Once upon a time, there was a sweet girl from Devon with an extraordinary voice. She recorded an excellent debut album of old soul standards (and a White Stripes cover), and went off to America to become a big star.
A few years later, the same Devon girl staggered onto stage at the 2007 Brit Awards and provided us with some genuine car-crash telly. As she rambled incoherently about sending 'big love' to Robbie Williams and started singing an Amy Winehouse song, one could only think: "what the hell happened to Joss Stone?".
Tell Me 'Bout It is the first single from the much vaunted third album from Ms Stone, which promises to show us the "real Joss". Sadly, as her Brits appearance demonstrated, she's fallen head over heels for the US sound, and this is indistinguiable from any other anoymous soul diva, from Mariah Carey through to Alicia Keys.
Her voice still sounds superb, but the smokey yearning that distinguished The Soul Sessions has all but gone. It's catchy enough and will probably sell millions, but she seems to have lost all her individuality, even down to the faux-Mariah giggle near the start of the track. A bit of a shame, all told.
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