New Release: The Saturdays - My Heart Takes Over

New Release is finally back, we are now back to normal guys after our Big Brother Special.

I have been behind the Saturdays since their first ever song "If This is Love", the reason for this is because I grew up with Frankie and Rochelle, and I just think it's right to back them all the way. The girls consist of Vanessa White, Mollie King, Una Healy, Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman (now known as Rochelle Humes), the latter two were in a band that was originally called S Club Juniors but soon became S Club 8. The Saturdays have been going strong for a number of years, and I can definitely see them going for a lot more. They have had various top 10 and top 20 hits, but believe it or not, they have NEVER got a number one single, and I so hope they manage to do it sometime soon, although I am doubtful this one will make it as it is a pop ballad and they rarely get to number one, even though this song sort of deserves it, as it is incredibly powerful.

The song is the third single to be taken from their upcoming album: 'On Your Radar'. "My Heart Takes Over", was written by Ina Wroldsen and Steve Mac who have written for the Saturdays quite a few times, and I have previously mentioned their writing credits in another review which was Cobra Starship Featuring Sabi "You Make Me Feel...". They have written a number of songs, and The Saturdays definitely perform them amazingly. I like how you can feel their words that they sing and it's really emotional, which is perfect for this type of song.

I have to admit I kind of like the music video, it's soulful and interesting, and wintry. I like how it represents the UK, it was actually filmed in Iceland, and we are supposed to expect winter soon, but people here in the UK are still wearing t-shirts with no coats, suggesting that winter is extremely late this year. But even so, sometimes it's nice to see all these wintry music videos popping up on our screens.

Now the scenes are clever, because the song is about love, and the scenes really represent what they are feeling. The beach that Vanessa starts to sing on has loads of rocks/pebbles and other stones which suggest a 'rocky relationship', I think this is extremely clever idea as pictures tend to say a thousand words, right? Then you have the road Mollie is walking on, which could signify the path of a relationship, it's quite bendy at times with quite a few corners and turns. The field all five girls are in shows that they are exposed, as you usually are in a relationship, and the rock formation Rochelle is stuck between could suggest a difficult choice, do you leave the relationship behind, or keep on going up? Frankie and Una aren't really shown much as in where they are, apart from the field.

Now I have to mention this, as a lot of people have commented on the video about this. The Saturdays are definitely not wearing sensible shoes, they are wearing heels, boots and stilettos which isn't really the best footwear for a beach, a road, a field or a rocky path, obviously they still wanted to look fashionable while wearing big thick clothes. OR it could be another thing that signifies where they are in their relationships because it is supposed to be difficult to walk in heels on a beach and a field and everything else, proving that relationships are difficult.

Overall I really like this song, it takes a little while to get used to this pop ballad but after a while it'll be stuck in your head in no time. The music video relates well with the song, and although there is not a lot going on, or any 'heart hands', but that's okay as it has a wintry feel which could get us in the mood for Christmas.

Big Brother Special: Samanda Featuring Honey Monster - Honey Love

This is Samanda's second single, and gives us our Sunday revisit, and makes Samanda go down in Big Brother ex-housemate history, as they are the only ex-housemate to release more than one single. I thought they would have gone all the way and become a artist, but their third single never got released and it's doubtful they'll ever return to music, although I think they deserve to.

So this wraps up our Big Brother Special week, I hope you all have enjoyed this week of special s and it's back to normal tomorrow.

The song is a cover version of Paul Anka's hit "Puppy Love", who was then covered twelve years later by Donny Osmond, who made the song famous again. "Honey Love" is really good and I love the fact that the Honey Monster gets a little solo, which is a whole new verse that wasn't included in Puppy Love. Samanda's voices are even better in this song than in "Barbie Girl", and I'm pretty sure they didn't change them in the studio. And I have to admit, I'm so happy the Honey Monster didn't turn out like Robotic Ken, otherwise we would have been in a lot of trouble. This was a charity single, and all proceeds went to the Variety Club Children's Charity. I felt sad that this didn't chart higher, managing to get to number 125, which is a really low charting, and is probably the reason why "Whistle For A Hottie" was never released.

