
We quickly move onto the
sass-tastic Mirror Man, unfortunately it’s the first song that feels like a filler. We
all know the type, the songs that are popped in to add content but in a few
weeks if you’ve haven’t listened to the album you might not remember this
track. It’s a funk mix and the bass line is rocking throughout; I also liked
the wittily place ‘YOU’ yells in parts of the chorus. Interesting, but not a
stand out feature. Next we move onto Hard Work; okay scrap what I said earlier
this is the song that makes you step back and realise that Ella is incredible
but still a very young performer. The song is stunning and shows off her vocal
ranger perfectly; she can really move between the high notes and the deeper notes
and her range is quite incredible. I can see this song featuring on a
chick-flick in the very near future just as the starring lady realises that she
has made a terrible mistake deciding not to go with the broken man who has
captured her heart. Wonderful.
I keep reading through this review
and people will think I obsessed overthe range of her voice, but this song
shows off the performance that she can really give; live I bet this song Pieces is just mesmerising.
The runs and plays she makes sound effortless; it harks a little back to her X Factor
days in terms of really pelting it out but it works because it’s the first time
you feel like she’s really trying to show off her voice and because it’s
different. Now, this is where it starts to falter and to be honest with you
hitting track seven without a bump is pretty impressive. First Time, has more of an R&B,
feel and it reminded me of the first few times that Cheryl Cole tried to mix
her tracks so they had more of an urban sound. It’s definitely different but it
doesn’t quite work with this album and it’s a shame. The next two tracks All
Again
and Give Your Heart Away are more power ballads; they work with her voice and they show
that Ella has really found her groove. She knows how to sing these songs to
perfection and it works. Good on girl!
Rockets is the only song on the
album I didn’t like and it’s frustrating; it’s such an obvious gap filler that
I’d have rather it just wasn’t included, preppy and pop funk it’s obviously
shoved in right at the end to get another song in! I’d rather it was left out
because the rest of the album is stellar. The album finishes with two wonderful
songs, firstly Lay Down, an incredibly moving track that features only Ella and the
notes of the piano. It’s a wonderful way to show off her voice and show she can
really, REALLY, sing. The final track is the perfect way to wrap up this album
and that is Missed. In a rather lovely touch you might remember this as the
original song that Ella sang in her audition back where her journey began. It
might be one way to end an album but this certainly isn’t the end of the road
for the stunning singer Ella Henderson.
