Now this is the Keke Palmer we're used to from her films and TV characters. I can definitely see Zayday Williams from Scream Queens in this version of Keke Palmer. However, I'm loving her new direction in music "Hands Free" is total fire! Today is revisit Thursday, and so I chose Keke Palmer since I never even knew she was a singer. I had four music videos to choose from, but I chose this one because it's the only single that has charted in the whole world... More on that later, though. Disney star, Keke Palmer, clones herself twice and they performs in an animated world, turning it into a Keke Palmer trio, plus rapper Big Meech in a stage scene in the music video for "Keep It Movin'".
Keke Palmer, real name Lauren Palmer, is an actress I'm currently seeing weekly on my TV screen. She plays Zayday Williams in Scream Queens, although she has been in plenty of other films and TV shows that you may recognise her from. As for her musical career, it hasn't really kicked off the way people, clearly, expected it would. This is the only single that has charted in the whole world, how it managed to hit number 30 on the Portuguese chart, I have no idea. The featured artist is Big Meech. Who is Big Meech? There is no information on him whatsoever. He never followed up with any more music releases, although many get him confused with another rapper with the same name. As far as I can tell, he went under the name of Meech for a while and went as far as releasing song "Thicka Than A Snicka", but nothing else since. The song was written by John Stary, Jeffrey Paul Allen, Mischke J. Butler, and Dametrice Cilek.
The music video was directed by James Larese, using a green screen to transport Keke Palmer into an animated world.
Edited amazingly, it's clear a lot of effort went into this, as well as Keke Palmer performing three times over in different outfits so that it looks like she's cloned herself. It's quite surprising to see Keke Palmer as three different people, all singing and dancing together. Definitely kudos to the editing team on this one.
But that's as far as the kudos stars go. It's just not that interesting. Her target audience was clearly children, but this is a forgettable music video, regardless of whether it was in or not. Finally, Disney waivers from your typical Disney star and we have a potentially great R'n'B Disney star that doesn't hit it off because of lack of promotion.
Keke Palmer deserved better than this; however, she kills the dance sequence, the performance piece and her acting ability clearly shines through. Big Meech, or Meech, doesn't do a single thing to help this video, he's just as forgettable as the video itself.
I'm giving it kudos for relatability, and the amazing editing team behind this. Yet, that's as far as it goes. It's not at all what I was expecting. Keke Palmer could've been this big musical pop star and, granted, the music video isn't the only reason her music career didn't go so well, but it's clear that she deserved better. Now, she's released "Hands Free", and that is FIRE! She's ready for the music industry this time around!
On to the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. This was a year I wasn't so fond of, and I only have a few favourites from this year. This is certainly not one of them, but this is my home country. I am not sure what they were thinking when they chose this song, it certainly wasn't a public decision, and we knew we wouldn't do well as soon as it was announced. The United Kingdom and Electro Velvet came 24th with five points. Electro Velvet perform in front of dancers in this jazz/dance music video that looks like it was made for the 20's, I'm totally not "Still In Love With You".
Electro Velvet were a duo consisting of Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas. None of the artists were known as soloists, although Alex Larke had been in the music industry for a short while, whilst Bianca Nicholas had appeared on The Voice UK. She never got past the coaches auditions. They were planning on releasing an album through Pledge Music, but it was cancelled. They have now parted ways. They were chosen through internal selection, but it's hard to believe this was the best song that was entered to The BBC for Eurovision 2015. This song was written by David Mindel and Adrian Bax White.
The music video is just as dire as the song. Really taking the concept of the song being a modern twist on 1920's swing music, they have made the video feel really old fashioned.
No modern twist on the video, unless you count the UV paint, which doesn't even belong in the video in the first place.
A pure performance music video, Alex Larke is in his element, he is loving this song and it's video, but he's that sort of guy who would like this music. As for Bianca Nicholas, she's trying to look like she's enjoying it just as much, but it's not really her style of music, and that is clear.
The dancing relates more to the swing side of the musical composition, and any scenes of a possible narration aren't developed enough to fully include the audience. It just doesn't work.
