My mum asks me, at least once a month, if Jessie J is still knocking about. “The one who did ‘Price Tag,'” she refers to her as. To be honest, I had no idea if Jessie J was really making music anymore. But, many moons ago, Jessie J was the soundtrack to every primary school disco. I have choreographed many a dance routine to ‘Domino’ (and forced many a friend to record them on Video Star with an old iPod Touch).
Fifteen years since her debut and most successful album, Who You Are, Jessica Cornish is back with a new sound — and it’s a far cry from the likes of ‘Do It Like A Dude’. To celebrate her new album, Don’t Tease Me With A Good Time, she has embarked on a new tour of more intimate, acoustic gigs — including at Manchester’s beautiful Albert Hall.
Before arriving at the gig, I was unsure what to expect. A couple listens to her new album proved that Jessie J has moved towards a more classically R&B sound, a more mature but vulnerable iteration of her previous music. What really stands out is how Don’t Tease Me With A Good Time, and the No Secrets tour specifically, allows for Jessie J’s vocal prowess, which truly could be compared to the likes of Adele, to shine.
The show opened with the album opener ‘FEEL IT ON ME’, an almost gospel-esque R&B track packed with frankly ungodly vocal runs which Cornish brought to life beautifully in the rafters of the Albert Hall.
Making her way to centre stage, accompanied by keys, acoustic guitar, and bass, Jessie J launched into a hilarious monologue, setting the rules of the night straight: “if you can’t sing, just keep it low” and “if you don’t know the words, don’t pretend”. This set the tone for the rest of the night, which at times felt more like a stand-up performance with songs added to it, rather than the other way around.
Jessie J’s music is full of very positive messages for young people to hear — embrace how you look, be kind, and nobody’s perfect. These messages seem particularly pertinent in the wake of her recent battle with cancer, which led her to postpone her initial tour dates. Despite what could’ve been quite a cringe-worthy preaching of self-love and empowerment, Jessie J managed to strike a decent balance of heartfelt and funny without coming across as tacky or disingenuous.
A mixture of reimaginings of her classic bangers (‘Do It Like A Dude’ was noticeably missing repetitions of “do it like the mandem” which felt like a bit of a relief) and stripped-back versions of her new songs, the set felt both fresh and nostalgic. Highlights from her new material were certainly the titular ‘No Secrets’, ‘Believe in Magic/Joy’, and ‘If I Save You’, reminiscent of The Internet or Lily Allen‘s West End Girl. This material allows Cornish to showcase her masterful vocal control and power, which doesn’t necessarily shine on her older tracks.
Her cover of Frank Sinatra‘s ‘My Way’ (which she performed on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny) and versions of the classics ‘Price Tag’ and ‘Domino’ were equally as entertaining, and extremely exciting for someone who once thought these songs were the peak of music.
At times, it’s safe to say that the chat was sometimes better than her music: her new music isn’t necessarily exciting, but it is a new direction and her voice truly is incredible, and that has to be commended. For an artist like Jessie J, who made her biggest splash fifteen years ago, it would be easy to feel bitter about a lot of your crowd only really coming for the original bangers. But Cornish handled this with a lot of grace; between jokes about fans asking for ‘Price Tag’, she seemed genuinely grateful to be back on stage, and to such a packed-out audience. It will be interesting to see where Jessie J goes from here, and whether she’ll choose to be more experimental with her music as she enters this new era.
