Ashlee Simpson - Boyfriend

Ashlee Simpson is currently getting ready for a come back in music. She is both a singer and an actress, along with her well-known sister Jessica Simpson. Her albums have failed to gain much chart success in the UK, her first album managed to get to number 31, and her subsequent albums didn't even make the top 40. It's a total different story for the singles, 4 of which has charted high, "Pieces of Me" got to number 4, "La La" number 11, this song got to number 12 and her most recent chart position is number 24 with "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)". My favourite single "L.O.V.E." did not get an official release in the UK.

"Boyfriend" was written by Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks and Ashlee Simpson. The song is apparently "not about one person in particular". But the song is about a girl who insists you've stolen her boyfriend, she's claiming she didn't. Various rumours have popped up about who this song might be about, guess we'll never know. Since "L.O.V.E." didn't get an official release in the UK, this is henceforth the only single released from the album 'I Am Me'.

This music video is mainly performance piece, but so full of vibes that you can't help but enjoy it for what it is, she has this stage presence that is gripping to watch. Her performance is extremely watchable, she's moving about, rocking out, striking sexy dance moves. It's fun to watch. And given the chance, I definitely would see her live.

I like the use of the band behind her, it shows she isn't afraid of showing who the band is that helps her make music, therefore giving her a lot more respect in my eyes.

There is a slight narrative to this, where she is running from the cops at the start, this kind of makes me think someone has called the police on her because she "stole" a boyfriend, making something become much more serious than what it is. Also a bunch of people start running towards something, although it is never clear who or what they are running to, my guess is that it's Ashlee Simpson's gig they are running to. It kind of reminds me of Lostprophets' music video to "Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja".

Overall, a great catchy song that should've charted higher than number 12. The music video fits the song pretty well, they could've added more to the narrative side, as well as making it clear what or who all the people are running to. At the end Ashlee Simpson jumps into what is possibly her boyfriend she references to in her song. He is played by Efren Ramirez.

Mandia Nantsios - Never Again

Mandia Nantsios is my "Artist of the Month" for March (her profile will be up later), so it's only right I review her first music video and single with it. She is just 16 years old, and with a very meaningful voice, every word is sung with conviction and you know she means it all. Her second single was "One Last Time", she got five stars from me for that one, will this follow? The world better watch out, because this Canadian superstar is on the verge of stepping into the spotlight.

"Never Again" was written by Mandia Nantsios. It's engaging, raw and emotional, all the aspects of a perfect song.

This music video follows the song in every way. There's both a performance and a narrative. The narrative side is crisp and follows through from the song.

It's the usual boyfriend cheats on girlfriend, we've seen this in a few videos in the past, but this one stands out because we get to see what the past was like for them, and then return to the story in the present, with her dropping the necklace he bought her.

The performance side takes dominance during the centre of the video, she is seen in various locations, some of which, such as the boat, shows what he is missing out on. Other settings add to the raw emotion, leaving you surprised at how strong of a performer Mandia Nantsios is.

The one problem I do have is the dancers in the background, they kind of feel out of place, almost like they're trying to be more important than Mandia, however the editing has made Mandia Nantsios more in the picture, preventing her from being empowered. After a second watch I can almost forget that the dancers are there. On the other hand, I feel that they shouldn't have been included, Mandia's such a good performer she doesn't need them.

Overall a song that is perfect in every way and just proves that Mandia Nantsios is an up and coming star. The music video reflects the song the way we want it to, adding more emotion to the song, which seems impossible. Although I don't like the dancers, I'm prepared to let it slide, since they're easily ignorable.

Miley Cyrus - Fly On The Wall

Miley Cyrus, real name Destiny Cyrus, has appeared on my blog quite a few times. This time my iTunes decided to get it stuck in my head, and it sure managed to do that. This song is probably one of my favourite songs from Miley Cyrus, and I'm interested in what she has in store for us in the future, clearly it's going to be big, but can she get higher up the UK Chart?

