Basshunter, the next instalment. I haven't reviewed one of his music videos in ages, and since I was struggling to think up a music video, I looked through my drafts and found this one.
Basshunter, real name Jonas Altberg, has been suffering in the UK chart, it's the only word I can link with the artist. He used to be on Hard2Beat Records (later changed to Dance Nation Records), but by the looks of things the record label has shut down, moving it's artists on to All Around The World Productions, amongst others. This new record label is known for artists such as Cascada, Eric Saade, Tulisa and N-Dubz. By the looks of things, they haven't been doing much promotion for these artists, although it's not always their fault. Hopefully they can make a turn around soon.
"I Miss You" and "Jingle Bells" were released together in the UK, so they both share the same video ("Jingle Bells" video can be found at the bottom of this blog post). So in theory they both count as Basshunter's 4th single release in the UK. "I Miss You" features vocals from Lauren Dyson. It charted at 32, with "Jingle Bells" following in number 35 on the UK chart. Not brilliant, but not too bad nonetheless.
The music video continues our story, so let's do a RECAP! "Now You're Gone" music video started off with Aylar Lie and Lucas Thorheim breaking up by text. Their friends invite them out clubbing and coincidence or not they end up in the same club, and Aylar invites Lucas for a dance. "All I Ever Wanted" they go on holiday to Spain. They have fun with water guns and dressing up. They go clubbing and Lucas starts talking to a "mate's cousin", but we don't think Aylar buys that story. "Angel In The Night" starts with the break up of Aylar and Lucas (again via text). Aylar meets Basshunter and there's a connection. They have a street race and Basshunter impresses her by winning and then singing, but what is next for this great couple? Well it seems Christmas is what's around the corner. Again texting starts this video (this is a common theme in these videos, either it's at the start or at the end). The text reads "Sorry babe, I can't make it back for xmas. Jonas xx", and then he surprises her by throwing a snowball at the video.
This is a typical Christmas, with snowball fights, and Christmas presents. We get a nice surprise with the jacuzzi and turning the Norwegian log cabin into a Christmas house party. But once again we see the guy who Basshunter raced against in "Angel In The Night" (his name is still unknown to me, if anyone knows please comment below). And this guy thinks he is still in with a chance with Aylar, but who is he kidding? Basshunter soon steps in his way, and we finally say goodbye to this guy, he never appears in another Basshunter video (yet).
Overall a song that didn't get the credibility it deserved, it should have charted higher, and Lauren Dyson should've been pushed into mainstream success. The music video is probably one of my favourite videos, bringing the spirit of Christmas along with it. However I feel it doesn't link that well with the song "I Miss You", I think it fits with "Jingle Bells" but the former should've had a different video. Although, it was released around Christmas time, and since it's a video for both singles, I kind of feel I have no choice but to give this rating.
I reviewed M83 last week for the song "Midnight City", since this song and music video is the follow-up, doing a Basshunter theme and continuing the video on to the next song, I thought it was only right I should review it this week. The band is French and consists of Anthony Gonzalez, Jordan Lawlor, Morgan Kibby, Loïc Maurin and Ian Young. They have quite a big fan base, and have charted a few times in the UK.
"Reunion" was written by Anthony Gonzalez, Yann Gonzalez and Morgan Kibby. the song is about being with someone, possibly being together, but this is definitely not reflected in this music video.
I have to admit, I like seeing music videos that follow on from one another. Basshunter has made it unique to himself, and I can't help thinking that the videos that do this is sort of copying him.
The previous music video didn't have a good enough ending, in my opinion, so I was hoping this one would wrap it all up, but guess I was wrong, since the ending has nothing for me to flow with. Does this mean another music video, if not already, will continue the story?
Not much happens in this one, we see good and evil, and we lose one of our children we saw in the first video "Midnight City". We see a stand off between the children and the handlers who want to capture them (maybe to experiment on them?) The stand off is interesting, it shows different powers, and a battle for the floating car is interesting, although somehow at the end we end up with more children with powers, how did that happen?
I like how good wins over evil, although this is a constant shown in all media, personally evil should win at least once, because that's life sometimes although everything works out in the end, if you let it.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the song, once again not my sort of thing, and it never charted in the UK, so clearly I'm not the only one who didn't think it was that good. The accompanying music video is a perfect continuation of "Midnight City", but it lacks connection with the song, and again the ending is left open, leaving us unsure if there will be another follow-on.
Avicii, real name Tim Bergling but is also known as Tim Berg, has been a constant on this blog, always appearing now and again, and usually getting high ratings from me, this music video will not be an exception. He has had lots of various hits on the UK chart, but this is his first number one, and it is well deserved. As for Nicky Romero, real name Nick Rotteveel, he is a Dutch DJ and has slowly increased his popularity, so much so that he is currently up there with David Guetta, now this song has definitely pushed him into the public eye, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get charting success within the next few years.
"I Could Be The One" was originally called "Nicktim" before the vocals were added. The vocals were provided by Swedish singer Noonie Bao. The song was written by Nicky Romero, Arash Pournouri, Avicii, Linus Wiklund, Jonnali Parmenius and Måns Wredenber, few of which are familiar as they have been referenced in my blog before. The song is really catchy and it charted at number one in the UK last week, and the summer hit has definitely brought the sunshine with it as the sun has been out with a bright blue sky, a rarity for the UK, finally the summer is coming.
