The Singles Jukebox

Awaiting horrible “Heavens to Betsy” headlines if she cracks the U.S.

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[5.75]

Katherine St Asaph: Can a girl’s name make it onto the British baby name rankings anymore without a corresponding blah-soul artist arriving a year later?
[3]

Alfred Soto: Of course I dig the shufflebeat — until Betsy descends into her lower register while the strings scrape the perfumed air. Think “Unfinished Sympathy” sung by Adele.
[3]

Thomas Inskeep: She looks like old Hollywood glamour, she’s singing over a souped-up “Funky Drummer” beat and a string sample that sounds like it was picked out of a ’90s trip-hop record, and she’s got a voice as big as the Grand Canyon. And y’know, 2016 could use a new Sophie Ellis-Bextor, so I’m totally down. 
[7]

Ryo Miyauchi: While Betsy does a lot of legwork to build the music up, she interestingly doesn’t supply a chorus. She seems fine creating the outline of classic pop: a decoration of ornate strings and a myth of an outcast waiting to be saved. The instrumental center, then, acts more like a free space to let the others bask in the glory within the story. I may not need to claim this, but others might be eager to fill that silhouette themselves.
[6]

Cassy Gress: “Lost & Found” would not be entirely out of place on Romeo + Juliet; it has that same expansive dance-strings future feeling I remember from being 15 or so and spending way too much time in my own head. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of how far back in her throat Betsy’s voice sounds, but I think it works in this particular context. This may be the only one, though.
[6]

Scott Mildenhall: Pretend that Clare Maguire didn’t actually come back incarnate this year and rejoice! In the emergence of someone who sounds a bit like her, specifically on things like “The Last Dance”. Quite why her radio-friendly stylings didn’t work out is rather sad, but “Lost & Found” ups the ante tenfold: everyone loves a breakbeat. Whether young or old, Radio 2 or 1 — and especially if you’re in the business of producing incidental segments on TV — the breakbeat is a call to attention. It goes without saying that there are strings too, but it’s the combination of the two on which any song like this hinges. Here, it’s a big success; not so much “Unfinished Sympathy” as a bittersweet symphony in a completely literal way.
[8]

Edward Okulicz: If this had come out in 2011 it would have — rightly — been decried as a cynical triangulation of Emeli Sandé, Claie Maguire and a bit of classic Massive Attack. It’s far enough removed that I feel inclined almost to hear it and praise it as a refreshing novelty. I’m impressed with how much effort and feeling Betsy’s putting into it, but if you ignore the production (a cut-down “Heaven“), it’s fairly obvious that it’s puddle-deep and fairly cliched.
[5]

Peter Ryan: Not so much a song as a transparent vocal showcase pinned to a well-worn sad dancefloor trope, but BETSY’s voice merits one and losing/finding oneself in the music is more classic than overdone. The backing is all a bit sweet, especially for something that opens and closes with crawling skin — unobtrusive breakbeat and strings that tremble but don’t sweep like they could — it’s just fine, but surely there’s a remix as thunderous as BETSY’s performance waiting in the wings.
[8]