Katy B - On A Mission (4 April 2011) - hype, anticipation &c

Or, yknow, had the tunes to give her success.

right, cos fuzzy logik and egypt's In The Morning didnt have a tune... i think its pretty clear why she was considered a better bet.

Uh oh

you mean because of her looks, i assume?

(can't think of what else would be so "pretty clear" that it wouldn't need to be stated expressly. she isn't the close-relative of a media-mogul, as far as i know, and that would be the only other thing that might be "so clear").

Think that MNEK track w/ Gorgon City is likelier to get to #1 but it has a top 5 chance I think. Depends on how things go during the week.

― pearly-dewdrops' bops (monotony)

Seems like they picked a competitive week as Will.i.am has a new single out too. I can still see this being a massive hit for her.

wait, how many other uk funky tracks did katy b have? "lights on" is the only one i can think of

DJ NG's "Tell Me"
Geeneus' "As I"
Geeneus' version of "Good Life"

I think that was it

"Tell Me" was probably the scene's first homegrown vocal smash (pretty sure it was earlier than e.g. "Do You Mind" or Donae'o's "Devil In A Blue Dress") so her later success doesn't seem particularly unfair or arbitrary from that vantage point.

oh yes how could i forget "tell me"?? still my favorite track of hers

also jelly jams 'i try'

you mean because of her looks, i assume?

(can't think of what else would be so "pretty clear" that it wouldn't need to be stated expressly. she isn't the close-relative of a media-mogul, as far as i know, and that would be the only other thing that might be "so clear").

i assumed people were referring to her race tbh.

i've no idea what went on behind the scenes w/r/t katy b being the "chosen one" instead of ny or egypt or kyla or whoever - i don't doubt that ny in particular, from what we've heard of her songwriting, could have plausibly made an album on the level of on a mission. but katy was the one who DID make it, and to call her "groomed" for success downplays her own substantial talent, charisma and vision. it'd be naive not to note that of all the uk funky divas knocking around, the white girl got the commercial breakthrough - but who knows what combination of ambition, talent, work ethic or whatever went into that. ny aside, it's not like any of the others ever made anything other than one-off wondrous singles, there's no underrated uk funky diva album knocking around as an alternative to on a mission.

and never 4get that one of her first spots was on a track with nikki s & nyke of ska riddim fame, which i now see was produced by swindle

only god nose why egypt never made it tbh

It's pretty obvious that Rinse never really expected Katy to blow up to the extent she did. She's a better songwriter than most of yr jobbing funky divas for hire, and she has a better voice than most of them as well. It's probably that coupled with ability to work internally with Geeneus etc that helped get the album recorded. Even taking race into account, if you were self-consciously grooming someone for major success in 2010 you probably wouldn't have picked Katy.

kind of, but i'm also fairly certain geeneus in selecting the first lady for his noted racist big business media conglomerate would have rightly thought he was onto something a little more distinctive than just a particularly adroit "funky diva" - even aside from the clear, simple appeal of her voice 'tell me' was an unusually thorough psychodrama stagecrafted in an r&b lineage

the position in between reflective songwriterdom and the transient immediacy of club dance has always been her entire thing, her gift and curse - i would suggest 'crying for no reason' is a genuine hit because it solves the conundrum by rexpressing it in the style of lachrymose latin freestyle telenovela dolor (cf rudipherous correctly intuiting the reggaeton vibe of 'what love is made of'). pequeña roja is a good look for her, rita hayworth, carmen miranda torch femme vibe idk

i guess maybe that's always been kind of a seemingly obscure connection that's totally obvious once you get it (poss cos uk summer gets linked to ibiza etc, also fragile vocals coming down thru lovers rock) - the consonant undertow of 2step hits and freestyle bass, something like idk underdog project 'summer jam' being simultaneously both romford and miami

even aside from the clear, simple appeal of her voice

Let's not rush past this also - to make a perhaps odd comparison, I'd say katy b's voice has a lot of the same distinct appeals vis a vis other dance divas that kacey musgrave's does vis a vis other country singers.

the position in between reflective songwriterdom and the transient immediacy of club dance has always been her entire thing, her gift and curse

yeah totally

http://rinse.fm/artists/katyb/

The girl wasn’t a fluke. Geeneus got in touch. "As soon as I heard her I knew there was something about her voice. I was writing a lot of grimy music, and the scene was all getting a bit overcrowded with men. We can make ravey bassline music all day long. We needed the girl element back in it. When I’ve played this album to girls they don’t care about the background music – they couldn’t care less. They’re like, “Oh… the lyrics.” It wasn’t planned like that. But that’s what Katy supplies."

xp well yeah (idk about musgraves but) it's that sugababesness, callow teen realness with a disarming wisdom. as i say it's like a lovers rock / punk intersection forever haunting the ldn bluster imo

I hadn't considered the Musgraves connection but otm: what in other contexts is a workaday voice imbuing the material with intimations of mortality.

