I previously reviewed this for CelebMix when it was released, and I still can't get enough of it. Mandinga first came to my attention when they represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with "Zaleilah". Since then they have gone on to do so much but they have also changed their female singer; which has certainly allowed them to return to their Latin-inspired roots. This song is so catchy that it'll be in your head before you know it. Watch Mandinga perform their new song "Besame" whilst showcasing a young couple being in love in this music video.
Mandinga are a six-piece Romanian band consisting of Barbara Isasi, Chupi, El Niño, Zach, Omar Secada, and Tony. They have had a fair few line-ups but have proven the test of time, and has changed their sound accordingly. It's nice to see that they have returned to the music that started it all off for them, yet made it new and current. Barbara Isasi is a great addition to the line-up and really works well as part of Mandinga. It is a shame to see Elena Ionescu go, but it has allowed Mandinga to become something so much more. This song is one of my favourites at the moment. It was written by Roberto Stoica, Enrique Perozo, Barbara Isasi, and Alexander Himely.
The music video was directed by Alex Ceausu, and features both a performance piece and a narrative piece. Barbara Isasi is sexy throughout and totally works the camera, but then the male vocalist comes in and brings the song and visual even more fire.
This band is incredible, it's clear that Mandinga are a group we all need to see live. They bring so much energy, and this current line-up is a sure winner. Their vocals are on point throughout, and they ooze stage presence. I can imagine the calm and relaxed environment at their gigs thanks to their performance vibes.
As for the narrative, we watch a young woman and a young man make eyes at one another, before running away from their everyday lives and deciding to spend their time together on a beach. They try to break coconuts, they get in a boat on the sand together, they try to find water, amongst other things. It's cute, it's definitely couple goals, and it's just so adorable.
Overall, this music video works in every way. It's well thought out and switches it up just when the audience needs it. I feel the narrative could be a bit more flirtatious and cute, but the performance visuals are perfection! I can't wait to see where Mandinga goes to next because this sure is fire throughout.
My favourite artists, who have released new music today, have not released music videos yet, so that left me struggling with what music video to review for my New Release. Then, I found this one, and it's wacky, it's weird, and it's so bizarre, that I just had to review it today. I'm not entirely sure what I've just watched, although it was incredibly comical and engaging. The song is definitely one that will easily get stuck in my head, and even though I doubt that radio will pick this up, I really hope that it does, because it's a killer track and both these artists are so underrated. Watch Peking Duk eat soup whilst watching Aluna Francis from AlunaGeorge sing "Fake Magic" on a small TV, whilst they're oblivious to the two bikers dancing behind.
Peking Duk are an electronic music duo, consisting of Reuben Styles and Adam Hyde, hailing from Australia. They have been making their name known in recent years and are definitely one of the most underrated DJ duos on the scene. Their most known hit is "High" which featured Nicole Millar and charted at number five on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. They followed that up with a number of chart-worthy hits; although, they garnered international success by appearing on various compilation albums with their 2012 song "The Way You Are". This should become an iconic collaboration because AlunaGeorge is one of the most underrated mainstream pop duos around. Consisting of Aluna Francis and George Reid. They had a successful start to their career when they hit the mainstream with songs such as "Attracting Flies" and "White Noise"; but as they focused more on their music, they have not been hitting those chart numbers, even though they have been releasing some killer tracks recently, including this one. The song was written by Adam Hyde, Reuben Styles, George Reid, Aluna Francis, Sam Littlemore, and LJL.
The music video is totally unique and different, which is what we have come to expect when it's a Peking Duk music video, or an AlunaGeorge music video; so these two collaborating just makes for a weird but wacky visual, that totally works.
The opening scene sees Peking Duk eating soup whilst being enthralled watching Aluna Francis on the small TV in a bar. She's singing the song inside a bathroom. A biker walks into the bar, but Peking Duk don't even notice, and sits down on a stall. The biker becomes aware of another biker further down the bar, who mirrors his actions.
