TOM GRENNAN: Everywhere I Went, Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be (Insanity)
Verdict: Soul boy goes pop
He made his name as a boy-next-door soul singer who was prepared to share his innermost feelings in song, but Tom Grennan seems keen to change the narrative with his fourth album. He says it’s one to make his listeners sing and dance, despite that tongue-twister of a title.
He said pretty much the same before his previous release, 2023’s chart-topping What Ifs & Maybes, but he’s closer to the mark this time around.
Channelling the spirits of Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Robbie Williams, the 30-year-old doesn’t hold back, bounding between 1970s glam, 1980s funk and 1990s pop in a hell-for-leather dash featuring big, busy arrangements. There are 15 songs here, and the first of the album’s two ballads doesn’t arrive until track 13.
A promising youth footballer who was on the books of Luton Town before he turned to music, Grennan has hinted at a poppier approach before.
The boy next door moves on: Tom Grennan has swapped his sensitive soul sound for something livelier on his fourth album. And now he wants us to dance
He collaborated with Calvin Harris and Ella Henderson in 2021, but he’s never sounded as optimistic or outgoing as he does here. Five songs on Everywhere I Went… were co-written with American pop alchemist Justin Tranter, one of the composers behind Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe!, a BRIT-winning hit that topped many best-of-2024 lists.
‘Got a brand new sound, gonna play it loud,’ he tells us on Celebrate, underlining his feel-good outlook on a funk number co-written by Harley Sulè, of rap duo Rizzle Kicks. Grennan says the unwieldy album title alludes to the mental health challenges he’s faced, but the overall mood isn’t downbeat: the onus is on his ability to battle through his demons.
‘Every day, I’m working, working, working on me,’ he tells us on Shadowboxing, against an infectious ska rhythm. On Boys Don’t Cry — not the old Cure single, but an electro-pop song that recalls Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World — he argues that men need to be more honest about their emotions. ‘I don’t know why I’ve been saving my tears,’ he sings.
The constant cheerleading sometimes feels strained. ‘Turn that heat up, and never cool down,’ he exhorts us on the Bruno Mars pastiche Certified.
Everybody on your feet! Tom Grennan puts ballads on the back burner in favour of feel-good funk, glam-rock and ska, on his latest album
Rub a dub dub: Tom Grennan strikes a pose to promote his latest release, Everywhere I Went, Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be (like the bathtub)
On a more positive note, Cinnamon is a stomping glam-rock workout, and Shadows On The Ceiling sees him deploy an impressive, soaring falsetto.
The album’s slower songs, when they finally arrive, are worth the wait. Drama Queen is a superior power ballad, and I Won’t Miss A Thing takes a philosophical view of a fading relationship. ‘As the years roll by, I’ll keep you by my side,’ he promises.
He might want his fans to sing and dance, but Grennan hasn’t forgotten his sensitive side.
Tom Grennan starts a UK tour at Bournemouth International Centre on September 3 (ticketmaster.co.uk).
ALISON GOLDFRAPP: Flux (AG Records)
Verdict: Dance queen mellows out
When she was inspiring an electronic dance resurgence with musical partner Will Gregory in the early 2000s, Alison Goldfrapp was an influence on Madonna, Kylie and Girls Aloud. Billing themselves as Goldfrapp, the duo made seven albums before beginning an open-ended break in 2022 after rounding off a tour with gigs at St. Anne’s Park in Dublin and Lytham Festival.
With no indication as to when they will make music together again — ‘never say never,’ asserts Alison — the pair have concentrated on solo projects.
Alison’s 2023 debut, The Love Invention, made the Top Ten, and its fusion of house and disco, sung with gleeful abandon, reiterated her credentials as a clubland queen. Earlier this year, she completed an arena tour supporting the reunited Scissor Sisters.
Dance queen in flux: Alison Goldfrapp’s new album has a dreamier feel than her last effort, The Love Invention
Her second solo album, Flux, covers familiar ground while adding subtle tweaks. Two of her regular collaborators, pop producer Richard X and electronic artist James Greenwood, are back, and there’s a new kid on the block in Swedish synth-pop wizard Stefan Storm. The upshot is a series of dreamy songs that are more confessional, but less forthright, than The Love Invention.
Flux opens strongly. Hey Hi Hello combines themes of longing and heartache with the shimmering synths of Euro-disco. ‘All night, all summer long, I tried getting back to where I started from,’ sings Alison.
On Sound & Light, the elusive ‘emerald ribbons’ of the aurora borealis are a metaphor for an unreliable lover. ‘All I want is love to find me,’ she pleads.
With her singing a breathless purr, the album is dotted with celestial images. On Find Xanadu, she vows to ‘sing with a lilac moon’, while Strange Things Happen finds her ‘out on the edge, daring the stars to fall.’
But, for all its space-age whimsy, Flux lacks the over-the-top razzle-dazzle of prime Goldfrapp, a band who once toured with a troupe of dancers sporting silver horses’ heads.
Maybe, after 25 years beneath the mirrorball, Alison simply needs a breather. ‘Some things just happen… some things can take a while,’ she sings on Play It (Shine Like A Nova Star). The song’s fractured beats and robotic vocals suggest a return to groove-driven former glories might not be too far off.
