Critic Jonni

Taylor Swift, is now a world-wide star. She is a country/pop singer and has totally given charts across the world the chance to include country. Especially in the UK, the genre has more or less died out rarely managing to get a chart hit. But Taylor Swift has changed all that proving that country singers can make it over here. It's taken some time for various other American country singers to try, but try they have and are getting chart hits here and there, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland are the few I know that have tried and charted quite high, and that's just off the top of my head, if I were to look closely I bet I could name a few more. However Taylor Swift's two most recent singles, haven't made the chart at all, but what is the reason for this? She had a sold-out UK tour back in March/April. So why isn't she making it? Personally I think it's because there isn't enough promotion, and it is usually difficult to find out when the singles are officially released, and by the time it is, no one knows it was released, therefore managing to get a low charting position is an achievement.

I have to admit, I did go to the live tour. This song wasn't sung, which is a little disappointing, but it was the Speak Now tour, and artists rarely sing past songs unless it is a chart topper. Unfortunately this song only got to number 51, which isn't too bad as it was her third single in the UK, and I don't think it was promoted much (if at all). This song probably means a lot to people, it means a lot to me too, and to be honest I bet everyone, once in a while, has been in the same situation and so you can definitely empathise with this song. If you have not, comment below and I'll be surprised, but to be honest Taylor Swift sings with so much emotion that it's not hard to at least sympathise with her. The song was written by Taylor Swift herself along with Liz Rose, who has worked with Taylor Swift a number of times, collecting awards for her songwriting. She has written a few songs that were released by other artists, but Taylor Swift is the most prominent artist. I like Taylor Swift's songs because she writes from her heart, and she feels confident enough to express those emotions, such as this song displays because she uses his first name "Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see". I think it's clever and quite interesting that she was confident to include his real name. The song is based on her friendship she had with Drew Hardwick while they went to the same school. He had a strong lasting relationship with the girl he used to talk about to Taylor Swift, and Taylor Swift never told him how she really felt. So she has done it in song. Taylor Swift, comes up with so many ideas on writing a song, that it is really interesting reading the background of some of the stories, and sometimes it happens to everyone, and that's why people relate to her really well.

I really like this music video, if you haven't already noticed this is definitely my favourite song she has ever released, because it is so emotional. And here comes the typical Taylor Swift music video, and I wouldn't have it any other way. There's an amazing narrative, but there is also a performance of sorts, that links in with the song and the story, so it is really clever.

The storyline is pretty much how I could imagine it going with Taylor Swift and Drew Hardwick. They are best of friends, and at the very start, Drew asks: "Hey, are you gonna go to the game on Friday?" and Swift lightens up with a smile and says: "Well, I don't know. I was thinking about it. Why?", possibly hoping that he was asking her. But he tells her that he was just curious and that he's met this girl he really likes. We then see other clips such as when they are in the library and Drew is making her laugh, and in the chemistry lab and she accidentally puts too much of one substance into another and it bubbles over, and they both hurry to clean it up. Then the last bit they are walking along the corridor and they are both smiling, but Drew ignores her totally (which in my opinion is a little rude), and then kisses his girlfriend in the hallway. This is such a typical narrative, and I like how well it is portrayed as Taylor Swift is a good actor and this proves it.

The performance side of things is amazing. It's subtle but emotive, and that's what is key, especially since it is a performance in her "bedroom" and there is no audience. She is wearing an aquamarine dress, which is perfect as it suggests the tears that is pouring out of her. I like how she is lying by her guitar as well, and when that tear escapes, it shows how much this song means to her.

This video has had a lot of comments, and a lot of people expressing their opinions. And to be honest I am not sure what side I am on. Some think that if you are in that sort of situation you should tell him/her, otherwise you'll regret it for the rest of your life. In this case I sort of see why people will think that, at least you know you've tried and they may like you back just as much and isn't that at least worth the risk to finally find out? But there is a problem with that, if he/she likes you as much as you like them, then why haven't they said anything. The other thing people are saying is that you keep it to yourself, and your friendship should stay strong, if it's meant to be then he/she will come out and say it. If they don't like you the same way, then telling them would wreck any friendship you have, and somethings better than nothing right? It kind of reminds me of my favourite verse from Paramore's "Crush Crush Crush": "If you want to play it like a game, well come on come on let's play, cuz I'd rather waste my life pretending, than having to forget you for one whole minute". This lyric is my inspiration, and links in perfectly with this song.

Overall I love this song, it's so capturing and emotive and relates to a lot of different people (not just me). But it's music video works amazingly, it links, it suits the song, and I can't really fault it. For those of you who are interested, the person in the music video who plays Drew is Tyler Hilton. This music video definitely deserves this rating, and I hope you all agree that it does.

Buy on iTunes

This song is created by Guru Josh Project, I have to say it is extremely catchy and although I wasn't necessarily into this sort of music when the song was released, I bought the single, loving the song. I must have watched the music video quite a few times on the music channels, purely because I liked the song...

The band consists of Paul Walden (A.K.A. Guru Josh), Anders Nyman and Darren Bailie. They didn't last long, and only released two singles, this one being their most well known one. The song is a remixed version from Guru Josh's single "Infinity" which is also referred to as "Infinity (1990s... Time For The Guru". It was a club classic and still appears on compilation albums to this date. The re-worked version pushed the original back into well known status and has once again became a massive hit for Guru Josh. This remixed version uses DJ Klaas' mixed beats, as the single of the song. The song was written by Paul Walden, and is definitely one of the club classics that will still be heard of in about 10 years time, maybe even more. I have to admit, I don't understand what the lyrics mean, there's just nothing that good behind them, all I can get is that if you get with Guru Josh "you will find Infinity", which suggests a night of your life? Or maybe just a hell of a lot of fun, which is what this song is all about especially when played in the clubs.

Now the music video isn't necessarily the best, and there are a lot of problems I have with it and I sure you do too. But the main thing about it is that it doesn't really link in with the song, I don't see that anywhere, if she's getting the night of her life from Guru Josh, why couldn't they have shown that message better? I don't get it at all, and sometimes without a link, it could make it a good music video (as I have mentioned in the past), but in this case, it looked more like they just made a video for the sake of it, and personally I would have preferred just seeing everyone dancing at that live performance.

Right, let's start off with the good thing about this, and then I'll come back to the bad bits. First up is the use of the TV, although it is blurry and distorts the picture amongst other things. It is a really good technique, and it makes you think you are watching the same thing as the girl is and so that you become connected to her (until she starts to take her clothes off and then you question why she is getting excited about this piece of TV footage, maybe it was the saxophone player?

Okay so.... Why on earth would you go into an abandoned house, for one thing? The next thing is how on earth did she know that it was already furnished, with a settee, a saxophone and a TV? Also what are those things doing there in the first place? And where on Earth did that hammer come from? And why attack the house when it is in such a damaged state already that in doing so it may crash on top of you? This makes no sense what so ever and all I'm coming up with is more and more questions.

This is all I have to say on this, questions, questions and more questions. I do like the song and I can see it being around for a very long while, although I have not even heard the original, let alone compared both music videos, maybe that could be my Sunday revisit? Or maybe not. I don't think this music video is that good, and although the song is really catchy, I think I would have expected more, maybe I did?

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.

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?

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.