Daisy’s Gonna Dare You

She may have been unknown to even the biggest pop fans at the start of this year, but since then everything’s gone pretty well for Daisy Coburn, also known as Daisy Dares You. In the same year that Daisy turned 16, she was subject to a major label bidding war and became every wannabe pop psychic’s ‘one to watch’. She even worked with one of 2009’s biggest stars, Chipmunk – an impressive feat for an unknown artist. Now it’s time to see if Daisy can live up to the ever-mounting hype that surrounds her approaching debut single and album releases.

Last Thursday Daisy played her fourth ever live gig at the trendy club night where Lily Allen and Robyn played their first UK gigs, Yoyo at Notting Hill Arts Club. With an invite-only audience of influential industry types, it was a big moment for little Daisy, and the nerves unsurprisingly did show through. However, what was even more apparent was the great potential she has. Her songs are catchy pop but somehow manage to be cool, and in that way they reflect Daisy herself. She’s a tiny, skinny blonde girl, but still it’s clear that she’s not a pop robot like Pixie Lott. There’s something more to Daisy.

Daisy’s set was rockier than expected, with guitars annoyingly drowning out her vocals in places. It seems Daisy has moved in a slightly heavier direction since writing No.1 Enemy, the song that got her signed. This is the new single, the one where Chipmunk makes his appearance (with the brilliant self-announcement “Daisy, it’s MONK!”) and where Daisy’s Essex accent is most obvious. It’s an undeniable hit, and one which will have huge appeal to a teenage audience. Daisy’s stage presence may still need a little boost, but this actually adds a sense of realness which today’s perfect pop princesses lack, and which will surely endear her to girls of a similar age.

Pop fans may be disappointed that few of Daisy’s songs hold the same poptastic magic as her new single, but having now heard quite a few of her unreleased tracks I can say with great confidence that she will not be a one hit wonder. In fact, the rockier sound may do her a favour in the long run. We never had a big UK pop/rock girl singer to match the Americans like Avril, Pink and Kelly. Daisy isn’t exactly like them, but she is a cooler, quirkier and (I’d like to think) more British version. As long as she doesn’t get too carried away with her aspirations of coolness (she could appear quite precocious if not careful), Daisy might just be as popular as those who raced to sign her hoped she would be by this time next year. It’ll certainly be interesting to find out!