My Current Obsession - Ella Henderson

From X-Factor Contestant to Popstar conquering the world with her debut album, I talk about why Ella Henderson is my current obsession. 

I’d downloaded Ella Henderson’s album one day on iTunes with a spare voucher I had, I hadn’t heard much apart from her debut single, Ghost, so I thought it was the right time to have a listen. Of course the album kind of fell on the back burner as I continued to obsess over Miley Cyrus’s ‘Bangerz’ album (which I still love to this day).

I was on the train to work one day when I had my iPod on shuffle when I started listening to a really deep, rich and soulful sound. With deep beats and riffs running up and down, I didn’t know who I was listening too. Looking at my iPod I found I was listening to to one Miss Henderson.

I listened to track after track carefully, each song having that continuous wholesome but bold sound. It mainly had slow paced song with some catchy tracks which you wouldn’t expect amongst the ‘love songs’. Her album, Chapter One, is an amazing collection of songs for her to get noticed by. She has everything from being empowering to being heartbroken and finally being able to conquer the world.

Back tracking, Ella first appeared on the X-Factor in 2012 and although she only came 6th (controversially) she went on to sign with Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco Music. Keeping it quiet for a while, she exploded back onto the scene with her debut single, Ghost. The track was written and produced with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder when she was the mere age of 18 and it was on every single radio station in the UK, thanks to it’s rich and bold start.

Then soon came her album, released in the UK, Chapter One. Filled with a mixture of tracks, Henderson explained ‘"I wanted each song to explain a situation, and then [for] the next song [to] kind of get you through that’. The album was met with positive reviews and Ella was pinpointed to being the next big thing, as she set her sights for the USA.

It took me a while to get into Ella’s album. Mainly because each song had to be listened to carefully because as she said, she wanted each song to explain something and then wanted the next song to be a follow up. I just adore the sound of her voice, it’s definitely a new fresh sound with a heavy richness of soul music. It bounces from happy to sad to content to empowered. Henderson has a real mix of songs and doesn’t just sing about how heavy her heart is, but how much of a good person she is and how she is better and will be better than another girl. She sings about her childlike state and then quickly sings about her inspiration and love of music.

 

My stand out tracks are:
Empire - A brave and bold, loud and demanding opening to the album.
Pieces - A song that builds and builds, till you just want to dance around your room.
The First Time - The song that gets you through the break up, the ‘I am and will be better’ song.
Billie Holliday - The funnest, liveliest track. Full of confidence and bounce.
1996 - A humble recollection of her beginning and progression into growing up.

As I said she is and will be a force of nature. I can’t wait to see what’s next for her and her career. Asides from her own songs, she does a great cover of a song. Ranging from Cher to Drake and most recently, Sam Smith (See below for an amazing cover of, I'm Not The Only One). She is putting her stamp on things and is getting bigger and better. I look at her and think of a true woman, she is gorgeously curvaceous and has impeccable style to match her cool and collected tones.

She is currently getting ready to support Take That on tour but I’m more excited to see her head up her own tour one day!

And that’s why she is my current obsession! Any thoughts on Ella?