The biker experiments by standing up, by messing with his jacket; and the other biker does the exact same. Peking Duk is oblivious to the whole thing going on. The bikers start up a dance and take off their helmets, they are the same guy, or doppelgangers, or twins.
The visual continues with Aluna Francis coming out of the bathroom. This is where we discover that the TV is actually a live stream, and if Peking Duk looked behind them they'd see Aluna Francis in the flesh. The ending sees her walk out the bar's door, whilst the bikers back into one another and turn into a sprinkle of pink confetti, all of which is displayed on the small TV that Peking Duk is watching.
Overall, this music video is a complete metaphor, showing how enthralled people can be in TV, in their mobile phones, or other technological devices; that they are unaware of what is going on around them. If only they weren't so busy watching the live stream TV, they would've seen the Aluna Francis right behind them. A brilliant concept, that totally works with the song, although completely wacky and different.
The song that created the Epic Sax Guy meme, I was hoping there would be a music video for this song so I could review it for my Thursday Revisit, and here I am. SunStroke Project, in collaboration with Olia Tira, represented Moldova in Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with this song. They won the right to represent their country by winning O melodie pentru Europa 2010; and they came 22nd at the Grand Final with 27 points. Luckily for us, SunStroke Project returned seven years later and represented Moldova in Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with "Hey, Mamma!", where they did even better in the Grand Final, coming out in third place. It really shows how much of a difference seven years has made; yet we're still waiting on an album with this song and their new Eurovision 2017 song, come on SunStroke Project! Watch Olia Tira shine throughout this performance-based visual compared with SunStroke Project in this music video for "Run Away", where the Epic Sax Guy meme was born.
SunStroke Project are a three-piece group consisting of Sergei Yalovitsky, Anton Ragoza, and Sergey Stepanov, who have represented Moldova at Eurovision twice, to date. They went viral when Sergey Stepanov was turned into a meme called Epic Sax Guy; then, upon their return in 2017, they hit the Eurovision scoreboard hard, managing to come third overall; "Hey, Mamma!" was my favourite out of all the contestants and I voted for them to win. I hope they continue to push for success, as I truly believe they could bring some saxophone flavour to charts around the world. As for Olia Tira, she's mostly known for this track, although she has attempted to represent Moldova at Eurovision a number of times, not quite making it to the Eurovision stage. She has collaborated with SunStroke Project often in their bids to represent Moldova. She even tried something new in 2014 by competing under the stage name FLUX LIGHT, but that didn't work either. She needs the right song to win, as SunStroke Project proved in 2017. I truly believe that if she keeps trying she'll make it to the Eurovision stage again, all by her own though. This song is catchy, but it's more because of the backing track rather than the singer's vocals. It was written by Anton Ragoza, Sergey Stepanov, and Alina Galetskaya.
The music video is a pure performance piece, with some of the scenes shot amongst the crowd, giving the viewers a live feel of the stage performance.
There's not a lot going on, but Sergey Stepanov does take over the song with his Epic Sax Guy routine and song, which defintiely switches this track up.
Many have noted that Anton Ragoza is just as memorable with his light up violin, with many calling him Epic Violin Guy.
There's not much to this song, and there's not much to this music video either. Olia Tira takes centre stage when it comes to her solos but her vocals aren't on form and it just doesn't work all that well, the same goes for Sergei Yalovitsky. Luckily, he has worked on his voice in the past seven years, and he was much better at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
He won The X Factor Australia and later represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, but it was this song that was his debut single, his X Factor winner's single. It did moderately well around the world, charting in many different countries, which totally made him an obvious choice for Eurovision. He managed to place ninth, which isn't bad going. This music video is sweet and relatable. Watch Isaiah sing this beautiful song to a woman in this performance based music video for his winner's single of The X Factor Australia, titled "It's Gotta Be You".
Isaiah, full name Isaiah Firebrace, has only just launched on the music scene, after winning the eighth season of The X Factor Australia. This launched this debut single, which was then followed up with a debut album, which also charted well. His follow-up single, and Eurovision song, didn't chart as well this one did, which just goes to show that even Australia wasn't impressed with his song. However, this one has a lot more soul in it; although, personally, I much prefer "Don't Come Easy" over this one. This song was written by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci.
