Slow Dancing - EP

Chronique

Betty Who got off to a promising start with 2013's The Movement EP, which boasted such equally bright and bittersweet should-be hits as "Somebody Loves You." On Slow Dancing, Who seems capable of going in any direction and doing it well. Many artists might need an entire album to cover as much musical and emotional range as she does in these five songs, which spend equal time honing the sound she introduced on The Movement and showing she can do even more. The bouncy "Alone Again" shows that her ever-so-slightly '80s-tinged sound has legs and never feels overly retro. Meanwhile, "Heartbreak Dream" and "Giving Me Away" walk the line between happy and heartbroken so skillfully that better-known artists like Katy Perry would love to call them their own. Things get more interesting on Slow Dancing's second half: Who puts her spin on smooth R&B with "Lovin Start," which evokes her '80s and '90s inspirations as well as contemporaries like HAIM, while "Silas," an affecting acoustic ballad, reaffirms her voice sounds good in virtually any setting. Even though Slow Dancing ventures into more subdued territory than The Movement, it's just as triumphant and ramps up expectations for Betty Who's debut album.

© Heather Phares /TiVo