Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Nicki Minaj Feat. Rihanna - Fly

So we've finally got the video for this!



Spyke

I originally wrote about this track in my Trio of Rihanna features back in November and quite frankly my opinions have changed slightly. First off we've had a Britney Spears remix and a bit of Super Bass from Miss Nicki Minaj and now I'm quite impressed by her. Though she does seem to be a tad mental - you just need to check out some of her outfits in this fine video.

Here's what I originally wrote:

First off, I really don't see Nicki's appeal. She recently featured on Rihanna's album on Raining Men - I'm not sure if there's any correlation between her appearance and the fact it's my least favourite track off 'Loud', but oh well! However I downloaded this blindly off Play.com recently as part of the Becks deal to give out free music, and I'm quite impressed. The chorus is beautiful and inspirational - it's just a shame we have to have Minaj interrupting so often!

Nicki's had limited success so far with singles Your Love, Check It Out (Feat. Will.i.am) and Right Thru Me but this one could really break that pattern. She seems like one of those acts where the music industry just tries too hard to make happen (Hello Duffy & Adele). With a list of features longer than most artist's entire back catalogue it's like they are latching her on to any success she can get. Though it may pay off as the HDD predictions for next week are pitching her album 'Pink Friday' to challenge Kanye for the top of the Billboard 200 by clearing sales of 400k! Good luck with that anyway - Rihanna brings a really uplifting element to this song and I hope it gets a release for her sake.


You won't see me just throwing Adele's name around like that anymore after the year she's had!

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Saluting the summer hit of 2011

McLovin

In mid-June, Sheeran's debut single entered the charts at number 3, an impressive achievement for the 20 year old. 12 weeks later, the track still hasn't left the top ten and currently sits at number 9, close to half a million sales. It is an astonishing run for the single, and bodes well for his debut album '+' released on 12th September.

How do we account for its huge success? Sheeran manages to strike a delicate balance between soulful delivery mixed with raw, honest lyrics. Recounting the story of a prostitute, his gentle acoustic strumming introduces the song's protagonist in an unassuming manner. Sheeran's vocal performance is carefully and precisely judge; he is removed from the situation, but never superior. It could be so easy for this single to go horribly wrong due to an overwrought interpretation. A sort of 'Look at me! This is serious, therefore take my music seriously!' effect. But I get little sense of ego involved in the process. Even the chorus' smart internal rhymn of 'wasting/pastries' is to serve the song's beautiful, bleak imagery rather than emphasis Sheeran's ample lyrical ability.

I have a sense that The A Team has been so successful because it doesn't feel like a sombre observation of a homeless young girl addicted to drugs, but a love song about her. While lyrically it is a cousin to the Arctic Monkeys' When the Sun Goes Down, musically its the sibling of Plain White T's Hey There Deliah. This isn't meant as a criticism, despite the (quite surprising) levels of vitriol people have against that song. Rather, it hides its dark undertones beneath a captivating and memorable melody. A bittersweet peaen that has outlasted every other number one this summer despite never reaching the top itself, The A Team will live long in the memory and is an extraordinary start to Sheeran's career.

Monday, 22 August 2011

You Me At Six Feat. Chiddy - Rescue Me

Well I missed this gem...



Spyke

For quite a while, I've been under the impression that You Me At Six just weren't for me. For some reason I'd had them confused with Vampire Weekend and never had any desire to get into something similar. Apparently I wasn't paying them any attention when I saw them perform at Leeds festival last year. Having just followed the awesome All Time Low I was probably a little bit distracted. So it was to my surprise that after listening to Radio One yesterday, it would be one of their singles I'd be going home to download off itunes.

I think the best song to compare this with is Tinie Tempah's Written In The Stars. The single has epic production; the kind you'd expect to get from Eminem in some of his more emotive tracks. My favourite lyric from the song has to be 'Viva La Vida now she wants to give me Coldplay'. As much as I think that it's Chiddy's influence on the track that I am finding particularly appealing, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future releases from the band.

This was released in the UK all the way back in February and actually charted at #21.

Thursday, 18 August 2011

Teenage Dream matches Bad

Katy Perry gets her 5th #1 from her sophomore album TD


Spyke

It's quite an accomplishment to hit #1 on the Hot 100 but very few acts have managed the feat with several tracks from the same album. In the past few years we've had a couple of artists perform rather successfully: The Black Eyed Peas spent a staggering 27 weeks at #1 with their singles from 'The E.N.D.' with Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling and Imma Be. Rihanna has managed to get three #1s from both 'Good Girl Gone Bad (Deluxe)' and 'Loud' but very few artists have managed more. If you venture back further back into Pop history then you'll see that Usher got four #1s from his Confessions album - led by Yeah! A decade prior to this Mariah Carey began her domination of the US charts in the nineties (where she had at least one #1 every year for the duration) with her first four singles from her self-titled debut 'Mariah Carey' album.

