Review - Katy B – On A Mission

Making a huge impression on the chart scene with a slew of hit singles, the pressure was on Katy B to drop a stunning debut, to really help her establish herself as a solo artist, and the leader of the new generation of chart stars, using the likes of drum and bass and dubstep, as the base formula, rather than the expected pop stylings of years gone by.

On A Mission, Lights On, Broken Record, and her collaboration with Magnetic Man, Perfect Stranger have all been bothering the upper echelons of the singles charts, and are all present and correct on her debut album.

The problem with this album for me though is that in the absence of the singles, there isn’t really anything else of note on offer here. Over the course of 11 tracks, if you take out the singles, there isn’t one single song that is particularly memorable, with the only other highlight coming in the form of Easy Please Me, but even that cannot really hold a candle on first listen to the singles.

Overall I was pretty disappointed with this as a whole, but in terms of a debut record, it is saved by the quality of the hits. However, in terms of longevity, this album probably won’t be around for too long, as once you get past the hits, it is all effectively filler, and will need a quick turn around with regards to a follow up from her, to keep the interest in her going.

The problem is that the tracks are just instantly forgettable, and although they follow the same dubstep blueprint as the aforesaid tracks, there is just not enough about them to distinguish themselves from the pack, and they come across as filler, lacking in that special spark that brought Katy B to our attention in the first place.

On her way to making a big splash in the album charts with this (apparently giving Adele a good run for her money this week), it may not quite be all that we hoped it would be. Sure she is going big places in the future, but it was a shame that her momentum wasn’t carried further with a top notch album to back up the hype. It is still worth a listen to though for the singles, and those who are new to Katy B could well fall in love with this release on the back of those alone. For the listener who already had the new dubstep sensation on the radar, this will be a disappointment, which could have been, and should have been, so much more.

Disappointing.

5/10 (on the strength of the singles only!)
2/10 for the rest of the album