This is the first time The Fray have appeared on my blog, but will it be their last? To be honest I'm not much into their music, I only like this one song because it's stuck in my head, and has been since Nathan James sang it on Superstar, for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a TV show in the UK that is looking for a someone to play the lead role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The Fray are a four-piece band consisting of Isaac Slade, Joe King, Dave Welsh and Ben Wysocki. They come from America and have been getting a few chart hits over the years, however they have stopped charting in the UK, and this song is definitely their signature song, I doubt that they'll ever come back into the limelight, however I would've said the same things about Maroon 5, so there's always a possibility.
"How To Save A Life" was written by Isaac Slade and Joe King, this explains why this song feels so emotional, because they are singing about something precious to them. According to the band, the song's meaning is about going to this camp for troubled teens that's called Shelterwood and Isaac Slade was a mentor there. There was this one boy there where no one could get through to him, and no body knew how to save him, there were all these theories and none of them worked. And that is where the song came from.
The music video is extremely clever and connects with the song perfectly, however it's one of those music videos you'd probably watch a couple of times and no more. I know what happens and it doesn't hook me, it kind of reminds me of The All-American Rejects' song "Dirty Little Secret", there are 3 different music videos for this song, this is version 3, which is the most known.
This video contains quite a few teenagers all upset over losing someone, they scream, shout and cry and grieve for the person they've lost. There are various numbered words shown going from "1. Love" to "99. Say Goodbye", these are steps that people probably take to save a life, but they get on my nerves, there are obviously 99 steps, maybe more, except we are shown what? Like 15? Why do they have to have random numbers by them? It just suggests that there is a lot of steps people have to go through yet we aren't allowed to know them all.
Okay so this is a very emotional song with a good emotional music video, but it's not gripping enough, I'm not drawn to watch it again and again, and it kind of makes me feel sorry for these teenagers, and I think that is the desired effect. But they find closure at the end yet why would I want to put myself through all that again, I've watched it twice now and I can't watch it again.
After hearing that Alanis Morissette will be releasing a new song in a couple of months called "Guardian" I got all excited. I have also been playing SongPop recently and in the Ultimate 90's collection this song pops up every now and then and it's stuck n my head today. I first stumbled across this perfect singer thanks to Miss Moirae, we used to see each other everyday, and she brought over "Jagged Little Pill" and we listened to that album again and again, and the songs never got boring. Whenever I hear this song and "You Ought To Know" I can't help but think of those days and how much I miss them, having no responsibility and just enjoying my time with friends with great music.
Alanis Morissette is Canadian (as a lot of great singers are...), she has been going since 1987, and she has had a number of hits, let's hope her new single "Guardian" gets a good charting position. "Ironic" was written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, the latter having produced, co-written and sung many, many songs; but this is the first time he has been mentioned on my blog, surely it will not be the last. As I always say, I love it when the artist writes their own songs, you feel like you've walked into their life and they're telling you a secret. This is what makes this song so perfect, she means every single word, and you can't help but enjoy it, and sing-a-long.
This music video wasn't what I expected at all. I kind of was expecting similar ironic things that is in the lyrics, instead we get an Alanis Morissette band which has 4 Alanis Morissettes singing together. It's editing perfection especially for the time era. I find it extremely different to what is about, and kind of reminds me of Britney Spears' "Lucky".
The different Alanis Morissettes are all wearing different clothes and all have different personalities. First off you have the original Alanis Morissette driving, she is focused on driving and so hasn't got time to relax. The next girl is very expressive a little ditzy but she wants to let rip all these emotions. The next Alanis Morissette has dreadlocks and is quite humble but she's also a muncher and manages to sing and eat at the same time. The last Alanis Morissette is in the passenger seat, she's a bit crazy and she goes out the window and jumps back in just before the car goes under a bridge, and then she laughs afterwards.
I love this, wouldn't it just be amazing to have friends who are actually you but with different personalities? It's a weird one, because people say that we are all different and if there was a world where you were the exact same as everyone else, it'll be plain boring... But would it? I'm not sure, but there would always be ironic things going on in that world.
