Critic Jonni: Videos

Ruth Lorenzo - Miedo |

Ruth Lorenzo is back with an awesome rock-like ballad that is set to make you awe-struck. Clearly gaining inspiration from rock ballad classics, Ruth Lorenzo shines in every way with "Miedo" showcasing her beautifully stunning voice and her range capabilities. The X Factor and Eurovision star easily belongs in this music industry and deserves so much more success, and this brand new single proves just that. "Miedo" is the Spanish word for "Fear" and my rough Google Translate suggests the song is an open letter to Fear itself and Ruth Lorenzo is telling it that she isn't afraid anymore. It's one confident and inspiring song, that just builds and builds gaining strength towards the end.

It's been way too long since I last blogged, but I have now returned to blogging, purely because Sam Callahan has released this awesome new music video that has definitely impassioned me. Well, it's not just the music video, it's the absolutely incredible song that is all about getting back up after feeling so low and ready to give up on everything. I've been fighting for my writing career for a number of years now, and I still haven't reached the goal and the dream I've envisioned since I was a kid, and I still feel like I'm a long way away from getting there, but I will continue to push and put in all the hard work that is needed to get me to that moment - because I will get there. That is what I take from this song and music video and that's the whole intention. Watch Sam Callahan walk the streets to the top of a car park where he lights up a purple smoke flare, while scenes of four professionals training in their chosen fields are intercut throughout.

Sam Callahan is a singer-songwriter I have been following ever since he released his debut single "Runaway Train" back in 2012. For those of you who have been reading my blog for years will know that I've reviewed pretty much all his music videos on here. He followed his debut up with "Crazy" before becoming a contestant on the tenth series of The X Factor, where he made it to the live shows and came seventh overall. After the show, he released "Bigger Things", formed a rock band (which split not long afterwards), and released a club track titled "I Love It When You". In 2017, he released the incredible song "Burns Like Fire" and followed that up earlier this year with "Say Something". Today, he has released "Stitches and Scars" and it's his most emotional track to-date whilst taking it back to his roots. The track reminds me of "Runaway Train", only with more emotion and passion - Sam Callahan is still a star in the making and deserves success in all forms, he even wrote this track all by himself. The producer of the song was Jamie Sellers.

Directed by Sam Callahan & Gareth Mangan, the music video is mainly a narrative piece with the occasional performance scene throughout. It is certainly the best music video from Sam Callahan to-date, and I completely believe that. The visual stars professional MMA Fighter, Mike ‘Pretty Boy’ Hales, professional gymnast, Sophie Brace, British MX Championship contender, Tommy Lee Morris, and, world champion minibike racer, Robbie Daly.

The slight performance piece is gentle and basic as we follow Sam Callahan who is walking along the streets with his guitar, which he occasionally plays. We also watch scenes of him performing on stages from festivals to arena concerts. He leads us to a car park, and when he arrives at the top he lets off a purple smoke flare whilst acting confident.

As for the narrative, we watch these four professionals training. Mike 'Pretty Boy' Hales is running along the shoreline before a young kid decides to join him and helps him to work out; this professional MMA fighter can also be seen training up in a gym, similarly, Sophie Brace is also training in a gym - we watch her perform floor gymnastics. As for Tommy Lee Morris and Robbie Daly, we watch them ride their bikes on a track and their preparations beforehand. The ending sees them all achieving the goal they set themselves.

What more can I say about this music video? I've already covered it on CelebMix and Fuzzable, and it is set to be published on Outlet Magazine soon. What we've only just discovered is that Sam Callahan filmed this music video using his iPhone 8+ and he also edited and produced it himself. He put his all not just into the song but into this music video, and it's not a surprise that it is absolutely incredible. This music video is one I won't be forgetting, in years to come, and it just goes to show that hard work really does pay off. This is a masterpiece, and I'm beyond proud to give Sam Callahan his first five stars for one of his music videos! I hope he releases more incredible music videos in the future.

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Barking - Ramz |

I've been avoiding this for one for some time as it has always ranked highly in the UK Top 10; however, it's dropping down, and since this is a backdated blog, I do know that it will drop out in a couple of weeks. At the time of this backdated blog, Drake is at number one with "God's Plan" and so that opens up the UK Top 10 to my Chart Mondays review, hence why I chose this. The song has done incredibly well, just missing out on the top position for weeks. It is a catchy song, but it's not my sort of thing, which also explains why I've been avoiding it; I am so far behind on my blog, it is now getting ridiculous, but I'm not one to give up, at all. Watch Ramz spend time with his lover around London as he sings his song after visiting a barber's shop to get his hair done in this music video for "Barking".