After writing an article about this music video for CelebMix, I just have to write a more in-depth piece for my blog. I became a fan of her music as soon as she represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Her vocals are astonishing, especially in this club-like euro-pop track; unfortunately the song isn't doing that well on an international scale, although in Australia it's not doing too bad. I still believe she is a star in the making, and I cannot wait for a new album. In this video, Dami Im is "Fighting For Love" in a fashionable and emotional performance piece, whilst a choreography scene interprets the song into a contemporary dance segment.
Dami Im represented Australia at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. She came second with "Sound Of Silence", just being beaten by the Ukraine entrant. She previously won The X Factor Australia in 2013. In anticipation of a possible new album, this song was released as a follow-up to "Sound of Silence". It's been well-received by the media, but promotion is key in Europe, and obviously Australia, since this single isn't fairing so well in her home country, but it is doing much worse in Europe. This song shows us the sort of music she's been working on and the direction she has taken. Clearly, she has been heavily influenced by Eurovision and Europe music, and she's ready to be an international star. This song was written by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci.
The video is incredibly stylish, although reminiscent of "Sound of Silence" because of it being split between a performance piece and a dance scene. Although the former single is much more dark whereas this one is stylish and colourful.
Dami Im performs with her usual engagement vibes that capture the audience instantly. She looks completely stunning throughout in the three different outfits. The stylists have done a brilliant job on set, managing to capture Dami Im's beauty amongst the gorgeous clothes that are very current yet highly fashionable.
The dance scene interprets the song into relatable choreography that is pulled off flawlessly. The contemporary dance is lovingly emotional.
It has been edited well, flitting between the various scenes. But Dami Im totally shines throughout, which is to be expected since it is her music video. The dancers are a nice refresh from her performance piece.
It's Chart Mondays again, and we have a new number one! Once again, Clean Bandit remain supreme on the UK Charts. This marks their second number one after "Rather Be", and it is their sixth top ten hit. It was released a few weeks ago and had stalled at number three, before jumping to the top spot. Sean Paul racks up another number one; but, finally, Anne-Marie has scored her biggest hit, her vocals are pure fire on this track and I knew she was destined for success! Clean Bandit, now as a three-piece, perform in a bar with Anne-Marie and Sean Paul whilst the narrative shows a mother doing what she has to do to support her child in the "Rockabye" music video.
Clean Bandit are now a three-piece band consisting of Grace Chatto, Jack Patterson, and Luke Patterson. Recently Neil Amin-Smith left the band but that doesn't stop Clean Bandit releasing killer hits. They are definitely one of the biggest bands out at the moment, with everyone watching to see what is next for them. They will always be a massive influence in music, there is no stopping Clean Bandit. Featuring on this track is Sean Paul, full name Sean Paul Henriques, and Anne-Marie, full name Anne-Marie Nicholson. The former has worked with some of the biggest stars, managing to help them reach number one, most notably with The Saturdays on "What About Us"; however, he's never had a solo number one yet. He is definitely one of the biggest reggae/hip-hop artists around at the moment. Anne-Marie isn't exactly new to the music industry, having built her career up from no chart placements to hitting number one with this song, talk about never giving up; you go, girl! This song was written by Jack Patterson, Steve Mac, Ammar Malik, Ina Wroldsen, and Sean Paul Henriques.
The music video is directed by Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson. It features a number of actors and dancers as well as a pole dancer. Dancers are Siriana Mecca, Rita Maria Conte, Nife agunbiade, Alicja Blachut, and Joanne Elizz. The young boy is played by Elijah Dallen.
In the video, there is both a narrative and a performance piece. The narrative focuses on single mothers, and how they end up being someone they never thought they would be to support their child.
The woman is a pole dancer, although she makes it look effortlessly sexy, turning it more into an art-form than that of what our perspectives of pole dancing are. She is a total expert.
Anne-Marie shines throughout in the performance piece, nothing we wouldn't expect because she manages to nail it every time in every music video. She was amazing at Birmingham Pride, when I saw her perform. Sean Paul adds some comedy as the pub punters lip-sync to his lyrics in his performance piece.
There's an amazing dance scene, with Grace Chatto proving her dance ability; totally in sync with the backing girls, it's nice to see her doing something different. She also took to the stage at Wembley at the Kiss Haunted House Party 2016 and danced her way through this song to massive cheers!
