Emeli Sandé

I turned a couple people on to the single "Heaven" in the outloud room, and then we talked about it some in the Katy B thread. Since there's a good chance she'll go on to bigger and perhaps better things, here's a dedicated thread for her.

Right now, only Britishes can watch the video on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=883yQqdOaLg

Just found (what seems to be) a worldwide viewable version on vimeo, though: http://vimeo.com/26820938

The thing that first hooked me about it last month is the fact it's based on the "Funky Drummer" break, which was so ubiquitous in the late 80s/early 90s and then fell out of favor (in mainstream pop at least). Turns out I missed it a lot.

Of course, now it's all about the fucking vocal. DAYUMN!

LOVE this song, thanks for putting me up on it... though I'm still waiting for a remix that really take it to the next level.

Oh, and here she is with Wiley last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIwQR1v-ds

And here with Magnetic Man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn3108AmAbo

And with Tinie Tempah as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jszXCML4cC8

Also, Chipmunk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa-hoq0aoos

'Heaven' is basically pushing every one of my musical buttons at the moment. Familiar as hell obviously (Unfinished Sympathy comparison OTM) but the slowed down 90s rave breakbeat has been one of my favourite things about 2011 pop.

The thing that first hooked me about it last month is the fact it's based on the "Funky Drummer" break, which was so ubiquitous in the late 80s/early 90s and then fell out of favor (in mainstream pop at least).

funny how it felt a little trying too hard then, but now the timing allows it less baggage. nice song.

Hmmmmm. I'm interested. But find me a yacht-bobbins remix and we'll talk.

I'm sure remixes will be arriving shortly. Even though it's been floating around since early June, it's still not being released until August.

Given the events of the past week, watching the video is a surprisingly emotional experience. It seems like the song which London needs and wants at the moment. Twenty years on, sympathy can never be finished.

I think this is the song which is going to get played in documentaries twenty years hence when people want to understand what was happening here in 2011. Single of the year.

i think i pretty much agree with what marcello says about its resonance

Is this out yet? You'd expect, given the people she's already guested with and its obvious radio-friendliness, that this would get a massive push and probably turn out to be huge. But you never can tell with these things.

Fantastic song anyway.

it was released this week, is at #2 on itunes

Also #2 in early singles chart midweeks, behind Wretch 32.

out of interest how close are itunes charts to midweeks? i'd imagine there's not much in it. (wretch 32 is itunes #1 too, fuck knows why - the mj cole remix isn't even available yet as far as i can see)

Pretty identical: "Move Like Jagger" is in third place on both.

it's a-list on radio 1, played a lot. i don't think it's great tbh...i wrote up an interview with her last week and she seems a talented and interesting person but it's not a huge deal for me as a song.

it didn't start off as a huge deal for me either but hearing it in the wild a lot helped, and something suddenly clicked last week

yeah i have only heard it at work so not ideal environment...

Single of the year.

Even w/o experiencing the recent events in London firsthand, it's mine too. I have a hard time imagining another song will move me the way this one does (like "I L U" did last year...a song that was able to break my heart even though it wasn't pertinent to my own life at the time in any way).

Second solo single. It appears everything's going to go the big beat + orchestration route perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN2Up7FN1L8

I only really fell in love with Heaven recently, definitely a contender for single of the year. Not sure about the new single yet it's more of the same but lacking that amazing chorus, really hope it grows.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to follow up a debut like "Heaven".

"Daddy" is the one that has impressed me the most and has the best hook(s?).

Over "Heaven" really?

Yeah, I still haven't listened to either as many times as you all probably have, but Heaven feels like it's basically one big crescendo and if you aren't drawn into that one big crescendo then there's not so much else to it. Or maybe not one big crescendo, but there's a massive forward movement and if you aren't swept away by it (and I'm not quite being swept away), what else is there? To me, there's more going on in "Daddy." I don't dislike "Heaven," just not into it as much. The horns are a nice touch in that song. Either way, she has a great voice. I assume she will be better known in the U.S. by the end of next year. (Then again, I can't claim to understand what it takes for hugely popular UK acts to cross over to a U.S. audience.)

I hope the whole album isn't gone to stick to this sort of beat though. That would be overkill.

y'all

http://soundcloud.com/disclosuremusic/emeli-sand-daddy-disclosure

Album sampler!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBK4i0KgFg4

Video for "Next to Me" -- subtly spectacular track, like home cookin'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nwdjQmc_N8

she's going for that adele money now, huh?

yup, album is entirely adele/leona style balladry apart from "heaven"

Really not impressed with the new single, didn't really like Daddy either. Starting to think to think Heaven was a one off.

I think she's too good a singer for that to be the case. (Anyway, I thought Daddy was great.)

the Disclosure remix of "Daddy" p much obsoleted the original for me (as if "Heaven" didn't do that on its own)

http://soundcloud.com/disclosuremusic/emeli-sand-daddy-disclosure

Next To Me, is very upbeat as well, to be fair.

Very un-ballad-y:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nwdjQmc_N8&feature=youtu.be

that's a power ballad if ever i heard one

Something about the vocal melody and cadence of this reminds me of...Kenny Rogers. Swap out the big booming pop of it with some more reserved countryness and it's right there with "The Gambler".

at any rate, i'd much rather listen to emeli sande sing adele-style ballads than adele sing adele-style ballads

Quite.

So I'm not really feeling the album. Daddy and Next To Me have really grown on me but I think it might be because they just made a nice break from the forgettable ballads that fill up the album.

I really like the track Mountains which is the only song that comes close to the beauty of Heaven. Apparently that was the track she gave to Leona Lewis but then took back. I bet Simon Cowell was majorly pissed off with her for that.

Lifetime is the only other song that really stood out, as it's one of the three upbeat tracks on there (including Heaven and Next To Me)

I'd be really interested to know how other people found it? There's no denying she's a great singer but I was just expecting a bit more from the person that made Heaven.

I've got the (import) cd on order, so I hope to get it next week sometime. I'm avoiding leaks (if there are any) for this one.

I heard "Next to Me" in Whole Foods today, which I found pretty surprising since it generally plays a non-stop mix of songs that seem chosen to appeal to baby boomer nostalgia. Even the songs I like in the mix tend to become annoying thanks to the context they're given. Granted, the song is pretty baby boomer friendly.

I think Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner" was the song right before!

I'm sure someone here will say: oh, I'd love to hear Emeli Sande back to back with Steve Miller when I'm shopping.

That would be cool, actually (though my tolerance of Steve Miller is very limited).

I'm still mad about how lame this whole album is.

Her voice is too good to be wasted on boring output. It would be a shame if nothing she does matches the quality of her best singles so far.

I still love this headline/photo combo http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/is-this-the-haircut-of-a-boring-person/74183/

That piece nails it.

discuss

14 yr old cousin from australia likes her

she has interesting anecdotes of australian race relations

oh yes?

shush this is the sandé thread

oh quite right

i heard a maybe-new song from her on the radio yesterday, the beginning of it sounded good

album's boring. will still give her next one a shot.

I'm gonna forever be skeptical now until she proves I shouldn't be.

Word