The presentation of My Ego Told Me To is a little misleading. Leigh-Anne Pinnock, who performs mononymously, appears on the cover as a Bangerz-esque party girl, with clashing colours and an inexplicably green tongue reminiscent of the messiness that made Brat so endearing. Yet Pinnock’s album – her first as a solo artist, following a storied stint as part of Little Mix – is a tamer affair than its cover and title may suggest.

That’s not to say it’s a dull affair. On the contrary: while it lacks the audacity of bandmate Jade’s That’s Showbiz, Baby!, Pinnock’s album basks in the glow of her Jamaican heritage, bringing reggae into the orbit of the more familiar pop and R&B sounds she explored within Little Mix. Where earlier singles, like ‘Don’t Say Love’ and ‘Stealin’ Love’, remained pleasant yet anonymous, Pinnock properly lets her hair down on Ego, resulting in a project that fizzes with confidence.

Eclecticism is the name of the game here, as Pinnock traverses a range of genres. Crucially, though, her winningly emotive voice is the binding tissue between tracks; that, and the star-studded list of producers, which includes Clarence Coffee Jr. (one of the brains behind Dua Lipa’s opus Future Nostalgia). Opener ‘Look Into My Eyes’ teases a club bent, distorted with guitar and menacing chord progressions, before following track ‘Dead And Gone’ swerves into the reggae realm. It’s to the benefit of the album that these stylistic lane-changes feel both earned and cohesive, not messy and random. Pinnock rarely feels like she’s trying on hats or chasing trends; her desire to simply make great music is palpable.

Pinnock’s voice, if not generationally remarkable, is delicate and affecting enough to compel tracks like ‘Talk To Me Nice’, a curious and endearing reflection on maintaining a long-term relationship. The sultry, soft ‘Sunrise’, meanwhile, is redolent of Tyla’s best work; one imagines Pinnock performing it in a dimly lit, intimate space. It’s also one of several tracks that display Pinnock’s flair for vocal layering, with simply divine harmonies in the chorus. Elsewhere, ‘Burning Up’ simmers with addictive dancehall bass and an earwormy chanted hook; ‘Most Wanted’ is similarly fit for the dancefloor, with Pinnock’s come-on vocals complemented by featured vocalist Rvssian.

Perhaps tellingly, the moments when Pinnock settles into pre-established moulds prove the record’s least exciting. ‘Goodbye Goodmorning’ is redolent of Rihanna’s ‘Kiss it Better’, only without any of that track’s vocal bravura or deliciously unusual percussion. Ballad ‘Me Minus U’ similarly lacks originality, and feels like a lesser version of a song one might have heard performed on, say, The X Factor (though its central thesis, “me minus you equals something,” is tender enough to warrant notice).

The record also, at a rather unslender 15 tracks, does overstay its welcome slightly. ‘Free’, especially with some of the album’s weaker lyrics, feels a little tedious given its late placement in the tracklist. It’s placed next to the stellar ‘Tight Up Skirt’, which pulses with sex appeal, proving that the issue is simply quality control; Ego would be much more effective if whittled down to, say, 10 tracks.

Yet these are minor quarrels for what remains an auspicious, exciting debut that concerns itself with pure feeling in preference to overwrought lyricism, all to its benefit. My Ego Told Me To does what all great debut albums do: in introducing the world properly to its creator and her sound, we’re allowed to get excited about where she’s headed next, simply because this album sings with promise. Most importantly, Ego makes Pinnock sound freer than she ever has on tape – and that may well be the album’s crowning achievement.

8/10

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