Amy V Adele (Yes, I'm aware that I'm late to the party but this one has been sitting in My Documents for ages so I might as well share it...)

I feel terrible doing this, honestly I do, but it must be done, a certain Ms. Winehouse and a little record called Back to Black will be mentioned by the time this article has ended. ‘The New Winehouse’, the media raved, many critics replied with sceptical tuts, claiming that Adkins’ debut, 19, had a long way to go before it reached the dizzying heights of Amy’s opus. It seems a little harsh though, doesn’t it? Has Adele done a Beatles and proclaimed that’s she’s bigger than Jesus, or er, Winehouse? Not to my knowledge, a young woman of nineteen years (and not stone as she joked in an interview while promoting the album) presents an immaculate, if somewhat safe, collection of self-penned, raw, heartfelt, soulful ballads and mid-tempos. Stripped back production leaves her rich, versatile and emotionally charged vocals to take centre stage and they never miss a beat or fail to impress. She also exerts a damn sight more personality in one ‘pfft’ on the jazzy little ditty, My Same, than Welsh warbler Duffy conjured up in an entire album. All of this is made even more impressive by the fact that this entire album feels as though Adele is serenading you by firelight or that she’s the talented youngster in the corner of the pub, captivating the patrons with just a guitar and sumptuous voice. And then of course there’s the simple fact that there’s no glossy veneer or heavy-handed production, it’s raw and filled with more resonance because of it.

All of which leads me to my Winehouse comparison. Although she’s a megastar now and highly respected because of her stellar sophomore effort, we mustn’t forget that Back to Black was just that, her sophomore outing. Her debut, Frank, while filled with a handful of exquisite singles, a wonderfully distinctive and powerful vocal style and bucket-loads of potential, wasn’t all that great (low as one might be to admit it through the rose-tinted glasses of hindsight). 19 has no business being compared to Back to Black, or anything else for that matter, it should be taken as it is and for what it is, not what the media buzz imposes upon it. But if we simply must make a comparison, then pit one debut against the other and in doing so, personally, I believe that 19 comes out looking stronger. It’s simply a far more consistent collection of songs than Frank, which even Winehouse has since knocked down a peg or two by admitting that she no longer cares for many of the songs featured on it. Something tells me 19 will stand the test of time more successfully and will be seen as a strong start rather than just the raw potential that Frank now exerts. And then there’s every chance that Adele will reappear on the scene in a couple of years with a stronger, more distinct image, a hum-dinger of a lead single and a bastard of an on-again/off again boyfriend to berate on her second album. It worked once already didn’t it?