Pop poppet Una revamps herself as a country girl
Una Healy: The Waiting Game (Decca) Verdict: Girl band star shows her true colours Rag ’n’ Bone Man: Human (Columbia) Verdict: Big-voiced and bluesy
Una Healy was always a slightly awkward fit in The Saturdays. The Irish singer played a full part as the quintet conquered the charts with the giddy dance-pop of What about Us and Higher, but the feeling lingered that her real passions lay elsewhere.
Before joining the girl group ten years ago, she had been an acoustic singer-songwriter. She sang jazz standards in Tipperary hotel lobbies and released an independent eP before crossing the Irish Sea to sign up for the modern pop experience.
now, with The Saturdays taking a break, the 35-year-old is using her first solo album to return to her folk and rock roots. The jump from bubblegum fare to something with a little more depth is never easy, but on The Waiting Game, Una makes the leap with confidence.
Certainly, the mood here is mature and reflective, with ballads and mid-tempo rockers dominating.
Una’s solo voice lacks real power on record, but her soft, tuneful tone is well suited to the material — and she sang superbly when she performed at a showcase in london on Wednesday night.
as a teenager, Healy taught herself to play guitar by strumming along to Dolly Parton’s I Will always love you and country stylings are a common theme here. Stay My love is a duet with Sam Palladio, star of TV drama nashville, and there’s a strong country lilt to Staring at The Moon, a jaunty song inspired by the two children Healy has with her husband, england rugby international Ben Foden.
Her desire to explore the ‘tough side of love’ and avoid sounding too saccharine and corny is also evident and there’s little here that will excite fans of Una’s recent girl group past.
The breezy alarm Bells is a bright, catchy pop song, but this is largely an album of acoustic-based rock.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. The Saturdays, who were an entertaining bridge between Girls aloud and little Mix before starting a sabbatical in 2014, say they are not splitting up. But for Una, The Waiting Game is a decisive move away from the day job.
eaST Sussex singer-songwriter Rory Graham is the latest recipient of the BRITs Critics’ Choice award, a prize that launched the careers of adele, James Bay and Florence Welch.
Recording under the Steptoeinspired handle of Rag’n’Bone Man, he shares an emphasis on gritty authenticity with the Irish singer Hozier.
Graham, 32, spent a decade working on the hip-hop scene before he twigged that his singing was much better than his rapping — and it is his bluesy voice that drives debut album Human, with powerful echoes of Hozier’s Take Me To Church on the raw title track and Skin being given the full-on gospel treatment. elsewhere, arrangements recall the retro-pop of amy Winehouse and emeli Sande’s bluesy soul. This slick record should appeal to the pop mainstream. The Critics’ Choice prize has proved a mixed blessing in recent years, with neither Tom Odell nor Jack Garratt going on to become major stars. But in targeting pop fans without smoothing over his rough edges, Human augurs well for Rag’n’Bone Man’s chances of avoiding the scrapyard. RAG’N’BONE Man plays The Clapham Grand, London, next Tuesday (axs. com). Una Healy plays St Pancras Old Church, London, on Wednesday (unahealy.com).