The Pop Corporation

Rochelle Jordan started out way back when, making great but somewhat typical R&B. It was all hot boxes and day ones tackle – however, she burrowed away and emerged with a truly sensational LP called ‘Play With Them Changes’.

While most of R&B is concerned with being exactly the type of hot stuff that could pull anybody they wanted if only they left the house once in a while, or being so far behind the velvet VIP rope that you’ve forgotten whether they’re a person or some kind of sophisticated avatar on your phone, Rochelle Jordan is the realest of the real.

Ice cold, well dressed, Jordan switches between Aaliyah-esque mid-tempo come hithers, to full dancefloor wallop. And yes, we know Aaliyah likenesses are incredibly high praise, but like we said right at the top, Rochelle Jordan deserves more.

If you’re into Timbaland scatter beats and double time hats with slow wind grooves, ‘Broken Steel’ is going to be right up your street. If you fancy taking a handful of delicious ecstasy tablets, then you need to get on ‘Got ‘Em’ and ‘Already’. Maybe something that’s between New Jack Swing and Chicago House? ‘All Along’ is so irresistible, that we forgot how to spell irresistible while listening to it.

And sitting between high caliber North American production and the raw stutter of inner city London, ‘Something’ is just about as tremendous a song as you could hope for. It’s R&B set in the future, like it was always supposed to be. Vibey, fresh, occasionally sounding like it just dropped from space.

There’s sniffs of Outkast, bedroom R&B, electro, and the whole thing sells you a dummy and kicks things off with a Drum & Bass track like you’re driving through town at 3am listening to a taped over tape of a pirate station.

All of Rochelle’s releases since day one have been excellent. ‘Follow Me’ is a great like hip-winder, and showed promise. However, who knew that in the intervening years, she’s sidestep the need to ape SZA, Beyonce, INSERT OTHER PROBABLY UNFAIR LIKENESS HERE, to forge something uniquely hers. She’s properly brilliant, y’know?

So what’s the point of all these words? What’s the point of anything if you can’t enthused about someone who deserves so much more shine than you think they’re currently getting.

Rochelle Jordan released an absolute gem of an album, got some airplay and all that good stuff. Will she need some co-sign from someone to send her stratospheric? Maybe. The music world is combustible and weird these days, but if there’s a route where she can find longevity and financial security to keep being her own damn self, then that’s what we need to cross our fingers for.