Here's a prediction: In the not-too-distant future, Jessie J is going to release a brilliant pop single. The 23-year-old Brit (who recently had her Stateside coming-out party courtesy of a gig on SNL) has all the tools, from a monster voice to an ear for hooks — she co-wrote Miley Cyrus' ''Party in the U.S.A.'' — and a manic persona that's equal parts Katy Perry, Kristin Chenoweth, and Alice Cooper. But now here's a fact: That song isn't on her debut album.
Instead, Jessie's outside-the-box persona gets buried under maximalist production and mainstream themes like bullying (''Who's Laughing Now''), girl power (''Do It Like a Dude''), and materialism (the sunny ''Price Tag,'' a No. 1 single in the U.K.). But hope springs in the gorgeously paranoid ballad ''Big White Room'' — lifted live from an acoustic performance in London earlier this year — which offers the promise of a gifted singer ready to ditch the flash and show us who she is. B
Download These:
Do It Like a Dude, a swaggering electro anthem, at Last.fm
Mamma Knows Best, a big-band belter
