Nina Nesbitt - Peroxide

Nina Nesbitt is a former model who had a brief fling with tabloid notoriety when it was reported she was romantically involved with Ed Sheeran – rumours neither party confirmed or denied. Actually, the Sheeran connection runs deeper, as the 19-year old trades in the same winsomely catchy brand of acoustic pop. Singing mostly about her emotional troubles – it’s tough being a young woman with a giving heart, we gather – she bleats and coos and might well get on your nerves if her songwriting weren’t so artful and polished.

That’s the striking thing: unlike certain starry-eyed ingénues who have set out to conquer the world armed only with a nice smile and a YouTube channel (Gabrielle Aplin, Lucy Spraggan etc), Nesbitt has composer’s chops, as she demonstrates on this endlessly effusive debut.

Opening with the title track, Nesbitt shows that she knows her way around an efficient chorus, a talent that’s demonstrated further on ‘Two World’s Away’ and ‘He’s The One I’m Bringing Back’. It would be absurd to claim she’s a political writer. Nonetheless, she has interesting things to say on the interplay between technology and personal relationships on ‘Selfies’, a tune she swore she penned before the term acquired ‘word of the year’ ubiquity.

Sheeran fans will check her out because of the ‘are they/aren’t they?’ history. But anyone with a fondness for clever folk-pop, delivered with charm and occasional bite, would do well to follow their example.