Okay, so I've recently reviewed Fifth Harmony's version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" this week for my Christmas Special 2015; which is also a cover version of the original also titled "All I Want For Christmas Is You", by Mariah Carey. However this sounds so different that it's possible people won't recognise it for the same song. This one is inspired by Michael Buble's version of the song, which does not have a music video. This has only recently been released, and it took a total of five days, the first of which Steve Grand had some sort of brainwave and decided to just make it happen, out of the blue. An extremely sad narrative with a perfect performance piece, Steve Grand has captured the hearts of the LGBT+ community once again as well as many straight people in the world too, many tears have shred thanks to this video.
Steve Grand is one of my favourite gay singers, there isn't that many of them out in the world, and it's refreshing to see gay music videos doing well. Steve Grand may not be some sort of superstar, yet, but the way he's going recently, he is definitely proving himself as a successful artist. I am hoping that a second album is around the corner, and if it's via Kickstarter once again, I shall back him all the way. With Troye Sivan just hitting out in the music world, it's interesting to see how many more will follow in these two footsteps and make an impact on the charts across the world. The song is available to download on Steve Grand's bandcamp here, I don't know how long it will be available to download, so buy it while you still can.
John Levin directed this sweet loving music video. It's cute, it's refreshing, and a totally different interpretation to this fun-loving song as we know it.
Steve Grand's on screen boyfriend is played by Trevor LaPaglia. They make a perfect couple, and they are clearly on a mountain holiday of some sort, according to the start of the video.
The music video continues with cute little Christmas traditions, such as kissing under mistletoe, decorating the Christmas tree, spending time in bed, cuddling, putting the star on the tree, and Steve Grand's music in the background... Wait! That's not a Christmas tradition? Oh... Okay then... We'll make it a Christmas tradition.
The ending nearly made me cry. I didn't understand it at first, I was so shocked, I had to just watch it all over again. It's so sad, why does Steve Grand do this to us? First it was "All American Boy", then he made us sad in "Time", now it's this Christmas song. Can we have another fun music video like "Stay", please Steve Grand, we all need to know it's not all heartbreak in the gay world.
Overall, this is more than perfect, and I just cannot comment on this any more. Although the ending isn't as bad as we all think. That is one less person I have to battle it out with to capture Steve Grand's heart.
Nice job guys, shot in just one day, and released in five, the first day being the day the idea came into Steve Grand's head. I cannot fault this video one bit, well apart from that white onesie; just no.
I had forgotten about this song, until I heard it today. Destiny's Child is probably one of the biggest American girl bands ever. So naturally, we expected a Christmas single or album, I pretty much can't name a big artist that hasn't released a Christmas song of a sort. This video, Destiny's Child are looking sexy as they sing about the presents their lovers have given them on each day of Christmas, who knew there was only eight days of Christmas?
Destiny's Child, consisted of, at the time, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, this is the most recent line-up. The girl group disbanded in 2006, with all three girls venturing for a solo career. Beyoncé has become one of the most internationally-known superstars, with Kelly Rowland jumping on the bandwagon, not so far behind. The other girls and the past members have not done so well internationally, and it'll be interesting to see if they ever will. This song was inspired by the 12 days of Christmas song and instead references Hanukkah, which is a Jewish Holiday, and was written by E. McCalla Jr., Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé Knowles.
Directed by Sanaa Hamri, the video shows all three girls dressed in sexy Santa outfits. The girls are shopping in a toy store, with product placement of their own dolls on sale.
The video is very unexciting, it's like they made this video on a whim. I don't quite understand why they are singing about what their lover bought them for Christmas whilst they are shopping for presents themselves... Shouldn't they be opening the presents that they so-called got?
At the end children rush into the toy store and the girls show the toys to them, whilst still singing. There is also a carousel which all three members ride, although there is only a snapshot of Michelle Williams and her guy. Throughout the whole video the scenes are cut between Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland, making Michelle Williams look more like she's in the band for a ride. However she sure as hell proves herself in the more recent music videos.
Overall, there's snow, there's Santa outfits, there's presents and there's toys, what more do we expect for a Christmas music video? Maybe some sort of narrative that relates to the song, maybe some understanding of why there is only 8 days of Christmas, even though we all should know that the eight days of Christmas represents Hanukkah. And maybe something much better than this.
This has to be one of my favourite Christmas songs of all time, originally sung by the vocally talented Mariah Carey, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" practically becomes the highest charting Christmas single every year, it is such a national treasure of a song, and really shows how talented Mariah Carey is. Many artists have covered this song, but finding an artist who does it justice, is next to impossible, Fifth Harmony, however, has the vocals and the perfect harmonies to create a just as beautiful cover version of this very much loved Christmas song.
