Scene and Heard CCXXXI : Only U – JDR (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Pop music may be a young persons scene but that doesn’t mean that the market will put up with a lower standard product than any other genre. Far from it, if you want to keep the pop dollar on side as the teen fan grows into a more discerning music fan then you need to deliver songs which offer both immediacy and sparkle but are well wrought and sophisticated. Throw away songs may be great for the quick buck but even the most cynical record label marketing department knows that there is no future in that route. The clue is after all in the name…throw away.

There is nothing throw away about JDR’s sunshine single Only U, not only does it tick all the right boxes to pick up the younger element, it also has enough sass and spine to snare a more mature audience. And that’s the trick isn’t, broad appeal? If pop is about escapism, good times and fun then Only U could almost be the modern template upon which the young commercial pop-dance artist should work too. It grooves, pops and struts with confidence and effortless cool, it blends latino exoticism with western swagger and comes with a video which is wonderfully self-deprecating. It’s hard to think of one thing that they have missed out.

Only U is set to become a favourite of modern club culture, it is as simple as that. It delivers all the goods, all the expectation and fever that a dance floor classic needs, but it does so on its own terms. It doesn’t pander to the audience, instead taking familiar sounds, deconstructing them and cleverly putting them back together in an interesting new way. For those reasons it could easily be clubland future classic , one brimming with a longevity that will prevail long after the dance by numbers tunes have be dropped into the musical landfill site of history.