There's not much else to comment on, this video is jam-packed with a flawless performance piece and a stunning narrative that is endearing to watch. There is not one problem with this music video. It's completely beautiful with high emotion that makes an intended impact.
Finally, with the help of The X Factor, Nathan Sykes might have quite the hit on his hands. He seems to be trying to find his style, especially with the varying different singles he has released in anticipation of his debut album. He performed this song on The X Factor today, and it's been raking up the iTunes charts, which makes a change. It really shows how promotion can help to make a career. At first, the music video looks like it's set in the past, but we see that Nathan Sykes and Madison Iseman are acting. He's clearly interested, but she is already involved with the director. Momentous occasions happen, but it never goes anywhere with "Famous".
Nathan Sykes is best known for being one of five members of boy band The Wanted, who had extremely massive global success before their split. Since then, Nathan Sykes has been building his solo career. This marks his fourth single from his debut album. "Famous" is another emotional ballad that has some serious pop and blues vibes flowing through. It was written by Nathan Sykes, Harmony Samuels, Major Johnson Finley, Carmen Reece, and Edgar "JV" Etienne.
Directed by Ivanna Smyrnova, this narrative video really proves Nathan Sykes' ability to act, this isn't the first time he has managed to impress us; "Over and Over Again" is just as emotional and amazing.
In the video, Nathan Sykes is looking incredibly hot throughout. He is interested in his on-set love interest played by actress Madison Iseman. Unfortunately, she's with the director, which leaves Nathan Sykes lusting after her in all the visuals.
The concept is one that is completely relatable to a lot of people. We've all been there, wanting someone we can't have, having moments with that person but not going for it. There is an obvious attraction between the two, yet it never goes anywhere.
The performance side of things is engaging to an extent, Nathan Sykes looks dashingly handsome as he sings the catchy song. Much like his performance on The X Factor, it doesn't progress; just like the narration of the video.
Visually, this video is artistic, beautiful, gorgeous (in more ways than one), and engaging. The narration is flawless and easily relatable. However, the performance side of things is slightly lacking, regardless of the fact that it's high-quality and Nathan Sykes is looking handsome.
It's Zayday Williams from Scream Queens! Yes, that's right Keke Palmer is in Scream Queens, but I never knew she could sing, Very different from the character she plays on the show, she exudes confidence; you're fire girl! She's been in many films and TV series and has been attempting a musical career for many years. Keke Palmer stuns as an Ancient Egyptian empress in this music video for "Hands Free", overly confident but with a killer dance scene, watch out for her!
Keke Palmer, real name Lauren Keyana Palmer, is an actress and singer. Trying to do both isn't easy at all, and very rarely people make it big in both industries, yet Keke Palmer is proving that she can. I came across this thanks to YouTube suggestions and being a massive fan of Scream Queens totally would've brought me here eventually. Keke Palmer is certainly a star, she is hardworking and it clearly pays off. She's like the young version of Jennifer Lopez and I literally cannot wait to see what the future brings for her. This song was written by Sean Garrett and Blair Andre Atkinson.
This Ancient Egyptian music video was directed by Rosero McCoy. Keke Palmer talks about believing in yourself during a black and white radio interview before launching into colour with an air of arrogance, that totally gets backed up when she proves her worthiness of singing and dancing. This girl can move, no wonder she's an empress in the video. Confidence overload but in a good way.
There are three scenes in this music video, the first one sees her sitting on a chair being carried around. She makes it seem like this is part of her normal life, totally proving her brilliant acting ability.
The dance scene is incredible. The choreography relates to the song and is effortlessly pulled off by Keke Palmer, who is still wearing her confidence like she's Beyoncé; yet, although it can come across as arrogance at first, she backs it up, proving that this is what she's meant to be doing. She may not have had a hit single yet, but she's not going to give up. She's in sync with her backing dancers throughout.
Her sexy shower bathing segment in the same scene is a little too over the top, it's like they tried to sex it up even more, but it just doesn't work. Luckily the video transforms into the main performance piece.
Keke Palmer belongs on stage, this totally proves it with her dancing on point as she performs to the crowd. She reminds me of P!nk, when she first launched onto the music scene. Keke Palmer has huge potential, and those of you lucky enough to see her live in concert are definitely going to be in for a treat. This video is definitely a try-hard visual yet Keke Palmer's star potential works the entire thing and prevents this from being a complete disaster.
