Albums to watch

Little Red

Katy B

Little Red

Second album of R&B / deep house from London-born Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter

ADM rating[?]

6.9

Label
Columbia
UK Release date
10/02/2014
US Release date
11/02/2014
  1. 10.0 |   Daily Telegraph

    Little Red confidently and unpretentiously reflects Katy B’s transition from eager young clubber with a curfew to a mature young woman with a home of her own and the ability to hold a little something in reserve
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  2. 10.0 |   Evening Standard

    This record is an emotionally textured, dance-pop triumph
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  3. 9.0 |   Digital Spy

    A sleek and sophisticated collection of dance music with heart that, like all good party guests, never outstays its welcome
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  4. 8.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A finessed and involving convergence between dance and pop that mixes timeless songwriting with an energized and gutsy production
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  5. 8.0 |   Entertainment.ie

    Sadness has never sounded quite this sexy
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  6. 8.0 |   Clash

    Brien’s voice is the beating heart of this album – it flows like molten silver to permeate the rich haze of pulsing synths and throbbing beats
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  7. 8.0 |   The 405

    An assured album that utilises everything Katy B has going for her, from her love of clubbing to her BRIT School trained voice which is both bewitching and relatable
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  8. 8.0 |   Time Out

    Despite drawing on sadness for its dancefloor energy, ‘Little Red’ continues to fizz over with fresh ideas for urban-pop
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  9. 8.0 |   DIY

    If ‘On A Mission’ was a statement of youthful intent, then ‘Little Red’ is What Katy Did Next – growing in depth as an artist without ever sacrificing style
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  10. 8.0 |   Q

    Growing up both in the mainstream and in clubland gives her a glorious head start on her peers. Print edition only

  11. 8.0 |   Uncut

    A triumphant consolidation of her position as the voice of nocturnal youth. Print edition only

  12. 8.0 |   The FT

    The music is a muscular distillation of UK bass music and pop, a powerful framework for Katy’s nuanced portrait of life as a young woman in the frontline of London’s nightlife
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  13. 8.0 |   Fact

    In short, this album holds together even better than On a Mission, and Katy B is still our best pop star
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  14. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    While her debut On A Mission was a bold hashing-together of genres, equal parts R&B-feels and electro bombast, Little Red rides a comparatively low tidal ebb
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  15. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    She's still the sharpest storyteller on the dance floor
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  16. 7.8 |   Pitchfork

    Little Red is not the best album it could have been—a few of the bonus tracks should have made the album proper—but Katy displays a vision for her career that suggests an exciting future
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  17. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    An album that sustains the energy of the party while prioritizing the real, complicated human feelings in the middle of it all. It’s quite something
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  18. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Like her debut, which was one of those few records that worked as well on the dancefloor as it did on a broadsheet critic’s car stereo, it skirts the edges of untouchable in so many ways
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  19. 7.0 |   NME

    There's a danger of safe familiarity with 'Little Red', and a danger of top-heaviness
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  20. 7.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Little Red, feels very much like a scene from a few hours later that same night, a little drunker, a little more emotionally volatile, maybe slightly more likely to either spill her needy guts out or just bounce to a pizza stand with her crew, depending on which cut the DJ cues up in the next few minutes
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  21. 7.0 |   Spin

    The lack of a hefty, definable, or easily digestible pop overhaul here means that Little Red probably won’t hit America as hard as even its predecessor did
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  22. 6.0 |   No Ripcord

    Albums such as Little Red are testaments to the potential of electronic dance music in the current age
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  23. 6.0 |   The Quietus

    Accessibility is key here, and it's what Katy B does best
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  24. 6.0 |   The Music

    The deluxe edition of this record is fairly bloated, but there’s some genuine gold, namely Blue Eyes, which shows that the 24-year-old Londoner isn’t afraid of a little journey
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  25. 6.0 |   PopMatters

    The album isn’t a let down, and in comparison to the current albums out right now it’s definitely of a higher quality, but I, for one, was expecting more
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  26. 6.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    The ballads will be the tracks from Little Red to own the charts for the foreseeable future, but it’s on the 5am dancefloor that Katy B’s second album will score its biggest impact
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  27. 6.0 |   The Observer

    They're not bad tunes but won't detonate a dancefloor either
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  28. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    A debt to classic R&B is made most explicit when Sampha joins Brien for vocal duties
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  29. 6.0 |   The List

    A follow-up that marks Katy B's continuing development, despite some patchy moments
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  30. 6.0 |   The Guardian

    For all their qualities, rarely do they have the lightness of step, vibrant energy or sheer ear-grabbing melodic pull that characterised Katy B's earlier songs
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  31. 5.0 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    Little Red stands as an example of what happens when the zeitgeist leaves you behind
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  32. 5.0 |   The Digital Fix

    Katy B’s firm grip on the leash of your attention-span is undone: streaks of vibrant red dulled by beige
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  33. 4.0 |   The Irish Times

    All too often Brien’s personality fades into a background of sleek studio effects and predictable lovelorn ballads-with-beats
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  34. 4.0 |   The Skinny

    That voice, its earthy burr becoming oddly reminiscent of Rihanna, is a marvel. It’s just a shame the material doesn’t do it justice more consistently than here
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  35. 2.0 |   The Independent

    The light, mischievous tone of her debut has been supplanted by clubland clichés so dull they barely merit airspace
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