"Fly On The Wall" was written by Miley Cyrus, Antonina Armato, Tim James and Devrim Karaoglu. Many different interpretations of the song has been made, from sympathy to the boyfriend, to the boyfriend wanting to know everything. Miley Cyrus soon enough cleared it all up, saying it was about the paparazzi... And the music video empathises that perfectly.

This music video shocked me over and over again, from the start to near to the end, and then the completely surprising ending. This video really reflects what it is like to be followed by the paparazzi. Britney Spears has been portraying her concerns for ages now in the videos for "Everytime", "Piece Of Me", "If U Seek Amy", "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go", I'm sure there's probably more. Other music videos include: Stone Sour's "Through Glass", Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All" and Cher Lloyd's "Swagger Jagger".

And although this song came out it hasn't stopped anything, and it's only getting worse, only a few months ago, Miley Cyrus posted a video of her walking her dogs while one of the paparazzi parked in a handicapped place and ran in front of her taking pictures (video can be found on the right).

Once again we have a narrative and a performance piece. First off we think her boyfriend is going to turn into a werewolf with the full moon being out and stuff. Instead he turns into one of the paparazzi. She then ends up in the car park and is being chased everywhere she goes.

The best bit has to be when the paparazzi start to dance, I can't help but laugh as I'll always remember the first time I saw this and I really wasn't expecting it, and it still manages to draw me into that surprise every time. And then we get the more shocking ending, where her boyfriend sells her story about the paparazzi. That's just wrong on so many levels.

There's a bit of a performance side in the car park, which she lets lose and has a little bit of fun. I reckon she really enjoyed filming this music video, and in doing so, it's just as fun to watch.

Overall a great song that only managed to get to number 16 on the UK chart, it clearly deserves a higher position. The music video is pure brilliance, and definitely one of my favourites. It has a close theme to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". So you can all guess what my rating is going to be...

Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

Justin Bieber has finally appeared on my blog, there was absolutely nothing on the music channels today, and this music video was the only one I took an interest to. Then all the music videos after this one I had already previously reviewed. I'm not much of a fan of Justin Bieber, although I do commemorate him for being a great singer, and managing to sell a lot of records. He has never had a number one in the UK before, however this is his highest charting position to date, charting at number two. He is currently going out with Selena Gomez, and has been for over a year.

"Boyfriend" was written by Mike Posner, Justin Bieber, Matthew Musto and Mason Levy. I'm surprised to see another singer's name pop up in the writing credits, which is Mike Posner, he sang "Cooler Than Me". Could Justin Bieber have written this for Selena Gomez? It is definitely one of those songs you expect Justin Timberlake to sing, and it's extremely different to what is actually about at the moment, sometimes that is a good thing, when others it's not so good, but with the Justin Bieber's fans (aka Bieber Fever), it looks like he can never release a bad song, and even if he did, it'll still do well on the charts no matter what.

This music video seems extremely short. It finished, and I was like, is that it? However it's over 3 minutes long, which is the amount of time most music videos are. So was I so intently watching it that time passed me by so quickly? Or was I expecting something better?

They could have done a lot with this music video, it could have been a narrative storyline, there could be a lot more choreography... However they decided to make it subtly sexy, or try to at least, but I don't think it's paid off, we're left with wanting something more. The double start is a little on the infuriating side, as the singing really stand out from his rapping, therefore choreography could have been built in. So we have to wait a whole minute until he starts to sing, which would normally be okay, but in the video not much is happening.

Before the video was released, there was camera shots released online, showing Justin Bieber near flames, and under water and various other scenes that other critics had commented on. Some were excited about the video and others were saying it could be a little on the erotic side which wouldn't be good for his fan base. Before the release of this music video, it got scrapped and this one was filmed and released. Could it be possible that they were not too happy with the feedback from the previous video? What ever happened to taking a chance? No wonder this video seems simplistic and restrained. Personally, by the looks of the shots and the thoughts of other critics, I think I would have preferred the previous music video.

Overall it's an average music video, not much going on, and it leaves you wanting more, there's a few choreography scenes interspersed throughout but not enough, I wanted to see additional dancing scenes. However it's quite a catchy song, so I understand why it got to number two.
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