Zara Larsson is the person who sung with MNEK on that song called "Never Forget You". She is a big hit in Sweden, and to no surprise, I have become a fan of her music, thanks to this song, which is so catchy. She released this in June 2015, in Sweden, but the song got released this week on iTunes here in the UK, as well as other music download sites such as Amazon, HMV and 7digital, regardless to what iTunes release date suggests. Zara Larsson does her thing in front of a green screen, allowing the viewers to see her personality and relaxing performance.
Zara Larsson is only 18, and has already had number one singles around the world, we officially have a new star! Perfect voice with a perfect style and image, this girl is going to go far. Sweden is really pulling out the stops, winning Eurovision with worthy songs, hitting charts globally with their singers, they are seriously a country we have got to keep our eyes on, because they are making stars. Lush Life was written by Emanuel Fredrik Abrahamsson, Christoph Bauss, Iman Hullén, Markus Reza Sepehrmanesh, Linnea Anna Soedal and Fridolin Walcher. It has charted globally, hitting number one in Sweden, as well as the top 10 in Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Australia and the Czech Republic. This is a massive hit, and I hope will climb the UK charts, because it deserves to, but the music channels won't promote it that much as this video isn't as great as the song. Fingers crossed this climbs, but I doubt it will. I will be buying the song myself after I've posted this review.
Directed by Måns Nyman, the video fails to keep us engaged, there's no choreography and there is a lot of visual, yet not as creative as it could have been.
The reason why this video doesn't fall flat, totally, is because of Zara Larsson. She really does love this song, and it really shows. She performs to us, to the best of her ability, because she knows that this is all they've got for the video. She dances as if there were choreography made for her, enough to look like she made it up, but she pulls it off effortlessly, and it totally works, you go girl!
I hate the visuals behind her at times, as well as the black and white colourisation. We do not need it, it just ruins the music video, although, at times, it is paired with the song lyrics.
The most engaging part is the start, when she pulls her necklace off and flings it behind her. It signifies the end of a relationship, she's finally over it, and she now has a new crush. A potential start to a narrative that never comes.
Overall, it's a perfect song, definitely a worldwide hit, it just needs more radio play here in the UK, it worked for Shawn Mendes with "Stitches". As for the video, this is where Shawn Mendes' "Stitches" does well as the music channels are loving the video, this one isn't one people would go out of their way to watch over and over again. This doesn't quite fall flat, but the low-budget has totally made this awful, and the money spent wasn't well-spent at all, in my opinion, although Zara Larsson does her best to shine throughout.
Liberty X is my revisit this week, as I reviewed their worst single "X", which wasn't as bad as the charting position makes it out to be. This one is the polar opposite, as this song hit number one in the UK. It also was used in a commercial for MoneySuperMarket.com. Liberty X look sexy in their number one song's music video, as they beat every obstacle in their way to steal a diamond.
Liberty X came runners up on TV show Popstars. They consist of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Youing. They have recently signed to 365 Artists Management, but whether this means new music on the horizon for Liberty X is something we beg to differ, where it might mean they might return to the music industry, it might not, and it could be just used as a point of contact. I hope this means new music, the British public love a good comeback, but it looks doubtful. This song was written by Michelle Escoffery, and apparently features no vocals from Michelle Heaton.
The music video is iconic to the band, you think of them, you think of this music video, it was everywhere, which is no surprise since this song got to number one.
The performance side is on point, yet again, this group can dance. Given the right choreography, the dancing would look amazing. Yet again, the camera angle annoys me, degrading the dance sequences, this seems to be a common theme in Liberty X music videos so far.
The narrative side is interesting, although it leaves nothing to the imagination. The skills they use doesn't give us any trepidation, no worries whatsoever. This is something that should've been included. They get past every obstacle effortlessly and we are totally calm about it, as if we know that this is no big deal for them.
I love the ending, I love how they find the diamond, decide to keep it safe, and just as they run away one of them trips and that person just happens to have the diamond, which falls out of that person's hand and down a hole, perhaps a drain? Like, what is the chances of that happening? It shocked me to be fair, I did not expect that to happen.
