Numero ocho goes to the lovely Laura Mvula and her album The Dreaming Room. It's been a long time since I could say that I've enjoyed a sophomore album noticeably more than the debut but Laura's definitely done it.

Don't get me wrong, Sing To The Moon had some gems on it for sure but every single song on this album is a gem. Whether I'm listening to it upside down, back to front, shuffled up - this album has not disappointed once yet. In fact, my most played song on Spotify this year was actually "Phenomenal Woman" - the last song on this album. After first hearing this song, I'm pretty sure I woke up to it consistently every day for close to a month. What a way to get the day started! Such an uplifting song! There's no way that I can listen to this and not "jig me foot" as Laura's Nan says.

One criticism I may have for the album itself is that although I enjoy every song on there, lyrically and instrumentally, there may be portions where it falls a bit short and where some others have surpassed it this year. However, the reason this made it onto my list is because it played such a huge part in my day-to-day - it truly served to lift my spirits and keep my head up, and for me, that's reason enough. As cliche as it sounds Laura's music was there for me this year, and I enjoyed every note! Although, don't just take my word for it - The Dreaming Room was also nominated for The Mercury Prize this year over and against some other very big british names, so I guess I wasn't the only one.

I hope that Laura continues to go from strength to strength after this one, she's always had the talent, there's no question of that - I just never know what creative direction she might take next. Another few favourites from the record for me were "Overcome" and "Let Me Fall". If you haven't already given this a listen or if you've never even heard of her - give up a good 36 minutes of your time to listen to this album. I guarantee it will leave you with a smile on your face.

Now, 2015 has been a pretty phenomenal year for new music - I'm sure I've still got a few albums to catch up on if I'm honest. However, there are some artists that I can't help but wish had released a record this year. There's always next year though!


DAUGHTER
It's been a couple of years since their debut If You Leave and I still listen to it on a very regular basis. Beginning to end, no matter the order, that record is stellar. Luckily, Daughter released a new single a couple of months ago here and if it's anything to go by, then their sophomore record out next year should have no problems making it onto my top albums of the year list - I just wish it'd come sooner, but suppose good things come to those who wait.

FRANK OCEAN
The king of procrastination himself. Frank had the whole world waiting for a new album this year around July and we're still all waiting - no news of a release date, time schedule, absolutely nothing. Channel Orange was a brilliant record and was maybe actually a little underrated as a whole piece but 3 years on - let's go Frank! I don't know when we'll get a second record but when we do, I'll be expecting very big things.

KANYE WEST
Speaking of procrastinators, here's another new record that I'd expected to hear around mid year and am still waiting (semi)patiently for. After the controversial Yeezus this new record was supposed to be a complete 180 and I was so ready for the differing views and undeniably brilliant tracks but instead we got a big bowl of nothing. Okay well, we got "All Day" but still - album in 2016 please.

RIHANNA
Continuing on the thread of artists who made us false promises this year, bad girl Rih Rih has been teasing us since the year began, with music videos, the absolute banger "Bitch Better Have My Money", album covers, and even album titles but still we've seen nothing. Still unsure of a release date at this point but with a tour already announced for next year, I'm sure we won't be waiting much longer.

THE NIGHT VI
To be honest, I've been waiting for this band to release an album since I first discovered them in 2013 here and last year seemed a little bit promising with new single releases and covers. We did get an EP this year to be fair so they didn't leave us with nothing but I just want a big breakout debut album that won't be able to hide under the radar. No signs of that happening anytime soon though so until then I guess I'll just keep listening to Maybe That's How I'm Feeling.

LAURA MVULA
Laura's been making new music ever since her debut record came out - we just haven't heard any of it yet. The only thing I'm worried about with her sophomore is that the same thing that happened to Alt-J and SBTRKT will happen. She was something so new and different when she debuted and now it might be too hard to keep a unique sound without overdoing it. Will just have to wait and see if she can prove this theory wrong.

HAIM
I feel like I haven't heard anything from Haim in the longest time! I know it's only been a couple of years but they blew up so quickly and had so many hits in such a short space of time that when they dropped off the scene to record new material, their absence was very noticeable. I wasn't their hugest fan but I liked what they were doing and a need them to come back and fill that Haim shaped hole in my life.

BALANCE AND COMPOSURE
After The Things We Think We're Missing in 2013 I've been waiting for any opportunity to see this band live. That record was some of the best pop rock I've heard in a while! Again, an album that return to frequently, so when rumours started coming up about them breaking up earlier this year I was pretty devastated. Thank God they later came out with a statement that they're not breaking up and they're actually recording new music - just wish it'd come out this year.

ARCANE ROOTS
Another cop out - they did release an EP earlier this year here and it was definitely good, but after the gold that was Blood & Chemistry I was hoping to get my hands on another musical masterpiece this year. Either way, now that the band are getting more and more recognition this might result in more music soon. I haven't heard anyone in the same space do it quite as well as them just yet.

CHARLOTTE OC
In fairness, I did only discover her last year but since discovering her music, she's blown up quite a bit and released quite a few new singles - only right for me to assume that a new album's on it's way right? Well I was mistaken. She did however (like most of the other artists on this list) release an EP earlier this year here - no signs of a debut record yet but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

A while ago I wrote a review of Beyoncé's show at The LG Arena here and in the review I basically stated that through some crazy luck, I was actually paid to see Beyoncé live... Well it's happened again, except this time, I got to see Prince! To put it lightly, it was a spectacular performance.

Again, as with the Beyoncé show, I did unfortunately miss Laura Mvula supporting and a couple of Prince's first songs but they sounded brilliant even from outside. As I was ushered to my seat, he and his ridiculously talented band - 3RDEYEGIRL - were playing "Kiss". I don't know how long I was smiling uncontrollably for but let's just say it wasn't until the intro to "When Doves Cry" came in that I realised that my smile couldn't physically get any bigger! Even though the view that I had of the stage wasn't ideal; I could still see everything, feel the vibes and experience the greatness. A real highlight was actually being surrounded by a hoard of middle-aged people bellowing lyrics and "dancing" in the least flattering ways - it was nice to feel the camaraderie even up in the stands.

As Prince performed some personal favourites like, "1999", "Little Red Corvette" and "Guitar" I was dancing and clapping as if we were doing a duet and I was loving every second of it. Then the inevitable - lighters were raised, voices were hushed, lights were dimmed and purple confetti fell from the sky as "Purple Rain" rang out across the arena. IT. WAS. PERFECT. I had my eyes closed for part of the song and it just felt like a wave of calm fell over the arena. It was such a seamless mood-shift. As the show came to an end he rounded off with some mind boggling solo's from both himself and the all-female band, each of them showing off their immense talent before the lights came back on and everybody started leaving.

As I was walking back out I could still hear people inside cheering, but the lights were still on, so I walked into the standing area just to have a peak and see if anything else was happening. The stage was bare and the lights were on but the crowd was still really really cheering - so of course I joined in. This went on for about 10 minutes and then Prince and co. stepped back on stage for an encore! It was obviously uncalled for as the lights stayed on for their first couple of songs before Prince himself had to say "turn the lights down!". It was incredible. By this point I was right up close to the stage and they were just, there! Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL... there... in front of my eyes. I couldn't believe it. The encore had just as much fire and sensuality to it as the main show, ending with "What's My Name?" and leaving the crowd more than satisfied. This night was definitely one off the top of my bucket list - a definite must-see!

Overall Rating - 9/10


Here are some pictures from the night...