Alesha Dixon's new video - Breathe Slow

Breathe Slow is the second single to be be released from Alesha's new album 'The Alesha Show'. The video was shot in Las Vegas and features the singer roaming the city of that never sleeps in full showgirl attire, juxtaposed against some Flashdance-esq  studio routines. The track is kinda middle of the road bubble-gum pop... would even go so far to say "catchy" even. Have a peek! 

Alesha: Music To Your Ears?

Brace yourselves for the release of Alesha Dixon's new album - The Alesha Show, released on Monday 24th November. The album is a mixture of new songs and remixed tracks from her shelved project from a couple of years back 'Fired Up'. I sooooo want to love this woman's music. Alesha is one of my favourites on the Brit Pop scene and I'm sure I'm not alone in my thinking. Since Harvey-gate she has provided women across the country with a template on how to act if your man is caught with his pants down, publicly humiliating you in the process. Whilst most of us wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to get our claws out at any given opportunity, Alesha handled the situation with such grace, honesty and maturity that I'll forever be in her corner. But her music, well… now that's another matter. She obviously feels extremely passionate about it, because she could have easily bagged herself a TV job following her Strictly crowning. But no, she chose to give her singing career another shot. And I really wish she hadn't.

Colour me mortified following the first listen of 'The Boy Does Nothing', the first single released from the album. The singing, the lyrics, the melody: every aspect of the track is simply woeful. Not surprisingly though it catapulted straight in the national charts at No.8 (sigh), which explains the exact reason why the likes of Alesha has to sell their musical souls to sustain a musical career in this country. Question: why is it that Black British artists can only be accepted as their authentic selves only after establishing themselves first in the USA a la Floetry and Estelle? I’m now thinking the likes of Alesha, Lemar, Terri Walker, Keisha White and Beverley Knight need to just up sticks and move to the land of milk and honey, and bloody decent record producers, like pronto.

'The Boy Does Nothing'

Who has the X-Factor this year?

Above: Rachel Hylton

Last year I swore off X-Factor after bearing witness to the diabolical brother and sister group that massacred George Michael’s ‘Wake me up Before You Go Go.’ Thankfully I switched over to watch Strictly just in time to see Alesha emerge as the Queen of the Ballroom. So with great reluctance I decided to give the Vex Factor another go this year (well, what else is there to watch on a Saturday night?) and so far have been pretty impressed by the pool of talent. Not surprisingly the two standout singers for me are Rachel Hlyton and Alexandra Burke.

Rachel, God bless her, has lead a colourful life to put it mildly. The mother of 5 kids at the age of 26, her deterioration into crack addiction resulted in 3 of her children being placed into foster care. But you know what? It takes a brave woman to come on national TV and speak so freely about her personal demons, so huge kudos for that. She could easily have chosen to sit on her arse lamenting what she's been through in life, but she’s put that all behind her now to focus on her ambitions of becoming a professional singer. Her actions will hopefully demonstrate to her kids that where you start in life does not necessarily indicate where you’ll end up. But hey, I digress. Back to the matter at hand - her voice. At first I wasn’t too keen to be honest as I thought her tone was too coarse and too unrefined. But after seeing her emotive performance on Saturday’s boot camp I think with a bit of tweaking and learning how to control those powerful pipes, we should hopefully see stronger performances in weeks to come (that’s assuming that she makes it through to the final stages.) I do worry for her though. She seems awfully fragile, and as you can see on the clip, that manifests itself into aggression and defensiveness. How will she handle being in the bottom 2? How will she fare against Simon’s criticism (unfortunately she’s not his mentee and we all know Simon’s game plan – tear down the competition no matter how good they are)? Will the British public embrace her? I soooo fear not. I’m scared that middle England will take one look at Rachel and have all their worst nightmares confirmed about what a young black woman from the inner city is like – an angry, agressive, single mother who feeds off state benefits. I just can’t see them endearing to her despite the redemption song. 

Below: Alexandra Burke

Now Alexandra is a totally different kettle of fish. Whereas Rachel is raw, candid and cocky even. Alexandra seems quite shy, reserved and not entirely confident of her talent. From what I know she’s the daughter of a professional singer so music is obviously in her blood. In my opinion she has the most amazing sweet, songbird singing voice I’ve heard in a long while, and she’s still only a tender 19 years young. When Louis failed to pick her the first time she auditioned three years ago I lost all manner of respect for that guy (now you know why I call it the Vex Factor). It’s as if unless you are a 5 piece boy band or a camp soul diva type singer, he just doesn’t get it. But never mind, like my folks always remind me – nothing comes before it’s time. Now she’s back and her voice has definitely matured within those couple of years. My money is definitely on Alex, but its early days yet. Let’s see how it all shapes up this Saturday. 

Alesha on the cover of 'You' magazine

Alesha Dixon was featured on the cover of Sunday supplement, 'You' magazine, yesterday.  In the accompanying feature written by celebrity hack, Chrissy Iley, the singer spoke candidly about her failed marriage, learning to be proud of her dysfunctional family, and how her confidence was buoyed by her Strictly Come Dancing victory. It's quite an interesting read. I've always admired Alesha for her unbridled ambition, tenacity, and the dignity she maintained throughout the whole Harvey/Javine affair. Things have been on the up and up for her ever since proving the old adage 'who laughs last, laughs best'.  On the strength of her 'Strictly' appearance she was offered a lucrative record deal, and is due to release an album of new material this autumn. Not to mention her TV presenting gigs, and numerous advertising deals. I soooo love a good triumph over adversity story -  good on ya girl. See the full feature attached. The pics are nice too.