08 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!
Read about Whinnie's cover of That's Entertainment here
Read about Whinnie's collaboration with Professor Green here
Download the Christmas Mixtape for none of your English pennies here (Soundcloud)
Well I'll go to the foot of our stairs (whatever that means). One of my favourite pop damsels of 2014, Whinnie Williams, has not only gone and recorded a Christmas Mixtape (how deliciously retro) but is giving it away free! Santa Baby! I believe it's all thanks to those fine folks at newspaper The Mirror where it's always a 3AM vibe on their entertainment pages (I live vicariously - I'm always tucked up in bed by then, where visions of sugar-plums danced in my head). The six tracks on this 21 minute gift box are all equally entertaining in their own diverse witty and insightful ways and will provide many moments of aural pleasure in the hectic run up to Christmas (& I suspect well into New Year too). It starts off with some Hollywood glitz including a spoken word (not by Whinnie unless she's got made bass skills I'm not aware of) that sets the scene for the mixtape. A Boyfriend Is For Life is track one and set to a funky beat, a diversion into All I Want For Christmas (Mariah) and Whinnie in the mode of tinsel temptress with a retail itch that her chosen fella must scratch at the most wonderful time of the year. The quasi-rap Christmas list that I've checked at least twice since first listening is spot on pop gold that transcends the season into one of the most solid musical moments of 2014. The middle 8 pitches it as a much more tolerable version of that Selfie dance hit from earlier in the year and feels like it should be storming into the charts any minute now. Next up is the r'n'b groove of 21 Questions where Whinnie questions whether her bloke would still feel the same if she didn't have her current trappings in life - plugging into the self doubt we all experience about relationships from time to time regardless of our social standing and wealth. It's the perfect demonstration of how Whinnie can genre-hop without skipping a beat (and also the perfect definition of the eclectic nature of the much treasured mixtape).
Leave Me In The Sky is underscored by an intricate piano lounge vibe with the notes dancing round a passionate vocal from Whinnie. She really is the most compelling of singers, commanding the luxurious instrumental and leading that mellifluous melody forward with a mesmerising conviction that's all too hard to resist. It's not exactly the most uplifting of holiday tunes but it certainly links to the heightened emotions that are often associated with Christmas (both good and bad) which adds to the melancholic pathos within the song. Bambi mosies into existence with a country and western tinge as if Whinnie is riding into the sunset delivering her damning indictment to her errant lover. When she sings "I'm not your baby and I never will be" it teaches the Spice Girls more about girl power than they achieved on three albums (and that Headlines comeback single). It blossoms into a fully textured shimmering pop song that lingers in your head long after the song has finished - always a trademark of Whinnie's excellent musical compositions. Life's A Gas is a gently strumming tune that sees Whinnie cast off her cares (with added whistling for good measure) and trying to put her best face on a bad situation (a little motivational encouragement for anyone having a Blue Christmas this year). I love how she shines in a more stripped back setting as she does amid the sumptuous production values of some of the other mixtape songs. It all comes to a close with Merry Xmas - now you can't ask for a more ebullient festive close than that can you?! Of course this being Whinnie there is a disappointment in the tale polished off with a hopeful optimism that will make your heart grow three sizes this day. Her titular refrain of "merry xmas I'm leaving you - and there's nothing you can do" is the best (mistletoe) kiss off this side of Dragonette's Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message). She continues to amaze and astound - I'm more smitten than ever. (Do check out my top EPs and singles of the year as I have a sneaky suspicion that Whinnie will feature)...
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