In the unlikely event that Jessie J’s music career doesn’t work out, she could still do pretty well for herself on the comedy circuit. The 22-year-old “first lady of Essex” – recently named winner of both the BRIT’s Critics’ Choice Award and the BBC Sound Of 2011 poll – talked almost as much as she sang during this sold-out showcase set.
Her Oscar-speech chatterbox tendencies were undoubtedly down to nerves, but most of the time she was very funny. “I rang my dad this morning to tell him that I was No 2,” she confided at one point (referring to her ballsy debut single ‘Do It Like A Dude’). “And he said to me, ‘That’s funny, love; I’ve just done a number two!’”
Scatological stand-up aside, she’s an absolutely terrific singer. Wearing a breast-enhancing Vivienne Westwood corset (“Sorry boys, they’re not real – I was in the legs and lungs queue!”), she certainly looks the part and has all the right moves, grooving comfortably around the stage to the beats of her tight four-piece band.
Although her album hasn’t been released yet – an acoustic version of ballad ‘Big White Room’ is recorded live for it midway through the set – most of the adoring crowd already seem familiar with her material. Almost every song is greeted with a welcoming cheer, most especially the reggae influenced ‘Stand Up’ and surefire hit ‘Nobody’s Perfect’. Such is the power of YouTube. Lady Gaga has her little monsters, but Jessie J refers to her Twitter fanbase as her ‘heartbeats’ (“because without you I wouldn’t be alive”).
London rapper Devlin joins her for the energetic ‘Price Tag’ and ‘LOVE’ (originally penned for Alicia Keys) goes down a treat. The filthily rocking r&b single ‘Dude’ doesn’t get an outing until the encore, but it would still have been an impressive show without it. It’d be nice to see Jessie J broadening her musical horizons and becoming something more than just another big-voiced UK diva, but even if she doesn’t, it’s obvious that a new star has just been born. Her debut album will undoubtedly be a smash, but we’ll await her sophomore long-player with interest.