Selah Sue (her real name is Sanne Putseys) is a young Belgian singer who is another example of an artist that is successful in Europe but largely ignored in North America. She released her critically acclaimed debut album four years ago at the ripe old age of twenty-one. Now she is back with her sophomore effort and I feel that it somewhat suffers as a result of that initial success. Selah Sue’s debut album was an honest compilation featuring a nice mix of reggae, pop and soul influenced tracks. On Reason obviously more money went into the making of the record and the upping of the production values has not leant to the overall sound. You would think it would be helpful to have more cash involved in bringing your songs to music fans but in this case I think it has distracted her. The pop-soul sound is solid and there are plenty of hooks inserted in songs like “Alone” (first single off album) and “Together”. In fact the first half of the album is stronger by far with a severe tailing off over the last half dozen songs. Total filler alert. The missteps on the album are not a reason to dismiss the young singer as she possesses definite talent and a powerful voice (which shines through on several tracks). I love the fact that she is exploring different contemporary sounds and is still evolving. The best is yet to come, as they say.
Selah Sue – Reason
