THE BIRTH OF NORTHERN SOUL

First things first, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts

this October. I've been a very busy girl what with my college work & uni applications

and yadda yadda yah. 

Plus I haven't felt very inspired lately....

But, that changed today whilst I was scouring through the music channels this early
morning and I stumbled across one video, and then another, and then
that special thing called a brainwave took place
in the depths of my cranium and fused the two together and I came up with
this idea and it look very promising: the birth of white soul.

Now I hear you ask, what on earth are you on about,
what videos? Well I shall reveal all to you now.

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The first video was:

JOHN NEWMAN
Cheating
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The second was:

JAMES ARTHUR
You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
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At first these two new artists may seem completely unrelated to one another,

but in actual fact, they have many things in common

in regards to the kind of artists they are, their voices, their style, influences

and the kind of music they are spearheading into

the charts and the national radio waves.

We've known of John Newman's voice since Rudimental's 2012 chart smasher

'Feel The Love' and its successor 'Not Giving In', and therefore we

had a taste of his gravelly, soulful, rich tone before

he went out on his own, armed with some real gems 

like number one hit 'Love Me Again'.

In all honesty, I genuinely thought he was a black man when I first

heard his voice. It was so derivative of the Motown era,

it had that gorgeous, enticing black soul that is so hard to replicate unless

you're truly blessed with the gift of having it yourself.

So it knocked me out of the water

when I found out he was a white kid from the depths of Yorkshire moors.

Now on to James Arthur,

king of X Factor 2012, we were again aware of a gravelly,

rich, soulful tone to his voice, like that of John Newman, and his take on

Shontelle's, 'Impossible' was utterly gorgeous. 

He added a depth and

soul to it that wasn't there before -if you've heard his cover of

twerkaholic Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' you'll see

what I mean- and he showed

some real promise of breaking the X Factor mold.

Everyone, whether they care to admit it or not,

wanted to hear just what he would come out with for his first single.

Would it be any good? Would he lose his style?

Would they strip away all he was and replace it with something

completely unoriginal?

Well the relieving result is no.

New single, 'You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You'

is nothing like the typical cheesy pop you would expect from an X Factor winner.

It's got substance, it's got some mean brass and beats and most

importantly: It's got soul, and not that cheap

manufactured crap.

No, no, no, it's the real stuff, the soul that money can't buy.

You've either got it or you've not.

And like John Newman, James Arthur certainly does.

And with one artist spearheading the idea of white soul, 

a certain John Newman, that's all very exciting and commendable,

and you've got to hold your hands up to the man.

Look what he's managed to achieve off his own back.

He created a new genre

in which he was  the only inhabitant, he took a risk,

he raised a bench mark, and went out there.

The public hadn't heard anything like him before,

yet they lapped him up like a cat pouncing on a dish of rich, silky cream.

A public so accustomed and tuned into rap,

r&b, dubstep, electronica, pop, got the soulful 'Love Me Again' and album

'Tribute' to number one.

John Newman has begun something.

A change in direction for the music industry.

But he can't do it alone, he needed people to start following

his example, holding up the torch for good old

rich soul, and lucky for him,

a certain X Factor winner has jumped on the bandwagon

and is following in his wake.

It's a very exciting time for the music industry.

As little as two years ago, the idea of bringing back soul and those

beautiful Motown vibes seemed impossible or at the least,

unlikely. It wasn't the right time, yet look at where we are now.

And like with r&b, hip hop et al,

could this be the start of a new genre taking the reigns and steering

the course of music?

Will we see more undiscovered soul stars emerging from the shadows,

will artists begin to incorporate elements of soul into

their music?

It seems like we're on the cusp of a new type of soul altogther:

it's white, it's British, it's modern, and it's so very, very cool.

Newman's doing it old school, Arthur's introducing it to the world of pop,

what will the artists of tomorrow be doing?

Stay tuned....