There’s a message in the middle of the bottom and it reads something like this – “praise the mainstream for it will pay the bills”. Louise Smith, an earnest 19 year old, seems to have read those very words and used them to provide direction for her self-titled EP.
To that end, the first two of her songs to reach these ears diligently draw on the recent past for their inspiration with strong hints of Cheryl Cole and even the Sugababes underpinning both “Karma” and “Speak My Mind”. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but there is perhaps more to Louise Smith than a desire to be just another plastic pop princess with the critical evidence being found in her mature and affecting performance of the ballad “The Lucky One”. Likewise the midtown r ‘n’ b feel that powers “No Ordinary Love” allows her room to breathe with the result being a distinctly pleasing sonic confection.
A promising start from a new British talent with both mainstream appeal and enough ability to suggest that she is capable of deeper and perhaps darker things.