Jae Stephens: Audacity review – a thrilling lesson in why more debut albums should go for broke

(Def Jam)
After five EPs in in seven years, the Dallas native with the big voice pours everything into this bonkers cauldron of maximalist R&B and hyperactive pop

There is so, so much happening on Jae Stephens’ debut album Audacity. Thankfully, it seems like mess is her medium. Although the 29-year-old Dallas native is often sold as a big voice – and she undoubtedly does have a big voice – her debut album has more in common with hyperactive, magnetic records such as PinkPantheress’s Fancy That or Salute’s True Magic: recent albums whose need for speed and sweetly toned maximalism fostered an irrepressible sense of personality.

Stephens is an apt case study of a career in the contemporary pop industry: she started writing, producing and performing alone in her room, and dropped a whopping five EPs in the seven years before Audacity’s release. She has written with a host of pop also-rans and, inexplicably, hosts a music interview podcast. But listening to Audacity forces me into that age-old cliche: why isn’t this artist a bigger star?

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