Critic Jonni: JP Cooper

September Song - JP Cooper |

I reviewed the current number one, Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", last week, and so it opened the top ten of the UK singles chart to my music video Chart Monday review. So I chose this one as it's slowly dropping out of the top ten and I truly believe it will not be there this Friday. I was planning on reviewing it a few weeks ago, but I saw it was heading into the UK top ten, so I chose a different video instead and watched this climb up. The music video for "September Song" is completely sweet as we watch a guy and a girl completes a sign, all the while thinking about their past as JP Cooper's amazing vocals sing throughout.

JP Cooper, real name John Paul Cooper, has been fighting for a career in music for many years, having dropped his first EP back in 2012. Finally, at the end of 2016 and now in 2017 he is getting the recognition he totally deserves. His vocals are stunning throughout this music video, just they are in his previous featured song, by Jonas Blue titled "Perfect Strangers" which totally helped to make his name. This certainly isn't going to be his last hit, and I cannot wait to see what his future releases are like. The song was written by John Paul Cooper, Ben Hudson, Jon Hume, and Teemu Brunila.

The music video was directed by ARNE + KINSKI. It stars James Short and Madeline Ross, who play the main two characters in the sweet storyline.

Both a narrative and a performance piece to this, although the latter is hidden in slight shots behind the narrative itself. JP Cooper oozes charisma, his subtle and simple performance comes off totally intricate and emotional. Give this guy a stage and he'll impress everyone, no doubt about it.

The narrative is the most important part of this music video, though. Actor James Short totally works the camera, you can see how much longing is in his body language and the way he acts. He looks out the window, watching actress Madeline Ross start to paint on the gate, but she only manages to paint: "Be realistic plc", the 'c' is clearly unfinished and she runs off at the sounds of sirens with blue flashing lights appear. James Short follows her with his eyes.

We see some brilliant flashbacks of when they were young, we guess from the song that they were fifteen in these clips since the song is about being young and in love. It's clear it didn't work out in the past, but James Short still has those same feelings.

He looks at her word art during the day and later follows the steps she took that night, reliving his experience with her. His ultimate longing shot is when he's lying on top of the building, basking in her presence from the night before. He later returns to the gate and finishes off the word art, although whether the words he ended it with were the ones she planned on writing, is something we'll never quite know.

The cute ending scene is during the night when she returns to the gate and sees that he has completed her words, now it reads: "Be positive plan for a miracle". Which is slightly tongue-in-cheek since he finished off her plan. They stare at each other in a lovely connection moment. What goes on next is anyone's guess.

Overall, this music video is a brilliant interpretation of the song. It's realistic with no gimmicks, just lovely, passionate, memorable longing that we all have probably felt, now and again. I would've liked to have seen more shots of JP Cooper performing the song, but this storyline is so beautiful that I'm glad we got to see it as a whole.

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Jonas Blue is back with this banger of a song which is in the UK top 10. So as you probably guessed the UK number one does not have a music video, "Cold Water" by Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber and MØ is sitting at the top. There's very little choice in the top 10 to choose from, as most of them I have already reviewed, or they don't have a music video. Jonas Blue and JP Cooper do not appear in this lovely music video that shows a couple's first meeting and how they're perfect strangers, a clear connection that develops further after a bit of confidence.

Jonas Blue, real name Guy Robin, is a British music producer who hit it big last year with vocals from Dakota in his debut track "Fast Car", a cover version of Tracey Chapman's original "Fast Car". This time it's an original song and it's even better than we can imagine. Featuring vocals from JP Cooper, real name John Paul Cooper, who is slowly making a name for himself, will be one to watch in the coming years. This song will definitely help him no doubt. The song was written by Guy James Robin, John Paul Cooper and Alex Smith.

Directed by Sashinski, the music video is serene and beautiful, with the high concept of two people meant to be together, randomly meeting again and again. It features male actor Devin Dollery and female actress Victoria Scholtz as the love interest.

They visit various places where they bump into one another, definitely perfect strangers. Then they join hands and go and explore things together. It's sweet and innocent, in such a fiercely emotional way.

This is the kind of thing we all yearn for. We all actually want a story like this to tell people, but it never really works this way, so we can keep on dreaming and keep it for TV and films and music videos, and one day we will all have our own story to tell, but it won't be this one.

Overall, a very lovely relatable music video that goes well with the song; However there's nothing interesting going on, no exact moment where it piques the audience's interest. Not like Matoma and Becky Hill's "False Alarm". This is what this song is missing, regardless of the fact that the song itself is sweet. I was just waiting for something to happen, and nothing did.