This song is amazing and I hear it quite a lot on the radio and I always think of Miss Moirae when I hear this. It's accompanying music video is great and it was nominated for a lot of music video awards. I like the ironic ending; as at the very start she is at a petrol station/gas station, and then at the end, the car slows down and stops suggesting it's ran out of fuel... This is a great music video with a great song too.
So last week I stopped blog posting, unfortunately I got the cold that everyone else in my house has got, so I'm kind of not happy about that, I am feeling better now, well sort of, but not fully 100% yet. However nothing was going to stop me reviewing Cascada's Summer Of Love, and hopefully promote this song, and get a couple more sales for it, as this song is definitely chart worthy. I bought it yesterday and I cannot get enough of it!
Cascada is a dance band from Germany, I have reviewed their music videos again and again, so you can probably guess that I'm a fan. The band consists of Natalie Horler, Manian (real name Manuel Reuter) and Yanou (real name Yann Peifer). They have had quite a few successful hits in the UK, and managing to score those all-important number ones a few times. They have released quite a few new singles over the past couple of years, but they have failed to chart, or they charted low. The reason being is little promotion in the UK, and this is usually extremely important, since some radio stations aren't giving this song airtime, and so all this song has to go on is the music channels playing the music video, and although I have seen it a couple of times, I just don't think it'll be enough to help this perfect song. Will it chart? Well it's climbing up the iTunes chart it's currently at number 422 & 888 at this current moment.... Let's hope it climbs much higher in the following days.
"Summer of Love" is probably one of my favourite songs by this band (I bet I say that about every song of theirs), but I find it uniquely different to what is about at the moment, but it also keeps the Cascada sound and you can't prevent yourself from enjoying it. I just don't think enough UK people know about it, and I'm fearing that the song will not chart and instead be known as their fourth song to not make the UK chart. Fingers crossed that it will gain a lot of sales in the next few days.
This music video is pretty interesting. Again it's different, which links in well with the song. It is performance based, but also has a narrative side to things. It also has scenes where Natalie Horler is dancing, now hide that shocked face! She has danced in previous music videos, but this one seems more relaxed as if she danced unintentionally, which makes it all the more perfect.
Some of the dancers and the dancing in this music video makes you go WOW. There's 2 guys throughout who do amazing back flips. There's also a lot of choreography along with many other dance moves I can't even name, I love some of the vivid images you get from them too, there's one which I can only describe as the "butterfly" that looks quite tranquil. But I do have one bug-bear... Natalie Horler, right at the end, does "heart hands" I know they look good now, but 10 years from now we would have stopped doing it, and we'll look back on it and think "oh no".
Overall, an amazing song, and it's remixes are even better, so what are you waiting for UK people, go and buy it now! The music video is great, got lots going for it and it leaves you amazed. My favourite bit is when Natalie Horler texts: "Free drinks at La Caleta!" so that they can skip the queue, hahahaha it always makes me laugh. This is a great music video with scenes reminiscent of "San Fransisco" and DJ Fresh Featuring Rita Ora's "Hot Right Now". I just hope this song charts on Sunday!
JoJo, JoJo, JoJo. Real name Joanna Levesque, JoJo was at the height of her career back in 2006, with hits like "Leave (Get Out)", "Baby It's You", and "Too Little Too Late", how could she possibly have disappeared? But of course it's down to record label, just like previous artists Avril Lavigne and September. Now JoJo is back, or so we are told, but so far in the UK, no sign of any new releases... She has released this song in the US and mainly all around the world, but has she forgotten that she has a big fan-base in the UK? Or is it, once again, down to the record label? I have been waiting for this release since Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper", and this single even got a remix EP which I was expecting to be released in the UK, but how wrong can I be... Will it ever be released? Or will the UK be waiting endlessly for the JoJo comeback that might never happen here?
"Disaster" is definitely one of my favourite songs at the moment... But I think I've been saying that for the past 8-9 months. It was written by Joanna Levesque, Gino Barletta, Mario Marchetti and Marc Himmel. Again another artist who has written most of the song, making it personal to her. This also explains why the song is so emotionally based and is another reason why I like it so much. However it hasn't impacted the world the way JoJo wanted it to, although would it do well in the UK? Well JoJo will never know until it gets released... With the right amount of promotion, it could chart quite high. The song has been spotted a number of times on UK music channels, and some rumoured release dates have been popping up in the last 6 months, but still no sign of this song on iTunes or anywhere at the moment, I will keep hoping for a release date soon!
