Since her first album release in 2003, Joss Stone has wowed audiences with her powerful voice. It is easy to see why she has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards and several other accolades*. Below is a list of Joss Stone’s ten best songs and one notable mention.
1. Put Your Hands On Me
This is a fun, loud, song filled with strong drumbeats. It’s about a woman who has been picky in relationships, but finally finds true love. She thinks of this man day and night and all she wants is to kiss him and let him hold her. Joss Stone shows off her powerful voice in this dance track. The song appears on Introducing Joss Stone.
2. L-O-V-E
L-O-V-E” is a cover of a Nat King Cole song from 1965, which Joss Stone remade as part of the advertising for Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle fragrance. It’s a soulful adaptation of a sweet love song. “L-O-V-E” was a single release.
3. Girl They Won’t Believe It
This exuberant song, laced with drumbeats, appears on the album Introducing Joss Stone. Girl They Won’t Believe It” is about finding true love, but the song is just as much about finding love through music as it is about finding a romantic love. It is about Stone’s journey of having a dream and people telling her it couldn’t happen and suddenly, she finds the “sweet through the bitters of life”. She says, “Who would have thought this could satisfy me? All I need is a kiss from a melody.”
4. Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin’ on Me)
“Super Duper Love”, which appeared on the Monster-in-Law soundtrack, is a song about a woman who thinks her boyfriend loves her, but is not quite sure anymore so she wants him to profess his feelings. This song appears on her first album, The Soul Sessions.
5. Don’t Cha Wanna Ride
“Don’t Cha Wanna Ride” is a cute song about a woman who is attracted to a man who can’t seem to get past himself. He refuses to see a good thing when it is in front of him. Stone reminds him that “a car this fine don’t pass your way everyday” and tells him that “time waits for no man”, so if he wants to be with her, he needs to take action. “Don’t Cha Wanna Ride” is on the Mind Body & Soul album.
6. Tell Me ‘Bout It
This collaboration with Raphael Saadiq is reminiscent of 70’s soul music. Joss Stone sings about desiring a man and wanting to see if he can handle her. It is about a woman who is confident in her sexuality and not afraid of directly expressing her needs. The song appears on Introducing Joss Stone.
7. Right to Be Wrong
Joss Stone’s voice is vulnerable and soft on this track. It is about having the right to make mistakes and having the freedom to step “out into the great unknown”. This song can be found on Mind Body & Soul.
8. Spoiled
In this track, which also appears on Mind Body & Soul, Joss Stone expresses the regret of discarding a relationship with a man she truly loved. She assumed that it would be easy to replace him, but even after a year apart, she still misses her ex-boyfriend. It’s a beautiful ballad about how a woman can fool herself into thinking that she is over a break up. One of the best lines in the song is: “I’ve never seen the word ‘love’ so personified as I do with you.”
9. Don’t Know How
“Don’t Know How” shows a different side of Joss Stone. In most of her songs, she portrays the confident woman who knows herself and has to push the man she wants into taking action. “Don’t Know How” is a song is about a shy girl who falls in love with a good-looking guy but doesn’t know how to admit her feelings. Her friends think she should play it cool with him, but she’s not sure if she can. She’s so “head over heels” that she “can’t take it” anymore and finally asks the guy she likes how he feels about her. “Don’t Know How” can be found on Mind Body & Soul.
10. Free Me
“Free Me” is an anthem for young women. It is about needing to be your own person and not letting other people tell you how to think or feel. It’s a personal story of Joss Stone’s journey in the music industry: “Something that you don’t see every day: a little girl who found her way through a world that’s designed to break all of your dreams.” She says it’s about making the choice to “sing out our voice” and deciding to be free. This track appears on Colour Me Free.
There is one song that was not included in this Top Ten List, but which was influential in establishing Joss Stone as a pop/soul artist. “You Had Me” was her biggest single in the United Kingdom and it earned her a Grammy Nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Other great songs that didn’t make this list are: “Music”, “Torn and Tattered”, “4 and 20”, “Baby Baby Baby” and “Big Ol’ Game”.
Though Joss Stone is one of the youngest soul artists on the charts today, she has already earned several Grammy nominations. Narrowing this list to only ten songs was difficult, even with only four albums to choose from (Colour Me Free, Introducing Joss Stone, Mind Body & Soul and The Soul Sessions). And, there is only more great music to come.
* “Joss Stone”. Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 November 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Stone
