The Justice Collective is a group of celebrities and artists who have collaborated to create a charity single for the Hillsborough disaster, this has a similar link with Band Aid. The Justice Collective vocalists consists of Andy Brown, Gerry Marsden, Paul Heaton, Glenn Tilbrook, John Power, Robbie Williams, Melanie C, Rebecca Ferguson, Holly Johnson, Beverley Knight, Paloma Faith, Eliza Doolittle, Dave McCabe, Peter Hooton, Ren Harvieu, Jon McClure, Paul McCartney, Shane MacGowan, Bobby Elliott, Tony Hicks, Hollie Cook, Ian Prowse, Alan Hansen, Kenny Dalglish, John Bishop, Steve Rotheram, Peter Reid, Neil Fitzmaurice and LIPA Gospel Choir. Quite a collection of artists and celebrities. This will be the only single from The Justice Collective.
The song is a cover version of The Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother", two of which sung part of the song in The Justice Collective's version. It was written by Bob Russell and Bobby Scott. This song definitely does remind me of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". And guess what? The videos are quite similar too.
This music video isn't even a performance piece. It is a studio piece, with an extra scene at the end. And yes I do like seeing the artists and celebrities singing the song, but it is missing something to draw me in, the only shocking thing I see in this is the other celebrities that could sing, such as John Bishop, who knew...?
The ending scene is small but definitely significant. The whole idea is amazing, but it still fails to do anything but perk the video up a bit. There were 96 people who died thanks to the Hillsborough Disaster, and that is why the children have the numbers nine and six on the back of their football shirts.
What is missing from this video is images or footage from the Hillsborough Disaster. We've all seen the few images available, but why were they not in the music video? If you had just flipped this over onto the music channels you would have no idea what it is for or who it is for, and this is what has made my decision on the video rating.
Overall the song is great and of course it would get to number one, that was obvious. And if I were reviewing the song it would get full stars. However the video is what is important to me on this blog, and it is just a studio performance piece. No link with the song or the reason they're singing the song (except at the end), leaving me on having to give this rating.
Wham! was a band consisting of four members back in 1981. They were George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, Pepsi Damacque and Shirlie Holliman. They gained a lot of success, but disbanded in 1986, however their reputation and their hit singles still live on.
"Last Christmas" was written by George Michael. It managed to chart at number two in the UK Singles Chart, being beaten by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" However since 1984 it has charted during various other years. It charted in 1985, 1986, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 at positions of 6, 45, 14, 26, 34, 57 and 26. The song has been covered by a number of artists who have also been included in my blog, these are: Cascada's "Last Christmas" and Joe McElderry's "Last Christmas". I don't doubt that their will be more in the future.
This music video is another top music video, and reminds me a lot of Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe". It has a similar Christmas-esque to them both, which makes them similar.
This is narrative based, with a few performance bits. The story is that George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley meet up at a ski resort with their girlfriends. It becomes evident that Andrew's girlfriend used to be with George and this song is aimed at her.
I like the flashback, it's extremely inventive and shows what happened last Christmas. The backing singers Pepsi Damacque and Shirlie Holliman appear in this video alongside Martin Kemp (who was Shirlie's boyfriend and her future husband).
Overall this is one of my favourite songs. The video isn't my favourite, but I think that is due it being an old music video (older than me). On the other hand I have nothing to complain about and nothing against this video, and so I have no choice but give this top rating, because this video does deserve it.
Well... I was going to do The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping" however there is no sign of the music video.After a few minutes research, I found outthere was a video released as people remember watching it back then, but there's no sign of it on the internet. Could this be a video that is now lost forever? Guess time will tell. So trying to have old and new Christmas songs, I went with this one.
Getting a hit Christmas song is not easy, and a big name like Justin Bieber, you would think he'll have a shot, but guess what, it didn't work either, and although this is more of a hit than what others have released, it's still not quite capable to become a hit Christmas song.
"Mistletoe" was written by Nasri Atweh, Adam Messinger and Justin Bieber. It sounds similar to Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", and is definitely a catchy song, but it's missing something, and whatever that something is, is what made this song unable to become a Christmas hit.
The music video is extremely narrative based, with a perfect performance side to things. This is one of the best Christmas music videos I have ever seen, and what do I expect from this guy? Most of his videos are top-notch, and I doubt I'll be giving him less than 3 stars for any of his videos.
The song is about being with someone and kissing under the mistletoe. I like the storyline, and how the girl he is with feels threatened by this other girl who keeps coming up to him. But she needn't worry, as he is just being polite and he knew the girl.
The girl in the video reminds me a lot of Justin Bieber's girlfriend Selena Gomez, could it possibly be a message to her, saying all he wants is her and no one else?
