Basshunter popped up on my iTunes reminding me of how far behind I am on his music videos, and I really need to start to catch up, especially since he has an album around the corner, apparently.
Basshunter, real name Jonas Altberg, is a Swedish DJ and singer, who had a few hits in his career, making him the most successful artist on the Hard2Beat/Dance Nation Records. The label has currently dropped all of their artists, and as far as I can tell it's all down to the music channel. Basshunter is now currently signed to All Around The World Records, but it seems to me he has left his fans in his old record company, and I reckon people are unaware of his new stuff. He needs to pull something out the bag quickly.
"Walk On Water" was the final single cut from his debut album in the UK 'Now You're Gone - The Album'. It was one of my favourite songs from the album along side 'Camilla'. It is known as professional boxer Nathan Cleverly's entrance song.
The music video disappointed me the first time I saw it. Basshunter is the guy who introduced us to the movie music video, his music videos follow one after the other, creating this complete storyline, and this is the song that breaks it, or is it?
RECAP: "Now You're Gone" Aylar Lie and Lucas Thorheim break up
by text at the start. They go out clubbing with friends in separate groups, and end up in the same club. Aylar invites Lucas over, they get back together. "All I Ever Wanted" they go to Spain. They have fun with water guns and dressing
up. While clubbing, Lucas talks to a "mate's cousin", Aylar doesn't believe him. "Angel In The Night"
starts with the break up of Aylar and Lucas (again via text). A minute later she meets Basshunter. He impresses her by winning a street race, and singing at the end. "I Miss You / Jingle Bells" they go on holiday to Norway for Christmas, Basshunter says he can't go, but it's a joke and he really is there. They invite friends, open presents and have a dip in the hot tub. A house party happens, and Basshunter has to fend off a guy who makes advances towards Aylar.
Does this video fit in? Well I've kind of found a connection. Basshunter sings in "Angel In The Night" so maybe he is actually playing himself, and so maybe he is a singer, and this video is part of his tour. For all we know, Aylar could have been backstage. It fits in the story, but only slightly, but it's there. His job as a singer, in the story also explains why he might not have been able to go to Norway in "I Miss You / Jingle Bells".
This video doesn't purposely try to fit in the story. It shows his presence on stage, and we get to see what it would be like to go to one of his gigs... But the whole point of this thing is to make me want to go, and to be honest I wouldn't want to.
If he is performing like that on stage with dancers who aren't dancing all that much and he is purely singing while jumping up and down... Well I feel no vibes at all from him, and I'd rather not see it.
I imagined his tours would be like going to a club, where he is the DJ. That has always been my idea of what his tours would be like. However according to this I may be completely wrong.
Overall, an amazing song, that could have brought a lot to the whole story for the music video, maybe Aylar Lie wasn't available at that time? The video is a representation of what seeing him live would be like, however I have my fingers crossed it is not at all like that. This is definitely full of disappointments, and the only thing I really like about this is the fact that he gets a camera out and we manage to see his fans, through editing.
When I get a song stuck in my head it's inevitable that it appears on here, and right now is another example of that.
High School Musical spawned 3 films and a spin off called 'Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure'. They became so popular they managed to release the third movie at cinemas, whereas the first two and the spin-off were television movies. The films also gave us a few very well-known stars, the likes including Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman. Will there be another film? I doubt it, however I wouldn't be surprised to find a reunion movie popping up in a few years maybe? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
"I Don't Dance" was written by Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil and Giancarlo Binando. The song is sung by Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu. It is one of my favourites from the second movie, and I think the whole production behind it was engaging and surprising. A lot clearly went into this.
The video is full of the typical musical dancing and acting. But this manages to make me laugh for a number of reasons, Mainly because you're not actually watching the film, and so in theory you are watching it out of context, and so some parts is much more great to watch. I especially like how Corbin Bleu is singing 'I don't dance' while dancing... Which shows that even the unlikely person can dance if they set their mind to it.
I like how Lucas' character 'Ryan Evans' tries to get Corbin Bleu's character 'Chad Danforth' dancing, proving that if Ryan can do this then Chad can do that.
I like the inclusion of sport, in this case it was baseball. I don't believe there is a music video that features baseball (as far as I'm aware of). The choreography is in total sync, as you would expect from these guys, and the use of the baseball gloves and bats gives you more to look at and not one falls out of place; but if they did, it would've been very obvious.
Overall a very catchy song and definitely one of my favourite scenes from the second movie. The music video (or scene from the movie) is well made, and relates to the song perfectly. The choreography is exceptional, and I have no choice but to give this video the rating it deserves.
Mandia Nantsios is my "Artist of the Month" for March (her profile will be up later), so it's only right I review her first music video and single with it. She is just 16 years old, and with a very meaningful voice, every word is sung with conviction and you know she means it all. Her second single was "One Last Time", she got five stars from me for that one, will this follow? The world better watch out, because this Canadian superstar is on the verge of stepping into the spotlight.
"Never Again" was written by Mandia Nantsios. It's engaging, raw and emotional, all the aspects of a perfect song.
This music video follows the song in every way. There's both a performance and a narrative. The narrative side is crisp and follows through from the song.
