Betsy - Betsy

The Guardian 60

(Warner Brothers)

The proud owner of a voice that could strip paint – think Shirley Bassey, Paloma Faith and Cher in a wind tunnel – Wales’s Betsy dominates the glossy pop of her self-titled debut, cloaking everything she sings in vampy high drama. It means her producers are occasionally left straining to keep up, their default settings on the upbeat songs oscillating between Lost & Found’s dated drum’n’bass and the suffocating MOR dance-pop of Last Time We Danced. The gorgeous Fair, which is as close to stripped-back as she gets, is a much better showcase for her talents, while the gloriously overblown You Won’t Love Me confirms her future lies in big billowy ballads.