This is the second music video on my Collaboration Special. Example, real name Elliot Gleave, provides the vocals for this song. It also appears on his album "Playing In The Shadows" therefore making this song his, but why is a Vs. used instead of a Featured? This is one question I am unsure of, but the only thing I can come up with is that Laidback Luke provides the music, therefore he has mixed the track himself. Laidback Luke, real name Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, has released a lot of singles most of which are collaborations with various artists. He has released one album thus far, but I bet a second is on it's way soon. This is definitely one artist we are going to hear more and more from.
"Natural Disaster" was written by Example, Laidback Luke and Dipesh Parmar. Again it was expected that the song was written by these two as they are great at what they do. The song charted here, there and everywhere, and it's completely understandable as it is extremely catchy. But it didn't chart that high, which could have been down to the lack of promotion.
It's music video, on the other hand, is amazing. I could watch it again and again. Previously when I was watching the music channels I would skip over this music video purely because I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but how wrong was I? It's both a narrative and a performance piece and takes place in a club, therefore showing what type of music it is.
I like the narrative, the teenager/young adult is played by Josh Dickinson, and he plays the character perfectly. I like how they show that music is like a drug, and that especially Laidback Luke's music is extremely addicting. I do feel sorry for him having parents like that, I don't think it's fair, but then again they know he has a "drug" problem but are unsure of how to handle it, especially since at the end all he needs to do is walk into a club and find the "drug" there. I also like how Example is in the audience, it's common in a lot of music videos but it is usually only a scene, whereas this is a main part of the music video and makes this video stand out from the crowd.
Overall, the song is very catchy, but it's accompanying music video is definitely one of the best, I don't think I have seen anything like it, and unusual videos tends to get the highest ratings. I haven't got a bad thing to say about this music video, I could definitely watch it again and again, so it's definitely worthy of this rating.
Calvin Harris is a rare sight on my blog, but so is Example to be honest. However this song has gripped me, and after hearing it a couple of times, I just had to use it for New Release, which has sparked off an idea for a whole new special. Calvin Harris, real name Adam Wiles, has been creating demos since 1999, but came into fame in 2007 with his first album. He came to my attention when "Acceptable In The 80s" started climbing the charts. I have only mentioned him once on this blog, where he collaborated with Rihanna for "We Found Love", I hope there will be more music videos from Calvin Harris hitting my blog soon. Example features on this song, his real name is Elliot Gleave, this is his second time on my blog, but has also been mentioned as co-writer of The Wanted's "Chasing The Sun". I like how most artists are connected one way or another and they tend to go around in circles.
"We'll Be Coming Back" was written by Calvin Harris and Example, which is to be expected since they know what they're doing, and you can kind of tell that they've wrote it themselves. It is currently number 2 on the iTunes chart, and it will definitely chart high this Sunday, but could it inched in front of Wiley featuring Ms D's "Heatwave"? We'll have to wait and see.
This music video is interesting, I don't quite know how else to describe it, I had to watch it twice and then read about the video to finally understand what is going on. This is clearly narrative based which is surprisingly unexpected from these two artists. They are both robbers and they hide their treasure, but a cop has been on their trail since and have found what they've buried, leaving her badge behind.
I feel that there is more emphasis on what cars their driving and their speed racing rather than the story overall, therefore people don't quite see that there is a narrative. This would be usually not so good, but they have used great footage such as showing another car coming up to them in their sunglasses (right at the start), and seeing the cop behind perfectly. A lot of different camera shots are used to display the races and the chasing, which makes this video a little more interesting.
Overall the song is definitely one that grows on people, and before you know it, it's stuck in your head, but the accompanying music video is lacking to some respect. However the main focus of the video is to make Calvin Harris and Example look "cool" (their words not mine), and that is exactly what they manage to do, but there is various ways they could have made this better, especially by showing the story a little bit more.
Alanis Morissette becomes my Sunday Revisit, purely because I don't think I'll have the chance to return to this great artist, I might decide to do "Guardian" soon, maybe around when it is released, which might spawn off another Sunday Revisit... But that is really it to be honest, and she was definitely very popular in the 90's. Miss Moirae was the person who introduced me to this music which is like nothing I've ever come across, I don't think you can write a song anything similar to Alanis Morissette, and there is definitely no point covering her songs, you just can't beat them.
"You Oughta Know" was released in 1995, when CamCam was born! I think this is such a great song, it's more of a break-up song, one of those ones that you can shout your head off to because nothing is your fault and it's always the other person, it sounds much like a punchbag, but you exercise your throat instead of punching something physical. It was written by Alanis Morissette (obviously) and Glen Ballard who wrote most of "Jagged Little Pill" which is the album this single is from, including "Ironic".
I don't know what I feel about this music video, I like it but then I don't, I have a lot of pet-hates with this one. It has both a narrative and a performance piece which tends to do well with my ratings, but it hasn't exactly worked with this one. I like the emotion that you can see in the narrative side of this video, where she is rolling in the sand and lying on the bench, she looks like she's in dispair and has all this energy to give out and only then flat plains to dish it out to.
But really that is all I like about it... I hate all the different camera angles and the different shots, do we really need the telescope shot? And all the others? It's like they were experimenting and thought it made the video look better, and I am aware that it was made in 1995 but I'm sure not all videos from that era is like that...
