It is hard to describe Lianne La Havas’s music in a quick sound bite – and that’s by design.
The British singer has a unique sound that transcends genres. Her music is not quite R&B, folk music or jazz, but a melding of all three. It’s cool, yet simmering with passion, reserved at times, but bombastic and funky at others.
“I just kind of wanted to mix all the genres and mix all the things that I like together,” she says. “Everything comes from wanting to merge many styles together.”
She has just released Blood, her second album. Her sultry 2012 debut, Is Your Love Big Enough, was a critical success – among its accolades, it was crowned iTunes album of the year in the United Kingdom.
It also attracted high-profile fans, including Prince, who has raved about her. He featured her on his 2014 album, Art Official Age, and has enlisted her for live performances, including the TV comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Her new album comes with high expectations. For Blood, La Havas pushed herself to sample new styles of writing.
“I am a little bit different now, so I think you will probably hear that in the music. There’s lots of change,” she says.
The 25-year-old created Blood while on her first trip to Jamaica with her mother. La Havas, of Jamaican and Greek ancestry, says: "It just felt strangely appropriate to just be making music there."
La Havas said unlike her first album, she worked with many producers, including reggae and dance-hall star Stephen McGregor (also known as Di Genius), to create songs such as her booming, beat-driven single Unstoppable.
“I was able to kind of just do what I wanted, and so there was no kind of limitations with the ideas and the songwriting,” La Havas says. She will spend this month touring Europe and then return to the US for a tour in the autumn. She calls the spread of her music in the United States phenomenal.
“It’s just amazing that anyone over here has heard the music and likes it,” she says. “To know that it has travelled is really exciting.”
• Read our review of Blood in tomorrow’s Arts&Life