Rant over, now to the music video. It links in emotionally well with the song, you can tell how strongly she feels about the song, which is exactly what we need in the performance based side of this music video. The narrative side is top-notch too, it has Rafi Gavron in, I know him mostly as Bug from Life Unexpected, but he has been in Inkheart, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and many other films and TV series. JoJo and Rafi build a great emotional relationship that ends up as a disaster which is exactly what they wanted to portray. Their acting skills are amazing to watch, and shows that JoJo is a triple threat, great singer, great actor and great songwriter.
Overall this music video has everything we need. JoJo used to be very innocent when she was younger, and I remember she was the talk of me and all my mates, now as we've grown older and she's grown older, she has a sultry, sexy, confident look, and it's great how she's grown up and her music has grown with her, it's rare to find an artist like that. The video is amazing and I haven't got one bad thing to say about it. Apparently there was meant to be a bike crash that Rafi Gavron is in, but obviously they cut that scene out, and I'm glad they did, it keeps it simple, neat, and all-so-perfect.
Maroon 5 has quickly become an international famous band, but a lot of people knew who they were before hand with songs like "She Will Be Loved" and "This Love". They disappeared off the radar with their second album, but thanks to the likes of The Voice (US), Maroon 5 is once again at the top of their game, and I very much doubt they'll ever come down again. The band used to be called Kara's Flowers, which isn't exactly a great name, so I'm glad they changed it before becoming famous (however would we be saying that if they did make it under that name?) The band consists of Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Michael Madden, James Valentine and Matt Flynn. This song is their second number one in the UK in a row, this band will be around for a long time. Wiz Khalifa features on this song, he's real name is Cameron Thomaz. He is an American rapper, who has had a number of hit singles, both solo and featured. I feel like he is one of these artists who is trying to make an impression on the UK chart and just isn't quite getting there.
"Payphone" is the first single from Maroon 5's album Overexposed. The song was written by Adam Levine, Benjamin Levin, Ammar Malik, Dan Omelio, Shellback and Cameron Thomaz. Most of these songwriters have appeared on my blog before, and it's quite a collaborative effort, no wonder the song got to number one in the UK. This song will be remembered if not for the catchy tune, definitely for the cover version entering the top ten. Precision Tunes, who tend to do covers of songs and release them on iTunes before the original song gets released, did a cover of this song, it was released early, and managed to peak at number 9 on the UK chart the week before the original got released. Will this happen again in the future? It seems unlikely, however there are a lot of songs that aren't released until later on in the year, and we're already seeing a few cover versions already making the top 100, so I presume it's always possible.
This music video is extremely high budget, it's the only words I can come up for describing it, it is reminiscent of a James Bond movie, and if given a few more minutes I reckon this would have been a great video, however continuity errors really gets on my nerves in music videos, it happens a lot of the time, but this one really shows them off, and is something a lot of people have already picked up on.
I like the overall storyline, of how there's a robbery at the place where Adam Levine works, but then I feel like everything goes out of proportion. First up, he steals a gun, like that would help him much, and then instead of firing he runs away, and somehow he's quick enough to dodge the bullets... Instead of running to the police he runs down the street, and loses the cops, but then he steals a car for no reason, why do such a thing? And then when loads of cops and helicopters are chasing him, he manages to make 2 or 3 police cars crash, and somehow that gets rid of all the vehicles chasing him, and then furthermore he parks the car (going straight past a guy who's standing on the walkway, what that guy is doing there? Who knows), and walks away from the car and then it blows up, and he doesn't get hurt by the explosion... This just doesn't all add up that well does it?
However I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt, this should be 8-9 minutes long, instead it's cut short into 4-5 minutes, so continuity errors are expected. However they could've have made them less obvious. The song is really catchy and this music video does shine out of the crowd, so it is definitely worthy of this rating.
