Dance music has reconquered the British pop charts recently, and few singers are better positioned to reap the rewards than Katy B. On her excellent 2011 debut On a Mission, her clear voice and Arctic Monkeys-approved songwriting slashed through the then male-dominated world of U.K. bass music. Then last year’s similarly vital DangerEP went further, updating ’90s R&B’s mix of dance beats and soul vocals for a post-dubstep era — and spawning one of 2012’s best songs. Her fantastic, high-on-romance “What Love Is Made Of,” the first single from an upcoming sophomore album due this fall, rides house music’s pulse to challenge Disclosure et al. for this year’s dance-pop supremacy. It’s the type of track that leaves nothing else to prove, but Katy B fans and authenticity-minded skeptics alike should thrill at a new video that shows her singing “What Love Is Made Of” backed only by piano. Her voice’s supple power is all the more impressive here, and the song hits just as hard, only in a mellower way. Love is made of more than the ingredients you put into it.
Watch Katy B’s Devastating, Unplugged ‘What Love Is Made Of’ Video