Not the usual New Release, but feel free to look at the new releases for this week and direct me to an official music video, because as much as I want to review some of them, they just don't have videos annoyingly. And so, I turned to Twitter for help and I stumbled across this one. Indian dance pop music isn't really my thing, but my blog is a mix of everything. I'm not going to deny that this is quite catchy with it's pulsing beats and Esho's vocals. The music video for Esho's "Oye Hoye Jawaani" has a brilliant dance scene, sexy moves and a great performance piece.
Esho, also known as Divyansh Tripathi, is a singer and a producer. He composed this entire song all by himself, which is pretty impressive all by itself. This is his debut single, and infuses Indian music with EDM and dance with a pop twist. If anyone can bring Indian music to an international audience it's Esho. "Oye Hoye Jawaani" is going to be one of the unknown songs that you just want to hear again at some point. This song was written by Esho.
Directed by Rajesh Mandal, the music video has some serious pop vibes coming from it. It has a slight narrative with an all-right dance sequence that launches into an epic dance choreography performance piece.
There is only one female in this video, who is the central love interest. It's actually nice not to see girls clinging to a guy whilst his singing; this breath of fresh air totally brings some sassiness to this video. The love interest actress isn't known, but if you know her name feel free to comment below.
Throughout, Esho manages to perform with an air of confidence. He is made to be on stage. His dancing is relaxed, and the sequence in question is easy, yet flawlessly pulled off. Unfortunately he doesn't stay with the dancers, who continue on with a some brilliant choreography.
The music video doesn't have a narrative; it's slight if you count the interactions between Esho and his love interest, but nothing story-like forms. This is okay though because Esho makes up for this in his performance part of the whole video. It works well, but should be a bit more developed, and some camera shots aren't that great as well as the lighting, but as a debut music video, Esho has done well! I expect to hear more from him.
It's Thursday, and so it's revisit time. I chose this one purely because I remember it being on the music channels and being surprised that this was will.i.am's breakout single after The Black Eyed Peas went on a hiatus. Whilst Fergie was releasing awesome hits, will.i.am came out with this, which still did moderately well globally. In this music video for "I Got It From My Mama", will.i.am is surrounded by girls on a beach, totally playing up and checking them out nonstop.
will.i.am, real name William Adams, is known as one of four members of The Black Eyed Peas. He launched his solo career as the group went on their first hiatus. At the time, female singer from the group, Fergie, also launched her solo career. It's clear The Black Eyed Peas were and still are incredible because both these solo careers hit it off. Surprisingly, this song did well, but it isn't until years later that will.i.am became a chart-topping success. This song peaked at number 31 in the US, and number 39 in the UK, amongst other global charts. Eight years later PSY ended up sampling the song for "Daddy". This song was written by William Adams, Jean-Luc Drion, and Dominique Régiacorte. Uncredited female vocals come from Kat Graham (who is probably best known, now, as Bonnie Bennett in The Vampire Diaries).
Directed by Bryan Barber, the music video starts off with will.i.am flipping through a magazine. That magazine is later folded closed to reveal a beach with many girls playing on the beach, whilst will.i.am is relaxing on a sun lounger. It's quite the creepy scene, but this is a music video after all.
The song is catchy regardless, and will.i.am is the only male on the beach in Brazil. There's not an awful lot going on, apart from will.i.am totally distracted and completely checking every girl out.
This pure performance piece is styled fantastically with great editing tricks throughout. However it's not that engaging, and I actually can't believe this was shown during the daytime on UK music channels. It may be suggestive at times, but when I first saw this, it totally went over my head. It failed to interest me because I've always been gay. However it does relate to the song, so even though I'm here slating it, if it were all hot guys on the beach it would be a different story. So... Taking that into account, I can see the video for what it is. Also, will.i.am's personality really shines in this.
