‘However evocative of the early noughties, David’s performances underscored his deft skill as a songwriter…’
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Craig David’s impromptu appearance on ITV2’s hit show Love Island last week baffled audiences. Kew the Music was a much less perplexing setting for the British contemporary-R&B producer, songwriter, and performer. A sold-out show (the only sold-out night of Kew the Music it seems), David is enjoying an unexpected comeback in recent years – having headlined Glastonbury Festival in 2017. Compared to the Billy Ocean/Beverley Knight show earlier in the week, David’s audience was slightly younger – capturing the top end of the millennial demographic.
However evocative of the early noughties, David’s performances underscored his deft skill as a songwriter: pop/R&B melodies with tinges of neo-soul, puppy-love lyrics, and finessed production. With more maturity in his voice, David was consistently on-point vocally, often closing his phrases with buttery vocal licks.
He began his set with ‘What If’ from his chart-topping album Following My Intuition (2016), followed by ‘Heartline’ from his The Time Is Now album released last year. ‘Bangers’ etched in the millennial consciousness (‘What’s Your Flava’, ‘Fill Me In’, and Artful Dodger collaboration ‘Re-Rewind’) hit the mark, propelled by a strong live band and backing vocalists. His new single ‘When You Know What Love Is’ marries an emotional drive with danceable beats.
A guitar-driven rendition of ‘Walking Away’, from Craig’s debut album Born To Do It (2000), was delivered with a sense of retrospection. Smash hit ‘7 Days’ had a sexual fluidity, with David turning the tune into a Spanish-flared serenade by tapping out all band members bar his guitarist. Despite the lyric of endless love-making, Craig revealed in an interview with The Telegraph that the song was initially conceived out of fantasy rather than reality: “I was 15, 16 years old… You’ve got all this testosterone and all these ideas. It was more of what I would have liked to have been getting involved with at that age than really thinking that my mum would allow any of that to go down.” Still, the delivery has always been convincing and nineteen years later still has that boyish charm.
(Image copyright: Kew the Music)
