1 	Get Happy 	2:49
2 	Fine And Mellow 	2:36
3 	Embraceable You 	3:36
4 	That Ole Devil Called Love 	3:06
5 	Blue Moon 	2:50
6 	I Thought About You 	3:03
7 	Summertime 	2:50
8 	I'll Never Smile Again 	3:21
9 	Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be) 	3:18
10 	All Of Me 	2:39
11 	God Bless The Child 	3:33
12 	What Is This Thing Called Love 	2:38
13 	Stormy Weather 	3:12
14 	Lady Sings The Blues 	3:36
15 	Willow Weep For Me 	2:38
16 	Don't Explain 	3:52
17 	My Man 	3:34

Still the best voice to have come out of a Simon Cowell talent contest, former X Factor 2010 runner up Rebecca Ferguson has a rich, tender, soulful tone, a kind of lived-in essence that oscillates precariously between happiness and sadness. It is a quality familiar in the work of tragic jazz legend Billie Holiday, whose centenary is celebrated this year.

Lady Sings The Blues is a more or less straight run through some Holiday classics (including God Bless This Child, Lover Man, and of course, Lady Sings the Blues), freshened up only by the depth of the contemporary recording sound and the particular personality of Ferguson’s first class vocals. The instrumentation is traditional jazz pop, emphasising piano and horns, with orchestras adding an extra glaze of faux sophistication. These songs are so familiar that no one ever really need record them again and yet the American songbook has become a standard fixture in middle of the road pop careers precisely because this perfect alignment of melody, lyric and emotion works every time.

Ferguson is never overwhelmed or in awe, singing with rhythmic sass and feeling. A lean, propulsive reconfiguration of What Is This Thing Called Love offers a brief glimpse at a much bolder album that could have been made with these songs and this voice. --- Neil McCormick, telegraph.co.uk

As the weather is slowly (very slowly) getting warmer, and the days are getting longer, and balmy, lazy afternoons are once again in sight, what better way to chill out and melt into relaxation than by listening to the languid, soothing tones of Rebecca Ferguson? Her brand-new album is called Lady Sings the Blues, and is a fitting tribute to the legendary era of Swing and Jazz. The influences of Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, and Amy Winehouse are clear, although Rebecca’s distinctive tone manages to leave her own individual stamp on the songs.

The tracks themselves vary in tone within the genre: from the upbeat and joyful ‘Get Happy’ (if you deny clicking your fingers along to that one then I don’t believe you), to the melancholic yet romantic ‘Embraceable You’. My personal favourites of the album are ‘That Old Devil Called Love’ and the wonderful ‘Summertime’, both classic songs that Rebecca does sweet justice to. If you have a penchant for the old-era vintage swing blues, then this collection is the ideal soundtrack to your afternoon of lazing in an armchair or snuggling up with that special someone. The perfect accompaniment to a smooth red wine, or a glass of G&T with cucumber. --- Eleanor Goodman, insanityradio.com

O tym, że program „X-Factor” przynosi krótkotrwałą popularność, przekonał się już prawie każdy jego uczestnik. Na początku wielka sława, pierwsza płyta szybko trafiająca do rąk fanów, odnoszące sukcesy single. I tak do czasu kolejnej edycji. Pojawiają się nowe twarze i poprzedni uczestnicy odchodzą w niepamięć. Przykłady można mnożyć i mnożyć. Pięć minut minęło już jakiś czas temu Rebece Ferguson. Co ciekawe artystka dopiero teraz rozwinęła skrzydła i nagrała płytę, którą powinna zaserwować nam już dawno.

Ten album nie mógł być komercyjnym sukcesem. Po przystępnym, ale mało odkrywczym czy nawet nudnym „Freedom” wokalistka postanowiła wybrać trudną drogę i nagrać płytę z góry skreśloną przez mainstreamowe środowisko. Tytuł „Lady Sings the Blues” wiele nam mówi. Lata temu krążek o takiej nazwie wydała legendarna Billie Holiday. Album Rebeki nie jest jego wierną kopią, choć składa się w całości z kompozycji, które towarzyszą nam od dekad. Pochodzą one nie tylko ze zbiorów Holiday, ale wykonywane były wcześniej przez takich artystów jak Ruth Etting, Tommy Dorsey czy Cole Porter.

Rebecca Ferguson w studiu nagraniowym spotkała się z całą orkiestrą. Nie oszczędzała na aranżach, przez co te jazzowe utwory robią wrażenie, jakby faktycznie nagrane przez nią zostały parę dekad temu. Instrumentarium jest mocnym atutem tego albumu.

