Biography
Ben Adams is a rare find in pop these days. In an industry only just getting over the ripple-effect of one-too-many TV talent shows, not only can he sing, write and produce his own material, at the tender age of 25, he's already gained enough experience in the music industry to call his own shots. Ben's musical endeavours surprise and exhilarate at every turn, and he's ripping up the rule books of what constitutes pop music and doing things his way.
These are no idle claims. Ben provides an unselfconscious alternative to the devaluing effect reality TV has had on the genre. "The pop industry would have us believe that young music fans are too stupid to grasp or embrace new ideas" Ben states. "That's rubbish. Music has to be able to evolve and change, otherwise it gets stale”. Ben is currently working on what will be his 6th studio album, his 1st as a solo artist.
Flicking through Ben's new tracks, from the slick, world-class “Won’t Do You Wrong”, to the classic emotional highs and lows of the killer ballad "Boo Hoo" and the frenetic nightclub sleaze of "Get Off My Girl", the whole thing sounds like Ben has simply crowbarred open his iPod and shaken his entire record collection into the mix, and so it comes as no surprise whenBen casually admits that his entire life has been consumed by music. 25 years in the making then, Ben's debut solo album doesn't disappoint. It's dizzying stuff, veering from jazz to R&B to pop to soul and often doing all that in the space of a single verse and chorus, but the wide array of styles is no accident - and nor is the quality of the tuneage. "Pop music has really suffered from the 'It'll do' mentality", Ben shrugs. "But I didn't want my career to be 'quite good' or 'just good enough'. I wanted to smash the whole thing apart."
As well as writing for himself, Ben as turned his attention to writing and producing for other artists, some already established and a handful of up and coming acts both here and in the US. Talking of his own album - "The songs on the album are about my life, and the things I've experienced. Although I'm only 25, I've already been through a lot. Writing songs for me is like writing a diary, except one that can be read by everybody." Ben's is state-of-the-art pop music, as broad in its influences (on "It's Brutal Out There" you'll hear Ben singing opera in the opening bars) as it is deep in its lyrical significance (the beautiful potential album closer "Broken Bird" was written for Ben's mother). "Sometimes when you're a writer, the powers that be want to put you in a box which can squash creativity. I didn't have any of those boundaries on me, so I had free reign to do and say what I wanted. If I wanted to take jazz chords and use them over a hip hop beat with some opera riffs then I could. In fact, the more unique the songs were, the more encouragement I got."
Ben's view of the results - "everything's slotted into place without having to force it" - might sound as if he's taken it all in his stride, but there's been no complacency. "Pop music has become so unadventurous, but to me that' like someone throwing down a gauntlet. I know that I've got to step up my game at every opportunity, and that's what I've tried to do with these songs. Now I just can't wait for the world to hear what I've been doing for the last few years. To be honest, I never even knew I had it in me..."
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