Ms. Dynamite - Neva Soft



Ms. Dynamite finishes off my entire Birmingham Pride 2016 Special as my Thursday Revisit. I reviewed "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" earlier this week, and it's nice to return to her to end this Special. This song was released in anticipation of a new album in 2011, but that so-called album was never released. She followed up with 2013 single "Cloud 9", but no new solo music was released there after. She has been trying out different sounds for a few years now, and I think she's finally found her place, fingers crossed a new album is on the way. Ms. Dynamite went down a totally different path with this song, a relaxed performance, she is a professional artist.

Ms. Dynamite, real name Naomi McLean-Daley, has had a successful career thus far. She has had plenty of hits, both as a solo artist and on featured singles. It's rare to come across anyone who doesn't know her name, and yet she hasn't released a new album in over ten years. A comeback must surely be on the horizon. This song was released in 2011, yet didn't take that well compared to her other singles. It's obvious this was the wrong path to go down, and I'm glad she didn't rush to push out this album as it would not have helped her career. I am hoping she sticks to the dance/house genre to which she has had recent hits with various DJ's, as it totally suits her voice.

The music video is a simple performance piece, that not only shows off Ms. Dynamite as a performer, but it also shows what they tried to do with this song, although it does seem they've mixed a reggae song with an R&B song badly and it just doesn't work. It reminds me of when you're listening to the radio, but you haven't tuned it in to the right frequency so that you have two songs competing to be played.

There's not a lot to this music video. Ms. Dynamite is relaxed during the performance, she has so much soul in both her voice and her body. She knows exactly what she is doing, she's been doing it for years, and she is performing this to the best of her ability.

There's a few other scenes that distracts us from her set. The dancers are the main concept that doesn't make sense. The choreography doesn't go with the song, and the dancing scene isn't long enough, it suggests that they knew it didn't work, but included it anyway.

Overall, Ms. Dynamite does what she loves, gives a solid performance that will be perfect on stage. She does her best with what she has been given, but this video isn't anything special, there's not enough going on, with more focus on the song than the video in itself.
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Ms. Dynamite - Dy-Na-Mi-Tee



Ms. Dynamite has been confirmed for Birmingham Pride 2016. I saw her live last year at Birmingham Pride and she has amazing energy on stage and I will definitely not be missing her this year. She hasn't released any new songs recently, focusing only on being featured on songs, but again, none recently. This is her highest solo charting position, however "Dibby Dibby Sound" has charted higher since. Ms. Dynamite looks super cool in this video, relaxed with performance perfection, she sure knows how to engage the audience, she can dance and look fantastic, what more can we want? She's Ms. Dy-Na-Mi-Tee!

Ms. Dynamite, real name Niomi McLean-Daley, has had a good career so far, she's taking a break from music, in theory she's made her money. All she needs to do is come back strong in the future. She's released some killer tracks, as well as developed a whole new sound for herself, which is definitely current. This is her biggest solo hit, with featured tracks "Lights On" and "Dibby Dibby Sound" outdoing this song on the UK charts. This song got to number five back in 2002. It was written by Leonard Hibbert, Niomi Daley and Salaam Gibbs.

Directed by Jake Nava, the video is a pure performance piece, there are three different scenes, where Ms. Dynamite shines throughout. She has perfect presence and energy that reflects into the audience easily.

The stage performance is full of life, yet it's relaxed and comfortable, she owns the stage and she was born to perform on it.

The denim outfit suits her the most, it has come back into fashion nowadays too. She's comfortable looking sexy and she really doesn't have to try at all.

As for the dance scene, the choreography is also relaxed, simple and easy to pull off, making it relate to the song well and to the beat; however Ms. Dynamite isn't that great of a dancer, and it comes off a little on the clunky side, yet it works and she's got away with it.

Overall, a well packaged music video, that works well with the song and relates. It doesn't have a lot going on, but that's all right. It's simple, nothing spectacular, but Ms. Dynamite performs effortlessly and does the video justice. Engaging on-stage presence and full of energetic vibes, which were well received at Birmingham Pride last year.

This song wasn't performed at Birmingham Pride last year, but I'm hoping she does this year. I remember watching her perform this on Top Of The Pops, I miss that show.
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Katy B Featuring Ms. Dynamite - Lights On

These are two artists I have never been quite sure what I think of, and this is what I find most difficult about this song, because how can 2 people that I still can't make up my mind on whether I like them or not, create this fantastic club/dance song that I can't help but sing-a-long to. Katy B, real name Kathleen "Katy" Brien, is an artist with an unusual voice, one that no other singer has, and one that, although may not be the strongest, is easy to listen to and one that you could get used to after a few constant listens. She has one of those voices that when you hear it on the radio, you know exactly who it is. Maybe she just ends up getting the wrong song choices? I'm not entirely sure, but her voice fits nicely with this song. Ms. Dynamite, real name Niomi McLean-Daley, has released a lot of songs, including her signature song "Dy-na-mi-tee" which I remember watching on "Top of the Pops" and loving the song back then. She also won a number of awards between 2002 and 2003, but she went quiet for some time. Now she is back and I'm not entirely sure I like her new music path, and it kind of made me unsure of what I think about her. This double act works really well, in my opinion, but maybe others might disagree.

Believe it or not but the writing credits for this song is: Katie Brien and Niomi McLean-Daley, which has totally shocked me, but then again has made me re-think what I think about these artists. I am very happy that this is their own song, I feel like they can put their heart and soul into it because they co-wrote it together (or they wrote their own lyrics and combined them to create the song, which is usually the case). The song is about being in a club and dancing the night away, hoping that one more song will be played every time another song finishes as they don't want to leave yet. For a little twist of fate you could imagine some DJs deciding to use this song as the penultimate song to use, which is a really clever idea, but I bet you they probably play it a few times before, but it definitely wouldn't work as the very last song, because then it would be really unfair.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this music video, funny that since I don't know what to think about these artists either. I think they've had a lot of freedom to create this music video, since the song is simplistic in the narrative storyline, then they could experiment, and that is exactly what the backing team have done. Which can sometimes work and sometimes not work, in this case it meets it in the middle.

In this video, Katy B looks similar to Amy Studt, only Katy B does look like she's falling asleep like so many have commented on the YouTube video. She is in a club (to an extent, it kind of looks like a studio though), along with Ms. Dynamite. Various other shots picture her in various places. I don't really know why but this music video does stand out from the crowd, which is weird since many music videos are similar to this one, maybe it's just the way both the artists look? Or is it just me?

There's not a lot else to say about this to be honest. The song is currently stuck in my head and will probably be stuck for the rest of today. I don't really like some of the blurriness that has been used as part of experimenting, but these artists are still very new (or are trying to comeback in Ms. Dynamite's case), so I am looking forward to where their future lies.

Overall I should like this song or it's music video, I know this song is extremely catchy, but it's accompanying music video and both the artists, I'm not entirely sure what I think, which is weird since I rarely feel this way. The music video does link in with the song, but it has also been experimented with because the song lyrics have given a lot of leeway.
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