I've had this song stuck in my head all day today, so with lack of anything else to choose from, I decided to review this music video. I kind of remember seeing this, Girls Aloud are certainly serving mechanic sexiness in every way when it comes to this music video - although to be fair, apparently it's 95 degrees in the shade, according to the song. Upon it's release in 2005, the song became the group's worst chart hit at number seven in the UK, a couple of singles later "See The Day" managed to peak even lower at number nine. Watch Girls Aloud dressed as mechanics before stripping off into something a lot more sexy as they work in a garage in this music video for "Long Hot Summer".
Girls Aloud were a five-piece girl group that were formed on Popstars: The Rivals which saw a girl group and a boy band formed by the public and then go head-to-head to hit number one on the charts. They consisted of Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, and Sarah Harding. They beat the boy band to number one (the boy band were called One True Voice), and later became one of the most successful British girl groups. They are all now pursuing solo careers, with Cheryl being the only one who has consistent success; although, Nicola Roberts has had moderate success with her debut album, and so has Nadine Coyle, the latter of which has released a new EP and is promoting her new music. This song is perhaps a bit before it's time since it easily gets stuck in my head nowadays. "Long Hot Summer" was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim "Rolf" Larcombe, Shawn Lee, Lisa Cowling, Giselle Sommerville, and Myra Boyle. The song was intended for the soundtrack to Herbie: Fully Loaded, but the plans fell through.
The music video was directed by Max & Dania. It clearly was influence by the 2005 Disney film Herbie: Fully Loaded, even though the song wasn't included in the soundtrack. It is set in a garage with all five members of the girl group acting as mechanics.
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, the outfits are fine when they're acting as mechanics but they sexify it up a little too much when they remove their overalls. Regardless, Girls Aloud do look a bit on the sweaty side, allowing us to imagine how melting-hot they are - relating to the song perfectly. Cheryl looks beyond awkward lifting up that tyre.
The most disappointing aspect of the video is the collective dancing. Clearly the choreography wasn't all that good, and even though the girls do their best with what they're given, it still doesn't come off all that well. Overall the song is a shambles but the music video makes up for it to some extent, but it's just not good enough. The song is more of an addictive throwback track.
It's time for me to wrap up my Hunter Hayes' Pictures three-part music video film. "This Girl" is the third part of this series of music videos, which has allowed Hunter Hayes to plunge us deep into a 60's narrative; this one concludes this Pictures collective, which all spanned from the "Rescue" music video as inspiration was drawn from the canvas paintings created in that visual. This wraps up the videos but leaves quite the open ending that has got us all intrigued. Watch Hunter Hayes perform this song in front of a house with his guitar, as we watch the character Sophie get married in this music video for "This Girl".
Hunter Hayes, as you should know by now due to all my recent Hunter Hayes blog posts, is an American country singer who went viral with the release of the heart-melting song "Wanted". He's destined for success since he is beyond talented. He can play a multitude of instruments, which he has showcased throughout the years, but mainly in debut music video "Storm Warning". I adore his songs, most of which are ones that I can never get out of my head. These latest tracks don't quite hit the mark for me, although they are heartfelt, for sure. I am hoping his next album has one international hit, as he deserves to go global. This track was written by Andy Albert, Hunter Hayes, Jessie Jo Dillon, and Jordan M. Schmidt.
Directed by John Edde & Matt Edde, this music video is the final part of the Pictures trilogy. It wraps up the character storylines that were previously in "You Should Be Loved" and "More". There is also a cast list, and within these music videos, you will see Olivia Evans, Sam Brooks, Wynn Reichart, Silva Riganelli, Jay Putnam, Allison Shrum, Michael Leidel, Percy Bell, Lacy Hartselle, and Sasha Asadourian.
This last visual in the trilogy follows Sophie (played by Lacy Hartselle) as she gets ready for her wedding and thinks about the past, where her fiancé hurt her and where she fell in love with another guy, who she kissed at a party in the first music video, "You Should Be Loved".
She battles with her emotions and her father comes to have a few words with her which are beyond adorable. Then, the guy, who she's fallen in love with, disrupts the wedding ceremony and she runs off with him. This is the perfect message - you should always follow your heart.
As for the performance side of things, Hunter Hayes looks like he's hiding behind his guitar. He doesn't unleash his full potential that we've seen in other music videos. It makes us question whether his heart was in this song, and takes us back to "You Should Be Loved" where he's hiding behind the piano. It's a good performance, it's just missing the spark that he added in the "More" music video. The ending is confusing as we return to present day and we find out that Hunter Hayes is wrapped up in this storyline - maybe one of the characters is an ancestor of his? Could this allow him to continue these connecting music videos?
