A Weakness for Female Voices

I’ll admit it straight: female vocalists get through to me faster and more reliably than their male counterparts. No deep reason. I just follow them further, stay more patient, let the song do more to me. The one exception is anything that tips into melodramatic wailing—there’s a specific pitch of pop shriek that closes me off immediately—but short of that, I’m easy.

La Roux have been releasing singles at an almost aggressive pace and every one has landed. Elly Jackson with her geometric hair and that cold, slightly detached synth-pop delivery has been batting clean: Quicksand hit right, In for the Kill hit harder, and now Bulletproof arrives and lands exactly where it should. It’s the kind of pop that doesn’t beg—it just expects your attention, and it gets it.

Fully in on this.