Just like Misha B was patently the most gifted contestant in this year’s X Factor, last year Rebecca Ferguson was without doubt the real talent of the competition, despite missing out on victory to Matt Cardle, whose first album has sunk without a trace.
Hopefully the same won’t happen to Ferguson — Heaven is a good deal better than the offerings we’ve come to expect from the SyCo pop factory. Not mind-numbing pop of the ilk of One Direction, or the boring dirge produced by Leona Lewis, Ferguson’s debut is soulful and has the added bonus of being at least in part self-penned.
The single ‘Nothing’s Real but Love’ is the stand-out song of the album and deserving of a higher chart position than 10, its peak. That’s not to say that other tracks aren’t worthy of release — ‘Fairytale’ is memorable and upbeat, while ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ is a slow ballad that shows off her rich, mellifluous voice.
It’s simple balance like this (nothing too extreme, but enough variety) that keeps Heaven from ever rightfully being labelled boring. Sure it’s not cutting-edge, but it’s quality grown-up music, something you’d be forgiven for supposing to be impossible for an X Factor graduate. And to give Ferguson her credit, she hasn’t hit out at her alma mater a la Matt Cardle, but instead stood firm when Simon Cowell tried to thrust pre-written songs at her.
Maybe I’m biased; Ferguson was always my favourite in last year’s show, with just the right amount of saccharine back-story (a mother of two young children while still in her early twenties, she started the show painfully shy) — she would have had my vote if I weren’t so repelled by the prospect of filling Simon Cowell’s pocket with the extortionate phone charges. But I think even a staunch hater of the X Factor machine would have to give Ferguson credit for what is a genuinely great album, regardless of her career trajectory.
4 Stars