It's the usual boyfriend cheats on girlfriend, we've seen this in a few videos in the past, but this one stands out because we get to see what the past was like for them, and then return to the story in the present, with her dropping the necklace he bought her.
The performance side takes dominance during the centre of the video, she is seen in various locations, some of which, such as the boat, shows what he is missing out on. Other settings add to the raw emotion, leaving you surprised at how strong of a performer Mandia Nantsios is.
The one problem I do have is the dancers in the background, they kind of feel out of place, almost like they're trying to be more important than Mandia, however the editing has made Mandia Nantsios more in the picture, preventing her from being empowered. After a second watch I can almost forget that the dancers are there. On the other hand, I feel that they shouldn't have been included, Mandia's such a good performer she doesn't need them.
Overall a song that is perfect in every way and just proves that Mandia Nantsios is an up and coming star. The music video reflects the song the way we want it to, adding more emotion to the song, which seems impossible. Although I don't like the dancers, I'm prepared to let it slide, since they're easily ignorable.
Miley Cyrus, real name Destiny Cyrus, has appeared on my blog quite a few times. This time my iTunes decided to get it stuck in my head, and it sure managed to do that. This song is probably one of my favourite songs from Miley Cyrus, and I'm interested in what she has in store for us in the future, clearly it's going to be big, but can she get higher up the UK Chart?
"Fly On The Wall" was written by Miley Cyrus, Antonina Armato, Tim James and Devrim Karaoglu. Many different interpretations of the song has been made, from sympathy to the boyfriend, to the boyfriend wanting to know everything. Miley Cyrus soon enough cleared it all up, saying it was about the paparazzi... And the music video empathises that perfectly.
This music video shocked me over and over again, from the start to near to the end, and then the completely surprising ending. This video really reflects what it is like to be followed by the paparazzi. Britney Spears has been portraying her concerns for ages now in the videos for "Everytime", "Piece Of Me", "If U Seek Amy", "Hold It Against Me" and "I Wanna Go", I'm sure there's probably more. Other music videos include: Stone Sour's "Through Glass", Kelly Clarkson's "Mr. Know It All" and Cher Lloyd's "Swagger Jagger".
And although this song came out it hasn't stopped anything, and it's only getting worse, only a few months ago, Miley Cyrus posted a video of her walking her dogs while one of the paparazzi parked in a handicapped place and ran in front of her taking pictures (video can be found on the right).
Once again we have a narrative and a performance piece. First off we think her boyfriend is going to turn into a werewolf with the full moon being out and stuff. Instead he turns into one of the paparazzi. She then ends up in the car park and is being chased everywhere she goes.
The best bit has to be when the paparazzi start to dance, I can't help but laugh as I'll always remember the first time I saw this and I really wasn't expecting it, and it still manages to draw me into that surprise every time. And then we get the more shocking ending, where her boyfriend sells her story about the paparazzi. That's just wrong on so many levels.
There's a bit of a performance side in the car park, which she lets lose and has a little bit of fun. I reckon she really enjoyed filming this music video, and in doing so, it's just as fun to watch.
Overall a great song that only managed to get to number 16 on the UK chart, it clearly deserves a higher position. The music video is pure brilliance, and definitely one of my favourites. It has a close theme to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". So you can all guess what my rating is going to be...
Ke$ha, real name Kesha Sebert, annoyed the hell out of me last week, when I was expecting her to release this single in the UK, instead I had to struggle to find a different new release, and I ended up with Daniela Brooker's "Heartbreaker". Then a couple of days ago, I notice the remixes single released claiming to be released at the start of March, which it wasn't. Ke$ha, has recently been disappearing slowly, but all of her UK 'Animals', aren't going to let her become unknown to us. I am hoping she returns with a big song soon, her new album is full of potential hits, so pull a good one out the bag Ke$ha, especially the one that features Iggy Pop called "Dirty Love", it's my favourite track from 'Warrior'.
"C'mon" was written by Kesha, Dr. Luke, Bonnie McKee, Max Martin, Melin Shikder, Cirkut and Benny Blanco. A lot of well-known song writers, and although the song is very catchy it didn't chart as well as it should've done, especially in the UK since there was a mix-up with the release date. Some people have commented saying this isn't wacky enough for Ke$ha, and we can kind of see what those people mean, especially if you compared the song to "TiK ToK" or "Blah Blah Blah". But she definitely makes up for it in the video.
The video looks normal at first, showing her being late for her shift at a diner, only her boss is sleazy. His name is Ri¢hard (similar to Ke$ha because he has a cent sign in his name). She soon quits her job, and that is when her 'Animals' turn up and makes everything out of this world.
It has nothing to do with the song, and that is what I find is really missing. However there's a lot of fun going on, especially in the back of the van, it's much bigger inside than it is on the outside, clearly.
I like how they return to the diner and get their revenge. I think the people dressed up are amazing, especially since on of them does a back flip! But I wanted meaning, I wanted a connection with the song.
Overall a song that should've charted well everywhere. And an accompanying music video that needs some engagement, however manages to hook to the song with the use of her singing 'I don't wanna go to sleep, I wanna stay up all night' so hence the partying, and just having fun. But needs more of a connection.
