#11: Diana Vickers - Jumping Into Rivers

The season of X Factor that Diana Vickers was on was the one I watched the most, as I've said countless times. (note: this was the same season JLS were on) And I REALLY wanted her to win, or at least get into the finals with JLS. She obviously didn't, and I was devastated to say the least, but the material she put out, years later, was enough to console me. For now.


Diana has a rather different voice - it's both rough and smooth, it's got a bit of body coupled with an airy texture, but it's an absolute pleasure to listen to. The combination makes it rather soothing, to be honest. As much as it sounds gorgeous singing ballads, (like Notice, which almost made the list) it's her uptempos that intrigue and amaze me.

It's hard to choose uptempos for her, to be honest, because you can't give her some random song you'd give Pixie or Alexandra. But Jumping Into Rivers was the perfect choice, if I may say so. And the execution was just spot-on, especially for the vocals to really stand out.

The arrangement is very simple, but the instrumentation is very sharp. All the instruments have a snap to them - from the drum line to the guitar section - and it's a contrast to Diana's very soft (not in terms of volume) voice.

And oh dear, the melody. The melody is drop-dead gorgeous - it has enough intensity at the chorus and enough smoothness at the verses to actually be rather soothing. And none of that "chill" crap - it's a midtempo verging on uptempo and it's got kick, thank you very much.