Rebecca Ferguson - Superwoman

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 44:01

Size: 100.8 MB

Styles: R&B/Soul/Jazz

Year: 2016

Art: Front

[3:49] 1. Bones

[3:19] 2. Mistress

[4:28] 3. Hold Me

[3:35] 4. Superwoman

[3:03] 5. Stars

[4:11] 6. The Way You're Looking At Her

[3:16] 7. Pay For It

[3:22] 8. Oceans

[3:14] 9. Don't Want You Back

[4:20] 10. Without A Woman

[3:50] 11. Waiting For Me

[3:28] 12. I'll Meet You There

The fourth studio album from Britain's Rebecca Ferguson, 2016's Superwoman is a hooky, sophisticated production worthy of her immense talent. Blessed with an earthy, soulful wallop of a voice, Ferguson rose from modest beginnings in Liverpool as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and a teen mom to acclaim as the runner-up on the British version of The X Factor in 2010. Since then, she's released three well-received albums, including her impressive 2015 Billie Holiday tribute, Lady Sings the Blues, which showcased her knack for interpreting jazz standards. She's also had her share of public struggles, including the difficulties of being a single working mom, dealing with depression, and suffering the emotional fallout from several failed relationships -- including a 2014 romance that ended while she was pregnant with her third child. One gets the sense that Ferguson pours all of her feelings and experiences into her work, and Superwoman is no exception. Collaborating with a handful of in-demand writer/producers including Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Zara McFarlane, Mika Urbaniak), Phil Cook (Ellie Goulding, Josh Osho, Kylie Minogue), and Matt Prime (Sam Smith, CeeLo Green, Olly Murs), Ferguson has crafted an album that balances R&B bravado and Motown-esque grooves with a folky, '70s-style melodicism. It's a vibrant, tactile combination that brings to mind favorable comparisons to similarly inclined contemporaries like Amos Lee, Ben Harper, and Adele. Cuts like "Mistress," "Stars," and "Don't Want You Back" are exuberant anthems, rife with messages of hard-won female empowerment and strength in the face of romantic and societal odds. It's a vibe she carries over with tender poignancy and fierce resoluteness on several acoustic guitar and piano-led ballads, including "Hold Me" and the yearning, folk-soul-tinged "The Way You're Looking at Her." However, it's the robust, cathartic title track, with its gigantic, sing-to-the-heavens chorus, that exemplifies the album's message of personal fortitude. She sings "And maybe I'm mad/And maybe I'm all cried out/Maybe I'm scared/But I'm comin' round." With Superwoman, Ferguson isn't just coming around, she's arrived. ~Matt Collar

Superwoman 

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Rebecca Ferguson - Lady Sings The Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:26
Size: 120.1 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[2:48] 1. Get Happy
[2:33] 2. Fine And Mellow
[3:35] 3. Embraceable You
[3:03] 4. That Ole Devil Called Love
[2:46] 5. Blue Moon
[2:59] 6. I Thought About You
[2:46] 7. Summertime
[3:18] 8. I'll Never Smile Again
[3:15] 9. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)
[2:35] 10. All Of Me
[3:30] 11. God Bless The Child
[2:34] 12. What Is This Thing Called Love
[3:07] 13. Stormy Weather
[3:33] 14. Lady Sings The Blues
[2:35] 15. Willow Weep For Me
[3:50] 16. Don't Explain
[3:33] 17. My Man

Still the best voice to have come out of a Simon Cowell talent contest, former X Factor 2010 runner up Rebecca Ferguson has a rich, tender, soulful tone, a kind of lived-in essence that oscillates precariously between happiness and sadness. It is a quality familiar in the work of tragic jazz legend Billie Holiday, whose centenary is celebrated this year (2015).

Lady Sings The Blues is a more or less straight run through some Holiday classics (including God Bless This Child, Lover Man, and of course, Lady Sings the Blues), freshened up only by the depth of the contemporary recording sound and the particular personality of Ferguson’s first class vocals. The instrumentation is traditional jazz pop, emphasising piano and horns, with orchestras adding an extra glaze of faux sophistication. These songs are so familiar that no one ever really need record them again and yet the American songbook has become a standard fixture in middle of the road pop careers precisely because this perfect alignment of melody, lyric and emotion works every time. Ferguson is never overwhelmed or in awe, singing with rhythmic sass and feeling. A lean, propulsive reconfiguration of What Is This Thing Called Love offers a brief glimpse at a much bolder album that could have been made with these songs and this voice. ~Neil McCormick

Lady Sings The Blues

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