Two years ago, no one would have ever thought that a female British soul singer with retro stylings would ever break ground in the American market, with the somewhat odd exception of Joss Stone. Two years, two million album sales and one helluva hot mess later, Amy Winehouse proved all the doubters wrong. Once Amy’s Back to Black hit, the floodgates opened and a slew of Brit female singers started making waves on these shores. There’s the jazzy flavor of Adele, the more hip-hop styled vibe of Estelle, and the young Welsh singer we know as Duffy, whose album Rockferry is the most similar to Amy’s smash breakthrough. Musically, the albums both sound like they could have been recorded in 1966, using live instrumentation and featuring girl-group harmonies and sweet melodies. You could play both albums right after Dusty in Memphis and there’ll be some kind of continuity. That, however, is where the comparison ends.
Back to Black had a very tangible feeling of foreboding and sadness. There was a lived-in quality to Winehouse’s voice, a sense that she was living the pain of the lyrics she was singing. Duffy sounds a lot more green and chirpy. Not that it’s a bad thing. Taken for what it is, Rockferry is an admittedly decent album. However, in light of the massive rocking of my world that took place with the introduction of Amy Winehouse, Duffy sounds like a pale imitation, or as I said in an article on a friend’s blog, Duffy sounds like Amy Winehouse with the soul sucked out.