Directed by Anthony Rose, the music video is a pure performance visual, that sees Isaiah singing this song to a woman, who is dressed very sexily. She's just as cute as he is, but he's way more adorable; especially as he sings this song with such passion and soul.
There's plenty of beautiful scenes; it was shot near some water, and so the sun reflects off the shiny surface creating this amazing setting. There's not a lot going on, the woman he is singing to is just moving about on the rocks, whilst he sits there - or stands - singing the song.
It feels more like a Manel Navarro song than an Isaiah song, considering the acts of Eurovision 2017. Comparing this one to "Don't Come Easy" certainly shows how far he has come within a year and the direction of his new music. I cannot wait to find out what he releases next.
My Eurovision 2017 Special may have finished, but I might as well keep going for the rest of the week, especially since Ilinca released this song shortly after her performance on the Eurovision 2017 stage, proving that she has a beautiful voice and doesn't always have to yodel, like she does in "Yodel It!". I truly believe she's an incredible talent that is going to follow in the footsteps of massive Romanian female artists like Inna, Alexandra Stan, and Antonia. Ilinca will be the next global Romanian name, mark my words. Wow, this was beautiful on first listen, but now there are English subtitles which makes this video and song completely out of this world! Ilinca is coming for the world, we all better be ready! Watch Ilinca sing to her Eurovision 2017 collaborator, Alex Florea, about wanting to be more than just friends in this heartbreaking music video for her second single "Amici".
Ilinca, real name Maria Ilinca Băcilă, has certainly set her sights on an international career. She has competed in many Romanian talent shows, starting off in the second season of Românii au talent, before going on to the third series of The X Factor Romania. She then participated in the fourth season of Vocea României, where she got to the semi-finals. Then she took part in Selecția Națională with the song "Yodel It!", which featured Alex Florea, they won their right to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, where they finish seventh in the Grand Final. This is her follow-up single and displays her incredible voice in a Romanian-language song about wanting to be more than just friends. This song was written by Theea Miculescu and Alex Cotoi.
Directed by Roman Burlaca, this music video has a very simple narrative behind it, yet it's a great concept and totally works with the song. Even without the English subtitle lyrics, it's pretty understandable what the song is about and totally relatable in every way. Alex Florea, who features on "Yodel It!" and performed on the Eurovision 2017 stage, alongside Ilinca; appears in this music video as her love interest.
A fully narrative music video, we watch as Ilinca has clearly told Alex Florea that she likes him more as a friend, and he can't deal with that because he doesn't see her that way. After some time, they both end up out of the car fighting and shoving and arguing, we can only imagine the words that are being thrown about. They're also quite rough, are all Romanians this hard? There's definitely vampire blood running through their bloodlines thanks to Dracula.
After a while, Ilinca points at a cloud in the sky, but when she turns to look at Alex Florea, his eyes are gone, and there's just blurred oval shapes replacing where his eyes should be. This is a massive metaphor for him not being able to see her the way she wants him to see her. There are a few cute moments during his blurred vision scene, but it's clearly fruitless and she's not getting what she wants out of him. His vision returns at the end and they walk down separate paths, no longer friends.
This is completely amazing, throughout. From the music video, to Ilinca's beautiful voice, to the amazing lyrics, to the subtitle English lyrics. The meaning behind this song reminds me of Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar", and both this song and that song cuts deep to my heart, because every gay man can identify with the meaning of those songs; we've all fallen for a straight guy, even one with a girlfriend, and we've all wanted more from him, but even just being friends kills us inside.
Overall, this is incredible, Roman Burlaca has directed an amazing music video. It easily portrays the song effortlessly, and even without the English subtitles, the meaning comes across. The inclusion of Alex Florea's eyes becoming blurry was a nice additional twist to the storyline, although it still would've worked without that; regardless it made the story bigger and better if that was even possible. This works in every way, and Ilinca is a total Romanian star in the making!
