Ruby Goe (No 1,152)

Hometown: Surrey. The lineup: Ruby Goe (vocals, keyboards, guitar). The background: We recently acknowledged the new wave of wannabe Sylvia Plaths in pop . In stark contrast with these darkside girls, we also notice there is currently a proliferation of preternaturally exuberant female artists – Azealia Banks , Dominique Young Unique, Lady Leshurr, Kreayshawn – using electro and hip-hop as vehicles to express their fierce, feisty personalities. Ruby Goe has elements of both these character types: her debut single Get on It is a high-energy tale of a nocturnal tryst that leaves her "walking like Bambi" and is accompanied by a video that sees her writhing around in black oil before splurging said viscous mulch all over the walls – and she's got another song called Fuck and Run. But she isn't just a party girl pursuing the pleasure principle like, say, Dominique ; there are tinges of melancholy in her music, twists and textures hinting at her troubled childhood. We should introduce her properly, this new "alternative pop singer-songwriter" also billed as a "multi-talented artistic tour de force" who, as well as her "major tunes and impressive live performances", can already boast her own collection of jewellery . Of Nigerian-British descent, Goe grew up on a council estate in Surrey and her mum died when she was three months old – she was raised, along with her four brothers and sisters, by her dad, who exposed her to jazz and his Prince, Afrika Bambaataa, Nina Simone and Salt'n'Pepa records. She attended Brighton Music Academy and became a backing singer for everyone from Angie Stone to Ronan Keating. Unfulfilled, she moved to London and set up a small studio, learning to play keyboard and guitar and generally acquiring the skills to become a self-reliant artist. She calls what she does "retro-futuristic alternative pop" and "electro hip-pop". She has resisted temptations to take the trad-soul route and claims her ideal collaborators would be Kings of Leon and Arcade Fire. And yet she doesn't offer a new paradigm for the pop female but an amalgam of previous archetypes. Beat Breaking Boy presents her as a sort of shiny CocknBullKid, or a home counties Grace Jones, although immediately you wonder if her persona is as fully realised as it might be. Indeed, you suspect she – or her management/record company – haven't quite decided where to position her and will be using classic pre-release blather about "eclecticism" as a cover for some rampant box-ticking. Keys uses ravey synths, the lingua franca of modern pop, but doesn't advance on the cyber-R&B Joyce Sims made with Kurtis Mantronik in 1987-8 , and during the middle-eight she disappointingly reveals her cabaret/soul diva roots. Built This House posits her as a latterday Neneh Cherry and I Move Slowly offers familiar tropes, both musical and lyrical. This is not a startling new vision, and that voice is mired in soul history. It's not a departure or even a redefinition; it's a consolidation, a reiteration. Newer tracks suggest wider horizons being explored. Hurt is cosmic soul, with a spacious arrangement. Ghost provides a trip-hop context for a classic-style torch song. Get on It is a standard-issue feminist empowerment statement, with rote, predictable sonics. Let's not get too carried away. Fuck and Run tries too hard to be x-rated fare for X Factor kids and Bitch doesn't take Neptunes/Timbaland avant-R&B anywhere new, again striving too hard to telegraph Goe's sassy, sexy strength at every turn. If anything, we were expecting her to be more angry, projecting a kind of streamlined cyber-rage. Really, she's just Tina Turner with some modern armour and too many signs of soulfulness peeping out from beneath the shiny carapace. The buzz: "Slick" – ilikemusic.com . The truth: We won't be Goe-ing crazy for this one. Most likely to: Get it on. Least likely to: Bang our gong. What to buy: The single Get on It is out now on Goe Music. File next to: Lykke Li, Robyn, Santigold, CocknBullKid. Links: rubygoe.com . Monday's new band : Clement Marfo and the Frontline.