Reminds me alot of NIKKA COSTA . What do ya think about her?
[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 10:19:17 2004 by Zelaira]

I like the album (the Soulsessions). A lot of trusted old hands working with this girl. I think this is someone who will be around for a long time.

isn't her name joss stone?

oye!! another joss stone thread?

sosgemini said:

But this is a Josh Stone thread!

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[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 8:26:51 2004 by Batdance]

Is this the bimbo who ripped off The White Stripes?


Don't care for her at all.

Oh yeah, another Joss Stone thread! - I like her music too but I think, the next album she will release, with her own stuff, will be more interesting than the soul sessions! And: I don't think, that Joss Stone is her real name. What do ya think?

gemini13 said:

yeah i thought it was funny that she was covering a white stripes song. unless of course the white stripes were covering it from someone else. in anycase, i like the white stripes version better.

I liked the samples I heard enough to buy it from Amazon. I like the album, but not sure if I'm in love with it. I'd recommend it though. And she's got an amazing voice for such a young girl.

Ok..I wasn't going to post on this but I thought you would like to read a quote from Amazon.com from a reviewer that I completely agree with.Here it is:

"What do you get when you hire Betty Wright and Angie Stone to sing guide vocal tracks for a 16 year old white girl? JOSS STONE trying to pass for a soul singer.

Cat's outta the bag on this one. Ooops!

1.) Guide vocals sung by Betty and Angie, overdubbed by Joss.

2.) Backgrounds sung by soul singers, tracks played by all black instrumentalists from back in the day.

3.) Change of name... "Joss Stone" is not her real name. She was born Joscelyn Stoker, but the Joss Stone moniker was created to fool consumers by using a 'black sounding name'- how dumb do S-Curve and EMI think consumers are? They even try to hide Joss' ethnicity on the cover by placing a Microphone and Pop Screen prominently in her face.

4.) Her voice has a nice husky quality and she can sing on pitch, but come on folks, she is uninspired emotionally and she does not deliver any kind of stellar vocal performances on these songs. She needs some serious life living experience and intonation to resonate before she will make the hairs stand up on my neck. And for goodness sakes she DOES NOT sound like a young Aretha, Gladys etc. Those are utterly insane comparisons!

5.) Who cares that she's "white" and British? Does the fact that she's white give her more credibility or leeway? No! There are countless Caucasian female vocalists out there who drown "Joss" when it comes to true, soulful delivery (Lisa Stansfield, Natalie Brown, Teena Marie, Eva Cassidy, Krystal Harris, Dusty Springfield, Nikka Costa, Anastacia, Joan Osborne, Annie Lennox, Jane Child... etc) If this were a 16 year old African-American girl, absolutely NO ONE would have taken notice. I guarantee that!

6.) This CD is technically bad. Foremost, the mix is awful. It sounds like Joss is singing atop some soul Karaoke tracks. She is far to forward in the mix and the instrumentation is too low across the board. You'd think that Steve Greenwell would have used a decent, Gate, De-Esser, better compression and a better Mic/Pre-Amp setup. The lip smacking is horrendous, the poor noise reduction on the recording does NOT give this a vintage feel, it gives the entire effort a sloppy, hastily put together feel. Not a good move. Shame on Chris Gehringer for such a poor mastering job!

7.) S-Curve and Shorefire need to watch the contradictory press/hype that is currently circulating. Some older stories have Joss claiming to never have heard of soul music till she came to the USA... the most recent stories have her singing along with Re-Re at the tender age of 3. Better get the story straight:

"...On a recent trip to Philadelphia to do promotion, Stone confessed that she stumbled into soul. She's not one of those UK soul fanatics who know the name of every drummer to record for Stax. In fact, she says, "I don't know the history of any of it. I just know I like singing it."

"Joss Stone" sounds very, very much like Kelly Clarkson and looks like Julia Styles. Throw in the fact that she's 16 and you have Major Label pre-fab formula. Joss is just another pretty, young, blonde, manipulated creation. If Avril Lavigne was the Anti-Britney, Joss Stone is the Anti-Avril. Simple as that. More hyped pre-fab made to look like something fresh via Steve Greenberg's S-Curve/EMI venture.

For the record: Joss can sing. She's not bad, but she's not the vocal genius the hype would suggest. She needs a lot of work on her delivery, which throughout this collection of covers is forced, badly 'belted', harsh, glottal and above all, there is no tonal or emotional variance whatsoever. Whatever 'emotion' some are getting via listening to this record is due only to the phrasing/delivery of the soulful women who sang the melodies that Joss Stone mimicked. She is a strong Pop singer who could do well with Blues and Contemporary Urban sounds if she developed her voice and delivery. She's a lucky little girl who fits the bill right now with all the backlash going on in Pop music. But believe this- "Soul Sessions" is as pre-fabricated and engineered as any Britney Spears release. And that folks... is the honest to goodness truth.

