16 February 2012
Emeli Sandé’s first name is actually Adele. That’s just a coincidence. The pounding piano chords that accompany the thumping martial drumbeat of ’60s soul-pop throwback ‘Next To Me’ are played by the same pianist—jazz composer Neil Cowley, at one time Musician in Residence for the city of Derry—who plays the pounding piano chords that accompany the thumping martial drumbeat of ’60s soul-pop throwback ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele. That could be a coincidence too.
I happen to like up-tempo piano pop such as ‘Rolling In The Deep’, and I’m always wishing more people did it. Also, Sandé is a likeable performer with an appealing voice. So, how come I’m lukewarm about ‘Next To Me’, an actual up-tempo piano-pop single by a good singer? Well, there’s my strong suspicion that this is a song about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. (The Christian theologists among you will recall that all three are—reveal!—one and the same.) I wouldn’t mind if this were the muscular and soaring gospel tune its backing singers try to make it. However, the vagueness and cliché of ‘Next To Me’ in trying to work both a romantic and religious angle—New Adele meets New Testament —mean this is an essentially bland, wishy-washy and risk-free affair: paddling in the don’t-go-out-too-far.
