Duffy - Four Months On

The Duffy effect is still going strong. She currently sits at number 2 in the album charts with the biggest selling album of the year so far, which has not left the top four since it's release way back in March. Whilst you cannot deny the voice (though urban myth states it is not her natural singing voice), it appears that there must be something more appealing to the public than that. Why has this blue eyed welsh songbird captivated the nation?

She gives a somewhat lacklustre live performance (though given a few more years experience i suspect she will blow us away) and she is short on tabloid appeal (imagine her getting busted for smack, a la Winehouse?!), yet it appears that the music itself has won us over. A rare thing in this day and age, what with x-factor, newspaper deals and digital downloads, the success of 'Rockferry' can be put down to an album that has been carefully crafted to maximise on the publics current taste for 'retro-soul'.

The prime example of this would be 'Warwick Avenue' i find the more i listen to it, the more i love it, i picked it out as a favourite when i got the album and it has quickly risen up my most played on my I-Pod already supassing the one hundred mark. The video is beautiful - harking back to Sinead O'Connor and 'Nothing Compares 2 U', and the song itself is a sweeping lament of lost love and a final chance at closure. It seems to have, like 'Mercy', hit home with the British public. The bitter sweet narratives of this song are found elsewhere on the album and some of the other tracks are just as strong as the singles. Penciled in for the third mainstream single (discounting the limited edition single release of Rockferry), 'Serious' has all the elements of long summer nights dancing to the beat of your own drum under a setting sun, will it match the top three peaks of it's two predecessor's? Well it's doubtful, but there were those who said 'Warwick Avenue' would never be as big a hit as 'Mercy', and whilst it wasn't a number one, it has only just left the top 10 after 17 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 3. An impressive feat for a song from an album thats about to sell it's millionth copy!