Syrup and honey

Weeks ago, while I was waiting for the computer to finish its daily virus scanning, I turned on the TV and started to surf channels. When I got to Channel V, a video caught my attention. It showed a blond woman standing on what seems to be a box, surrounded by male dancers. She was performing inside a gymnasium, or a hangar. Huge chandeliers shone from the impossibly high ceilings. As the video progressed, the feet of the dancers started to catch fire. When the song ended, some of the dancers were consumed by the flames.

I was consumed as well. The song had a distinct retro feel, kind of like Amy Winehouse’s music. Duffy’s (yes, that’s her screen name) voice, however, was distinct from Ms Winehouse’s. While Amy’s voice was deep, earthy, and smoky, this singer’s voice was almost girlish. But, I imagined, if her voice was a girl, this was a girl with a very colorful reputation.

I googled her name and saw her on YouTube, Wikipedia, and her official website. I learned that the 23-year-old Welsh singer is the most prominent of the so-called ‘new Amy’s’, referring to Amy Winehouse. The two other singers are Adele (who sang Counting Pavements) and Gabriella Cilmi (haven’t heard her). Duffy herself is reputedly called ‘the new Dusty’ (after Dusty Springfield) by the British press, something that she dislikes. To me she looks like Bridget Bardot at first glance.

Last week, to my pleasant surprise, I saw her CD called Rockferry on my friendly neighborhood (pirated) CD/DVD shop. I quickly purchased it and was immensely satisfied with her record. Like Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, each song in Rockferry works as an album and as individual songs. her lyrics are filled with pathos without being mushy, the melodies are retro but still manages to sound fresh. Like Amy, her songs range from slow ballad to bouncy tunes, singing of love imagined, lost, and thrown away. Where Amy Winehouse’s singing is gritty and ironic, Duffy’s is unaffected, at times effortless, and never coming off as ‘performed’.

Her lyrics are equally sincere. The title song’s refrain goes: ‘I’d move to Rockferry tomorrow/ and build my house, baby with sorrow’. My favorite track (Warwick Avenue) takes place in an undergound station, where two lovers meet, presumably after spending some time apart without really breaking up. The melody reminds me of the opening riff of ‘My Girl’. She sings: ‘Don’t think we’re okay just because I’m here/ You hurt me bad but I won’t shed a tear’. Another couplet goes, ‘You think you’re loving but you don’t love me/ I want to be free, baby, you’ve hurt me’.

In another favorite track (Delayed Devotion), she proudly declares, ‘I’m no longer under your spell/ Hear it in a song, you can go to hell’. You got to love that. The first single, Mercy, with its percussions and ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ background vocals, is simply catchy. This evening I saw the American version of its music video over at Channel V. I must say, I like the original version. Incidentally, in the US, Duffy is seen as part of the latest British invasion that comprises mostly of female singers like Joss Stone and Ms Winehouse, echoing the ‘first’ British invasion of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

The song also gives Duffy the distinction of the first Welsh singer to have a number one song in the UK charts in 25 years.

In an interview, Duffy revealed that she never drinks or uses drugs because she saw its harmful effects on her step-father’s ex-wife. In 1998, Duffy was placed in protective custody when police uncovered a plot by her stape-father’s ex-wife to pay a hitman to kill her step-father. The incident terrified her. This is probably where comparisons with Amy Winehouse ends.

I love Amy Winehouse. And I’m loving Duffy’s record as well. I hope to enjoy their music for a long time.