Big song: Shura - 2 Shy

Despite my reputation as a finger-on-the-pulse pop scavenger, occasionally a song will slip through the cracks. Which is why it's so useful to have a sister watching my back.

"I heard this today and it made me think of you," she emails, "because it sounds like Janet (I think so anyway)".

She's right, too. London newcomer Shura has a breathy, delicate delivery that sounds just like Janet as she quivers through the emotional turmoil of Again (rather than the angrier, funkier "Ms Jackson if you're nasty" of 1986).

Her song, 2 Shy is dedicated to all the wallflowers who sit on the sidelines at parties, secretly crushing on an unsuspecting friend.

"Let’s go find a corner we can sit in
And talk about that film instead of us
Even though throughout it, I was thinking
I was gonna say I love you afterwards."

It's rather lovely.



If you're interested in Shura, there's a nice piece on the BBC's Sound of 2015 website (she was longlisted, but didn't make the top five).

Amongst the revelations on that page are the fact that she was "born in Moscow to a Russian actress" and honed her sound by "walking pumas round The Amazon".

Tweet