Piosenki zawarte na „Lady Sings the Blues” (a jest ich na standardzie, co dzisiaj niespotykane, aż siedemnaście) podzielić mogę na utwory znakomite i bardzo dobre. Najlepszym reprezentantem pierwszej grupy jest „God Bless the Child”, jazzująca, przejmująca kompozycja. Do grona moich ulubionych nagrań należą także swingujące, zachęcające do tańca piosenki: pozytywne „Get Happy”, urocze „All of Me” oraz „What Is This Thing Called Love”. Nie potrafię także przejść obojętnie obok spokojnych, eleganckich kompozycji w stylu „I Thought About You”; nieco ponurego „Stormy Weather”; brzmiącego najbardziej wiekowo „Lady Sings the Blues” czy prostego, cichego „Don’t Explain”. Bardzo dobrze oceniam natomiast takie utwory jak kołyszące „Willow Weep For Me”, szybsze „My Man”, orkiestrowe „Embraceable You” i „The Ole Devil Called Love”.

„Lady Sings the Blues” zwyczajnie zachwyca. Niewiele jest dziś osób, które potrafią odnaleźć się w takiej stylistyce. Ale gdy ktoś taki jak Rebecca się za to zabiera, nie może się nie udać. Artystka zaplusowała nie tylko głosem, ale przede wszystkim wyczuciem i podejściem do jazzowej estetyki. Ferguson to kobieta z klasą. Śmiertelnie się obrażę, gdy zniechęcona brakiem komercyjnego sukcesu sięgnie po płytkie, popowe numery. Ona jest stworzona do nagrywania jazzowych klasyków, dlatego też już teraz marzę o następcy „Lady Sings the Blues”. --- Zuzanna Janicka, the-rockferry.blog.onet.pl

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1 	Bones 	3:49
2 	Mistress 	3:19
3 	Hold Me 	4:28
4 	Superwoman 	3:34
5 	Stars 	3:03
6 	The Way You're Looking At Her 	4:10
7 	Pay For It 	3:16
8 	Oceans 	3:22
9 	Don't Want You Back 	3:14
10 	Without A Woman 	4:20
11 	Waiting For Me 	3:50
12 	I'll Meet You There 	3:28

Rebecca Ferguson 	Primary Artist, Violin, Vocals
Rebekah Allen 	Violin
Xantone Blacq 	Vocals (Background)
Phil Cook 	Keyboards, Programming
Alex Davis 	Bass
James Douglas 	Cello
Ben Epstein 	Bass 
Wendi Harriott 	Vocals (Background)
Sharlene Hector 	Vocals (Background)
Scott McKeon 	Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
Troy Miller 	Bass, Drums, Guitars, Hammond B3, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Programming, Synthesizer
Rob Murllarkey 	Bass, Viola
Harriet Murray 	Violin
Matt Prime 	Guitar, Piano
Sewuese 	Vocals (Background)
Rob Spriggs 	Viola
Carl Stanbridge 	Bass 

The fourth studio album from Britain's Rebecca Ferguson, 2016's Superwoman is a hooky, sophisticated production worthy of her immense talent. Blessed with an earthy, soulful wallop of a voice, Ferguson rose from modest beginnings in Liverpool as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and a teen mom to acclaim as the runner-up on the British version of The X Factor in 2010. Since then, she's released three well-received albums, including her impressive 2015 Billie Holiday tribute, Lady Sings the Blues, which showcased her knack for interpreting jazz standards. She's also had her share of public struggles, including the difficulties of being a single working mom, dealing with depression, and suffering the emotional fallout from several failed relationships -- including a 2014 romance that ended while she was pregnant with her third child. One gets the sense that Ferguson pours all of her feelings and experiences into her work, and Superwoman is no exception. Collaborating with a handful of in-demand writer/producers including Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Zara McFarlane, Mika Urbaniak), Phil Cook (Ellie Goulding, Josh Osho, Kylie Minogue), and Matt Prime (Sam Smith, CeeLo Green, Olly Murs), Ferguson has crafted an album that balances R&B bravado and Motown-esque grooves with a folky, '70s-style melodicism. It's a vibrant, tactile combination that brings to mind favorable comparisons to similarly inclined contemporaries like Amos Lee, Ben Harper, and Adele. Cuts like "Mistress," "Stars," and "Don't Want You Back" are exuberant anthems, rife with messages of hard-won female empowerment and strength in the face of romantic and societal odds. It's a vibe she carries over with tender poignancy and fierce resoluteness on several acoustic guitar and piano-led ballads, including "Hold Me" and the yearning, folk-soul-tinged "The Way You're Looking at Her." However, it's the robust, cathartic title track, with its gigantic, sing-to-the-heavens chorus, that exemplifies the album's message of personal fortitude. She sings "And maybe I'm mad/And maybe I'm all cried out/Maybe I'm scared/But I'm comin' round." With Superwoman, Ferguson isn't just coming around, she's arrived. ---Matt Collar, AllMusic Review

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