Jessie J - Alive

When I reviewed Jessie J's Who You Are back in 2011 I wasn't quite aware of how much an absolute nuisance she would go on to become as a judge on the UK's version of The Voice, let alone anywhere else. The small vocal tricks and flicks she did on the record were irritating, sure, but seeing them live about once a week was almost the death of me. Whilst a talented singer, indulging in such grating and childish flairs is so unnecessary (aside from the use of making her stand out), and heaping on a quite undeserved sense of accomplishment and wisdom in her comments as a talent show judge only served to exacerbate her status as one of the UK's most annoying popstars. And we're the country that made Cher Lloyd. Then came the Olympics Closing Ceremony. After such a brilliant opening counterpart, and 2 weeks of inspirational achievement, I suppose the Briton in me expected something of a comedown, but Queen's perpetual effort to destroy their own legacy and make every possible penny out of it resulted in Cornish covering We Will Rock You.

But still, something remains likeable about her. She's a bold performer and personality, and the whole head-shaving-on-live-TV thing for charity was pretty ballsy. In fact, Jessie J is probably the most immediately identifiable popstar with the whole current love-yourself pop movement, and whilst it's now everywhere and not terribly innovative or challenging, it's a nicer message to be putting out there than Justin Bieber's smothering love or whatever it is Nicki Minaj is trying to say.

That "celebrate YOU" theme is again common on her second album: 'It's My Party', which sees the return of long time collaborative partner Claude Kelly (as does much of Alive - 9/13 tracks to be precise), is very much an upbeat flipping of the bird to the haters. "Your only friend is your phone", she taunts, assumedly a reference to the thousands of Twitter-abusive teens - but the track, which is vaguely catchy but not nearly as strong as Domino or Price Tag, feels a bit empty and in need of an actual message to bullies rather than "I'm going to dance now". Serial hit producers StarGate and Benny Blanco surface with 'Thunder', a simmering 80s throwback that Cornish shines over, hitting all sorts of high notes both literally and figuratively. Some choices of production are a little errant, though: I had to look up T/M/S before discovering they were behind a vast majority of music I avoid (Dappy, Professor Green, virtually every X Factor contestant), and 'Square One' suffers from a distracting, mired male autotune. On the other hand, relatively quiet producer Ammo - behind some of Ke$ha's earlier hits - offers up two singles here: 'Sexy Lady', a catchy little turn currently doing the rounds on adverts for makeup or something like that, and 'Wild', the not-brilliant lead single featuring Dizzee Rascal.

There are frustrating moments when listening to Jessie J where you feel too old to be listening to her when you're only 23. The general statement of 'Harder to Fall' is put so childishly simple ("live your life" and "just try again" are two of the typical tropes thrown in to reassure the presumably vulnerable listeners) that I feel just a bit...outside of the target audience. And then there's the childishly-delivered: 'Excuse My Rude' has the mental age of 11 and the enjoyable charisma of a rapist. But she performs with an intensity at times that is hard to dispel: on 'I Miss Her' the subject of Alzheimers is discussed poignantly, with one of Cornish's greatest vocal performances.

Some tracks are catchy enough to at least give one listen to: 'Breathe', the clingy Sia-penned (no not Breathe Me) electro ballad has some wobbly little synths that are fun, and the curiously en vogue disco funk of 'Daydreamin'' makes for an obvious highlight. The glaringly obvious single would've appeared to have been the soaring 'Gold', but as such isn't even the third one yet. The problem is that Cornish never seems to know when to stop: her oversinging is an obvious example of this, but the addition of a duet with Brandy about rough days and fighting through times of difficulty just feels like it's been said 30 times before just on this album.

Let's just hope another Who You Are repackaging happens and an amazing song (Domino) is thrown in out of nowhere again.

Rating: 5/10
Highlights: Thunder; I Miss Her; Daydreamin'; Gold; Breathe
Avoid: Square One; Excuse My Rude; Harder to Fall; Conquer the World

Artwork Watch: An aggressive albino. Could've done with some more ostentatious earrings.
Up next: Placebo