Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly – an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.
𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 – 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨
Charles looks forward…
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have heavily edited this article before publication.
Well, here we are. Another year. Funny, ain’t it. We do this every year. And yet every year we do this mental mishmash of bleak optimism. The good thing is, for just ages, the sun has been shining in London. Bloody freezing, but it looks lovely. How was your Christmas? And your New Year? Don’t bother answering – it’s irrelevant now. Yes, yes, I’m sure it was lovely. Mine was too. But that period is over and done. Back to the grindstone. As bleary as we look; as numb as we feel, we must not get lazy and fall into the trap of “I’ll do it soon. I’ll do it later”. (I’m actually very pleased most of you had a lovely, cosy Christmas and a refreshingly low-key New Year, and I don’t want to seem like a Scrooge, but the time for Scrooge has elegantly come to an end – like a calligraphy quill leaves the parchment)
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Let’s get straight into my first Cornered artist of the year. The sheer amount of research I have to do in order to find some actual information on some artists kind of astounds me. Are you people TRYING to be incognito? Don’t you WANT to be popular and successful…? This week I spent a good half hour trying to find the artist on TwiX and Instagram. Got there eventually. But I needed more than that. I needed to know where they were from. And I needed to know that they were REAL!!! I say “they” for two reasons. One, “they” encompasses any gender (a standard English language thing, long before the pronoun war), and two, because there is a certain plural to this singular artist. And no, I’m not talking about any multiple personality disorder. Please welcome Emily Jones! To say her Spotify bio is succinct would be an understatement: “I love music. I hope you love mine” – yep, that’s it. That’s all I get. Which leaves me with little. There weren’t even any social links either. Not one. And so I went hunting. Not an easy task this time, as you might imagine. Her name is Emily Jones… There is more than one Emily Jones – also as you might imagine. Tried Google… PAH!! Tried TwiX… Useless. Tried Instagram – fat chance. Hmmm… Tried our very own Discord server… Not a great deal of help there. So I stepped up my detective skills. I started to find little bits and bobs hither and thither.
Eventually I managed to piece together my findings (some or all of which might very well be wrong). She is young and English (despite sounding thoroughly American). She is actually from a city called Guildford, as far as I can tell. Which would make sense, because I have a strong inkling she was introduced to the New Artist Spotlight by our very own Jane Marie (also from Guildford) – perhaps a friend of Jane’s singer, Jessica Mia? Who knows… I assume Emily is from Guildford, solely based on the fact that she played at the renowned little music venue, The Boileroom, Guildford, in September of last year (that’s 2025, by the way – get in to that way of thinking). This gig was not part of a tour, so it only stands to reason – once paired with various other findings – that she is indeed from Guildford. Phew! So, does she play solo? Well, yes and no. Actually, no and no, if I’m being precise about things… You see, there’s Emily Jones’ solo project, and there’s her band, New Judgement. But solo, she sings with two others. And even more confusingly, those two others are not members of New Judgement. Or maybe New Judgement has disbanded! Or maybe Emily records with different people to those she plays live with. I just don’t know! It’s all so confusing, and there just isn’t the information anywhere!
Let us start and finish with THIS song, for now. We begin the year in lowercase. ‘by my name’ is the title of Emily’s latest release. Alex Jones is on guitar and bass, while Ben Jones is on drums and is the producer. Potential brothers…? Could this be a fond, family affair…? Going by the soft, personal quality of the song, I wouldn’t remotely be surprised. Emily writes and sings all. I chose this song for our first soiree of 2026 because it is so utterly real. So live and natural. We start with a plucked acoustic which sounds as though it was recorded in a sleepy Paris café at 7am in Spring. It’s as if the whole scene takes place in this café, and Emily simply works there making cappuccino and serving sweet, overpriced delectables. She hears the guitar – played by a customer at the window; his cap’s peak shutting out the most harmful sunrise rays. Emily rids her hands of a dirty fork and a chipped saucer, and starts to join the balladeer. The dryness in her voice is refreshing. It has no studio magic. The peaked stranger smiles as his friend with far too much bubbly hair appears from another corner of the deserted eatery. This bassist needs no peak. Emily’s voice is the true star of the show – make no mistake. She has the experienced black soul of Alicia Keys and the youthful white innocence of Lizzy McAlpine. Quite an astonishing voice, if I’m honest. So effortlessly perfect, but without any of the perfection that leaves us cold and unfeeling.
After several subtly brilliant vocal inflections (notoriously bloody hard to do), this café comes to life with a warmer hue of spotlight. It becomes a venue. The drums roll in, and Emily’s “workmates” join her in harmony. She smiles with a sideways glance at her colleague, as if she is thinking “this is so exciting but I’ve got to stay cool about it all”. The apron is off, and Emily walks through the small café with such a light, playful manner; stroking the backs of chairs as she goes; picking up the odd soiled paper napkin. She looks so natural there. Just another day, except perhaps wearing a little more lip-gloss than usual. Such purity in her voice, but with just the right amount of subtle snarly edge. Maybe not snarl. More a sleeping tiger’s purr. It is easy to tell that her voice has the potential for more guts, but that this song simply wouldn’t allow for such gusto. ‘by my name’ is such a beautiful introduction to the year. Not full-force, but a sophisticated easing-in. This girl will go far. I just know it. Welcome to the club, Emily Jones!
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Press play. I promise you will have a Happy New Ear (or two).
Listen to 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Spotify playlist HERE!
Listen to 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 on the 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 Apple Music playlist HERE!
Listen to 𝙗𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 on YouTube HERE!
Follow 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 on Instagram HERE!
Follow 𝙀𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 on TwiX HERE!
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#review #song #songreview #EmilyJones #bymyname #folk #acoustic #genuine #singer #honest #LizzyMcAlpine #HappyNewYear #CharlesConnolly #ConnollysCorner #StopPayola
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