Critic Jonni

Well, start of a new week, and a lot of new songs have been released. My favourite is Katy Perry's "Part Of Me", however there is no music video for it yet, so couldn't use it as a New Release. So instead, after following a New Release from Alexandra Burke last week, I've decided to do JLS' new song.

JLS (Jack the Lad Swing) is a boy band that consists of Aston Merrygold, JB Gill, Marvin Humes and Oritsé Williams. They competed in The X Factor UK 2008 coming second. So far the acts from that series who have done well are: Alexandra Burke (Winner), JLS (Second), Eoghan Quigg (Third), Diana Vickers (Fourth), Ruth Lorenzo (Fifth), Daniel Evans (Seventh) and Laura White (Eighth). Personally, I think that year was the most competitive and the most powerful. But who is the real winner. By the looks of things JLS has done better than Alexandra Burke, however that could always change.

"Proud" is the official Sport Relief single, however they clearly haven't timed this right with the fact that Katy Perry's "Part of Me" is released on the same week. JLS may get the most sales Sport Relief has ever had, but it's going to be extremely difficult to get to that top spot, which they seem to claim a lot of the time. It's a really good song and it's very catchy, but compared to others near the top of the charts, it's just not as memorable.

The music video is great, it definitely shines out from the other music videos, especially since they have both a great storyline, and an unbeatable performance stories.

The performance takes part in Wembley Stadium however it's empty, allowing them to take as long as they need. Bet you they've never performed a song in an empty stadium before...

As for the storyline, it blows me away. I like how you have the Athletes and then it shows them growing up, and what it was like for them as a child. I laugh at Rebecca Adlington (child version) when she just stands in the rain and is loving every bit of it (she's a swimmer for anyone who isn't aware of that). As for Phillips Idowu (who is a Triple Jump athlete), the child jumps on top of school tables, and runs and jumps for a jar in a supermarket, which is quite clever and must have been a lot of fun to do. The third athlete is Louis Smith, who's a Gymnast, which explains the break dancing the child does in school.

I like the fact that this music video relates perfectly, it's all about making people proud and doing the best for yourself (as well as your country, in this case) and going after your dream. And I love the use of the child counterparts, it makes it more of an inspirational music video.

I haven't got anything bad to say about this music video, I'm not a fan of JLS, but I can appreciate their music and their music videos, so I have no choice but give them this well deserved rating.

Lady Antebellum is another country band that has started releasing in the UK, and they've been doing extremely well so far, and their helping to bring Country back into the UK, and it's working just fine. The band consists of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. They joined forces and their name Lady Antebellum comes from when the band was taking photos of Antebellum Houses which are the large plantation homes in the American South. Antebellum commonly refers to the pre-Civil War America. Edges is quite a big fan of theirs and knew about this band way before me, it's definitely the sort of songs he enjoys.

According to an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio, Hillary Scott claimed that she had been rejected from American Idol twice. Simon Cowell has sure missed someone great, this band is exciting and new and their voices fit beautifully, they will be around for quite some time, mark my words.

"Need You Now" was written by Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott. So basically the band wrote the song along with Josh Kear, who is well-known for writing quite a few country songs. You can almost tell this band wrote the song as they connect magically with the song, and you just feel every word go through you. The song is about needing your loved one and not wanting to be without him/her.

The music video is deep and thoughtful and just flows perfectly with the song. I love the use of the love interests and the fact that Dave Haywood hasn't had an argument or anything with his, and they're still going strong (there's always a friend who's still in a relationship). And this is sort of what makes Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley to go after their love interests.

I like the start, it makes you think that Charles and Hillary are the ones that are together, or was together and they're singing about one another. Then when they both rush to the masked ball, you think they're finally going to get back together, but then they find the ones they've been after... Well it's just a little disappointing, you build up all this hope and then you realise it's for no reason at all as they weren't together in the first place, however this is what makes it so great.

I love the piano with Dave Haywood, and the fact that they add those few key notes at the end, it's like it's settling everything back to the way it was.

So I have no choice but to give this music video this rating, it's very well deserved. The song managed to get to number 21 on the UK charts, which is a great chart position for a country band. And I'm sure they'll get higher than that in the future at some point.

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The Band Perry is a new country music band from Mississippi in America (where a lot of country stars start up, but now they're making an impact over the ocean too). This band consists of Kimberly Perry, Neil Perry and Reid Perry. I find them quite exciting, and country is currently becoming more popular here in the UK. Thanks to the likes of Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland, we are now able to have our own Country chart, not only that but country stars such as Blake Shelton, The Civil Wars, and of course The Band Perry, can now have a crack over here. If you would have told these people last year that they'd be releasing in the UK with a bit of chart success they wouldn't have believed you.

