Song of the day – 662: Laura Mvula
Stumbled across this while browsing a friend’s Facebook posts for diatribes against thoughtless racism propagated by prodigal pop stars… like you do. (Hi, Lucy!)
I know this will surprise precisely no one, but I don’t have a fucking single clue who Laura Mvula is. Just that I think this song is fantastic: fluid and elastic and playful and possessed of an easy, assured grace that reminds me of Nina Simone a little (and trust me, I don’t use that reference point often). It’s also very 2013 – and I guess that’s what I love most about it.
Anyway, here’s Lucy Cage herself to talk us through it. Hi, Lucy!
Laura Mvula! I don’t know many of her songs but the ones I’ve heard are smart and elegant and intriguing and sturdy and wry and smooth and gracefully twisty. Lovely unusual clever tunes and stompy lyrics. Makes Lily Allen look like a pointless petulant brat. Not that that is a fair comparison because they’re just two random women working in pop but I watched ‘That’s Alright’ the day the Allen Twerkgate happened so there the comparison was, blinking at me. All the puzzling over whether Allen was an asset to feminism or a clueless dabbler betraying her more vulnerable sisters suddenly seemed risible. Here’s someone making empowered, brilliant pop on her own terms and no one needed to get paraded around in their knickers.