Amelia Lily

After finishing third in The X Factor in 2011, Lily recorded with Xenomania, the production team behind much of Girls Aloud’s catalogue. You Bring Me Joy arrived in 2012 with a direct dance-pop pulse and a melody that leaves plenty of room for the singer’s attack. It reached number two in the UK. The vocal has an edge that keeps the polished surroundings from becoming anonymous, especially when a phrase pushes a little harder against the beat.

Shut Up (and Give Me Whatever You Got) and Party Over followed in 2013. Taken together, those singles sketch a recognisable first sound: energetic production, strongly outlined choruses and little hesitation about asking for the listener’s attention. An album called Be a Fighter was recorded during this period but was not released. It belongs to the history of those sessions, rather than to a discography of completed public albums.

California introduced another direction in 2014. In her contemporary Official Charts interview, Lily described writing with Tim Woodcock and Steve Rushton, and hearing a country-pop inflection appear naturally in the material. Her own contribution to the writing was central to the change. That does not erase the value of the Xenomania singles; it explains why the later song approaches the voice differently. The electronic debut moves on impact and repetition, while California lets a more conversational melody guide the performance. Her early recordings therefore document an artist working out the relationship between vocal power and personality. The strongest moments are the ones where a particular turn of phrase gives that power somewhere precise to go.