Features The Return Of Ms. Dynamite

Ms Dynamite releases her comeback single ‘Neva Soft’ this week, almost 6 years after her last recorded output with 2005’s rather underwhelming, and ultimately quite poor, second album ‘Judgement Days.’ ’Judgement Days’ was full of trite and clichéd attempts at social commentary rather then the inventive and exciting pop of her debut and was a desperately disappointing follow up. Ms Dynamite’s debut ‘A Little Deeper’ was, of course. a Mercury prize winning album in 2002 and was the first album from a UK R&B and hip hop singer to win the prize setting a precedent that the likes of Dizzee Rascal and Speech Debelle followed, however, since her Mercury win Ms Dynamite’s career has been blighted by a number of ill-informed decisions and she has been almost forgotten amongst a raft of new UK urban artists that have dominated the charts over the last few years.

Ms Dynamite’s story is an interesting one, in the past 6 years she has been convicted of assault and sentenced to a spell of community service, her second album was a commercial and critical failure and she has suffered the ignominy in appearing in downmarket reality TV shows, I don’t know of any other Mercury prize winning artists who’s career had dwindled so much that they were reduced to getting shouted at by Gordon Ramsey in Hell’s Kitchen. It seemed that Ms Dynamite had retired from music and performing to concentrate on motherhood, however, over the past few years she has been embarking on a slow burning comeback building up to an album next year and this is a very, very good thing for British pop.

Ms Dynamite’s comeback is an object lesson for any artist in the doldrums on how to go about resurrecting their career. Over the last 2 years Dynamite has appeared on a number of tracks with striking guest vocals that immediately show off her immense talent as a rapper and performer, most notably on Katy B’s ‘Lights Out’ and Zinc’s ‘Wile Out’ these tracks have alerted people to the fact that not only does Ms Dynamite still exist but she is still seriously talented, she has also cleverly aligned herself with new and exciting DJs and producers showing that she is not just some relic from the past but an artist who is still relevant and is immersed in the music of now, and indeed, the music of the future.

‘Neva Soft’ has been produced by pre-eminent UK producer Labrinth and is a classy slice of contemporary, exciting, dancehall influenced pop which takes in influences from across dance music’s diverse spectrum. It is a hugely impressive comeback and in a year that has been dominated by the smooth, soul pop sounds of the likes of Adele and Ellie Goulding, UK pop needs someone fresh and exciting like Ms Dynamite more than ever.