La Roux

Geometric figures and lines run across the television screen. Synthetic pianos and subdued electronic drum sets give the music video a techno beat and feel. The shot soon focuses on the lead singer, a young auburn-haired lady who sports a faux hawk, tight trousers, and thick shoulder pads. Sounds and looks like a music video straight out of a time capsule from the 1980’s. Yet the single on which this music video was based on, Bulletproof by La Roux, debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number one in June 2009.

La Roux brings a fresh, yet retro, timbre to the British music scene.


Yet La Roux was virtually unknown of eight months ago. The BBC’s Sound of…, an annual report on bands and singers releasing their first album the following year, described La Roux as if it was an afterthought. Other media sources chose to draw attention to other debut British acts like VV Brown and White Lies. La Roux was slated to be one of many British bands that would make no impression in the music scene of the British Isles. That is until a remix of La Roux’s second single, In for the Kill, drew immense attention to the band itself. The band soon met with widespread acclaim. In for the Kill found its niche on the top ten of the UK Singles Chart for months. The band was nominated for prestigious awards like the Mercury Award. Had it not been for Michael Jackson’s untimely death (which sparked a surge in demand for anything MJ), La Roux’s debut album, La Roux, would have entered the UK Album Charts at number one.

La Roux is a part of a reactionary wave against the “mockney” of the early 2000’s. For years, the only noticeable homegrown music was written by the likes of Jack Peñate, Kate Nash, and Lily Allen, Londoners who spoke with Cockney accents (despite their middle class, and sometimes even upper class, upbringing) and sang to somewhat preppy tunes. The “mockney” movement drew on British experiences and extolled all things British.

The reactionary wave started with Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Duffy, whose strong voices and gospel-inspired music rocked the British music scene. Drawing on American influences, these singers found their muses across the pond. Bands like Florence and the Machine and White Lies have since followed in their footsteps, choosing to use American influences and styles as a basis for their music. La Roux stands at the other end of this spectrum, deciding instead to draw on Europe for a techno beat and musical style.

But what is interesting to note however is the relative harmony that exists between mockney, internationally-influenced British indie, and music from America. La Roux themselves toured with Lily Allen and draw their fashion sense on Lady Gaga. Florence and the Machine and VV Brown sing covers of Beyonce and Kings of Leon. Mockney, internationally-influenced British indie, and American pop all exist in harmony in the British Isles, working together to make one British music scene.

http://www.laroux.co.uk/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQdC7h609k8&feature=channel_page
http://www.theofficialcharts.com/