The debut album from Critics’ Choice winner Emeli Sande more than meets expectation

Since her appearance on Later With Jools Holland in September 2011, Emeli Sandé has been one to watch on the British music scene. After being named as the recipient of the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2012 BRIT Awards- a title won previously by such acts as Adele and Florence + the Machine- expectations were high for her first studio release “Our Version of Events,” which was released this past Monday.

Sandé’s album mixes everything from dance to hip-hop, with a single thread of continuity provided by her mesmerizing vocals. Opening with her hit debut single “Heaven,” and closing with “Read All About It (Pt. III)- a continuation of her chart-topping collaboration with Professor Green- “Our Version of Events” sees Sandé tackling well-worn themes of heartbreak, regret and new beginnings in ways which feel authentic, and refreshingly uncontrived.

Lending itself to this authenticity is the fact that Sandé either wrote or co-wrote every single track on the album, demonstrating that she was not intimidated by the contributions of established artists such as Alicia Keys, with whom Sandé worked on the album’s penultimate track, “Hope.”

Admittedly, Sandé’s debut will suffer in some circles, in light of its repeated exploration of lost love and mending hearts. Following what has come to be dubbed as the Year of Adele, Sandé’s repeated exploration of emotions stemming from lost love might cause one or two spectators to yawn.

However, after listening to the record in its entirety, there is no denying that she has produced something of significant merit. This is achieved by the way in which Sandé embeds many of her personal experiences into her lyrics. In “Maybe,” for example, she sings about the final days of a previous relationship:

When we first moved in together/Couldn’t keep hands off each other
Now we’re lying back to back/And silence in the black
We use to laugh until we cried/You would look at me and smile
Now we hardly say hello/And feelings never show

But it is in “Clown” that this album hits its peak. A stripped-back number, “Clown” lets Sandé’s voice shine as she lays bare the disrespect she has endured at the hands of an unnamed individual. Whether the average listener was exposed to Sandé through the feel-good- albeit formulaic- dance hit “Heaven,” or through her supporting role on Professor Green’s aforementioned track, “Clown” dispels any doubt over whether she can captivate her audience. On this track, she captivates- and then some.

It was a genius move by Sandé to close the album with her melodic, sweeping variation of “Read All About It.” Perhaps following in the footsteps of collaborator Alicia Keys, who released her own broken-down version of Jay-Z’s hit song Empire State of Mind, Sandé takes full possession and breathes new life into Green’s over-played track, leaving the listener reeling from her confident, no-holds-barred lyrical message.

With all the promise that this debut offering has to offer, it will be an exciting year for Sandé, beginning with her much-anticipated appearance at next Tuesday’s BRIT Awards, during which she will both perform and take to the stage to accept her Critics’ Choice Award. With an additional nomination in the category of British Breakthrough Artist, it would appear that “Our Version of Events” is a delicious and thoroughly enchanting taste of what is to come from this young performer.

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Sean Hoare, former News of the World reporter and first to blow the whistle on the endemic phone-hacking at the paper, was found dead at his home on Monday, according to British media. Hoare, who was fired from NoW for alcohol and drug abuse, also went on the record to the New York Times, saying that Andy Coulson, former communications chief for the British prime minister and editor at NoW while Hoare was employed there, not only knew about the phone-hacking but actively encouraged the practice. Coulson has so far denied any knowledge of the matter.

The tragic news of Sean Hoare’s death is another shocking turn in the media scandal that has already engulfed the Murdoch media empire and threatens the stability of the British government. His body was found at his home in Watford near London, UK. According to local police, who has yet to confirm Hoare’s identity, “Upon police an ambulance arrival [...], the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.” Despite unexplained cause of death, the police does not suspect foul play.

His death is another bombshell in the unfolding events, arriving just after the high profile resignation of two top policemen of the Scotland Yard. Questions have been raised about the cosy relationship between NoW and the police department and whether it led to negligence on behalf of the official effort to get to the bottom of the phone-hacking scandal which has been years under way.

Hoare was the first reporter to officially confirm the claims of phone-hacking. He described in an interview with the BBC that he was personally asked by Andy Coulson, his editor at the time, to tap into phones – which makes Coulson’s insistence upon ignorance ‘a lie’, according to Hoare. Last week, he revealed to the New York Times that NoW reporters had access to police technology that locates people by using their mobile phone signals. The service was allegedly provided in exchange for payments to police officers. The use of “pinging” can pinpoint the location of a person using calculations of distances between phone masts.

The Guardian was able to publish further details about ‘pinging’ as Hoare explained the procedure of obtaining the target location. A reporter would ask a news desk executive about a person and “within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say ‘Right, that’s where they are.’”

“The chain of command is one of absolute discipline, and that’s why I never bought into it, like with Andy [Coulson] saying he wasn’t aware of it and all that. That’s bollocks,” told Hoare.

The unexpected death of Sean Hoare has come at the most critical time for the UK. British Prime minister David Cameron is under considerable pressure and has cut a 5-day-trip to Africa short to attend a special sitting of parliament Tuesday for an emergency discussion on the scandal. Opposition labour party members are accusing him of extreme failure of judgement when it came to hiring Coulson and some MP’s have even called for his resignation.

Rupert Murdoch, his son James Murdoch and former chief executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks are expected to appear at the parliament hearing as well. Considering the pressure, the exchange could turn out to be very dramatic.

Former colleagues have been remembering Hoare today through public statements and social media updates. David Yelland, former editor of the British tabloid the Sun tweeted “Sean Hoare was trying to be honest, struggling with addiction. But he was a good man. My God.”

Image by Mig_R

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