Katy B 'Little Red' Review

We love a bit of Katy B here at Skiddle HQ, so we’ve been eagerly awaiting her new album for a while. We got a cheeky copy a week or two ago, but we didn’t want to deliver our verdict until we could accompany it with a link for you all to listen along with. Now it’s out you can stream Little Red below on Spotify, and here's what we thought about it...

Katy B is back. The club chanteuse, real name Katherine Brien, has released sophomore album Little Red after a trickle of singles, free releases and a live tour offered a snapshot of what to expect over the course of the previous twelve months.

If Katy’s first album On a Mission was firmly placing her as this generation’s breakout dance diva, Little Red expands on the lyrical themes (drawn almost entirely from clubland) of its predecessor to reflect a more mature and worldly Brien, embattled by love and bristling from it with melancholy sadness. 

Of the few tracks you will all have heard already, the highlights include the rave ballad ‘Crying for no Reason’ (watch the video below) that sees the singer belting her heart out in a clear attempt at taking her out beyond the dancefloor. The production is handled by Robbie Williams' studio wizard Guy Chambers, and whilst its pop at its most nakedly obvious there's no departure away from the electronic template that has served her so well.

That's due to the remaining presence of Rinse FM talisman Geeneus, the main songwriter alongside Brien for On a Mission, who has ensured that whilst the dance pop of that record may have achieved a glossy update it hasn't been abandoned.

It's redolent on '5am' (where Katy's cheeky tendency to slip a drug reference in has her comparing her dependence on a lover to Valium), and even the omission of Skiddle fav 'What Love is made of' can't temper the fact this is still an artist and album born from sneaking into raves under age.

‘I like You’ is classic Katy B, a shuffling house track with a throbbing and a croaking back beat that works wonderfully with a downplayed vocal performance from the singer. 'Blue Eyes' has an urgency in its two step backing evoking 'Turn the Page', the brilliant album opener for The Streets' classic Original Pirate Material, whilst this album's own first track 'Next Thing' is essentially Katy B circa 2011 with a glorious dancefloor update.

Another previously heard track that does manage to make the cut is the year old ‘Aaliyah’, which sees Katy face off against Jessie Ware, shimmering synths underpinning the two singers update of Brandy & Monica’s ‘The Boy is Mine’.

Both try and softly remonstrate their case for a man they are tussling over during a dancefloor masterclass that still sounds fantastic, whilst the other cultural touchstone for the track (Dolly Parton's 'Jolene') provides, either by coincidence or a moment of cap doffing genius, a glorious side thought - 'Jolene' was named after a young flame haired fan or a Little Red.

The choice of name for Katy’s nemesis, played with brilliant breathy understatement by Ware, is also interesting and betrays the track’s, and the album as a whole’s, debt to 90s R&B. It’s the way her voice is continually arranged, the soft and subtle shifts in its intensity where she'll build from hushed tones right up to near shrieking, and the reliance on a distinct slang cadence, that marks her work as much more than just a pretty voice over dance beats.

If you look back at some of the strongest examples of that era of music, the likes of Toni Braxton’s ‘You’re Making me High’ or Dru Hill’s ‘In my Bed’ remixed to languid glory by Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def vehicle (watch below), it’s music built on slick songwriting and knowing when to show off a voice and when to keep it in check. 

That formula is stamped all over this album, for her obvious talent she’s never a singer who just croons for the sake of it. When she is fluttering those octaves, not only on 'Crying for...' but also on the stadium sized dubstep of 'All My Lovin', and the heartfelt paean to love 'Emotions', it's a measured power. The rest of the time she's almost conversational, a voice that keeps you company on the bus via your iPod rather than a mega star you can't relate to.

Another standout in this vein features the other big guest on the opus Sampha, a singer and producer who has gone from bringing soul to the post dubstep scene to working with Urban music's omnipresent superstar Drake. He lends a joyous scattershot of drums and snares to their duet 'Play', making for arguably the most earnest and human moment on an album crammed full of them as Katy imparts how "we were meant to collide". Touching stuff.

Pop at its best lurches with a sense of identity to accompany the saccharine, something you can identify with beyond the immediacy of the chords and songs. Katy B's music is exactly that, a singer with a very clear history who has no inhibitions about being the person she was before stardom engulfed her.

Little Red is evidence of the exciting teenager who voiced pirate radio's latest breakthrough to the mainstream with On a Mission growing up, but managing to retain a level of connection with her wild side. The result is a charming collection of songs, that anyone who lives life with at least one foot on the dancefloor can relate to with constant ease..

Katy B plays GlobalGathering on Friday 25th July - and is on tour this Autumn.

Like this review? Think it's awful? Lets us know what you think in the comments below, and if you think you could do better or write your own, head here.