The hot prospect in pop: Celeste is a mix between Billie Holiday and Whitney Houston… but, she is her own woman and may well be a superstar
Celeste Not Your Muse Out Friday
It’s not always easy being the next big thing, especially when a pandemic comes along and tosses your generation’s hopes and dreams into the freezer.
The hot prospect in pop is Celeste, born in Los Angeles 26 years ago but brought up in Saltdean, East Sussex, where she pulled pints in a pub while taking her music A-level.
For a wannabe singer, the two great staging posts are the BBC Sound Of… the coming year and the Brits Rising Star award, formerly known as Critics’ Choice. Last winter, Celeste won both.
The hot prospect in pop is Celeste (above), born in Los Angeles 26 years ago but brought up in Saltdean, East Sussex, where she pulled pints in a pub while taking her music A-level
In February she performed at the Brits, in a tricky slot, straight after Billie Eilish’s Bond theme. Celeste stood alone in the middle of the O2 Arena, wearing a gown, casting a spell, drawing a roar from the crowd.
‘Formidable voice,’ I tapped out on my phone. ‘She’ll go up a division tomorrow.’
That tomorrow never came. Celeste spent the rest of 2020 living up to her surname, Waite. Stuck in a holding pattern, she circled the album chart, which badly needs some new arrivals: the other day, Queen were back in the top ten with their Greatest Hits, after 928 weeks.
Now, four years on from her first single, on Lily Allen’s label, Celeste’s debut album has finally landed.
The minute you hear it, you see why she’s been tipped for the top. Several of her songs, mostly co-written with Jamie Hartman, are old-school soul ballads – easy on the ear, healing for the heart.
Dotted among them are two TV themes, Stop This Flame from Sky’s Premier League coverage and A Little Love from the John Lewis/Waitrose Christmas ad. The football fanfare, bursting with self-belief, works better here than the Christmas comfort food, which now feels like a month-old mince pie.
Whatever the material, though, Celeste has a superpower: her voice. At her best, on Strange, A Kiss and Love Is Back, she pulls you in with her intimacy, then blows you away with her power.
It’s as if the verses are being sung by Billie Holiday and the choruses by Whitney Houston – except that Celeste, as her album title announces, is her own woman. She may well be a superstar too.