This music video is FAR better than "Barbie Girl", once again it's low-budget, but what does that matter when clearly they are all "honey love" upped? This song definitely should have charted higher. I like the start, and how Samanda comes out the back of a pink stretch limo, and then the Honey Monster appears from the back of a stretch Hummer.

I like the fact that they are both on the piano, is the Honey Monster going out with both of them? I especially like some of the choreography that is done in the video, especially when Samanda and the Honey Monster are kicking their feet. I also like the ending when all three jump, I wonder if they had to take a few takes of that as their jumping all had to be in sync.

I love the guitar solo, it fits nicely after the Honey Monster's solo, and is pretty funny at times. I think it's nice that Samanda tells us at the start that it's a charity single, and I just wish more people had downloaded it at that time, because Samanda had real potential to become recording artists.

Overall, I am obsessed with the song, I like how they've jazzed it up and the fact that it's a charity single. The music video is perfect, and I haven't got a bad thing to say about it to be honest. Obviously if a mega celebrity was singing the song instead of Samanda it probably would have been a better video and would have charted higher, but apart from that I could listen to it again and again. I hope Samanda do return to music, but that could be hoping too much, right?

Big Brother Special: Channel 5 Advertisement - When Bruv Takes Over

Okay, so this isn't a music video, and wasn't released to music channels, BUT it sort of counts, it was shown on a TV channel, it has music, it has artists singing, and is definitely the best advertisement for Big Brother, so it sort of counts. To be totally honest I got a little scared as I couldn't find another music video and I was desperate to get a video shown today. For the purposes of this blog, I am going to rate and review this "advert" as a music video, even though technically it isn't.

Now  this music video features a lot of ex-housemates, I think they must have gotten most of them, if not all of them. So many go past that sometimes I can't even count them all let alone name them all, and I know they aren't all extras and that they all were actually in the house. The only disappointing thing about that is the song wasn't recorded, they just used Kelly Rowland and David Guetta's recording of "When Love Takes Over", although I reckon it would have been better if all the ex-housemates have sung the song in the studio (with the producers changing the voices so they all could sing), and sung "When Bruv Takes Over", rather than dubbing "Love".

This music video is amazing, At the start we see Makosi being a secretary and then Anthony Hutton starting to mouth the words to "When Love Takes Over", then various other housemates appear, including H (from Steps), Samanda, Michelle Bass, Nadia Almada, Brian Dowling, Pete Bennett, Josie Gibson, Brian Belo and Nikki Grahame amongst a tonne of others. I think it was an extremely great idea and shows how happy the ex-housemates are that Big Brother had returned to our screens.

I like the use of the aeroplanes and the smoke and the balloons, I couldn't help but laugh at Jodie Marsh's scene, it's like she has a group of dancers with her. The signs are clever and it represents the live show audience since they have lots and lots of signs that they hold up. And the use of Brian Dowling (our new host) being in front of everyone is a really good idea.

Overall I loved this advert, and wished they had recorded it and then released it on iTunes, as we all know it would have made the chart. I feel a little upset that Channel 5 didn't change Big Brother all that much and kept it roughly the same, which was probably the reason why it lost quite a few viewers, but hopefully they'll realise what they did wrong and re-vamp it for next year. If this advert were a music video, it would definitely have deserved this rating.

Big Brother Special: Nadia Almada - A Little Bit Of Action

Nadia Almada won Big Brother series 5, and she will always be remembered for her big laugh and her big heart. BUT after returning for Ultimate Big Brother, everyone turned against her and she was evicted quite early with a lot of boos. This song was released not long after she won and I have to admit that I agree with some of the comments, it's so bad that it's good. Nadia is from Madeira and she is a transvestite, who was born as Jorge Leodoro.

As far as I can tell this song is an original song, believe it or not. I could have sworn it was a cover, but if it was I cannot find the original version anywhere. Nadia's song actually did well on the chart, getting to number 27, which is quite an achievement for an ex-housemate, but there was no second single or album that followed which is a little disappointing since this single charted so high. Personally I very much doubt Nadia helped with the songwriting, although I cannot even find songwriting credits for this song. Her voice is bad, she can't sing, and she can't dance and obviously not even changing her voice in the studio could do anything. But I have to admit this song is very catchy and after only one listen it is stuck in my head. It's so wrong that it's right.