So why is five such an accomplishment for Katy Perry? Well because it has been done once before EVER by the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. The phenomenal album 'Bad' laid host its first five releases topping the Hot 100: I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man In The Mirror then Dirty Diana. Having just come off the back of what would be a campaign for the biggest selling album of all time Michael was on a mission to try and better himself - and what an effort. 'Bad' has gone on to sell over 30 million copies globally and is ranked as another of the biggest albums ever. And his legacy continues to live on.

So it seems slightly bizarre that Katy Perry should be one challenging for this accolade; from an album which has global sales just under 4 million. With fierce competition from Rihanna and Lady Gaga it would seem that Katy Perry isn't even the sole entrant to be the current Princess of Pop. In (almost any) ranking I think it would be clear that the new Mrs Brand would have to settle for Bronze position. So how come it is Katy that seems to be the one up for this achievement? Well I think it comes from the fact that people are only just now beginning to believe in her as an actual artist rather than a one hit wonder. I expressed my opinion on this following the release of I Kissed A Girl; and here we are three years later and fans are still taking her on a single by single basis (and to some extent they still do with Rihanna as she suffers from the occasional bombing single) but Katy Perry does seem to be delivering very consistently. With the first four singles from the album having over 4 million downloads each in the US alone she is very much a force to be reckoned with and as a result she hasn't left the Hot 100 top ten since the California Gurls was number one there last June.

So congratulations Katy Perry; the next question is what will she do now? There are rumours of a re-release on the cards which would surely guarantee a 6th chart topper but is that bending the rules to take the lead - officially no but it would feel more of an accomplishment done from the album in its original context. So what options are there left as potential singles? Peacock seems the most likely and shows off Katy's fun side with a very well produced (if not a little vulgar) track but whether it'd have the same impact with airplay I'm not sure. My personal choice would be The One That Got Away to demostrate a softer tone and for the irony if it didn't hit #1. With the opportunity to go for a 6th I'm sure we'll see another effort with another 'just slightly above average' track (see Cali Gurls, ET or Last Friday Night) and get another rent-a-rapper to see it hit #1.

Check out our reviews of her #1s here:

California Gurls
Teenage Dream
Firework
ET
Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Monday, 15 August 2011

Will Young - Jealousy

Too little too late to save this career?



Spyke

Have you heard this quaint little number from Will Young's new album? Probably not, as it seems like a long time ago that he was actually in the commercial line of things, but oh well. It's not like he has really brought anything relevant to the music world since 2004; then again that could probably be said for several artists. I thought Your Game and Leave Right Now were both incredible pop songs and was thrilled to see them perform well in the charts. But it all seemed to go downhill at the end of the Friday's Child campaign. First we got Switch It On and All Time Love which were poorer copies of the previous album's aforementioned hits then we were given a stream of other drivel. However, when you appear on Alan Carr's Chatty Man to perform your new single and your turn on the couch is sacrificed for an extended One Direction 'chat' then you may as well just give up now. Anyway, Will's back for another go and I like it.

I really like the opening verse; the way it starts so quietly and Will sounding so vulnerable. Where you think it might burst into a large thumping chorus like Joe McElderry's Ambitions, this track refrains from doing so. It gradually builds up momentum but never takes you too far. The song is in reference to how Will was Jealous of other Popstars in the past; and to be honest he did come across quite bitter in a few TV shows which have been about great pop songs and the biggest selling singles of all time etc. Though I imagine it must be hard once Simon Cowell has moved on and you don't quite have the writing ability of Max Martin. I think this track really shows maturity and I hope it can perform 'well' in the charts. With a Saturday night 'An Audience With...' type show coming up to help launch the album and single it should hopefully get a nice push top 20. However I can't really see it having much longevity as it seems to be lacking the Guetta name tag for that but it could well become a staple in the Radio 2 playlist for the next couple of months.

Slightly off topic but bizarrely they actually gave Will a slot on the American Idol finale last year to perform Leave Right Now; after the one performance it began its ascent up itunes but with no airplay it wasn't going far. I just sometimes DO NOT get the logic of some record labels as that should have been the track to launch him on World Idol in 2003 - a mere eight years later.

Chart Predictions
Spyke 18
McLovin -
Actual 5

Monday, 8 August 2011

David Guetta Feat. Sia - Titanium

Not that I want Guetta to be any bigger in our tag cloud, but...



