Sarah Whatmore - Smile
[19 Recordings]

A pair of early singles came and passed in 2003 after she starred in the first series of Pop Idol, then it appeared Sarah Whatmore had also fallen foul to the curse of the music TV contest and vanished from existance.

Fast-forward 5 years and it seems the 26-year-old hasn't given up on her music career altogether, she took the time out to pen debut album 'Time to Think', from which we hear this first single 'Smile'. And what a difference six-years can make - Whatmore has thrown aside the camp Eurovision dance-pop of her first two songs and come back as a mature songwriter.

'Smile' is a swooning, dreamy soul-coated ballad that remains fairly uplifting - despite the melancholic lyrics touching upon the topic of a relationship breakdown. There's a Summer-feel chorus, thanks to a sample of Hall & Oates track 'Sara Smile' and Whatmore's vocals have a warmth and strength that we've never heard on CD before.

Sarah says she wanted to make her own mark on this album and it looks as though her ambitions are coming true.