Joss Stone Music Review

Diva is probably the only word for describing this teenage Rock Star.  She is already being called the “white Aretha Franklin,” and she is performing with anyone and everyone that matters in the world of music.  Several months ago she sang with Melissa Etheridge at the Grammy Awards, performed at Live 8, can be found on the newly released tribute to Sly and the Family Stone, and is reportedly recording a Christmas song with Elton John to be released later this year.  The problem with doing a review on this young star is that she is so new that there is relatively little information about her beliefs available, and she has not written enough material to give an idea of what message(s) she will be attempting to convey in the future.  So, what makes this 18 year old from Devon , England so important now anyway?  For starters, her debut album, Soul Sessions, sold over 675,000 copies in 2003 and was only meant to be a side project.  This album is a collection of popular and rarely covered soul songs recorded in an attempt to introduce this style of music to today’s generation of teenagers.  Miss Stone may be only eighteen, but she bears the title of the “most preciously gifted vocalist of her generation.”^[1] She does not sound like a teen pop star, and she is anything but bubblegum.

Stone’s second album, Mind, Body and Soul, was really meant to be her debut even though it was released a year after Soul Sessions.  The latter album was made up of thirteen songs, most of which she co-wrote.  If you are looking for deep philosophical content she may not have much to offer, but if you would like to hear some soul music with a heavy emphasis on the different aspects of relationships, then she is definitely worth the listen.  Joss Stone’s music is also relatively clean and moral.  In fact, on the two albums released to date there are only two songs that use any profanity—something unheard of by most in the pop music world today.

It is high time for a young artist to come along and reshape the way that their generation thinks and feels about what quality music is based upon the sound and message, and Joss Stone is a step in the right direction.  Is she a Christian?  Probably not, but her songs generally speak to morality in relationships.  There is an emphasis on faithfulness, standing up for yourself, giving relationships 100% of your efforts to make them work, learning from past mistakes, and even being encouraging towards your other half.  I can only hope that in the coming months and years there will be more artists like her will be introduced into the culture.  Morality should be encouraged in art, and a number of her songs do exactly this.

This month, take the time to pray for the music industry and artists like Joss Stone.  Pray that she and others like her will continue to address issues of morality, quality in art, and that they will not let the concept of receiving more monetary benefits cause them to compromise their message.