The performance side of things is amazing, the inclusion of snow is a definite must in this video, and he performs the song well.
I especially like the ending with the mistletoe hanging above. A bit on the cheesy side, but definitely expected, if it were missed out, I would've been disappointed.
The song is great, and should've charted higher, but something is holding this song back, but I don't know what that is. It's accompanying music video is exactly what I want from a video like this, and I can't find anything wrong with this. As much as I want to find something negative to say, I just can't. Do I like Justin Bieber? Not really, but I can appreciate how big his fan base is, and his chart success with his songs. But I get blown away at how great his music videos are, so here is another top rating, for a top music video.
Slade was a 70s/80s band, and they had a few number ones and a few chart hits. They consisted of Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell. They are extremely well known, and forever will be, are they going to get back together? Highly unlikely, especially since they have already made a fortune. However never say never right? Their number ones were "Coz I Luv You", "Take Me Bak 'Ome", "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Cum On Feel The Noize", "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me" and "Merry Xmas Everybody". I have heard a few but not many other songs. They stopped releasing before I was even born, and I rarely knew of them.
"Merry Xmas Everybody" was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. The song is about having fun and having British Family Christmas. The lyrics are very good to look at and some of them, I can't help but laugh as it's true in a lot of families, and I can imagine that happening. It was written when a lot of workers were on strike and this song was created to pick them all up and cheer them up, and that's exactly what it does, even now. No wonder it got to number one. It has re-entered the UK chart in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 at chart numbers 70, 32, 67, 20, 47, 48, 71, 99, 93, 30, 21, 20, 32, 41, 50 and 33 respectively. It is again, expected to chart in 2012.
The music video is a performance piece, that is rarely shown on TV Channels. Instead they usually take a Top Of The Pops performance or something else. This is just a recorded performance piece, but it also shows how much things have changed.
Back then a performance piece was in front of a small crowd of fans. If you compare that to a few most recent performance based videos such as Swedish House Mafia's "Don't You Worry Child" or Rita Ora's "Shine Ya Light", it shows how much things have changed, and if there were no performance-based videos back then, the youth of today (including me) would not realise how much things have changed.
There are performance videos that get 5 stars from me, and although this isn't one of them, they have a few good things. This video shows that the band produces a lot of energy when they perform. They're all smiling and having fun. There's shots of the crowd which shows how much people liked Slade back then. And of course there's snow on the ground, since it is a Christmas song.
Overall, a great song, that doesn't fit the title because I can never identify the song until someone sings it. It's accompanying music video is just as forgettable, however it has all the attributes I expect from a performance-based video. So I'm split between ratings for this video, but deciding to go through the middle, as it is kind of average, which is incredibly unlike the song, which is amazing.
Mariah Carey is another well known singer who has yet to make my blog. It just shows how many great singers there are out there. She recently appeared in the spotlight again as a new judge for American Idol. However she's fading in the UK, with her most recent singles charting lower than expected. She definitely won't disappear, but I reckon it will take a lot to try and get on top once again in the UK. She has only ever had one number one in the UK, back in 1994 (when I was 1 year old) with "Without You". She also topped as featured artist on Westlife's "Against All Odds" in 2000.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" was written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff. It has to be one of my favourite Christmas songs, it's up there next to Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale Of New York" and Wham!'s "Last Christmas". This song has never been a UK number one. Back in 1994, it got to number two, and since then it has failed to reach the top. Since downloads has contributed to the chart, this song has climbed extremely high. In 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 it charted at 4, 12, 19, 22 and 11 respectively. This year it is set to chart within the top 20! I hope one day it'll make it to the top. Justin Bieber recently covered this song, featuring Mariah Carey and called it "All I Want For Christmas (Superfestive!)".
This music video is probably one of the most up-to-date of the old Christmas songs, as it was filmed in 1994. However I question whether the intention of this video was to try and make it fit in with the old music videos, because it really is difficult to tell them apart, and I was really surprised to find out what year it was made.
I have to admit this video is quite good. There's Santa Claus, there's snow, there's a Christmas Tree, and all sorts. Everything I want in a Christmas music video and more. There is a bit of a narration but it's hardly noticeable, and that is all that is missing as the song is an emotional piece.
But Mariah Carey loves Christmas, and shows that perfectly in this video by having lots and lots of fun, she's definitely enjoying being in the snow and meeting Santa Claus, and this really makes us enjoy the video more.
On that note. The song is one of my favourites and really needs to get to number one in the future. The music video fits great, and it's definitely a fun-loved video, just wish a bit more narration was added. This video definitely deserves this rating.