Overall, an all right video, although it could've been done much better, everything looks too effortless. The dancing is on point, as per usual for this group. Will they ever returned? Well they featured on The Big Reunion, but announced that it would be the last time they performed together as a group, but never say never right?
More country music on my blog. This one came from a tweet from Cassadee Pope, the tweet in question can be found below. I wouldn't have come across this video, if it wasn't for Cassadee Pope. As for Lauren Alaina, I've had a love / hate relationship with her songs, some are brilliant, some are not that great, and most of them are meh! However, a few plays of this and it's already a track I like. Lauren Alaina eyes up a guy, claiming that he looks a lot like her next boyfriend, she teases and tempts him into her arms.
Lauren Alaina, real name Lauren Suddeth, first came to my attention when I bought American Heartland compilation album, where her single "Like My Mother Does" appears next to other great American country songs. She rose to fame by coming second in the tenth season of American Idol, losing out to Scotty McCreery. She has had mild success in the US, and little to none here in the UK, which is to be expected since country music isn't that big over here. This song is the first single off her second album and was written by Lauren Alaina, Emily Weisband and Matt McVaney. It is catchy after hearing it a few times, and if this is the direction Lauren Alaina's new album will be going, I'll definitely be listening to her more. She has transformed her style, image and music, bringing something new to country. She is starting a new path that may just work well. I can't wait to hear more new songs from her, if this is anything to go by, she has a good chance of having a hit somewhere in the near future.
Directed by TK McKamy, Lauren Alaina attempts to pull off miss flirtatious and sexy, and as well as miss available, which made me laugh when I first heard it in the lyrics. And she does a good job of it.
The guy in the video is Lauren Alaina's guy Alexander Hopkins, this explains the chemistry between the two. She is clearly a right tease. It reminds me of the scene in Footloose (2011 film) where the dance battle happens in the car park.
My problem with this video is the camera angles. They could've so made Lauren Alaina look more sexy, and it's not even what she is wearing, as she does look hot in the clothes, but there's just something completely missing, maybe she's uncomfortable acting sexy, or it is just the camera angles, because, at times, she looks perfect and sultry, but most of the time it completely falls flat.
A great relatable music video, with skaters on skateboards with fire extinguishers that release different colours as well as an extremely large piece of material that acts like a wave for the skaters, this is a great unique idea, although I'm not happy they've shown a clip where a guy falls off the skateboard in the background, that was a bad error. The video is meh, like many of her songs, but this song is probably my favourite by her so far. Keep fighting Lauren Alaina and you'll get the chart hits you deserve!
I don't know why, but this song has been etched in my brain since it came out, the song gets stuck in my head multiple times within a week, and the music video is something I can easily recall from the minute I first saw it as a child. I think I connect this music video to the inevitable end of Liberty X. Becoming superheroes, Liberty X go on a mission to save the world from an evil guy and his evil lectures.
Liberty X consists of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. This was their very last single before the group split up. They were formed on Popstars, a TV show, where they came runners-up. The winning contestants formed band Hear'Say. They had a great career, gaining eight UK top 10's. After their second album, they swapped record labels, which became their downfall, as their third album underperformed and this single did as well, gaining their lowest peak charting position of 47. They reformed for The Big Reunion, but decided not to continue with the band. The song was written by Johnny Douglas, Tony Lundon, Kelli Young, Jessica Taylor and Kevin Simm.
The music video was filmed using a green screen throughout its entirety. The storyline is a dig at their former boss, Richard Branson, reportedly. As he dropped them after their single "Everybody Cries" only charted at number 13.
Liberty X are some sort of superheroes, prepared to defeat this evil guy. Although, they don't really look like superheroes and they don't have any magical powers. The video is kind of similar to The Saturdays "Ego", only The Saturdays' video is so much better.
The video's budget was £4,750, which is extremely low budget, hence the bad CGI graphics and the green screen. Although I have to admit Liberty X do look like characters off an old game or something, so they've faded in well with the concept of the video.
The dancing is on point, it's the only good thing about this music video, and although the choreography isn't that complicated, they've done well with what they've been given, and you can totally tell they've put their all in it. The only problem is the camera angles, it doesn't show their dance sequences that well.
