Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet About Me

"When you're playing with desire, don't come running to my place when it burns like fire.."

Gabriella Cilmi is a fantastic new singer I have only recently discovered. I have acquired her debut album "Lessons To Be Learned" and it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites of 2008..

She is sixteen and Australian, performing in this video brimming with brash confidence, in full command of bluesy vocal glissandos. This particular song would seem to place her style in the jazzy pop realm of Amy Winehouse or Aimee Duffy. However a completely different impression could be made if “Save The Lies” was her lead off single instead, bringing to mind more of a contemporary eurocentric pop mode like Anastasia [I'm Outta Love].. It’s a completely different sound for these first two tracks on her debut album.

But “Sweet About Me” builds in two catchy sections that seem to linger just a little too long each time.. then an overlap pickup jumps into the chorus, making each part of the song captivating, leading into the next one.

The video seem to take place in the ultimate practice space. Unlike most music video productions, this gives the impression of a real singer singing in front of a real band. Although her seemingly jazzy backup band is prone to the standard melodramatic spine-twisting type of playing - You can tell the hint of jazz is there by the way the guitar player’s guitar has violin holes, how the drummer holds one stick backwards, the bass player is playing one of those big violin things..

If the camera stayed pointed in that one direction, it would remain a decent and realistic looking performance video, complete with the middle break where the singer takes a swig of bottled water. However off in the other direction is a common indie band video conceit, where expectations get subverted. It turns out that in the other end of the room there are a variety of men who are being held against their will and tortured in some mild or extreme ways. I could not help but make a connection to the ear cutting scene in the film “Reservoir Dogs..”

But no.. I am sure it is just a script to give the young girl an edgy and ‘indie’ appeal. Perhaps the men who are tied up, caged, shredded, duct taped,and hung upside down are her would-be pop band and she is asserting the type of music she really ought to be doing...

Or perhaps it’s commercial appeal has already manifested, as It has been drafted for a Dutch deodorant ad: [New Rexona Commercial feat. Gabriella Cilmi]

Despite the lure of mainstream pop, my second fave song on the album in the same style is: "Got No Place To Go"

Overall she is an amazing singing talent. It is apparent in her breakout performance on the Later with Jools Holland show in the UK, where she does an acoustic performance of “Sweet about Me” in her natural voice.

I will be keeping an eye on what direction she takes with her musical styles.. and playing her album over and over on my summer hiatus.