There are two music videos to this song, the one released in the UK is the one I'm reviewing (see above) and is also titled as the "Pop Version". Whereas the one that has been released elsewhere can be found to the right. Personally there isn't much difference, but some important scenes have been cut. However the pop version is much easier to promote here in the UK as there are certain instruments used in replace of others, such as the guitar for the violin (yes I did take quite a few minutes trying to find the difference). Although I think they didn't need to change it, as it still would have interested the UK audience using the original version.

The song "If I Die Young" was written by Kimberly Perry. She really connects with this song, and you can tell she means everything she's singing. Some of the song lyrics are quite surprising, although you have to kind of expect that from a title like this one. This band is quite new and so I was quite surprised to find out Edges hadn't caught onto the band as strongly as other country stars. However I've only heard this one song so I should really listen to others before passing judgement on them as a whole.

I really liked this music video when I first saw it on the music channels. It felt as if the band knew what they wanted to portray and they did it exactly the right way. However, I've now watched the original one and again the cuts have annoyed me. Original has her waking up, half-drowning, and although that can be quite disturbing, it's understandable and fits in with the song. So why they took it out for the "Pop Version", I have no idea.

There's some great bits, like the chasing through the plants, a suggestion of young love that the lyrics mention how she never got to really experience it (if she were to die young). And telling her family not to shed a tear as there may be a time when they're going to really need it. However I would have liked to have seen the river filled with roses as the lyrics suggests to "lay me down on a bed of roses".

Overall I love this song and I hope to hear more from this band, along with their amazing music videos. I also have this feeling that they'll hit it big here in the UK, just like Taylor Swift has, and who Kimberly Perry looks quite similar to, although that might be done to draw our attention in. But because I'm rating the top music video (as that's the one shown in the UK), I have to give this star rating, however if there was a bed of roses and/or the full version was shown in the UK, they would have got 5*'s from me.

So again Cascada has grabbed my Sunday revisit, but why? Purely because no other artists from this week have released music videos in 2007 and earlier, and so we are back to Cascada. This was their first ever single, and it went international and became a big hit. Cascada is comprised of Natalie Horler, Manian (Manuel Reuter) and Yanou (Yann Peifer).

This song was written by Yann Peifer and Manuel Reuter. I have always thought this was a cover version, but obviously when I had heard it on the radio previously it must have been Cascada's song I was listening to, and that's what surprised me about this.

This music video is a typical, first international music video. It really hasn't got a lot going for it, and no wonder the music channels do not play this anymore, especially since Cascada has released much more interesting and engaging music videos recently.

There isn't much going on in this video, but there's quite a bit to like about it, which is a bit conflicting. I really like the mirrored scene, I think that's done really cleverly. I also like the "box tunnel" scene, as I call it.

But that's all the substance this music video has, which is a little disappointing for Cascada, especially since their recent videos are so much better, and this song is amazingly catchy.

Overall it's a good first international music video, but an extremely catchy song that you can't help but sing a long to. I very much doubt I'll be seeing this on the music channels in the future as there are far better Cascada music videos available, and I cannot wait to hear their new music.

Gotye, real name Wouter De Backer, is Belgian-Australian, and has been going for a number of years. This is his first international single, gaining number ones everywhere including the UK chart, but I can't understand why it's so popular, but I guess it's what people like, and it's not my sort of music at all. Gotye collaborated with Kimbra, real name Kimbra Johnson, on this track. This is also her first international single, and so it'll be interesting where these two singers will end up, personally I don't see them surviving for long if they stick to this sort of music... But we'll see.

This song was written by Gotye himself, which means every single lyric he sings means something to him, and you can definitely tell that he is passionate about this song, as his emotions come over amazingly. The song is about reminiscing over times in a relationship, then he goes on to sing about hating the fact that he was treated like a "stranger" during the break-up. Kimbra's bit emphasises how she didn't enjoy the break-up either. I think a lot of people can relate to this song, and the fact that it sounds like they're having an argument makes people enjoy it even more. But I doubt I'll ever start to like this.

The music video creeps me out a bit, sometimes I eave, believe it or not. However it's clever and done interestingly with the use of stop-motion animation. However I never quite watch this all the way through before now, and I just don't see how this is that great, it wouldn't be something I'd personally watch out of pleasure.

I think it is clever and must have taken a lot of time, as you can tell that they sped some of the bits up, I like the fact that we follow the lines and the colours, and the fact that Kimbra ends up having her colouring removed suggesting the break-up.

Overall there isn't a lot to say about this music video, it's clever but not my sort of thing. The song is at the top spot here in the UK, and again it's not my sort of song, but I reckon a lot of people can relate to it. I feel a little grossed out at this music video, as I presume a few people would be, but being realistic, it's not that bad of a music video, therefore it is worthy of this rating.