Pixie, Young and Foolish.

Pixie burst onto the pop scene in 2009 with lotts of success thanks to some aggressive marketing. Her first two singles hit number one on the UK charts, the debut album Turn It Up remained a fixture in the official album charts for well over a year and she earned a place in the Guinness World Book of Records. In the short interim, she’s launched multiple fashion lines, starred in movies and collaborated with a wide range of musicians and producers.

 

One might expect then that the talented youngster, who has turned herself to so many tasks successfully, would be able to deliver on the difficult second album: having promised a more mature sound and attacked those who branded her a manufactured pop puppet.

Unfortunately, Young, Foolish, Happy comes off as a clichéd attempt to find a niche in what has become a year eclipsed by Brit leading ladies, with the vocal prowess of Adele or sass of Jessie J. The innocent and fun pop of Turn It Up may have been an antidote to the dominating R’n’B Timbaland and synth partying Black Eyed Peas in 2009, but here the album struggles to find momentum or direction.

Take lead single ‘All About Tonight’, which reads much in the same vein as ‘Boys and Girls’. There is little hint of any progression or change, rather Pixie comes across rather unenthused, uninspired and uncommitted in the lack of middle eight, or the continuous need to remind us “It’s all about tonight” at every opportunity, verse or chorus. Follow up ‘What Do You Take Me For?’ only managed to 'make up' for this, at least for the boys, by providing a video of Pixie in tight leather.

This stereotypical pop base really prevents any movement. Cheesy centric ‘Kiss The Stars’, widely rumoured to be the next single, sounds like a track one may expect to here at a 5 year old’s birthday, but then jars with its euphemisms “Get in position: Put your plug in the socket… when you turn it on I can go for hours.” The rather contradictory tone almost dictates that Pixie doesn’t understand the direction of her new release; which is shame, as a reworking of lyrics and experiment with rock or dub influences (popular trends in the charts) may have proffered a much more interesting listen.

Similarly, numbers akin to ‘Perfect’ and ‘Birthday’, both harmless pieces in themselves, are instantly forgettable and commonplace filler material that the album could do without.

Most disappointingly, Pixie promised a more soulful album, and the maturity doesn’t shine through. Lyrics and ideals of her debut actually spoke more meaningfully about the troubles and strife of young love and life: ‘Gravity’ and ‘Broken Arrow’ both exceptional in this respect.

Where Pixie attempts to imitate this, there are glimmers of hope for the album. ‘Bright Lights’ with Tinchy Stryder actually reflects neatly on chart trends this year, speaking of the hopelessness of city life, its pitfalls and problems masked by the luring lights. ‘Dancing On My Own’ equally talks of the struggles of a relationship formed on dreams, but hit by the problems of money and job loss. These tracks connect with the audience for their true to life form and simplicity.

However, the focus on formulaic pop leaves Pixie out in the cold. Perhaps next time, she shouldn’t spread her career so thin, and consolidate efforts into the production of the album. The two very different sounds on Young, Foolish, Happy clash quite horribly and there needed be a greater exploration and development of one particular area. A mediocre album with only a handful of standout tracks and promise, we guess it’ll be another batch of material heavily promoted by sex appeal.

"I Told You I Was Trouble"

Tragic but predictable, it was the timing rather than the passing of Amy Winehouse that left many shocked and bereft on Saturday 23^rd July. Discovered by her security in her own bed in Camden, it was a somewhat quiet end to a loud and lavish lifestyle that had prevailed over the preceding years of the youngster’s life. Whilst many point to Amy’s troubles with alcohol addiction, drug abuse and tabloid shenanigans as the root causes for the death, these are just the public images of a lost girl, who was described in completely different ways by family and friends.

Scandalous until the end, Winehouse first came to the public eye with release Frank in 2003. This debut was essentially a cigarette stained, alcohol smeared soul and swing record that was reminiscent of 60s finesse. Critically, the album was a smash and gained Winehouse prestigious Ivor Novello awards – a feat that was repeated several times. Widespread success came with second offering Back To Black, where controlled raspy vocals and controversial issues led to both fame and fortune. The album became the biggest selling LP of 2007 in the UK and the seventh biggest selling in the world in 2008. 

Talent then is unquestionable. More often than was fair, smearing images blocked an accurate portrayal of the life of this star and perhaps the most perceptive remark reads:

“I know Amy Winehouse very well. And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side.”

-Lily Allen.

If, as Ms Allen claims, we didn’t see that side of Winehouse in her personal life, it was because the soul and swing music that she clung to was her eden: outside of her musical menagerie, the troubled starlet was all but lost in a media frenzy that sabotaged and plagued a person that had lost their way. When music was no longer effective in providing an outlet for the different traumas of her life, Amy Winehouse was subjugated to addiction for peace.

Lyrically, Amy’s music is self-professed and riveting material that only foreshadows her latter strife. “I cheated myself, like I knew I would” read the words to ‘You know I’m no good’: everything the star warned herself against has come to dominate her life and yet she enjoyed it nonetheless, and she shrives herself by simply saying that “I told you I was trouble”. Elsewhere, songs such as ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’ question attachments with trivial lovers, and ‘Fuck Me Pumps’ is an ode to all those who lose themselves in the good times, just as Amy herself did. Almost too ironically she warns those who fall from grace not too upset if “like the daily news they get pressed”. It’s a rock’n’roll lifestyle that is so glamorised on the outside, yet is too addictive to leave behind. More than any other artist, her short lived career writes her own eulogy in many ways: a life riddled with problems in love, in drugs, and feeling comfortable with self.

Winehouse’s legacy certainly lives on through her music now, as her parents laid her to rest in an emotional and extremely private congregation. Whilst the media continued to heckle the event, the true trouble of the star is truly realised. However brief her active career, her contributions to the musical world cannot and should not be undermined by her inevitably self destructive path. Current giants such as Duffy, Lily Allen and Adele cite her as their influences; the last going so far as to say that Amy was the original star of the 21^st century to get people excited about British music once again. Moreover, soul music has not enjoyed such popularity, diversity and success since the 60s. Often, genius is a case of trouble. Many of the greatest artists of the 20^th century wrote their music or claimed that their music was inspired by happenings whilst locked away and under the influence of some variant illicit substance. Amy’s music is so startlingly brilliant and unique to its market then because not only did she indulge in drugs, but her entire musical life was based around such self-abuse, mingling with vibrant crowds in Camden and struggling to maintain the balanced lifestyle of her family. 

So whilst she may have said no, no, no to rehab, Amy’s genius flourished under such  circumstance and after all, we’re only saying goodbye in words.