I like the Kacey comparison. Both have an intense likeability that connects with people regardless of genre. Even some similarity in lyrical approach (although Kacey is sharper) - Katy says she starts songs with a visual image or scenario in her head and then tries to describe it.

It's pretty obvious that Rinse never really expected Katy to blow up to the extent she did. She's a better songwriter than most of yr jobbing funky divas for hire, and she has a better voice than most of them as well. It's probably that coupled with ability to work internally with Geeneus etc that helped get the album recorded. Even taking race into account, if you were self-consciously grooming someone for major success in 2010 you probably wouldn't have picked Katy.

― Matt DC, Monday, January 27, 2014 3:50 AM Bookmark

Also the Magnetic Man connection definitely gave her a leg up, as dodgy as they can be sometimes.

Kyla and Egypt both effectively had one really good song each, right?

My expectations are actually pretty low for this album. None of the singles have done much for me.

i still think there's enough room for it to be brilliant... or completely disappointing.

"crying for no reason" has grown on me and "5 AM" never needed to but yeah, this could go either way for me

i still think there's enough room for it to be brilliant... or completely disappointing.

yeah it's weird i like all the singles so far a lot without LOVING them, they all sound like great album cuts. feel like i could be on the verge of loving "crying for no reason" tho, having totally dismissed it at first

So I'm just three years late on this one but I have fallen completely in love with her first album. That Graham Norton performance of Crying for no Reason made me really fall for that song so I thought I'd actually try the first album despite not really liking the singles when it came out (mainly On a Mission and Lights On) I now know it's just a fantastic album all the way through. It sounds like the kind of album Sugababes could have put out after One Touch if they'd kept that original lineup. You all know this of course and are waiting for the next album, just thought I'd add myself to her fanclub.

Oh and I cannot unhear the "Now if there's one thing I can't stand it's Africans" line. Every single time!

I like the new album but not sure if I love it yet.

Wait is the new one out there yet?

Nah press stream.

seems to me that they had a really poor feel for which of the songs on this were the best and thus should be released as singles

cf rudipherous correctly intuiting the reggaeton vibe of 'what love is made of'

It's so rare for anyone to refer to something I've said on a uk dance/pop thread that I should probably just let this stand, but I'm pretty sure I was just talking about the video for that song, especially the foggy drag racing scene. It looked a lot like a typical Wisin y Yandel or Hector the Father (etc. etc.) video from around 2005. I don't really hear reggaeton or even a broad Latin influence in the song, tbh.

But now I'm listening to "Crying for No Reason" for the first time and can it does have a dembow lite feel to it. (So maybe she had been watching reggaeton videos.)

good album, def a bit... understated. "everything" stands up with anything off the debut tho imo

"emotions" is a better version of "crying for no reason" imo

the sampha track is cool too, nice that they didn't go with a ballad

"emotions" is outright awesome actually

i feel like in rudimental's uk "emotions" could be huge (and it's better than their D&B songs). should be a single imo.

def feels like she's trying to emphasize her vocals more than the last album... "all my lovin'" is a straight wub-wub ballad that sounds pretty generic to me, like could be on american radio. but her voice sounds great

oh no do i go to a friend's birthday drinks tonight or stay in and listen to this

I based my initial resistance to "Crying For No Reason" on my surprise at hearing a track decelerated and constructed around her vocal; initially it sounded like she was attempting a Diane Warren ballad.

nothing wrong with the occasional diane warren ballad

finding this a lot less...outgoing than on a mission on one listen. more pensive, more feelings, more inward-looking. could be the kind of album that really gets its hooks into you after a few listens...might not be. am where rennavate is, basically

Agreed about this being more inward looking. The album feels less immediate, but I think the songs are there. I think the production is a little generic at times, shifting the focus to her more, and thankfully Katy can carry it. I like the Sampha track because it's brighter than the majority of the album, like someone spritzed some lemon in a very heavy cocktail.

anyone have a contact for this?

"emotions" is pretty stunning imo

I wonder what J0rdan thinks of "Emotions".

sorry i've been listening to that song all day, you guys will have to deal

Question: which song from the first album has had the most resonance for you guys? Mine is "Easy Please Me."

same

My life the last decade.