Finally, after this review, I've reviewed all my favourites from Eurovision 2014; next week I will be starting on Eurovision 2015, and then I'm completely caught up, maybe in time for the new year? Maybe; I doubt it. Conchita Wurst was the talk of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, and so winning wasn't quite a massive surprise since she had a killer song, brilliant vocals, a stunning dress and performance, and a tonne of support from the LGBT+ community. She represented Austria and took the contest to her country after winning with 290 points. Tom Neuwirth dressed in drag as Conchita Wurst gives a solid sexy performance of "Rise Like A Phoenix" in this music video.
Tom Neuwirth has tried being a successful solo singer, he even managed to become the runner-up in Austrian TV show Starmania. He then became a part of boyband Jetzt Anders! but they disbanded the same year they were put together. Conchita Wurst came about a little bit later, where she entered Die Große Chance, Conchita Wurst came sixth in 2011; then came second on Eurovision Selection show Österreich rockt den Song Contest 2012; as for 2014, she was internally selected, and what a great choice that was. It pretty much launched Conchita Wurst as one of the world's most known drag queens, she just needs to keep her limelight. This song was written by Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, and Julian Maas.
The music video is a full performance piece. Conchita Wurst is looking incredibly confident and sexy. This just wouldn't work if it were Tom Neuwirth. People can say what they like about drag queens, but there's something incredible about spending all that time on makeup and clothes and wigs, and in Conchita Wurst's case, her beard; and then working it like no other.
There are a few different scenes, but the main focus is on the bath and the rose petals. It's quite sultry, definitely sexy. Her performance is fire throughout, passion for every single word Conchita Wurst really identifies with this song. Considering no record label would record this, and then it won Eurovision, and charted well globally, just proves the impact of this song and the artist.
Yet the video is lacking. This could've had a beautiful narrative, yet we're given a performance piece that doesn't quite engage. Conchita Wurst looks good throughout, but she brought more to the table during the Eurovision 2014 Grand Final than in this music video. This song will always be a favourite of mine and resonates deeply within.
Totally not sure what to make of this one, couldn't decide what video to review, but since Matoma and Becky Hill are doing well on my blog with "False Alarm", I thought I might as well do this one. I love the concept of this video and yet it doesn't quite flow as well as we hope, plus it is extremely short, this is over before we know it. The Vamps take a trip around town, "All Night", whilst swapping the camera in an eerie Cloverfield-like music video, which also includes Matoma DJing.
The Vamps are a four-piece band consisting of Connor Ball, Tristan Evans, James McVey, and Brad Simpson. They are going from strength to strength, although it's been quite the rocky road, not quite getting a noticeable hit. All it will take is a number one, their debut single "Can We Dance" hit number two, as well as third single "Last Night"; but even with the help of Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, and Pixie Lott on tracks "Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart)", "Somebody To You", and "Wild Heart" hasn't got them to the top. As for Matoma, real name Tom Lagergren, he totally made his name with Becky Hill on track "False Alarm". He's probably going to be a name we'll end up hearing a lot from if he keeps collaborating and keeps releasing. The song was written by Justin Franks, John Mitchell, Daniel Majic, and The Vamps.
Directed by Craig Moore, this video definitely takes inspiration from the Cloverfield movie, and yet switches it up with this massive camera transferring from one person to another. However, this three and a half minutes are way too short to fully enjoy.
The start is a clear product proposal for got2be by Schwarzkopf. Hair products, makeup, and fragrances always do well for product proposals in music videos. If these stars are using them, why not us?
We watch The Vamps disappear out into the city, planning on spending all night out. They pass the camera through touch, but it's clear from the start that continuity errors will make this video completely fail. Plenty of times a camera man is filming, who we never get to see. Disregarding this as well as the fact that sometimes we are watching from the wrong camera because they touched hands with someone else; this video is incredible.
The crossover to Matoma is clever but kind of lets the video down. I wanted more from Matoma, maybe have The Vamps actually there on stage, or maybe even get the audience involved and pass the camera to them. The Vamps do it with the dancer, the drifting car driver, and the basketball player; so why not Matoma's audience too?
There are too many scenes to comment on in this video, and yet it's way too short. It's quick snapshots of a fantastic music video, that is, unfortunately, full of continuity errors and failed viewership. This was released, just under a month ago. This means they have worked hard on this, and kudos totally go out to the editing team, but more time and effort to make this a solid flowing video would've made this perfect. Love this concept, though!
