Sienna Spiro – ‘Visitor’ review: a gifted vocalist finding her place in the spotlight

When Sienna Spiro’s belting, raspy covers began circulating online in 2024, the London-born artist was naturally drawn to the soul, R&B and pop textures of her rousing vocals, infused with the influence of timeless jazz icons like Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, who soundtracked her childhood years. Hailed as a gifted singer from her earliest videos, Spiro’s effortless delivery and bedroom-pop aesthetic gave her a fresh, undiscovered quality, with fans confidently declaring her Gen Z’s Adele or Amy Winehouse.

As the 20-year-old’s career spun into overdrive – supporting major artists like Sam Smith and performing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon not even two years into her recording career – she refined that powerful voice to blend a smoky, Bond-like intensity with confessional radio appeal. But it wasn’t until breakout hit ‘Die On This Hill’ that Spiro nailed the perfect formula of intimate lyricism and balladic stakes, her ground-shaking delivery of “God, I wish something mattered to you” sounding like her entire world might come crashing down in that moment.

‘Die On This Hill’ is the rightful showstopper on her debut album ‘Visitor’, where Spiro’s opera-sized emotions are elevated by orchestral crescendos and vintage band arrangements that frame her attention-grabbing voice. On the stirring title track, she’s bolstered by a rich piano progression that speaks to her intense longing for a love interest’s requited feelings, before accepting that she’s nothing more than “a visitor”. Her voice is irresistibly lush on the sumptuous scene-setter ‘My House’, which sees Spiro meticulously map out the blueprint of her emotional foundations: “Step into the swimming pool / I built it with the tears you put into my eyes, every time you try to leave me”.

Yet for all the heartfelt emotion to be found in the wreckage of a burned-out situationship, at times ‘Visitor’ is surprisingly impersonal. The melancholy ‘We’re Not In Love’ sounds like it could belong to anyone (“We’re not in love, but we make love”), and even the grandest cinematic inflections on the album can leave Spiro’s vocal register a little unmoored, as the boilerplate drumbeat and predictable melodic undulations of ‘Not My Baby’ land flat. There’s far more conviction in Spiro’s lyrics where she sounds her age, like when she expects a romantic declaration on ‘Stole The Show’, only to be met with a devastatingly avoidant “shrug”.

With Spiro often recording her songs in one continuous take, the album’s unpolished quality, voice breaks and all, is undeniably charming in an age of ever-proliferating AI in the music industry. It’s not difficult to envision Spiro performing these songs centre stage with a live orchestra, like the ovation-worthy starlet she’s becoming. On ‘Visitor’, though, the artist behind the voice occasionally gets lost in the spotlight.