...and what's ole Joss Stone up to now, anyway?
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
About to release a new album (her third). One where she finally has creative control where she can show off the real her.In other words: she's not doing the retro-soul thing anymore. She's now trying to get in with the Christina Aguillera crowd.I figured this was coming, after hearing her second album (ONLINE - I wasn't ABOUT to pay money for that fucker, let alone ask for a promo copy!). Not shocked, but it was pretty obvious that older R&B wasn't what she listened to at home and somebody sort of steered her in that direction for her first album. I'm sure that right now her only connection with classic soul is that her boyfriend is Lamont Dozier's son (or at least they were together three years ago).At least Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang seem more sincere than that. Ah, the fickleness of youth!!!
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Not to come off like Mr. Moldy Fig Rekkid Collector, and I know there are other things to worry about besides Joss Stone's artistic progression, but damn! Like I said, you might not like his shit, but at least Jonny Lang stuck with the blues to a degree! I can see it now...when Joss writes her memoirs, it's probably gonna come out then and there that her flirtation with older soul was probably the result of some greedy manager twisting her arm or something.
I am not trying to snipe at you, but you seem awfully knowledgable about her for someone that finds her so distasteful. I don't think I've ever heard her.
No offense taken, bro. The reason why I'm so knowledgeable about her is because her first album was in a '60s/70s soul bag...which would make her, by default, up my alley. If Kenny G. debuted with an album that sounded like King Curtis, you can bet I'd be following his career semi-closely as well.
Okay, when the first album came out, she had all these TK people on it like Little Beaver and Betty Wright. It wasn't half bad, to be truthful. It was all covers of soul standards that I was already familiar with, but was okay for what it was. I'll admit, I got my copy free at some press party for a now-defunct music magazine called Tracks (still have their size-M T-shirt). It was a decent effort, but at the time I withheld judgement. She was just young enough (16, I think?) that she could just as easily change her style. Her handlers were claiming that when her second album was coming out, it would be mostly originals, and that's when we'd hear the real Joss Stone.
See my first two posts in this thread for the rest. Had she started out as another Britney-type, I would have blissfully ignored her and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Now how's that for "covering my ass?"
someone has hijacked faux's account
Heh. How's THAT fit? I still remember the holy-shit-this-Blues-Fest-is-cold debacle. A pole like me could have rocked some babydoll petite nonsense, but you needed the XXL long-sleeved souvenier tee. Strong like bull, bud. Strong like bull.
Pfft. Smitten like a kitten.
I will return to the Gaylords table if you promise to wear this shirt.
JRoot
PS I've never heard anything of Joss Stone, and now I won't ever for sure.
You know what? For the first time since I got it back in '03 or '04, I tried that joker on for a good laff, just now...it just barely covered my XL frame (it actually sez "adult M/M/M"), but if I were to eat at Gaylord's in that thing...as spicy as their food is, I'd bust that fabric in two. Maybe Dante could rock it, but not me, buddy...back into the drawer it goes!
Not missing much. I remember at one point, they were playing up the "white soul" angle on her so hard that Living Blues (which devotes most of its coverage to authentic juke-joint acts like Bobby Rush & Mel Waiters) ran an ad for her second album. Bet that won't be happening again.
It basically comes off what you'd expect a soul album produced by Raphael Sadeeq would sound like...the same kind of ideas he brought to bear on Lucy Pearl are more or less in effect here. The musicianship is great but I just had a hard time finding something to hang my ear on. Believe me though, she didn't go Gwen Stefani on this or anything however.
Again, I really don't hear her new album as being crazy commercial but sure, no one's going to confuse it with Amy Winehouse. I think Joss might have missed an opp by coming out sooner. Now it seems like all the UK produces is white folk who sing soul meaning that Joss has to try to distinguish herself amidst at least half a dozen competitors from her own country, let alone the American set.
By the way, what about her accent is fake? I'm just curious what you mean here.
I'm trying to second-guess Flomotion a little here, but some of the criticism directed at Joss Stone here in the UK is that she sings with an American accent, and has adopted a Transatlantic twang to her speaking voice rather than speaking with her natural Devon accent. I suppose the first could be excused on the grounds that soul/r&b is an American idiom, and the second could be excused because she spends a lot of time in the US.
Personally, I liked the first record, didn't much care for the second, and will be checking out the third at the very least. I dunno quite what people expect from a 19-year-old, but I'm not mad at her at all.
I own the second album, its ehhhh. I wonder if she'll isolate her "retro" fans by going semi pop. I'd like to see her on the Al Green/?uestLove collabo.
shes already semi-pop as far as im concerned. a blues-loving friend of mine who had never heard of joss stone before (but LOVED ricky fante) saw a video online for a song from album #2 and was all like "what IS this shite???"
My thoughts exactly.
The real question remains:
Has she found a pair of shoes yet?
YO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's like Alisha Keys/Gwen Stefani/Cher/Kelis all rolled into one. She dropped the farmhouse image for real.
Crunchy Slick.