Ramz, real name Ramone Rochester, is an English rapper from London, who went to the University of Plymouth to study Sports Development before dropping out to focus on his music career. This track is his official debut single, and what a way to launch in the music world. He has released a few other follow-up singles that haven't managed to chart. This song clearly did go viral, it managed to chart at number two in the UK, number four in Germany, and number eight in Ireland. The main question is whether he can gain another hit, or he could just be a one-hit wonder. "Barking" was written by Ramone Rochester.

The music video starts off with a narrative but includes a prominent performance piece throughout. It was filmed predominantly in Barking, London, and features a wide range of co-stars and extras. His love interest isn't named, as far as I can tell, so if you know who the actress is, feel free to comment her name below.

There's not a lot to this music video to be fair, but it is wholly related to the song. Ramz fully brings it to the performance side of things, expressing a relaxed style whilst nailing it with his energy.

The song is titled "Barking", so of course it is set in Barking, London and this is made clear throughout the video. There's complete relation to the lyrics at times, including his teeth. The opening scene seems unrelatable since his friends peer-pressure him into having a line put into his hair.

The narration seems cute as we see him meeting up with his girl and taking her out on a date. There's nothing else to this music video though, and I can't really fault it, apart from him not really explaining the opening scene, and the narration kind of needs to be fleshed out a little bit more. The music video is now the most-watched video on GRM Daily - the YouTube Channel that the music video was released on.

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Vampire - Bud Sugar |

I previously wrote this up for CelebMix, and I can't help but love Bud Sugar. They've just got this unique quality to them. There's no other group out in the world who are doing what they are doing and it really allows them to stamp themselves into the music industry. They have also launched their own merchandise, where they're going to print 10 t-shirts, so I highly suggest you get them while you can. They're definitely a rising group you need to keep an eye on, and I can't wait to see what the future brings them. Watch Bud Sugar show off all their energy that they'll no doubt bring to any stage whilst setting fire to a guitar in this blood-red filtered music video for "Vampire".

Bud Sugar are a five-piece British group who have found their own niche genre in music, bringing something totally new to the music industry. They consist of Dylan Elliott, Stan Hill, Live Lans, Rob da Bass, and Bacary Bax. They've been booked for a few festivals this year and I'm sure more is coming up as they start to fully establish their name. They've released two EPs so far, and no doubt another one is coming with the release of this track - which is beyond catchy. Bud Sugar are a group you need to get on board with now before they go viral. "Vampire" was written by Bud Sugar.

Directed by We Made This with additional visuals by Octovision Media, this music video is a low-budgeted performance-based music video. If there's one thing this group has, it is energetic performance vibes. They just have this power that they unleash to every single viewer, listener, and event attendee.

This music video continues to establish this vibe from them. They bring their energy completely, and then also bring their weirdness too including lighting a guitar on fire during a short instrumental ending. Bud Sugar sure know how to bring the unexpected, not just in their music, but in their videos too.

Overall, the song is catchy and the music video relates. They sing about putting their "v's up high" which becomes a concept in the music video and something I can see them getting the audience to participate in when they're on stage. On the other hand, the video quality isn't all that great, with it swapping between video sizes and the red filter is a bit on the over-the-top side; regardless, Bud Sugar's energy makes it work. The words appear throughout, making this half a lyric video, although they're not easy to follow at times.

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Scandalous - Mis-Teeq |

I've had this song stuck in my head all day, so I thought it would be as good as any to review today. This song is practically embedded in UK history and will always end up being played at a party or two; there's just no escaping this song within a year, and you can so see why because this song is still addicting to this day - that's for sure. The song is their biggest hit since it went international, charting at number two in the UK and number 33 in the US. They since parted ways a year or so after the release of this song. Watch Mis-Teeq act sexy in a secret nightclub as a guy stumbles upon it as he runs away through the city streets with some on-point choreography in this music video for "Scandalous".