Back to my Eurovision 2017 special, and we're nearing the end with this song that represented Bulgaria. Many believe Kristian Kostov should've won, but my personal favourite was Moldova's SunStroke Project's "Hey, Mamma!"; although, I wouldn't have minded if this had won. Whereas I'm not so keen on the actual winning song from this year, which was Salvador Sobral with "Amar pelos dois". Although I give kudos to Portugal for finally winning after entering 49 times. As for Bulgaria, this was their best position since they debuted in 2005. They have really come a long way, since they returned to the contest in 2016, and managed to get their top position then, before beating it this year. The question is, can they do one better next year, and take the crown? They scored 615 points coming second, 337 points came from the televote and 278 came from the jury vote. The stage production was great to watch and it was certainly technically brilliant. The music video is equally dark and intriguing, with weird yet surprising visuals. Watch Kristian Kostov perform his Eurovision 2017 song "Beautiful Mess" in this music video, as we watch animals, birds, people and other profile visuals happen.
Kristian Kostov made his name known in a few countries, before entering for Eurovision 2017. He previously took part in Golos. Deti (The Voice Kids Russia), where he was a finalist on season one. He next took part in the fourth season of The X Factor Bulgaria, where he came second. He was then internally selected to represent Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with his song "Beautiful Mess" which became his second official single release. It later charted well in various Eurovision countries. The song was written by Borislav Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Bo Persson, Alex Omar, and Alexander V. Blay.
Directed by Liusi Ilarionov, this music video is more of a profile performance visual which sees Kristian Kostov surrounded by people on the floor in various positions.
As time goes on the people surrounding him get up and blurrily merge with one another before disappearing entirely as Kristian Kostov stands in the centre of the spotlight throughout.
As for the other profile images, there is a horse, and later we see a horse rider, there is also an eagle and some doves at the end. There's one wacky weird profile visual that looks like a messed-up clown of some sort. I am not entirely sure what it is and I don't know what to make of it. Let me know in the comments below what you believe it is.
Overall, it's a great profile music video, that showcases Kristian Kostov off well. It's slightly disappointing, in that, it doesn't really tell a story, and I'm not entirely sure what the video is getting at. Regardless, I much preferred the stage visuals of his Eurovision 2017 performance, than that of the music video.
Time to do my Chart Mondays music review, and Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber is still on top of the UK music charts with "Despacito". The Justin Bieber version doesn't have a music video, unfortunately, therefore opening up the UK top 10 to my review and it looks like Harry Styles will be dropping out next week. The last time I watched this music video was when I had to review it for Outlet Magazine. I am not that into this song or its music video; actually, I don't really like Harry Styles or any of the other One Direction members, and I usually stay away from their music as a whole. But here he is now, making his solo debut on my blog. Watch Harry Styles take to the skies in his solo debut music video for "Sign Of The Times".
Harry Styles is best known for being one-fifth, or one-fourth of One Direction, who came third on the seventh series of The X Factor. He launched his solo career with this song and soon followed it up with an album and promotional instant-grat singles. His sort of music is very different to those of the One Direction days, and it really isn't my thing. This song did reach number one but didn't have a music video at the time. As of now, it's sitting at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. It was written by Alex Salibian, Jeff Bhasker, Harry Styles, Tyler Johnson, Ryan Nasci, and Mitch Rowland.
Directed by Woodkid, the music video was set in Isle of Sky in Scotland. It doesn't exactly relate to the song, but seeing Harry Styles soar into the sky is something new and interesting.
There are various stunning imagery used throughout. There was a green screen used, as well as a stunt double; both of which is fairly obvious and unexpected.
Favourite scenes especially include when he runs on the water, and when the invisible helicopter creates the ring around him, on the water. It was clearly thought out well, and they made it totally work in more ways than one.
Overall, it's extremely simple but was risky. It stands out from other music videos as it's not at all typical. Yet, there's no substance to it, he doesn't look that eloquent up there in the sky; he should've been like the people who fly on Dancing on Ice; instead, he's just floating in the sky, doing nothing spectacular.