Spyke

In the build up to the release of David Guetta's new album 'Nothing But The Beat' we're going to be getting a few promo singles, starting with this which is released today! It will be interesting to see how well any of the tracks perform chartwise as it has only been recently that we have seen these type of releases fly up the chart, with Lady Gaga's Hair and The Edge Of Glory taking off successfully. It's hard to believe that Gettin Over You was actually a promo single prior to the release to his previous album, though of course we were all a little distracted by a certain Sexy Bitch at the time and it would take another year, a quiet week and a feature from Fergie (and LMFAO) to see the track finally hit number one in the UK.

A few of the demos for this track actually feature Mary J Blige but I think the final Sia version definitely has the edge for me. This track could be the song to re-launch Sia's career; with a ten year drought without a hit she certainly could do with one. In fact she has only troubled the UK top 40 once when her 2000 effort Taken for Granted reached #10. There is something very distinctive about her voice yet it sounds so familiar, it's troubling me that I can't put my finger on who she sounds like; its almost a cross between Florence & The Machine and Adele.

The thing which really stands out for me about this track is the production. Obviously you can tell that Guetta has well and truly stamped his mark all over it with just as many raved up bits as you'd find in any of Sweat, Little Bad Girl, Where Dem Girls At, etc. But there is something more subtle going on in the background that could turn this little gem into a hit. If you listen carefully from around the 0:20 mark you can indeed hear the influence of producers Sandy Vee and Stargate. Now I wouldn't go as far as it says it samples the track but there are distinct elements from Rihanna's Only Girl (In The World). When you consider the longevity of the track that is currently at #58 in this week's chart and is closing in on that elite million sellers club, why not try and tap into some of that subtle magic! That said, it was last summer that David Guetta brought us Commander with Kelly Rowland which again works off a similar vein. Although on paper the tracks may seem very similar - in reality they are worlds apart.

Chart Predictions: (as a promo single)
Spyke 45
McLovin -
Actual 31

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Leona Lewis - Collide

No it's got nothing to do with the Matt Cardle song...



Spyke

Since getting a little overenthusiastic over Bleeding Love and Leona's debut album Spirit, my interest in her has wavered considerably (or maybe it just got completely diverted to Rihanna but oh well). I don't think anyone really expected her to take off in the way she did, and after executing the Spirit campaign fantastically (though they should have release Run in the US) her record company have seemed to struggle with what to do with her since. When you have the likes of Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry all dominating the pop scene you can't afford to make a mess of an album campaign like Leona's second album Echo
(see Christina Aguilera's last attempt as a further example).

So here we are on album number three and it would seem that Leona has gone for the more upbeat approach; thankfully she's not quite reached the point of selling out to Guetta or RedOne for a hit (yet). Which doesn't make that much sense when she could have just released the fantastic Outta My Head from her last album. I must say it is quite a nice effort, and very much reminds me of When Love Takes Over - I thought Leona might have been aiming more for Beyonce's league rather than Kelly Rowland's but apparently not. The song doesn't quite have the impact I want it to, it could do with an epic key change at the end with the final chorus just blowing you away. However I am yet to hear the track in high quality so that may change everything...but as Nicole Scherzinger would say 'Don't Hold Your Breath'.

That's not the end of the story though. This track was originally recorded by Swedish DJ Avicii who put the track out there for someone to lay lyrics over, and Leona's team jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately something changed and it turns out that Avicii actually had plans to release the track himself under the name Fade Into Darkness. It's not uncommon for producers to put demo tracks out there, like this, to get some rotation with the aim that an artist will pick it up, release it and make it a success. Ultimately the writers/producers of the track make the most money out of it so generally the bigger the hit the more money they stand to gain. However there are (rare) instances when the composer wants to release the track themselves, but if another artist has been preparing it for their own release there can be issues. Another recent example of this was Cathy Dennis wanting to release Once herself rather than give the gem away to Diana Vickers; but needless to say Simon Cowell is a very powerful man.

So anyway I think I actually prefer the Avicii version; check it out below and make up your own mind up. There are rumours that it's going to get a rush release prior to Leona's but we'll have to wait and see. Leona's version will no doubt come with an accompanying X Factor performance when it gets a full release in September on the same day that Pixie Lott and The Sugababes are releasing their new tracks, so we'll get a mini chart battle - I say mini as I'm not convinced any of them will be able to make it to #1.


Chart Predictions:
Spyke 3
McLovin -
Actual 4

Avicii - Fade Into Darkness