Mis-Teeq were a three-piece British girl group. They consisted of Alesha Dixon, Su-Elise Nash, and Sabrina Washington; they had a number of hits as a group and released two albums, a US album, and a greatest hits album. They parted ways in 2005 due to their record label declaring bankruptcy, leaving the girls unsure of what path to go down, and so they decided to focus on their solo careers. Alesha Dixon has done the best, she's a household name from being a judge on Britain's Got Talent to winning Strictly Come Dancing; her music career went amazingly after the split, but lately, she hasn't managed to pull in the same chart numbers. Su-Elise Nash was said to be working on an album, after the group split, she provided vocals for Lethal Bizzle's "Going Out Tonight", and has made a variety of television appearances. As for Sabrina Washington, she appeared on the third series of Celebrity Scissorhands, which she won; she next appeared on the ninth series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! where she came in sixth place; as for her music career, she released a couple of singles and launched her own record label in 2012. Reunion rumours are ripe every single year, but it doesn't look like it will happen. This song was used as the theme of the film Catwoman. It was written by Su-Elise Nash, Alesha Dixon, Sabrina Washington, Tor Erik Hermansen, Mikkel S. Eriksen, and Rustan Hallgeir.

Directed by Jake Nava, this music video definitely brings out the "Scandalous" side of the song, although we need more raunchiness for a song with a title such as this. They need more sass, more fire, more confidence.

It's an addicting piece of music, so I'm glad a nightclub is involved; however, the opening scenes which shows a man running through the urban streets, turning security cameras around and being chased by a dog on a leash, suggests there was a narrative to this that was stripped away.

He ends up in the club and decides to show the girls his body-popping and break dancing. It takes this song to the streets, where this sort of music originated from before it became popular and chart-worthy. In comparison, the girls' choreography is basic and repetitive, there's nothing outstanding with the sequence they pull off, and there's also no momentum to it, the girls just aren't into the dance steps as much as they should be, which makes it come off forced. The street dancing should've taken more of a spotlight.

Overall, this music video is way too basic and uninteresting. I was expecting something scandalous, maybe a bit shocking, but definitely something sexy. Although Mis-Teeq are wearing sultry clothes, there are no male counterparts to throw this into a whole scandalous affair, and the dancing just leaves a lot to be desired - the song totally made me expect a lot more from this visual.

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Run - Francois Klark |

Now, I was browsing through the new releases from this backdated day and I was wondering what music video to review. I had a choice between this one and another one titled "Call Ya" by Zāna; I watched this one first and as it got more in-depth I was almost completely decided to review the latter as I didn't feel this was anything amazing or interesting - well, that was until the end appeared and it just stabbed me right in the heart because I've been in a similar situation before. Sorry, Zāna, I didn't even get the chance to view your music video, but I may do one day; I may even review it, but not today. After watching it the second time, I took a key interest in the phone shot at the very beginning as I dismissed it the first time. Watch Francois Klark tell his partner that he's coming home early, only to find him kissing another guy, he then runs away as he can't deal with what he has seen in this music video for "Run".

Francois Klark, real name Francois Clark Mulder, is a South African born Canadian singer-songwriter and producer who is a Universal Music Award winner and a John Lennon Songwriting award winner too. He has been building up his career for some time with this song being his official second single, following "Spaceman". He previously was a contestant on the first season of Idols, the South African version of Pop Idol, under his real name. I look forward to seeing where his career takes him especially since this song resonates easily with me because of my past boyfriends - I now have a boyfriend who I love dearly who I trust completely and who loves me back just as much. This song was written by Francois Clark Mulder and Kibwe Thomas.

Directed by Miguel Barbosa of YEAH!films this music video is a pure narrative visual with a shot or two of Francois Klark singing along to the lyrics. It's a highly passionate song with a music video that fully accompanies it. His partner and love interest, whose character name is Ash, is played by Cianan Francis; and, the guy who was in the hallway was played by Evan Spergel.

The video opens up with Francois Klark messaging his partner that he'll be home earlier than usual. There's a close up of his wedding ring and he's waiting for the subway. On the way home, he hasn't received a reply and the camera really enforces that on to the viewers - we all know what's coming. He arrives home, shocked, drops all his things and starts to run away.

Cleverly, the camera operator doesn't show us what he saw and instead keeps it from the viewers at home. This is completely key as, if you totally skipped over who he was messaging, like I did, you wouldn't realise that this was an LGBTQ+ music video.

He runs all the way to the beach, time to clear his head. He drops his wedding ring to the sandy floor and that's that - he's done with the relationship, and good for him. The camera then reverses all we've seen and goes back to that moment he walked in on his partner kissing another guy - something that wasn't made obvious to the viewers until the very end.

Overall, this music video is completely thought out and really shows that love is love and it can hurt anyone, no matter what form it is in. It's a great way to showing people around the world that a man can love a man, and a woman can love a woman, and everything else in-between. Thank you, Francois Klark for this music video.