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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Kitty Empire

Jessie J: Sweet Talker review – pop in search of originality

Jessie J, pop
No longer quirky: Jessie J. Photograph: Rob Cable/Rex

“Imma do it like it ain’t been done,” huffs Jessie J at the start of her third album. She’s doing it, all right – Bang Bang, her engaging three-way with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, has gone to No 1. But that song’s jazzy hook is one of too few doses of originality here. Percussive and pacey, Burnin’ Up (a duet with US hip-hop artist 2 Chainz) is another goer but as these 12 tracks go by, the quirks that made Jessie J’s previous albums notable have been replaced by the hugeness of failsafe producers; and she has taken a step back from the songwriting.

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