I for one will wait a few years for Joss to live a bit of life, experience a real 'Dirty Man' and a little bit of honest 'Chokin''. Then perhaps she can co-write some of her own songs, sing them in her own voice for a record that's truly all her own. She comes off as a very sweet and earthy girl with a lot of compelling naivety about her. The raw talent is there, but she needs to grow and develop her voice before she's hailed as a wunderkind! "

-look this guy is totally right, yes,I am a 20 year African -American artist,but that is not my source of bias, I know HUNDREDS of other singers black,white,Hispanic,Asian...who can blow this girl right out of the water and have been turned down by label after label after label. When I hear music I don't see a color,but I'm not everyone. I don't see how you guys can herald this girl as the next coming of music,when everyone knows if she wasn't a blonde,thin,pretty caucasian, most people wouldn't notice her. I'm not saying that the girl can't sing..because she can, but I know people that can sing better.Joss just further sparks the idea of image being everything. The sad part is, this phenom doesn't work both ways... Joss, like N*Sync might be picked up by MTV and BET, whereas Lenny Kravitz,Fefe Dobson,and Ben Harper have little or no airplay on BET. You cannot tell me there is nothing wrong with that situation. I think that anyone should be able to make the music they want to, but I think her image is really clouding everything else about her. Think about people like Lizz Wright,Rhian Benson,Goapele ,Res,Cherokee,Vivian Green,Syleena Johnson...people being ignored in favor of the Ashantis,Beyonces AND Joss Stones that the industry pushes in our faces. I consider myself one of the most musically diverse people,I listen to every genre. But the hype with Joss is crazy.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 21:49:21 2004 by NikkiH]
[This message was edited Mon Mar 1 20:58:29 2004 by NikkiH]

AND...Nikka Costa is like 1000 times more worthy of praise than Joss simply for creativy and imagination on her part.

I read an article in a newsgroup this morning that called Joss Stone the "the white Aretha Franklin." Some people are just totally clueless. No way will this girl be accepted as a legit R&B singer.

Her record label should aim her at pop audiences. R&B audiences will not such blatant fakery. I'd love to see her take her act the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The audience would run her off the stage!

Sueme said:

I agree with EVERYTHING NikkiH said. The press calling this chick the "new Aretha" means that not one of them has EVER LISTENED to Aretha or knows what the hell they're talking about! Joss Stone has a bland voice that, while technically PASSABLE, is devoid of emotion - she is the Jessica Simpson of soul.

If I want to cure my insomnia, I'll go listen to Norah Jones or Diana Krall.
[This message was edited Mon Mar 1 14:48:10 2004 by VoicesCarry]

Much like when Eminem was "the new Vanilla Ice.' I do like that girl's tones, but thanks on the thorough soul Sessions review as far as mixing. Felt the same when I bought that first Charlotte Church cd. She was amazing on it, but I could hear several mixing mistakes with her vocals and it kinda through out the purity of it. People thought I was crazy when I said it b/c they were liek "no way! She's grand!" And she is. but she was young. You don't necessarily have to have tragedy to make your self a worthy artist, but it helps. Alicia Keys seems to be doing just fine without tragedy, but what an exception.

I was trying to figure out why people were making such a big deal out of this girl. I guess it's more b/c of the age, certainly not her voice or that song. It's not bad or anything, but I don't think it's worth the hype...

CalhounSq said:

on the nose

Always support real music. And this is better then Prince.

2freaky4church1 said:

Why must we equate "real" with "good"?

2freaky4church1 said:

can i delete this comment? isnt it considered a flame towards all people with good taste?



j/k

CalhounSq said:

Age "should" not generate hype, most artists my age(that I know) have been singing since they were at least 5 (Myself and some others started at 2), and could give a girl a run for her money when they were 7,10,13 and 16. My best friend,a gospel singer, has had her amazing voice since the sixth grade. Tiffany on that new Star Search(yuck!) has a better voice than Joss Stone and she's like 10. I'm saying this from a voice training perspective my vocal teacher would tear her apart for her lack of breath control, and open vocal chords. If Joss keeps singing the way she does,she may get a growth on her chords and have surgery and never sing again. That's sad because I know Betty Wright is an amazing vocalist and teacher and Joss must not be paying much attention. If Joss gets her internal stuff working,she might be able to do miraculous things with that voice. But I honestly don't believe the hype with the age thing..I never have.

NikkiH said:

It shouldn't but that's how people are - they bug out over anyone young doing something "well", anyone White sounding traditionally Black, blah blah blah...