Good hair. The peroxide quiff is immense. She calls herself Emeli, but her real name is Adele. Which she dropped in favour of her middle name when "the other Adele came out and got bigger and bigger". Probably for the best.
You wait for one Adele and then two come at once. She's no newby to the music game either. Sandé dropped out of her medical degree at Glasgow University to write songs for Christina Aguilera, Leona Lewis and Cheryl Cole, and now she's launching herself as an R&B/soul artist. Alicia Keys and Coldplay have been tweeting about how wonderful she is. And Simon Cowell recently referred to her as his "favourite songwriter".
That's almost like being touched by God. Beelzebub, more like. But I suppose he does know a good pop tune when he hears one. Her first single, "Heaven", went to number 2 in the UK charts earlier this year. There's also positive chat around the new single, "Daddy", out in November.
She says: "There's no better feeling than when I'm writing songs. It feels like something is being born."
We say: One part Nina Simone, two parts vintage Neneh Cherry. Shake and serve on ice.
Emeli Sandé will perform at the Mobo Awards on 5 October. Her UK tour starts on 1 November (emelisande.com)
