Perhaps the only thing better than having a major record label stumble upon your YouTube videos is having an act like Coldplay discover them — and dig them hard.
Through the modern phenomenon of surfing the web, Coldplay landed on Izzy Bizu’s song “White Tiger” and decided to add her as the opener of their 2017 North American tour, which stops at Gillette Stadium this Friday (August 4) — and Bizu is poised to deliver with her fellow Londoners.
Bizu, born Isobel Beardshaw, emerged in 2013 with her debut EP Coolbeanz (a true sign o’ the times slang title for an album), but it’s in her 2016 full-length album A Moment of Madness that allowed Bizu to expand into her pocket of soul in the music industry.
While Bizu’s panache errs closer to jazz, and Coldplay’s mainstream game has always been pop/rock, there are some stylistic ties between their tunes, as Bizu describes.
“Both ours and Coldplay’s [music] can be is euphoric but also has melancholic elements,” Bizu tells Vanyaland.
The artist that seems to seep out of all of Bizu’s music the most, however, is Amy Winehouse. Bearing an uncanny vocal resemblance to the late singer — which says something, considering Winehouse’s signature croon — and a comparable neo-jazz sound, the similarities between the two ladies stack up quickly. While parsing through A Moment of Madness, the likeness stands out on the staccato of opener “Diamond” and the old-school horn section of “Skinny”. Frenetic jazz fusion swims through every track, edging out any inaccessibly with jaunty hooks and earworm choruses.
Her lines on Milky Chance’s new tune “Bad Things” adds some much-needed sensuality to the minimalist collab, elevating it from monotone indie to a more poignant duo. Mixed together, it’s all high praise for a musician who’s only 23.
On standout track “Adam & Eve”, Bizu alludes to the archetypical biblical creation story with sass and swing, most likely referring to the forbidden fruits of the dating world, but considering her current résumé, it doubles as a metaphor for climbing the ladder of fame.
“Your poison’s taking over me/Swiftly gives me sweet release,” she spits before admitting “Yeah I want it/Stranger, and it keeps getting stranger.”
Because really, is there anything stranger than Coldplay finding you — and then taking you out on a stadium tour?
IZZY BIZU + COLDPLAY :: Friday, August 4 at Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place in Foxborough, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $85 and up :: Live Nation event page :: Advance tickets :: Izzy Bizu featured image courtesy of the artist