Arlissa had to answer the question of how you follow The Great Escape’s most in-demand show by succeeding Iggy Azalea at The Warren on Friday night. Frankly, she didn’t have the response.

A PR’s dream, the beautiful and inoffensive 20-year-old Londoner has impressed enough in the industry to have been nominated for BBC’s Sound Of 2013, signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and collaborated with hip-hop icon Nas, but her performance here was lifeless.

She has been compared favourably to Florence Welch but this can only have been by people who haven’t seen her live. Though she possesses a contralto voice, it lacked depth and range and she appeared insecure and awkward onstage.

Having to perform to a half-empty room in the knowledge you are probably an after-thought to those still there cannot be easy. Arlissa lacked the bold performance and charm to win over a crowd that was clearly there to see someone else.

Performing material from her upcoming album, Battles, she drifted from song to song with very little variety to their sound while moving only rigidly behind the microphone.

It added up to an empty performance that served mostly as background music as The Warren wound down for the night.