This debut sees a decade of pent-up songwriting spilling out of the hilariously talented 23-year-old Londoner Yanya. There’s a faint new wave feel to the gauzy layers of synths draped over some of the material, yet mostly it’s her own, stage-toughened sound, deconstructed R&B fighting it out with spiky rock.
Baby Blu rides in with rebounding harmonies and a subtle house pulse, Heat Rises sees Frank Ocean moping around to the Cure, and Paradise has a gorgeous sense of space to go with its laid-back swing. Lyrically, Yanya’s fascinating interior monologues mix frazzled self-questioning and modish anxiety, with a flicker of gaslight behind lines like “I’ll be lying in a pool of someone else’s blood / saying it’s not my fault if somebody gets hurt” on Tears.
Even the mildly satirical skits, which don’t quite work, prove her desire to create a proper album, rewarding repeated listening. Although a tiny bit of tedium surfaces during the ballad-heavy back end, Miss Universe closes with the startling lead single Heavyweight Champion of the Year. It’s the sound of Prince covering Pixies, and probably the best thing that’ll happen to you this week.
