Taio Cruz: 'I Can Be'

Taio Cruz has slowly been building a reputation as the finest young R&B talent in the UK. His third single, the electro-tinged 'Come On Girl', broke into the top ten, while debut album Departure revealed the Sussex-born singer had plenty of strings to his musical bow. With the sort of cocky bravado usually reserved for US superstars and without a Timbaland beat/cameo in sight, Taio has all the ingredients to become a credible British alternative to the likes of Usher, Nelly and Justin Timberlake.

His latest offering, 'I Can Be', is a slick slice of R&B that should continue his ascent nicely. The electro beats and string samples are subtler and more graceful than Timbaland's chunky wallops, which have sadly become the staple for modern urban music, while the ultra-confident and cliché-packed lyrics, though not to everyone's tastes, are refreshingly unpretentious. With Estelle lending her vocals to the remix and word-of-mouth spreading about his talents, Cruz looks like he's genuinely destined for stardom.


> Click here for our review of Taio Cruz's album