La Roux - going in for the kill

Of the three synth-toting female singer-songwriters who have so far dominated the Big In 2009 lists, 20-year-old Elly Jackson is by far the most complex ­figure. You can guess as much just by looking at her. In contrast to her glittery blonde counterparts, she looks pale and wan and rather Tilda Swintonish, staring glumly from beneath the kind of haircut that will one day provoke affectionate chortles from comedians and kids' TV presenters on I Love 2009. Comparisons have been drawn between Jackson and Annie ­Lennox in her carrot-cropped Love Is a Stranger heyday, but there is none of the latter's snarling, forceful ­androgyny. Jackson just looks a bit fed up – as ­apparently she was during the making of her debut album, which ­coincided with the collapse of a relationship, and tells that story; tales abound of the singer in floods of tears after ­completing vocal takes.