Overall, this isn't as amazing as "More", it just has the same feel as "You Should Be Loved". It's still good, nonetheless, and we are interested in what Sophie is going to do as time goes on; but, you just have a feeling you know what's going to happen, and what we expected ends up playing out.
I can't believe I'm posting a Facebook music video within my blog, but the official YouTube music video has embedding disabled, hence why I've used the Facebook video. Both versions are the same, so I'm all good to go with using this. There was a hell of a lot of new releases on this backdated Friday however, most didn't have music videos, a couple released music videos after the release of the single, and one or two happened to release their song mid-week for Valentine's Day; therefore making this quite the difficult choice for me. I chose this one, because I initially wrote it up for CelebMix, and I can't help but adore this song. I truly believe Triana Park was one of the most underrated acts at Eurovision 2017. Watch the frontwoman of Triana Park, Agnese Rakovska, find life lonely as she wishes she had a home to go to in this music video for "Home".
Triana Park are a four-piece electronic pop-rock band from Latvia. They consist of Agnese Rakovska, Artūrs Strautiņš, Edgars Viļums, and Kristaps Ērglis. They are quite the name in their home country, having competed in Latvia's national selection for Eurovision a total of five times. Upon their sixth attempt (after a five-year break) in 2017, they managed to win and finally got to represent Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Line". Unfortunately, they only managed to get 21 points in their Semi-Final placing them 18th; failing to qualify for the Grand Final. This new song is the follow-up track to the Eurovision song, proving that Triana Park are a strong act who will consistently give us addicting tracks. The song is apparently the second single from their upcoming album, which is set to be released on 18 April 2018.
Directed by Ivars Burtnieks, this music video is a narrative piece that has a slight performance throughout. Agnese Rakovska displays her lonely life that also touches upon mental health issues as she sings this song with all the heartfelt emotions that give us chills every time we hear this song.
The opening scene sees her in a convenience store, where she grabs a bunch of items and walks slowly away - is this how you buy stuff in Latvia? Because the shopkeeper barely bats an eyelid. She then steals the park ranger's car and drives off. That is until her mental health illusions appear where a double of herself can be seen laughing in the back of the truck. She ditches the car and starts to walk; she attempts to hitchhike, but no such luck. and the lights in every house she walks pass turn off.
The last part of the music video sees her looking through a window, watching a family show love to one another as they gather in the living room. Agnese Rakovska is clearly craving that in this song and the music video, so much so she bangs against the window, desperately wanting to be a part of that, before disappearing.
This music video has it all and really works with the song. It's missing the energy of Triana Park, maybe because there aren't any scenes of them performing collectively as a group; however, everything else fits perfectly well and really manages to show off the song perfectly.
Can you tell that I'm on a Hunter Hayes obsession? This is my backdated Thursday Revisit and I can't believe I haven't watched this before now. I'm also surprised to find out that this song was his debut single. He has to be one of the most underrated male musicians in the world, and have you seen how many instruments he plays in this music video - what a way to represent himself. Hunter Hayes is a star-in-the-making and one song, just one song, will eventually go viral and chart worldwide; it just has to. Watch Hunter Hayes show off his musical abilities whilst performing this powerful and heart-hitting song in this music video for "Storm Warning".
Hunter Hayes is a country music star from America. He's had a few hits, with "Wanted" being his most known and most popular track. He's recently been heading down a country-pop music style in the past couple of years and I'm beyond excited for new music from him - we need another album. He's destined for global success, just listen to his voice, just watch how he can confidently play a variety of musical instruments. "Wanted" should've been his global sensation, and it got pretty close, but I'm sure that he'll have one soon. This song was his debut single and didn't bring chart success all that much. "Storm Warning" was written by Hunter Hayes, Gordie Sampson, and busbee.
Directed by Brian Lazzaro, this music video is a pure performance piece and almost feels like a showcase video. Throughout, Hunter Hayes presents to the world what his capabilities are as an artist, all the while delivering an infectious song that I just simply adore - how was this not a hit?
Throughout there are filters used, emphasising colours and shadows whilst also bringing in segmented video so that more than one piece of footage could be shown at the same time. It certainly brings an interesting aspect to the viewers and gives us more than double the stage presence that Hunter Hayes unleashes. There's also a brilliant snippet where six different versions of Hunter Hayes' are playing different instruments in one frame - so clever.
