It's a good sign, perhaps, that we have to be reminded that Will Young was the winner of The X Factor's predecessor, Pop Idol, back in 2002 - it almost seems like the still-only-29-year-old has been around since at least the '90s. It also speaks volumes about Young's development and talent as a singer, songwriter and performer - where are Gareth Gates, Michelle McManus and Steve Brookstein these days? (Answer: trust me, you probably don't want to know).
After an absence of three years, the shy Berkshire man is back with his fourth album 'Let It Go' - and it's a huge jump forward for him in terms of maturity and artistic evolution. Maturity is, indeed, a key word here: lyrically, Young seems to have come to terms with a number of factors out of his control (best heard on the title track). Musically this is an album littered with intelligent, moody and mellow songs that range from laidback, horn-riddled offerings (Won't Look Down), swinging cabaret numbers (If Love Equals Nothing) and solemn, sometimes moving ballads (Tell Me the Worst).
Above all else, though, 'Let It Go' is a pop album: Love's '60s soul intro develops into a funky '80s disco beat naturally and cleverly, and Grace is a composed, quietly affecting proposition. It's that voice, though - that intuitive knowledge of when to hold back and when to let go - that sparks the material most impressively, and is still capable of causing goosebumps. Nevertheless, it's not completely capable of holding attention until the album's end: the last few songs are slightly predictable (especially the sub-Joss Stone funk/soul of Are You Happy), if far from disastrous.
In an era where 'pop' is seen as a dirty word and reality TV shows of Pop Idol's ilk are dismissed as human humiliation devices, there's at very occasionally artists who prove that sometimes, just sometimes, there are exceptions to the pretension, fabrication and sheer awfulness of it all. Will Young is undoubtedly one of them.
