Mabel
O2 Academy, Liverpool Touring until Wednesday
Pop may not be as meritocratic as it once was, but it still beats most walks of life. Pedigree counts for very little – just ask Sean Lennon or James McCartney. Pop stars’ kids are far more likely to be models or DJs than become pop stars themselves.
The exception to the rule is Mabel, who may be Britain’s first, proper second-generation pop star. Her parents are the R’n’B singer Neneh Cherry and the producer Cameron McVey. Her step-grandfather, Don Cherry, is a distinguished jazz trumpeter, and her uncle Eagle-Eye had a hit with Save Tonight.
But none of them is super-famous, which probably helps. In fact Mabel, at 23, may already be the biggest name of the lot.
Mabel (above) may be Britain’s first, proper second-generation pop star. In Liverpool she is greeted like a conquering heroine by a crowd that seems to consist entirely of 14-year-old girls
At the Brits on February 18, it will be a surprise if she doesn’t win British Female Artist. Her brand of dance-pop is snappy and relatable and, as the Brits have recognised, her song Don’t Call Me Up was one of the singles of last year.
In Liverpool she is greeted like a conquering heroine by a crowd that seems to consist entirely of 14-year-old girls in diamanté hairbands.
Mabel herself, with her long ponytail and brown jumpsuit, is half prom queen, half Boy Scout. She brings four female dancers, all cropped hoodies and bare navels. If you look hard you can make out four blokes behind them playing the instruments: in 21st-century dance-pop, a man’s place is in the shadows.
The one thing she doesn’t bring is backing vocalists. That role is played by the fans, who know all the words and sing them well. Most of the music is middling, but the show is pacy and the Academy is a sea of exuberance throughout.
While she has her mum’s presence and poise, Mabel’s singing owes more to her contemporaries – especially Ariana Grande – than to her genes. She has the knack that is all the rage in R’n’B, of singing as if forever on the brink of tears.
The singles stand out with their comfy hooks and clicky beats, but the most memorable moment comes when the pace slows and she sings about her own mental health on OK (Anxiety Anthem), which is a cross between a lullaby and a festival singalong.
It sends the teenagers home feeling not just thrilled to have been there, but better about themselves.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Nathaniel Rateliff And It’s Still Alright Out Friday
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Nathaniel Rateliff looks like a bear, sings like an angel and writes like a dream. His biggest problem is deciding what kind of music to make.
After recording four albums of sensitive folk, he switched to old-school soul in 2015 with his band The Night Sweats, and they sold a million records. Now that’s what I call old-school.
The songs on Nathaniel Rateliff’s seventh album, And It’s Still Alright, cry out to be performed live. Rateliff looks like a bear, sings like an angel and writes like a dream
On his seventh album he mixes both modes. The lyrics are folk-ish, telling of heartbreak and of Rateliff’s grief over his producer Richard Swift, who died 18 months ago. But the arrangements keep bursting into soul.
Before becoming a musician, Rateliff worked as a carpenter and a gardener, and his voice is like a craftsman’s hands – both rough and subtle. These songs, led by the barnstorming ballad All Or Nothing, cry out to be performed live.
Rateliff tours in the spring. It should be a blast.
THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES
By Adam Woods
Bryan Ferry Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1974 Out now
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In the early Roxy Music years, Bryan Ferry made two albums of covers – 1973’s These Foolish Things and 1974’s Another Time, Another Place – and marked them with three concerts. His Albert Hall show now gets a release, 46 years on, and captures Ferry in tireless form
Tame Impala The Slow Rush Out Friday
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Kevin Parker, the visionary behind Tame Impala, is often hailed as pop’s reigning one-man genius. His fourth album consolidates the shift made on 2015’s Currents from psych-rock into blissful, borderless pop, recalling Supertramp one minute, old house or disco the next
Green Day Father Of All… Out now
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Californian rockers Green Day clock up a remarkably brief 24 minutes on their new mini-album. Its ten songs are gnarly, brutish and short, and find the trio stirring faint traces of Motown and glam into their Clash/ Ramones thrashes
David Gray White Ladder Out Friday
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After three failed albums, David Gray had one last go in 1998, adding light electronic touches to a clutch of acoustic tunes. White Ladder went on to sell seven million copies. A dozen demos and out-takes garnish this 20th-ish remastered anniversary edition