Overall a great song that definitely lifts your spirits if you're down, it may lift them higher if you're already on cloud nine, I should test that out sometime! The colour is a bit on the off side, however due to the time period I'll allow it and disreguard it. However there could've been much better ideas people could come up with to make this music video top notch, just look at "Ironic" the video is great and it's surprising they managed to come up with that idea during that time period. So taking everything into consideration this is definitely what this video deserves, sorry if others think it deserves more stars.
It's been ages since Basshunter has released a single, but finally after a record label change, he is back with "Northern Light", and guess what... It follows on the storyline! Which also means I have to catch up on reviewing the music videos in order, so that I can review it when it starts to hit the charts. His real name is Jonas Altburg and he has been a big hit in the UK, his first single in the UK got to number one along with his album both called "Now You're Gone", his second single "All I Ever Wanted" got to number 2, since then he has failed to crack the UK Top 10, let's hope he'll crack it with his new single. Especially since he is now on All Around The World Records who also front Cascada, Tulisa, September and more, will it be the right move, I sure hope so.
"Angel In The Night" was released on Hard2beat records, which later became Dance Nation Records. It was written by Jonas Altberg, which explains why you can feel the emotions he is singing. his song was almost his fourth single as "Please Don't Go" was released earlier in Sweden, therefore suggesting that it would be his next single, however they changed it and this was released instead. This is his 3rd highest charting position, at number 14, let's hope his next single does much better!
This music video follows what happened in the previous 2 singles. Let's do a RECAP! So "Now You're Gone" showed us Aylar Lie and Lucas Thorheim breaking up over text messaging, their friends invite them out and they end up going to the same night club; there they get back together. "All I Ever Wanted" told us about them going away to Spain and having a bit of fun, but it all goes wrong when they go clubbing and Lucas ends up talking to another girl, apparently it was a mate's cousin, but did she really buy that? (Follow the links to the respected songs to find the videos and also my reviews).
This one Aylar breaks up with Lucas saying in a text: "Lucas it's over. I know you have been cheating" while she is working as a waitress. There she meets Jonas Altberg (who happens to also feature as the DJ in the other two videos), he invites her to this street race in which he is competing in. She turns up but has affections from another guy (name unknown anyone know it comment below please!) He is racing against Jonas, but Jonas wins. At the end Jonas impresses Aylar by singing at a party, there they kiss and sparks off the thought they will get together, where Lucas is forgotten...
I like a lot of things about this music video, I like how much a great couple Aylar and Jonas make, and I really enjoyed the street race the first time I watched it, now I know what happens it's less interesting. I cannot help but laugh at the start when you can see that chemistry flit between them in that café.
Overall how can I not give this a full rating? It clearly deserves it and I like how it also interests other people, especially with the car racing, which kind of reminds me of Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive". The song's great and should have charted higher, and I cannot wait for "Northern Light" to be released.
Skyla, real name Lucy Batty, has been going for a few years, first signed up with 3beat records and All Around The World Records (who are known for Inna, Alexandra Stan and various other artists), but now it looks like she has a new record company under the name of nine planet records. Could it be the right move, or the wrong move? We'll have to wait and see, she has a new single coming out called "Disco Drum", and it's been on YouTube for way too long, and the music channels haven't picked up either, however I did hear it in Turkey a couple of times, maybe more. But will it be released? Hopefully it'll get the credibility it deserves. This song is probably her most known song, 2nd being a cover version of High School Musical's "Breaking Free".
This song is also a cover version. It's originally a hip hop song sung by 50 Cent, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. It has been covered a couple of times, the covers include Milow who got successful number ones all over Europe, but never brought the version to the UK, and Belgium singer Katerine Avgoustakis who made the song well known in Poland. Skyla's version is well known in the dance genre, and it was set out to be a hit, but it didn't chart at all in the UK. The song was written by Curtis Jackson (50 Cent), Justin Timberlake, Timothy Mosely (Timbaland) and Nathaniel Hills (Danja). The latter being a record producer who has produced a whole range of songs, from Britney to JoJo. This song confused me when Skyla sang it, and it still confuses me, why is she thinking of sexual fantasies with a girl? Lyrics such as: "She Wants it, I got to give it to her" implies that she is lusting after a girl. However a few lyric changes will make it sound like she's singing to the guy who lusted after some other girl, which would have made this song more pleasant to hear... So why did she and her team not change the lyrics? Who knows...?
This music video is quite sexy, it reminds me of Inna's "Amazing" because of the beach and the surfing, but I like how it's very different as well. There are a lot of different references that match with the song, such as sexual references like the bed on the beach, along with the clubbing as the song does mention a club. And what about the social networking references, she's using technology which she is tired of when someone sits on top of her, according to the lyrics.
I like this music video, of course I do. But it's not just that... It links in well with the dance genre, it's not a copycat from Inna, who, might I add, has had a successful career being sexy, and this is why it also appeals to a lot of Europeans, and it's exactly where some of the 2 million hits on YouTube are coming from. I like how, at the end, she is the one who finishes watching the video, it makes it feel like she is watching it with us which makes it feel more personal.
Overall it's a very catchy song, and I really do like this version. The music video links in pretty surprisingly, I'm glad they didn't go too far and make the songs lyrics literal; I would've had a problem then. So I'm in two minds with the rating, it is quite a performance piece, with a little bit of a narrative to it, however I have nothing bad to say about it, except that when this was being shown on the music channels, they would block out something in the chorus, which I never understood, there's no swearwords or anything that offensive... Anyone know? If so please comment below.
