Adele
19
south londoner adele adkins 19 was voted top of the sound of 2008 poll by a panel of 150 critics and broadcasters who deem her capable of emulating the success of last year's winner mika and corinne bailey rae in 2006 even before she's released a note of music and at barely 19 adele has already chalked up a jools holland appearance worked with jim abiss eg white and mark ronson signed to xl recordings and supported jack penate raul midon amos lee and devendra banhart however her influences are as diverse as etta james jill scott bjork dusty springfield billy bragg billie holiday jeff buckley the cure and peggy lee this smoky soulpop album features beautiful melancholic and touching songs about being nineteen years old and all the issues that come with that songs about love being cheated on and not always getting what you want she has a songbook as broken hearted as leonard cohen the voice of 2008