Sunday Girl - High & Low (StreetDance 2 Mix)

One of the greatest pop injustices of current times is that Sunday Girl (AKA fashion starlet Jade Williams) isn't a properly massive popstar of Jessie J proportions. God knows, she certainly deserves it - for the past few years she's been turning out synth-pop gems of unparallelled magnificence, of which High & Low is simply the latest in an impressively consistent line.

Taken from the Streetdance 2 soundtrack (the movie comes out later this month), one might hope that the fact this has the film tie-in factor pulling for it might help it to the sort of chart success even Sunday Girl's Pixies cover from *those* holiday ads couldn't achieve.

As for the song itself, it chugs along on a Solveig-esque beat; a wistful little pop dittie on the ups and downs of love. It's cheery in a gloriously life-affirming and *that* chorus melody, it's seriously divine. Sometimes, the most simple, true-to-heart pop moments are the most moving, and in its soaring, synth-kissed musings, High & Low is the very definition of that ideology.

High & Low is available to download on iTunes now.

Sunday Girl covers the Pixies' Where Is My Mind

2011 has been rather a popular year for covering the Pixies classic. First Emily Browning and Yoav's gorgeous six minute version appeared on the Sucker Punch soundtrack, and then Professor Green sampled a big chunk of the track's chorus for his new album.

But is in Sunday Girl's version that the song is stripped back to its most fundamental essence - piano, strings, and Jade's beautiful voice. We've loved Sunday Girl for absolutely ages now and we really hope this cover - Thomson Holidays soundtrack it might be - helps get her some proper chart recognition.

It's not quite up there with her cover of Blur's Tender, but if you ever needed an example of just how good a singer - and artist - Sunday Girl is, this is it.

Where Is My Mind is available to download on iTunes now.

Sunday Girl - Stop Hey

Put simply, Stop Hey  is one of the greatest singles I've ever heard from a new artist. With a killer chorus, synths that could have come straight from an OMD 80s classic and a feisty attitude that raises Sunday Girl well above her contemporaries it really is a must-download track.

If you've scanned through the pages of the glossy mags over the past few months, you'll have likely seen lots of praise and attention heaped on Sunday Girl herself, Jade Williams. The photogenic pop darling is well-loved in the style circuits and was named Vogue.com's 'One to watch'. And she really is - If you've heard either of her previous singles; the dreamy, hypnotic Four Floors or her inspired cover of Self Control, you'll know what I mean.

If you're a fan of well-written, brilliantly produced electro-pop then Sunday Girl and Stop Hey will be right up your street. Definitely one of the brightest up-and-coming stars to look out for this year.

Stop Hey is available to download on iTunes now.

Read my interview with Sunday Girl here.

INTERVIEW - Sunday Girl

The music video for your song Stop Hey is very stylish and you were also named Vogue.com’s ‘one to watch’ - is the visual aspect of your music important to you?

I love looking stylish and dressing up so the video was great fun to film.  I like coming up with cool visual themes to go along with my music, so for this video I went with the idea of ‘superstition’ and had lots of umbrellas open indoors.

Are the 80s a big influence on you?  You covered Laura Branigan’s big 1984 hit Self Control.

I wouldn’t say so in particular, it’s just a song I always really enjoy playing live – I do a cover of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok too and they both get a great response from the crowd!

There are a lot of strong, female singers around at the moment; did you feel you consciously had to make your own stamp on the scene?

You’ve got to be unique – Everyone’s the same otherwise and it’s boring. I’m just myself.

You played a load of festivals over the summer; how does that compare to the smaller, more intimate venues you’ve played on Ellie Goulding’s tour?

I prefer smaller venues like this as it’s dark and more atmospheric.  It really ties in well with my music and I think the audience get a sense of that too.  You get a really great vibe going.

You have an internet blog that you post updates on – Do you think it’s important to keep in contact with your fans in this way?

Definitely!  It’s great to get feedback from fans and I really enjoy doing the blog.  I haven’t had as much of a chance recently because of being so busy with the tour, but I’ve got loads of stuff to add to it now, which will be fun!

Do you feel having a career in music has changed you in any way as a person?

I feel more confident as an artist; a lot braver.  I’ve got a motto that is ‘If you don’t try, you don’t get’, and it’s true.  You’ve just got to keep trying and you get more and more confident in yourself, especially when you’re doing something you enjoy.  In your dreams, you can do anything you want, so why shouldn’t this be true in real life too.

In this age of downloads and people cherry-picking individual songs, is it still important to put a consistent album together as a complete body of work?

I still love listening to albums as a whole – I think it really gets the artist’s message across in a way individual songs can’t do as much.

Is there one song in the history of music that you wish you had written yourself?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one!  I think something by Beyonce, Kelis or Kanye West – I love them!  Whenever I listen to their tracks I just think wow!

Stop Hey is released January 11^th 2011.