Here's my favourite Eurovision 2017 song, the one I spent all my phone credit voting for; the one, I felt, should've won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. If only the juries had voted more for this song. It will forever stay as one of my all-time favourite Eurovision songs, and I cannot wait to see what the future brings for SunStroke Project. They are a trio I need to see live! They came third overall with 374 points, 264 came from the televote and 110 came from the jury vote. I would've loved to have seen these guys win. The music video for the song is very relatable to the song itself and is absolutely perfect in every way. Watch SunStroke Project perform their song whilst frontman Sergei Yalovitsky plays nice in front of the mother of his girlfriend, just like the Eurovision 2017 song "Hey, Mamma!" suggests.
SunStroke Project are a three-piece group consisting of Sergei Yalovitsky, Anton Ragoza, and Sergey Stepanov. They have extensively attempted to represent Moldova at Eurovision a number of times, which has definitely made them a household name in Moldova. They firstly atempted in 2009 where they came third, then in 2010 they competed again with "Run Away" as a collaboration with Olia Tira, in O melodie pentru Europa, where they won and went on to represent Moldova in Oslo, Norway, where they came 22nd in the Grand Final. Their performance went viral as Sergey Stepanov's saxophone solo turned into a meme titled Epic Sax Guy or Saxroll. They next competed to represent Moldova in Eurovision 2012 with Olia Tira in show Selecția Națională, but didn't make it to the show. Next, they tried in 2015 with two songs in O melodie pentru Europa, both songs made the semi-final but they had to choose only one to compete with; they came third in a collaboration with Michael Ra. Then 2017 came along, which they won and subsequently came third at the Grand Final of Eurovision, Moldova's best placing since they debuted in 2005. The song has charted throughout Europe; it's extremely catchy and I can never get it out of my head. It was written by SunStroke Project and Alina Galetskaya.
The music video is both a performance piece and a narrative. It makes a change to see a polished perfect Eurovision Song Contest 2017 music video, it's rare to see any Eurovision music video going for it fully. This is certainly the best music video from this year, for sure.
The performance piece of this music video is very subtle, with Epic Sax Guy totally taking centre spotlight at all the right moments. It's fun and all three guys look totally sexy. Their dance moves are sultry and totally in-sync; whoever thought toe-tapping would be sexy? They nailed it so much, and these visuals were found on the backing LED display when they were on the Eurovision stage.
As for the narrative, where do we even begin, it is literally so so so good! We watch Sergei Yalovitsky step off the elevator and meet his girlfriend and her mother, who he hands some flowers too. They sit down at the small kitchen dining table and there are various occasions when the mother decides to draw his attention away from her daughter.
Then we step into the vocalist's daydream, without realising, where the daughter gets up from the table and starts to mix ingredients together whilst removing her clothes sexily, until the mother whacks him on the head with a rolling pin. Back to reality, they're still at the table, chatting. Other daydreams appear, including his girlfriend shoving him onto the bed and teasing him sexily. The final dream is them getting married, but as he lifts the veil, it's the mother standing at the altar with him - however this is a proper dream and he wakes up in the bed, topless, with a massive smile on his face as he sees his girlfriend by the window, also topless.
This is a well thought-out music video. It works completely and totally relates to the song in every way. The song is about telling the mother of a girl they're dating, not to worry about him and that he will look after her. The music video brings a comedic twist to this story of the song, and it so friken works! This is my winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
Now, this was one of my top favourite songs from the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. It's so different and so catchy and on paper, it shouldn't work, yet in life it does and it's so nice to see yodelling coming into mainstream with a hip-hop merge going on. Unfortunately, Romania only scored 282 points, placing them seventh; they got 58 points from the jury vote and scored 224 points from the televote. The staging wasn't anything special, and there were cannons on stage, but they didn't do anything in particular. As for the music video, it's epically brilliant. Watch Ilinca rise up into the sky to match Alex Florea, making this rising pillar the in thing to do as they bring yodel and hip-hop to Eurovision 2017 with the song "Yodel It!".
