Miss Universe

Miss Universe is a hell of a debut, with Yanya proving herself a powerhouse of songwriting especially, not to mention her pristine vocals and unique guitar voice.

This is an emotionally multi-faceted album to luxuriate in.

Nilüfer Yanya has managed to produce an album which flits from one template to the next, yet at no time is there a tendency to feel that this is contrived and neither does it suggest an artist scrabbling around for an identity and an audience which then comes with it. These shifts in style always feel controlled, as though the song demands them.

Even the mildly satirical skits, which don’t quite work, prove her desire to create a proper album, rewarding repeated listening.

Instead of locking itself into prescribed notions of success, emotions, or companionship, Miss Universe establishes truths and solutions of its own, on its own. Like Yanya's career, it exists and succeeds through sheer force of will.

Filled with crunchy, complex tunes that elegantly interweave a host of unusual influences, Miss Universe is an impressive and bold record.

Yanya’s songs reflect a woman who’s uncertain of how much of herself to reveal to the world. That is both the allure of Miss Universe and what augurs even brighter things to come.

Yanya covers a wide breadth of styles and emotions here and even if it all doesn't hang together perfectly, Miss Universe is a fascinating debut that is reflective of the pressures we place on ourselves and others which all too often result in a striving but imperfect mess.

There’s been a lot of hype surrounding her since she made it on to BBC’s Sound of 2018 list. Miss Universe justifies it.

Miss Universe is an intimate record full of personal fears and emotions, but these are of wider, universal relevance. They should resonate with us all.

Although refusing to be pigeonholed, the album hangs together effortlessly and each part feels as vital as the last; despite its 17-song length, it’s hard to imagine Yanya’s vision without each one of these tracks.

Yanya's music calls to mind gritty jazz/rock griot King Krule, Sampha's contemplative street soul and her key teenage influences: Pixies, Winehouse and The Libertines. Her spiky guitar playing is confidently pushed to the front of the mix here. [Apr 2019, p.86]

The West Londner's debut is startlingly intimate, full of soulful, jazzy echoes of a lonely city. [May 2019, p.116]

She crafts tightly coiled rock epics with just a few elements, sounding like The Strokes one minute, Liz Phair the next. [Apr 2019, p.39]

It all sounds a little inconceivable on paper, but is tied together and brought to life by a singer-songwriter who evades pigeonholing--on purpose or accidentally, it doesn’t really matter--and provides a debut that’s all her own.

Miss Universe is an intriguing and smoothly constructed record. Groove and melancholy exist simultaneously in Yanya's work, providing listeners with no single answer to the questions she poses.

It never feels like an artist being clever for the sake of it. It’s more like listening to someone let the music that seeped into them in their teens gush out, albeit in a profoundly altered state.