emeli sande

Emeli Sandé's Our Version Of Events will be the album to own in 2012.

Like classic debut albums before it, Sandé's debut is a moment in musical time. Credible without attempting to be too ‘cool’, heartbroken yet crazy in love, it is considered without trying to be too clever. This is a distinctly British record with undeniable global appeal, created by one of the most exciting debut artists we have seen in recent years.

For a relative newcomer, Sandé has already had an incredible career. As a published writer she’s written hit singles for Chipmunk (Diamond Rings) and Wiley (Never Be Your Woman) and album tracks for Cheryl Cole and Tinie Tempah. Since signing a record deal with Virgin Records in 2011, Emeli has had a No. 2 debut single with Heaven, a No.1 single with Professor Green (Read All About It), won Best Newcomer at the Scottish Style Awards, received an Alumni of the Year from Glasgow University, been nominated for a MOBO and nominated for the New to Q Magazine award. After selling out her own UK tour, she was recently announced as the main support on the Coldplay European tour. In November, Emeli travelled to New York to record with Alicia Keys and they appear together on the cover of Dazed and Confused this month. Emeli has also been booked on all the big TV shows including Later With Jools Holland and X Factor. It seems pop stars, award ceremonies and the music industry are utterly in love with Sandé’s outstanding song writing, breath-taking vocals and credible compositions with commercial crossover.

With influences far removed from your average pop star, Sandé cites inspiration from painter Frida Kahlo, cellist Jaqueline Du Pre, the high priestess of soul, Nina Simone, novelist Sylvia Plath, indie odd kid Björk and piano protégé Alicia Keys. But don’t worry she’s far from pretentious; intelligent and cultured – yes, “I like the idea of being left without going too far left; for me it’s about saying something truthful but something that everyone can feel.”

Like the deferred medical student from Alford, Aberdeen, Our Version Of Events is warm, wise, frank, funny, thoughtful and as inimitable as her vertical shock of blond hair and the Frida Kahlo tattoo that takes up most of her right arm. Reflecting the fears, thoughts, heartbreak and hopes of a young women, the record effortlessly appeals to anyone with a love of imagery, imagination and, ultimately, bloody great songs. Stuffed full of stirring strings, epic choruses and heart-stopping vocals, there are songs to sing in the shower, tracks to fall in love to as well as compositions to accompany you when heartbroken. The album is written entirely by Emeli and produced by her creative partner Shahid ‘Naughty Boy’ Khan with contributions from Craze and Hoax, Mojam and Paul Herman.

Recorded at her East London studio, ‘Brooklyn’, and at Naughty Boy’s studio ‘Hotel Cabana’ in West London, the pairing of Shahid “Naughty Boy” Khan as producer and Emeli as singer and writer is one of the most productive creative forces seen since Alicia and Krucial Keys, Amy and Mark Ronson, Florence and Paul Epworth and Adele and Rick Rubin. After meeting at an acoustic night in London, the pair have written for everyone from Tinie Tempah to Tinchy Stryder, Wiley, Chipmunk, Cheryl Cole, Cher Lloyd, Leona Lewis, The Saturdays and Professor Green.

Emeli’s latest single, Daddy; an ode to addiction, “Is one of the darker songs on the album.” Emeli explains. It was also the genesis of Naughty Boy and Sandé finding their sound; Daddy, alongside Mountains were the very first songs that Sandé and Naughty Boy created together. “We knew straight away it was special and that we had something,” she says of their powerhouse partnership. “I think it was because I trusted him as a producer and he respected me as a writer, so no one was second guessing each other. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for him.”

The gorgeous Heaven was the single that put Sandé on the map; hitting the charts at No.2, the expansive bass underscored and served as the perfect introduction to her incredible voice. “It’s about growing up and realising you can’t always be perfect; but what counts is knowing you could have done better, your intention to improve is what counts,” says Sandé. The track won her legions of fans, including Jools Holland and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

It’s hard to pick highlights on an album that contains so many incredible moments; produced by Paul Herman (Dido), Maybe is an orchestral led ballad that describes the disintegration of a relationship. ‘When we first moved in together couldn’t keep hands off each other/ Now we’re lying back to back, in silence in the black…” The brilliant My Kind Of Love, with its tribal drums, echoy, ethereal vocal and ‘my heart beats only for you’ refrain is the one you need when dumped and in the depths of despair. Emeli’s vocal is utterly outstanding; sharp in places, haunted, it’s as much an evocative instrument as the sound-bed of sweeping strings. Next To Me could, at first glance, be about a boy, or even be perhaps spiritual in its sentiment. In fact, says Emeli, it was written about her No.1 love; music. ‘You won’t find him drinking under tables/ Rolling dice and staying out till 3/ You won’t ever find him being unfaithful/ You will find him next to me.’

Similarly Clown is another metaphor-laded masterpiece. Is it about being prepared to make a fool of yourself in a relationship? “It’s actually how I felt when I was trying to get signed,” Sandé remembers. “I was going for all these meetings and people were looking at me like ‘What do we do with you’? It's about not allowing yourself to be taken for an idiot.”

As with every song on the record, it’s based on experience. “I haven’t had loads of boyfriends by the way,” she laughs. “But a relationship had ended a few weeks before and it just came out. It's like writing your own diary but when you're drunk.” It’s a beautiful song that shows off yet another heart-wrenching, chilling vocal. ‘I can’t stop my heart leaving through the door/ I can’t unpack my heart because he won’t look at me anymore.”

Breaking The Law happens to be the track that turned Alicia Keys onto Sandé. Picking her for Dazed’s 20 + 20 issue, in which a star act endorses an unknown, Alicia was wholehearted in her praise of the newcomer. “She’s my favourite new artist. Certain people just have the gift - and she’s one of them,” Keys told Dazed. “Her singing with just a guitar sends you to the moon. If you don’t get chills you’re not even alive! She’s super-special.”

Emeli supported Keys at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year and it was the beginning of the creative spark between the two. In November 2011, Emeli flew to New York to work with Alicia. “Because we both play piano, it made it much more of a natural process,” she says of the experience. “I don’t write with other people very well in general, so it was really cool to find someone that I like to write with. And even better that the person happened to be someone I’ve loved since I was a teenager.” The pair created a song to be used on Keys’ next album, and also the track Hope on Our Version Of Events. “We were on this 11th floor above a cold Manhattan - I had sat at the piano and was playing an unfinished idea and she said ‘I hope that it stops raining’, and that was the spark. It’s hopeful of what the world can be. It's a bit heart-on-your-sleeve. Hope is a fragile thing and so it was a meeting of minds in some ways. It was great meeting another artist who cares and wants to use music to influence change.”

Like the artists she admires – Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Joni Mitchell - Sandé too is truly exceptional. A strong, socially aware woman who isn’t afraid to laugh at herself or point out her faults, she has the potential to become one of the greats that she so admires. Her voice alone puts her in the upper echelons of singers; add into the mix her incredible writing ability, creative eye, mastery of the piano, guitar and cello and it’s clear to see why she’s already 2012’s biggest story.

Yet her ambitions, in keeping with her personality and her musical ethic are both humble yet quietly ambitious. “I just want it to be great music,” she insists. “My intention when I was writing this record is that anyone can relate to it. I don't want to be limited to a time or a place in my music. But you never know how people will receive it, so all I can do is sing my heart out.”