Candie Payne
What with Amy Winehouse being a pop star and all, I figured Candie Payne would be a bit better known on this side of the pond. Not that they sound alike at all, but they are both retro pop/soul singers from the UK. Candie Payne is more on the pop side (and the talented side), though. She has one foot in the British pop singer tradition of Shirley Bassey & Dusty Springfield, and one foot in the girl group revivalism of the Pipettes or Lucky Soul (who I will discuss in the future).
I first got into Candie Payne through her bombastic Spectoresque UK hit “I Wish I Could Have Loved You More”, but that song is all over the internet, so I’m not going to post that. Instead, I’m going to discuss the slinky torch song “Why Should I Settle for You”. Her multi-tracked vocals have all the emotional punch of Dusty at her best. The arrangement, with its jazz noir trumpets and violin, isn’t that far from Portishead, but without a smooth 60s pop rhythm rather than dated trip-hop beats.
I don’t know if or when this is coming out in the US, but for now you can overpay for the import!
Why Should I Settle for You (expired)