The music video is once again dire. But I think it is not as bad as previous ex-housemates. There is no narrative storyline, which kind of upsets me a little as it may have made this music video a lot better, and the performance side of things is just as bad. This could have been a lot better, but then again if it were low budget (which it looks like it) then they must have paid a lot to those dancers therefore leaving not much left to the imagination.

I like quite a few things about this music video, the dancers is a very clever technique to use, and I like the fact that the camera is more focused on them than on Nadia, which is really clever, because clearly Nadia can't dance that well, and so instead we only get a few snapshots of her. Sometimes I think anyone can dance, if taught and given the right choreography, but it's times like these when I see someone who will never be able to dance, and I take back what I have said.

I like some of the scenes, but some of them just doesn't work with Nadia, especially when she's lying down on the sofa/chair and trying to be sexy, it seriously doesn't work. Other scenes, have little choreography and she doesn't pull it off that fluently, so it just looks like a complete mess.

Overall I really like the song, it's quite catchy, but she cannot sing very well. The music video is okay, but i would be suited for someone else, it kind of reminds me of Shabnam's music video, but this is a little bit better. My rating is once again low, but the video deserves it, Although I think the song would have rated a little bit higher if it was just on it's own.

Big Brother Special: Samanda - Barbie Girl



I know what you're thinking, you are wondering why I'm reviewing this music video for, but to be honest, Samanda is in our Big Brother history, and will do until someone overrides them, because Samanda is the only ex-housemate to release more than one single, and although no album has been released, and their third single has been waiting for it's release for 3 years now, they have managed to get two charted hits, so they are officially the closest ex-housemate to become an artist.

Samanda came second in Big Brother series 8, they were the bookies favourite to win, and mine too. The entered at Day 1 and manage to last all the way, they were picked at the post by Brian Belo, who wasn't in the Big Brother house for long, so in theory Samanda were the winners, and in celebrity status they are definitely above Brian, in my opinion. Their most memorable task was the twin task, where they were separated and they both had to draw a 3 pictures and they actually drew the same pictures.

The song is a cover of Aqua's sensational hit "Barbie Girl". Aqua has recently reformed although they've done not-so-well here in the UK, and totally suspect they won't be around much longer. There is some good bits to the song, but the bit I really hate is ken's robotic voice, seriously did they run out of money or something? Their voices are changed slightly, but they have sung this song live a few times and as we know from the Big Brother house, they can actually sing, which could be the reason they managed to chart so high with this song, managing to get to number 26, which is a Big Brother record for ex-housemates. I also think the music video was one of the main influences in getting this single so high up on the chart. Will Samanda come back to music or TV? They've been missing for almost 3 years now, only popping up for special Big Brother advertisements. I am hoping they do come back and finally release "Whistle For A Hottie" at least. Let's all keep our fingers crossed, as Samanda could be our first ever recording artist from Big Brother.

The music video is low budget, everyone can see that, and it's nothing like Aqua's narrative music video, which could be both good and bad, but this clearly is a notch above the other ex-housemates' music videos. I think it's a little bland and boring, with no connection to the song, but sometimes that's okay.

I like the dance routine they've got going on, they did that exact choreography in the house, so maybe this music video is supposed to show them as who they are, or how they were in the house (if there's a difference). And I like it when they laugh, it's not because they are faking it but they actually do something and laugh, which kind of lightens up this music video. I like all the bright lights and all the different scenes, but it just feels like there is something missing, which could be the narrative story line.

Overall it's quite a good cover (minus the robotic Ken), but I don't think the music video is as good as it could have been, and I know it was low budget, and it could possibly be one of the best ex-housemate music videos we'll ever get to see, but I just feel that it isn't worthy of a high rating, because compared to other high rating music videos, this is bland, boring and not that great. I cannot believe I'm giving it the same rating as Chanelle Hayes but it kind of deserves it. I bet children will find this music video a lot more appealing.
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