What we know from this music video is that Hunter Hayes can sing, play the acoustic guitar, play the electric guitar, play the bass guitar, play the piano, play the drums, and play the bouzouki. Now, that is what I like to call a proper artist. He's developed in music completely and this is what truly allows him to shine. This music video is just a pure brilliant performance piece, it's just missing relatability to the song, a slight bit of narrative would've stolen the show - maybe even a woman walking around the set would've worked perfectly. It's just missing that slight thing.
I am so mad at myself for being so far behind on my blog, but I am determined to catch myself up. To do so, covering music videos I have previously reviewed for CelebMix will certainly help. This is the case with this amazingly addictive track, "Strangers", by Kiri T. She sure knows how to perform and she put her heart into this one and it has really paid off. The song is perfection and the music video accompanies the song well. I also interviewed this amazing singer-songwriter for CelebMix, so I highly suggest you check that out too. Watch Kiri T perform her song to the camera as smoke, butterflies, slow-motion effects switch up the scenes in this music video for "Strangers".
Kiri T, real name Kiri Tse, is a singer-songwriter from Hong Kong who had a hit with a Lucian Remix of her song "Twenty-Something". She's been focusing on her career ever since, but not just singing and songwriting, she goes further, doing production and video directing. This woman does it all and I'm so in awe of her hard-work and effort. She's someone who is so devoted to what she's doing that she wants to be a part of it all, and how can we not support someone as amazing as that? I also wrote up about the release of this track for CelebMix. She's certainly someone to watch. The song was written by Kiri T. The production comes from Kiri T and Matthew Sim.
Directed by Endy Chow Jau Gwok Yin and Kiri T, this music video is a performance piece with a few narrative scenes that doesn't create a story but links in well with the song as a whole. Kiri T has thought of every minute detail for this and it works.
In my exclusive interview with her for CelebMix, she mentioned that the song is about her "perspective of inebriation, meeting/interacting with someone when you are under the influence." This whole music video screams exactly that. From the smoke to the literal translation of the lyrics of someone rolling a cigarette; from the slow-motion effects, which we'll come to in a bit, to the graphics used. They really have transported us into this new world that works with the song perfectly.
As for Kiri T's performance, she's just amazing. She clearly wanted to get the message of the song across to the viewers at home, and that's exactly what she does in the visual. She's got a stunning energy about her that we all can relate to. As for the slow-motion stuff, she exudes detail and has clearly thought this through completely. This music video deserves nothing less than this rating.
Another backdated day closer to the Galantis gig, which I went to and reviewed for CelebMix, so here's another Galantis review. This one looks like a really low budget music video which is surprising since it followed up "Peanut Butter Jelly" - like how does that even make sense? Regardless, I feel like it has an Eric Prydz "Call On Me" feel to it and it does seem quite a throwback to those music workout DVDs - although this choreography is pretty intricate at times. Watch a dance troupe nail workout choreography which could be considered sexual at times in this music video for Galantis' single "In My Head".
Galantis are a Swedish duo who have certainly made a name for themselves. They consist of Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson and Linus "Style Of Eye" Eklöw. Before Galantis, they had made their names known in the songwriting world, separately. It's amazing to see how far they've pushed for their career and how much they plan to keep going to become the big stars they clearly deserve to be. This song may have been the follow-up to "Peanut Butter Jelly" but it didn't ride on the previous single's success, only managing to chart on the US Billboard Dance Chart and on the Flanders Ultratip Chart. "In My Head" was written by Christian Karlsson, Henrik Jonback, Jennifer Decilveo, Jimmy Koitzsch, and Linus Eklöw.
Directed by Dano Cerny, this music video is a pure performance visual from a dance group of Sea Foxes- the animal that's identified with Galantis and features on many of their cover artwork. It does have an Eric Prydz "Call On Me" feel to it but a lot less sexy and a much lower quality.
We can't deny the quality of the choreography. It relates and is intricate at times; even sexual but in a comedic way. The team proved that they're high-quality dancers and more than showcase their abilities. The sequences are, on occasion, easy to follow allowing viewers at home to copy the routine, giving us a throwback to those workout DVDs where you copy the dance moves or even the video games such as Just Dance.
Overall, it would've been stronger if it was filmed in high-quality, the low-budget style just makes it very unappealing. The dance is engaging throughout and the neon colours definitely liven the whole thing up.