Fifth Harmony formed on The X Factor US, and came third, however they have had international hits and have totally become the overall winners, in theory. They consist of Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Lauren Jauregui, Camila Cabello and Dinah Jane Hansen. After a long wait they finally came over to the UK and have done well for themselves over here. I also saw them live in London a few months ago. They are currently working on a second album, which I cannot wait for!
The music video, directed by Nigel Dick, is simple but relatable to the song, various scenes relate to certain lines, and I love the window scene where they are waiting for their guy.
There is a lot to like about the music video, but it's obviously done quickly, and they manage to perform it perfectly, as if they are waiting for a guy. It's what we expect of Fifth Harmony, they are on form in every music video, live performance and even on their social media accounts. They will become the female version of One Direction, and I cannot wait to see where their career is heading.
Their cover is perfection, and although the video doesn't really have either a performance or a narrative side, it's really nice to see the girls interact and it definitely brings the Christmas atmosphere.
Chart Mondays again, I'm currently in the middle of my Christmas Special. At the moment, Justin Bieber is STILL at number one with "Love Yourself", which only has a promotional video. As for this one, this is a freestyle video, and although technically not a music video, I'm counting this as an official music video. Not only that, but I really do not like Coldplay, and that is my only other option to review in the top 10, so Stormzy is so much better, in my opinion, to review. Stormzy raps perfectly and on point, never missing a single beat, very rehearsed, and faultless!
Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, is literally someone I hadn't heard of until today. He's name rang a bell, but I wasn't quite sure where. After searching on Google, I found he featured on a remix of Nick Jonas' "Chains", which was released on iTunes. He seems to be doing well for himself, chart wise, and with those skills, I don't blame the high charting positions! This song was written by Michael Oman as expected, and was used as a bid to claim the Christmas number one in order to rival The X Factor winner's single, which was Louisa Johnson with "Forever Young", instead it charted at number 8, just one place in front of Louisa Johnson's song. This wasn't technically released as a single, more like a b-side on the "WickedSkengMan 4" single.
The video was directed by Jaiden Ramgeet, who is the one behind the camera, we expect, who encourages Stormzy to state his name. Stormzy seems embarrassed at the start of the video, as if he's nervous or not comfortable at all.
He loosens up as soon as he starts to sing, and really gets into spitting those bars. This is totally raw, and fresh, it works well as a music video, performance wise. He clearly means everything he is saying.
What is there left for me to say though? No narrative, but that was to be expected. The camera flits to various people behind him, in reference, occasionally, which piqued the viewers interest ever so slightly, but apart from that, there isn't much more to this video, as a music video. As a freestyle video, however, it is one of the best I've seen.
I have been playing Inna's cover version of "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber all day. The song has really grown on me, unfortunately it probably won't be released on iTunes, and nothing will come of the version, apart from the YouTube upload. Since there's no music video to it, and it not being a Christmas song, I decided to review Inna's only Christmas single to date. It's not the first time we've had a club artist release a Christmas song, Cascada released "Last Christmas" as well as "Let It Snow". Inna not only shows her amazing vocals in this track, she proves that she can be cute as well as sexy, ice skating and being fun and festive, this is a side of Inna we rarely see, and it's a joy to watch.
Inna, real name Elena Apostoleanu, has pretty much dropped off the radar in the UK, only her die hard fans, who call themselves club rockers, know what she's up to and when she releases a new single. However in her own country and in some other eastern countries, she has been charting well. This song was released in 2009, and against popular belief, it was never officially released in the UK and so subsequently didn't chart. Instead, it was released on iTunes in 2014 on a compilation album consisting of Romanian artists singing Christmas songs, called "Buna Dimineata La Mos Ajun". It was written by Marcel Botezan, Radu Bolfea and Sebastian Barac.
The music video was directed by Tom Boxer, it was done in no less than five hours, in the ice skating rink. It makes it seem more like a high quality home video, and yet it's not as great as her other music videos.
The song isn't one I'd normally attach to Inna straight away, and I suppose the video follows suit in that way. Inna shows herself to be having fun with Santa.
I've still never been ice skating, definitely going to have to try it sometime. There isn't much more to this video, Inna and Santa on an ice skating rink with a bunch of other people, adults and children alike. There's a small relation to the song as she sings to some male actors now and again, but it's more about spreading the Christmas fun and cheer.
