ABSTRACT
In the early years of the new millennium, artists such as Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Lily Allen all found success in what might be termed white British retro-soul. Their complexly racialized musical aesthetic has consistently been framed in terms of the white appropriation of musics of black origin. We propose an additional layer of interpretation, namely the importance of the artists’ local contexts. Reading the vocal grains of Winehouse and Adele specifically, a distinctly London origin becomes audible. Subsequently considering the longer histories of regionalism in British popular music and of London in British popular culture, we conclude that the full implications of these artists can only be approached by foregrounding geographical context and reconsidering the operation of temporality as prompted by their retro-infused aesthetic.
