This is real, real, real, real love. While the word real makes me want to burst into singing one of Britain’s favourite dance tracks of the year ‘Real Love’ by Clean Bandit, feat Jess Glynne, if you were just after a one word summary of J warner’s debut showcase, REAL, is it.
While the anticipation was to see J Warner’s E.P ‘Est. 1990’ live in action, support acts Kojey Radical and Rukhsana Merrise managed to warm the crowd to an amber state; in particular industry experts, record label representatives and fellow musicians in the game All About She, Etta Bond and Sasha Keable (to name a few). Repping under Tinie Tempah’s label Disturbing London, J Warner has already been working with many like-minded people on his label such as Wretch 32 who scored a feature on his debut single Chill Chase.
‘Est 1990’ portrays real life issues flexing on breaking genre boundaries gospel, R&B and alternative soul. The material, his ethic and the vocals are like a head on collision. It’s J Warner who is in the driving seat here and he shows no sign of looking in the rear-view mirror for competition. On reflection, the show did have some minors which given time should iron out, namely his nerves failing to take a back seat during his opener. It wasn’t until Warner’s backing singer Teni Tinks switched to poll-position that the set got the acceleration it needed. The major fell during the disappointing finale with no feature appearance from Wretch 32. Warner started his career with this feature and the clarity of the showcase would have been stronger had they scheduled an exclusive.
Leaving the L Plates behind, Warner has now taken himself into the hov lane. The set left tyre marks of rawness that easily prove he has a promising future in music.