Last October I reviewed Izzy Bizu after seeing her support Foxes at Heaven in London. On Wednesday night I watched her headline her own gig at London’s Scala.
Last time I said that I was sure we would be seeing a lot more of this talented singer songwriter and since then she has featured in every list of artists likely to make it big in 2016. She has been shortlisted for the Brits Critics Choice Award, eventually losing out to the magnificent Jack Garratt, and was also featured in the list of sixteen artists in the BBC Sound of 2016 Award. It would appear that industry insiders are confident that this wonderful performer, apparently once filled with self doubt in front of a crowd, was a sure thing. So is the hype justified? I think that based on Wednesday night’s performance the answer is a resounding yes.
Izzy is graced with model looks and her face is haloed by a mass of soft curls which she often pushes from her face sending the clicks of the stage side photographers into meltdown. She came on stage to join a band with keyboards, drums, guitars and a horn section and launched straight into her pop-infused soul clearly relaxing as the concert went on and getting better and better with each song. When she kicked off her shoes it felt like she was at home on stage and she delivered songs from her forthcoming album, ‘A Moment Of Madness’, with style and grace. New songs, for the audience, were greeted with enthusiastic cheers and confirmed that this young London-born songwriter has plenty of great songs yet to release. By the time she launched into the familiar opening of ‘White Tiger’, she had the audience in the palm of her hand and dancing along with her every move. The new album, which I believe will be released in April, looks set to include 18 tracks in its deluxe format and I for one can’t wait.
Izzy is enjoying a very busy start to 2016 and her ‘White Tiger’ single has notched up over 730,000 hits and counting. She performed that song on Chris Evans’ New Year TFI Friday with confidence and featured on Jo Whiley’s BBC Radio 2 show performing an excellent live set just the day before this concert. The album is apparently in the bag and so Izzy can concentrate on riding this wave of enthusiasm which has greeted the start of the year. Hopefully this culminates with her album selling well and providing the springboard for this charming young lady to go from strength to strength. She seems very grounded on stage and still giggles infectiously when greeted with the positive reaction of her audience, as if she deserved anything less.
She played Manchester last night before moving on to Glasgow and Dublin. I said she’d be a busy Izzy Bizu and I wasn’t wrong. Grab tickets to see her now before you have to join those hated virtual waiting rooms that will doubtless come as she gets more and more successful.Â
