Reviews

Joss Stone wants the world to know that at age 20, she's finally grown up. Having chucked her hippie love-child clothes, she's darkened her blonde hair, bought a bunch of glittery-sexy outfits and titled her latest disc Introducing Joss Stone.

Still, her music hasn't changed a bit. Performing Wednesday night at the House of Blues, she stayed anchored in 1967 for an hour and 45 minutes straight. As if her '60s-soul obsession wasn't clear enough, she dropped lyrics from "Respect" into her own "Headturner."

But you had to admit, old-school soul fit her voice perfectly. Four years ago she was a freak show, a 16-year-old white Brit who sang like a 60-year-old black Southerner. But Wednesday, she seemed less a curiosity than a well-rounded R&B singer with tons of range.

From the breezy Afro-Latin funk of "Put Your Hands on Me" to the smoldering Memphis style of "Right to Be Wrong," she tackled a dozen shades of soul and nailed almost every one of them.

She meandered during the encores – starting with a brilliant spin on fellow Brit James Morrison's "Wonderful World," then sleepwalking through a gender-flipped version of the White Stripes' "Fell in Love With a Girl." The momentum slipped further during her 10-piece band's marathon jam, and she was too busy tossing flowers into the crowd to focus on the show-closing "No Woman, No Cry."

But she was obviously having a blast the whole night. She skipped, swayed and shimmered nonstop across the stage, never once losing her breath.

And every few songs, she fell into an unexplained giggling fit – an endearing quirk, perhaps, but one that might hinder her career. After all, everyone knows real soul divas don't giggle.