Ilinca, real name Maria Ilinca Băcilă, is well known in Romania for her unique yodel ability. She appeared on the second season of Românii au talent in 2012, then she appeared on the third season of The X Factor (Romania), and then she appeared on the fourth season of Vocea României where she got as far as the semi-finals. It's clear that she's determined to make a name for herself, and I'm glad she has proven that if you persevere, you'll get what you want, and that is what she's done by representing Romania at Eurovision 2017, I truly believe she's a star in the making, and she's so young. As for Alex Florea, real name Alexandru Florea, his career has only just started. He previously entered season four of The X Factor (Romania), as well as season five of Vocea României. This song was a favourite of mine from the start and I had hoped it would do better, but it was quite the competition this year. It was written by Mihai Alexandru and Alexandra Niculae. The song was originally written for Timebelle for the Switzerland Entry, but they chose "Apollo" instead, so Ilinca competed in the Romanian national selection, with Alex Florea, titled Selecţia Naţională.
Directed by Dan Petcan, the music video was filmed in the beautiful city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It's a pure performance piece, that has an incredible feature throughout that makes me wish this would happen to me in my everyday life; just imagine the views from atop the pillar.
In the visual, Alex Florea introduces the track, on top of a pillar in the middle of Cluj-Napoca. Ilinca sees him and decides she wants her own pillar, and so she rises into the sky with her own pillar as they sing their song opposite one another.
After some amazing performance vibes and scenes, Romanian people realises Ilinca and Alex Florea is on top of tall pillars in the middle of the city and they rush outside to watch. This reminds me of Inna, one of the biggest Romanian female artists, as she released a series of Rock The Roof videos where she's sung her songs on top of rooftops in various cities, she has also performed her songs on the side of streets.
Outside, the viewers also rise into the sky on their own pillars. This is the bit that truly messes up the video as a green screen is clearly used and it is completely obvious. Apart from the bad editing techniques, which totally lets this video down, everything else makes this video one of the best. The concept is perfect and totally relatable to the song. It's so good, it's just a shame I have to remove a star for the bad editing.
The announcement of Australia returning to the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 had me excited since they always send amazing acts. Once again, they managed to do just that, with Isaiah; I also fell for his amazing song that totally got me on first listen; what a voice he has! The music video is much better than the stage production of the song, I was totally expecting big things from Australia this year, and a turntable just wasn't good enough. Isaiah came ninth with 173 points, he scored just two points from the televote, but 171 from the jury vote. I am obsessed with his voice, but the whole staging just didn't do it justice, so it's not a surprise he scored so low on the televote. Watch Isaiah fully bring the emotion needed for his Eurovision 2017 performance-based music video for "Don't Come Easy".
Isaiah, full name Isaiah Firebrace, made his name known on the eighth series of The X Factor Australia, which he subsequently went on to win. His winner's single was released, titled "It's Gotta Be You", which managed to chart at number 26 in Australia; as well as number 21 in Denmark, 60 in the Netherlands, 59 in Czech Republic, 60 in Slovakia, 15 in Sweden, and 6 on the New Zealand Heatseekers chart. It was then followed up with a debut album which charted at number 12 in Australia and made it on to the New Zealand Heatseekers Albums chart. It was an obviously good choice to choose him as the Australian representative for Eurovision 2017, what with him already charting in other countries. I loved the song as soon as it was announced, but the staging just wasn't good enough. The song was written by Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci, and Michael Angelo.
Directed by Oscar Partridge and David Burrowes. It's a pure performance visual, which sees Isaiah bring emotion like never before, easily identifying with the song and showing what it means to him throughout the music video.
My main problem is that there isn't a lot going on in this visual. Performance piece music videos for Eurovision visuals always feel a bit of a waste; since, when they're on stage, they're performing the song in every way they can. Therefore, I much prefer a narrative music video.
Overall, this visual doesn't bring anything new to the table. The focus is of Isaiah singing the song, and even though he's done a good job of it, the song stands out so much more than the visual itself. This isn't that memorable, and fails to keep the audience interested throughout.
