Dave Performed on ‘Jools Holland’ to Reawaken Your Heart of Stone

British music has a lot to be proud of at the minute. Between the grime scene firmly whipping up the youth vote in the lead-up to next month’s general election – related: please register by next Monday 22 May – and literally everything Charli XCX does, we’re not short on very good people doing very good things in the UK music industry. Yet awards shows and a great deal of media tends to ignore the innovation that these (often yong) players bring, only to honour what I’ll call More of the Same. Right now it’s Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, next year it’ll be someone else who makes music that your dad buys on CD.

And that’s why it’s great to have TV shows like Later… With Jools Holland. As well as being the place that probably introduces your mum to Mabel, it’s also the live music variety show whose very purpose is to showcase the best that British music has to offer, regardless of genre or commercial success. Last night, south London rapper Dave appeared on the show to perform “Picture Me,” and, naturally, he was excellent, reminding us all of his versatility, lyrical dexterity, and musicality.

Beginning the slow-burning track sat behind a piano (don’t forget, he plays to the almost terrifyingly high standard of Grade 7) and backed by a string section, before getting out of his seat to drop profound bars about his life and all of the different paths it might take. It’s the sort of landmark performance that we’ll no doubt be looking back on in years to come, as evidence of what was great about British music in 2017.

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