Sound advice!
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[5.29]
Thomas Inskeep: Not only Jess Glynne’s 5th UK #1, but also the 5th for producers/co-writers TMS, which leads me to think they’re verging on becoming the new Stock Aitken Waterman. Like the best SAW work, this is ebullient, dancefloor-ready pop; unlike SAW’s work, this has a lot of disco influence. It took her a couple singles to get me on board, but with this coming off the back of her Tinie Tempah collab, I’m firmly sold.
[8]
Alfred Soto: The best of her UK hits but not by much. In theory the chalky voice sounds up to the taunting hook, so why do I suspect she’d take him back?
[5]
Iain Mew: It’s funny listening back to “Rather Be” and noting that Jess Glynne’s intense, soul-leaning vocal style was there all along, just de-emphasised to work with her surroundings. “Not Letting Go” of course took the opposite approach, glorying in her full blast, but that only works so well when you’ve just got a chorus. “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” once again has her splitting the difference uneasily, with a fussy arrangement and a lyric that’s a sweeter take on nobody being perfect than is often the case but serves to make everything feel too small for her.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: There are hundreds, even thousands of dance vocalists right now — it is to singers what HuffPo is to journalists. Why does the one to break out have to be the most inoffensively fine?
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: Do you think there are spaces in songs that only Jess Glynne can fit syllables into, like your one friend who can manage to pack their entire life in the most cramped trunks of small cars? She certainly believes she is that person, and also believes that these aren’t incredibly irritating qualities in already bland house records with trite lyrics. Never before did I miss the stupid pseudo-musicianship of Clean Bandit so much as when Glynne is allowed to run rampant on her own.
[2]
Will Adams: Jess Glynne’s over-exertion never seemed to be an issue with her Clean Bandit singles. Maybe their soundscapes were more engaging, or she had the sense to work in some dynamics to her performance, or both. “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself,” does neither and ends up the aural equivalent of loud-print wallpaper.
[5]
Scott Mildenhall: Perhaps The People In Charge were playing a longer game than usual, or are just getting better at hiding these things, but it feels like Jess Glynne was never meant to be, in a very real if limited sense, Britain’s biggest popstar. It’s been a Corbynian rise: helped on to the ballot by Route 94 and close allies Clean Bandit, the spotlight has been thrust upon her, and she’s risen to the occasion. If you think that’s a weak analogy, then consider that not only does it extend to Ella Eyre being Andy Burnham, but also that this is a sermon; a rally. What’s most endearing about it is how Glynne openly treads the line between positioning herself as adviser to others and actually working through her own issues, and at such a bounding pace, the mutual reassurance is enlivening. Jess Glynne wants to inspire hope and trust, and whoever you are, she will be your friend. The analogy is watertight.
[8]