Grace - FMA (2016) [Hi-Res]

A rising soul star swings for the fences. The debut album from Australian powerhouse Grace Sewell is a confident package of ballads that toggle between pleading love songs ("Coffee," "Feel Your Love") and reckonings of independence ("Hell of a Girl," "You Don't Own Me,"). The latter is a cover of Lesley Gore's 1963 feminist anthem, and, like the original, was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones. It's a challenge that would intimidate most young artists, but Sewell, who has the swagger of Amy Winehouse and the muscle of Etta James, rises to the task.
A limber- and soulful-voiced singer from Australia, Grace Sewell, who records as simply Grace, exhibits a strong Amy Winehouse influence in her commanding retro-contemporary R&B style. She was born into a family with professional musician grandparents, and her older brother Conrad Sewell is also a successful songwriter and recording artist. In 2015, at the age of 18, Grace signed with RCA Records and released her debut EP, Memo, which included the single "You Don't Own Me." A liberally updated cover of the 1963 Lesley Gore hit with additional lyrics by rapper G-Eazy, it was co-produced by Quincy Jones and Parker Ighile (Rihanna), and garnered millions of digital streams while hitting the top of the charts in Australia. Also a songwriter, she co-wrote the remaining four tracks on the EP. Her debut full-length was expected later in 2015.