Overall, a good concept if it was shot in the real world instead of the CGI world they created. I think the dig at the former boss could've been so much better. However their performance scenes are done all right, and they have kept their style, looking sexy. The video just looks low budget and is not something people want to watch again and again. The video is suggested as one of the main reasons for the low charting position for the single. Which makes sense. However, a very catchy song and a video I'll always remember, even if it isn't that good.
A cute video for this very cute song! As you probably all already know Justin Bieber is still at number one on the UK singles charts with "Love Myself", as well as at number two and three with "Sorry" and "What Do You Mean?" respectively. So that leaves the top ten, once again, open for my review for Chart Mondays. I have practically reviewed every music video to every song in the top 10, apart from this one, which has just scraped in at number 10 this week. 99 Souls have remixed two classics to make this club banger and have paired it with a right to be different music video.
99 Souls are a duo, as of now, their names are unknown. As far as I can tell, they were originally called Le Projet Secret. They released this on Soundcloud as a promotional song to get their name out there. But the track blew up and therefore this was served as their debut single. The song is a mashup of Destiny's Child's song "Girl" and Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine". It was first taken down from Soundcloud due to copyright violations. It then reappeared nearly a year later, after Beyoncé approved the use of the Destiny's Child song, as well as Brandy recording re-recorded vocals for the track as Monica felt that the track belonged in the past and therefore turned down the offer. For those of you who don't know. Destiny's Child consisted of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams at the time "Girl" was released, back in 2004. It hit number six on the UK chart. As for Brandy, real name Brandy Norwood, she hit number two in the UK in a collaboration with Monica, real name Monica Brown, with "The Boy Is Mine" back in 1998, just missing out on the top spot, which was claimed by B*Witched with "C'est La Vie". The song has a tonne of writers, due to it being a mashup, these are Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Japhe Tejeda, Beyoncé Knowles, Angela Beyince, Patrick Douthit, LaShawn Daniels, Edward Robinson, Kelendria Rowland, Tenitra Williams, Brandy Norwood and Donald Davis.
This was directed by Såndl. It's totally inspirational, and slightly relates to the lyrics in a totally new concept.
Everyone is walking backwards, which is apparently the right way to walk in this world. And so this guy generally strolls through his life without a care in the world, but he is different, and hell does he know it, because he actually walks forwards, which is the wrong way.
People pick on him, stare at him, get annoyed at him. He feels like there's something wrong so he goes and seeks help. I love the whole way in which he is walking, it's as if there's something wrong with it, it's like he is stumbling more than anything, yet everyone is walking backwards perfectly fine, they all have a flow in their walk, and he has a jolt.
After seeing an advertisement, where Dr. Michael announces he can help him, he checks into this medical centre, aptly named The Private Clinic. He meets a girl who walks out of a wheelchair and walks forwards. They are paired together to try and learn how to walk backwards, but they never manage to do it, and give up, eventually deciding that they were meant to walk forwards, they were meant to be that way, and nothing can stop them.
Such an amazing storyline, so inspirational since people can easily relate. Everything that happens in this video people can relate to... Being picked on, being looked down upon, being rejected, it is all in there. This is one powerful music video, and it's suggestive of race, gender, sexuality, people with physical and mental disorders, as well as many other differences people have. This video shows that that does not make you less human, just different. It isn't wrong to be who you are.
The boy is played by Stéphane Bak and the girl is played by Leslie Medina. They make a pretty good couple. I love some of the cute scenes, who does not enjoy the blowing bubble scene? I could watch that scene on repeat all day. I love the idea of swimming backwards too, although I am not too keen on the idea of using hair clippers to gain hair. Some things in the video just doesn't work out in my head.
Overall a brilliant video for an extremely catchy song. I can so see this climbing higher in the chart as it will definitely receive more radio play. The song is currently stuck in my head, no surprises there. The video relates well, and is such an inspiration, even if the subliminal message may not be clear to kids, I still feel that this being shown often, would help others to understand that there is nothing wrong with being different.
