I’ve stalled a little from featuring pop newcomer Elle Exxe thus far on the EQ emerging artist radar. You see although, Elle’s take on ballsy pop was certainly on the face of it appealing to me I wasn’t completely satisfied that we were being fed someone not so far dissimilar in kind to that of a Charli XCX impersonator. Now I don’t intend this to come across in a derogatory way by any means, the styling, the look, the bubble goth stamped melodies emblazoned with Elle’s raspy vocal motif’s all amounted to my sitting-on-the-fence for the time being where Elle Exxe was concerned.
The acerbic dizziness of pom pom perky, cheerleader pop release “Lost In L.A.” had all the recipe for scoring me onside with support for Elle. If only it didn’t feel so wannabee XCX! and so I passed on it until the right song to my mind came along.
With the arrival of Elle’s new focus single “Home With You”, a change-of-heart has now occurred, owing to the fact that everything about this track noticeably feels more authentic than the contrived format that had been previously served to create impact.
“Home With You” certainly imparts the sense we’re shot through with the pretense pretty much like when Ke$ha served “Tik Tok” and debut album “Animal”, although, that all took a longer to reveal the genuine article masked by a glossy veneer.
There is a real sense of artist connection coming through on “Home With You” to my mind, which smacks of a gutsy brand of power pop, crisp with a sting of grit and a tang of hot spice about it to suggest Elle Exxe be seen as a burgeoning pop force to be reckoned with.
All it took was letting the guard down on the overtly showy trash queen persona and voilà we now clearly see a future popstar, maybe!