Who You Are

Jessie J’s interesting, many-faceted and bright personality

Jessica Ellen Cornish, professionally known as Jessie J, is the author of many a song performed by Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna. She started working on her debut album six years ago and even signed a record deal with a label which soon went bankrupt and did not manage to release her material, and Jessica turned to writing songs for other performers. That proved to be a more fruitful business for her at that time. The almost twenty-three year old singer and songwriter studied at the same course with Adele at the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology and cannot imagine her life without music. Finally, in 2010 Jessie J released her debut single Do It Like a Dude, which got highly acclaimed by critics and reached number two on the British chart. A constantly growing fan base appeared immediately around the singer. It is due to the fans’ insistence that the release of her debut album Who You Are took place a month earlier than it had been previously planned – late February instead of late March. This album has proved to be quite varied, but one thing does not change throughout the tracks, it is Jessie J’s interesting, many-faceted and bright personality.

Emotions and powerful vocals on Who You Are

Jessie J’s vocals are hard to compare to anyone else’s in its power and the wide range, but it has the shades one can hear find listening to Pink, Nicole Scherzinger, Adele, Alicia Keys and other singers. Yet, perhaps it is the unique manner of performance that impresses even more than her powerful vocals, with the repetition of consonants, especially on her live performances. Besides, often the only accompanying musician on stage is the guitarist, while almost all album tracks can boast arrangements in the best traditions of the contemporary pop music. Jessie J’s first single in the USA, Price Tag featuring B.oB. is quite demonstrative in this respect, its memorable tune, especially on chorus, has already become popular among many young people. The lyrical mid-tempo composition Nobody's Perfect tells a whole story about relationship one is very eager to save but the guy needs to forgive the heroine for that. Not devoid of humor, the danceable song Abracadabra creates an optimistically playful mood completely different from the complicated and very emotional Big White Room. The song’s idea appeared when Jessica was ten years old, she was in hospital, and a boy who was in the ward with her died. It was one of the first shocks in her life, besides, she had heard the boy praying the night before his death and could not understand why the prayers proved unhelpful. The song’s live version is presented on the album in which only guitar and Jessie J’s vulnerable voice can be heard. Some songs, on the contrary, seem too simple for the singer’s powerful voice, for instance, the ballad Casualty Of Love with a contagious R&B ballad and backing vocals, and the mid-tempo composition Rainbow. Much brighter are the insistent Who's Laughing Now and the jazzy Mamma Knows Best. No doubt, the title track Who You Are closing the album, Jessica’s own favorite, is one of the best ballads out this year; it is able to encourage anybody who has lost faith in oneself.

A very promising beginning

No doubt at all the fact that Adele and Jessie J’s hits lead in the British charts means a lot, first of all the highest level of their performance and the singer’s unquestionable talent. The difference between them is that Jessie J is only at the beginning of her way to fame, and the six years of working on the first album. Having the clearest idea of how to write a pop hit, Jessica has tried to do her best to demonstrate her ability to sing in different genres – pop, jazz, R&B – and the tracks on Who You Are are really diverse, each offering its own mood. The album consists of thirteen compositions most of which serve a good springboard for Jessie J – her career definitely promises to be a success. There is not much filler here, but the singer can actually turn even these songs into hits on stage. That is the main reason for the necessity to see the recordings of her concerts in order to understand what this charismatic girl is capable of. Then one can be sure that Jessie J is one of those singers who have such an artful control of their voice that they can sing a phone book and make a masterpiece out of it. On the whole the album Who You Are has become a very promising start, and hopefully its follow-up will be released soon enough and turn out to be even more interesting and integral.