This music video is pure narrative. It's quite unique, and not something I was expecting, but shouldn't I start getting used to this sort of thing? Since all of Avicii's music videos are never something normal, although I don't think he'll ever be able to top "Dancing In My Head" which was Eric Turner Vs. Avicii, never have I been so shocked to watch a music video.
I like the start, and the fact that words are used proving it isn't just music. This is what I like about Avicii, his music videos are thought about long and hard, and a lot of details go into them. I like the constant repeat showing us what her everyday life is like. But I get confused when the dream first comes in, wondering what has happened, although, it soon becomes clear.
I like the dream side, it shows the potential she has and she must have had a lot of fun filming that side of the scenes, and then when she goes crazy you can't help but laugh, especially with everything flying here, there and everywhere.
I have to agree with some of the comments, the ending is a little disappointing, but then again you don't expect it, but couldn't they have thought up something more imaginable?
Overall a worthy number one that has got everyone playing and talking about it. The music video is shockingly great, as all Avicii music videos are. I have no negative comments, so you can see where I'm heading with this rating can't you?
Tyler James first became noticeable to me on The Voice UK, he was mentored by Will.I.Am and finished in 2nd place. Before then he had a bit of success with 3 singles all getting into the UK chart and an album, all in 2004/5. His highest charting single back then was "Foolish" at chart position 16 and it still is. Recently he released "Single Tear" which only managed to make it to number 28, however his new album managed to crack the UK chart this time around at 47. Now his follow-up single is released this week, and even though the song has been picked up by Radio 1, it still is not performing as well as everyone thought it would on the iTunes top 100.
This song features Kano, real name Kane Robinson, he has had a lot of chart success, not that I know any of his songs, but almost all his singles have charted and half of them entered the top 40 between 2005 and 2010. Recently he is working on his fifth album, we could potentially be seeing more of him.
"Worry About You" was written by Tyler James and Blair Mackichan according to the album credits. And I do find it effortlessly catchy, one of these songs that will be around for a while. However as I have previously stated, it is not performing well on the iTunes top 100, regardless of the fact that Radio 1 has been playing it a lot recently. So what is it this time? Well once again, I think the sales are split, half of them have gone and bought the single, which includes remixes and the rapping from Kano which is also seen in the video. Others have opted to download the song from the album, as most did in the last two weeks, managing to get the song alone to chart at number 52. But with these annoying split sales the charting position may not be as high as it would've been if it were released before the album. It just seems so unfair.
Throwing away the sexy, flirtatious side of Tyler we first saw in "Single Tear" we now see a man ready to take on the world to save his one true love. The music video is passionate and intriguing, and confusing all mashed into one.
I was watching it unsure of where this may be going, for all we knew the music video may not relate at all and it could've just been created. But that is not the case. His love interest has a serious gambling problem, and he doesn't know how to help her... It relates to the song perfectly... But I wonder where he gets this idea for the song from... As he had a famous friend called Amy Winehouse... And didn't she have a drug problem? Clearly she is watching over her friend and is trying to help him the way he helped her. Hopefully she'll haunt people all this week and make them buy the single from iTunes.
Overall, I can see why Radio 1 has picked up the song and are playing it often. It's one of those that will get stuck in your head, if only more people will download the single! The music video fits perfectly. I'm not quite sure what the role of Kano is, although maybe he was the one who told Tyler where his love interest was... Who knows? Anyhow, I've just realised that I can't give this music video anything other than this rating, I have no negative comments, only that it's different to his first single, but what do we expect?
Elliot Minor becomes my Sunday Revisit, purely because I don't think I'll have a chance to review this band again since they may never stop their hiatus. So instead, I hope The Dead Famous or Spirits will be reviewed on this blog soon, as one member from each of those bands were in Elliot Minor. The band consisted of Alex Davies, Ed Minton, Ed Hetherton, Dan Hetherton and Ali Paul. Dan is now in The Dead Famous and Alex is in Spirits. The other three are studying in various different places.
I chose this song as I thought it would only be fair to review their first single, as I reviewed their most recent "I Believe" on Friday. "Parallel Worlds" was written by Alex Davies and Ed Minton and is about supernatural ghosts in a room, as when they were at school an attic flat was believed to have been haunted according to Alex. This song got to number 31 in it's original release, but a year later it got re-released, scoring the band's 3rd best charting single at 21, following "Still Figuring Out" which got to 17 and "Jessica" which got to 19. The UK chart was being dominated by rock bands, but now there is no successful charting positions for them, hence why teenage memories of famous bands is just a past-time (for the moment, I have a feeling the rock age will swing around again at some point).
This is not the original music video since I have been struggling to find the original. I'm sure if I was pushed I'd eventually find it, but for now we have the re-released version, which is a lot better nonetheless.
There is both a narrative and a performance, but surprisingly it's all rolled into one. The band are ghosts and so are their instruments (funnily enough), but they can still manipulate real-life objects, scaring the people eating at the dinner time, if only they knew how lucky they were to have Elliot Minor performing in front of them.
On paper this sounds amazing, in the music video... It's just as good, it's engaging, clever and different to other videos, therefore making it stand out. The only critique I have is that I think the editing has made the scenes short and quick, I had to watch it twice to see if I missed anything the first time round as it's speedy and you don't realise what is happening until too far in, and then it all clicks.
Overall a catchy song that deserves that 21 charting position, however nowadays it would have no chance. The music video is hauntingly creepy and shocking, I can't help but laugh at the wine glass, definitely my favourite scene. Apart from the speedy cuts of the camera shots, I have nothing else negative to say, and I'm willing to let the camera cuts slide, so here's a very deserving rating.
