LuvBug was the first act announced for Birmingham Pride 2016 on 7th April, along with a few others to complete their lineup, and I literally screamed as I am in love with their new song "Best Is Yet To Come", which is released Friday, and will most likely chart highly the following week, hence why I haven't reviewed it today, since it will either be reviewed as my New Release or as my Chart Mondays not next week but the week after. So instead I chose their first song, which my brother actually discovered it months before I did. LuvBug hit the dancefloors hard with this tune, and the narrative is fully emotional, and shows that bad people come into good people's lives.
LuvBug are a three piece producing group consisting of Marvin Humes, The White N3rd and JKAY. All three are well-known singularly, the former is known from JLS, the second has worked with a lot of different artists and is definitely currently hitting the music scene hard, the latter has been making a few waves on SoundCloud. Collectively, LuvBug is an unstoppable force, with two singles peaking in the UK top 20, this song and "Revive (Say Something)", however their most recent single is definitely their best yet and will undoubtedly chart in the top ten, if not higher. Watch out for "Best Is Yet To Come". Featuring on this track is Talay Riley, mostly known for collaborating with Chipmunk on "Look For Me", he is just attempting to start his career and it's off to a good start. This song was written by Talay Riley, Marvin Humes and Aaron Cowan.
Directed by Rob Chiu, the video is a pure narrative piece. Featuring two girls and a guy, their names are unknown, so if you know who the actors and actresses are, please comment below.
The start shows an argument, a falling out between a couple, it wasn't until I saw the end that I realised they were searching for something.
A couple are vacating amongst beautiful scenery, camping in their camper van, just the two of them, when a hitch hiker is spotted and joins them on their travels. A straight guy's wet dream, surely. These two girls couldn't be any more different, tattoos and hair colour is a clear distinction, and jealousy from the girlfriend is totally expected.
What I don't expect is the ending where the hitch hiker screws over the couple completely.
Such a summer song with a summery video, that definitely enforces stranger danger on children, and proves to us all that people use others no matter what gender. Bad people come into the lives of good people, and it all depends how it is dealt with. Can't wait to see LuvBug on stage at Birmingham Pride 2016.
Mike Posner is still at number one with "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" and after worrying I will have a repeat of last week and not have a single music video to review, I find Alan Walker's Faded, hiding in at number seven on the UK chart. This song has had great chart progression, although I reckon it may have hit it's peak this week. Derelict, deserted, abandoned and lost, this guy in this Alan Walker video is walking around in this disaster area searching for something that has faded.
Alan Walker is from Norway, but is English as well as Norwegian. He is a EDM producer and has had a worldwide hit with this song. This song is a remastered version of the original "Fade". He was spotted on YouTube, where "Fade", "Spectre" and "Force" were released under NoCopyrightSounds, before Sony Music Sweden signed him up and released this new version, which features uncredited vocals by Iselin Solheim, who is just starting her career. This song was written by Alan Walker, Jesper Borgen, Anders Froen, Gunnar Greve Pettersen.
The music video was directed by Rikkard Häggbom and Tobias Häggbom and was filmed in Estonia amongst some well known derelict buildings.
It is a scene of beauty, something that has been damaged and lost to the world, so empty that you can literally feel and see that life once lived here, but no more.
A guy stands alone, searching for something lost, something faded. The actor in this video is Shahab Salehi.
At the end, he finds the building in the photo he has in his hand, which he then drops to the floor, and slowly removes his mask. Is he upset that the building isn't still the same? Or is he giving up his life as his purpose has been served. We can presume he kept the mask up to keep himself from consuming the possible poisonous air whilst roaming, but now he's found that building, and it's faded.
Overall, deep and meaningful, with stunning shots of derelict buildings lost because of the world we live in. Definitely eerie and quite lonely, the video stands perfectly alone, faded in it's own concept and yet fails to keep us engaged entirely.
This song has been stuck in my head all day, and I'm really hoping that Liberty X perform this song at Birmingham Pride 2016. They were the next act confirmed, the week after. Not only that, but yesterday, Kevin Simm was announced as the winner of The Voice UK. He is currently doing well on the iTunes store, and he very much deserved to win. He has also been given a slot during Birmingham Pride 2016, so I'm excited to see him on stage twice. Liberty X teams up with Richard X on this awesome cover of this song. Sexy, stylish and controversial, Liberty X shines in this video, with Kelly taking the lead. A powerful performance piece that's advanced and slightly before it's time.
Richard X, real name Richard Philips, is a British songwriter and producer. He has his own album released, to which this was the debut single from. He followed it up with a couple more singles, but never continued releasing. He is fairly known in the industry and has worked with some top stars. He could always return with a follow-up album, but whether he will or not is the question. Liberty X was a five-piece group, consisting of Michelle Heaton, Kevin Simm, Kelli Young, Tony Lundon and Jessica Taylor, formed on Popstars, where they were the runner-up. They currently have management, hence why Birmingham Pride, was able to book them, but it looks very doubtful that they'll ever officially reform, they'll just do the one off gigs now and again. This song got to number three in the UK. It samples lyrics from Rufus & Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" and instrumental beats from The Human League's "Being Boiled". It was written by Hawk Wolinski, Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh.
As I mentioned before, this video feels ahead of its time, purely because Fredde Le Grand released a similar video called "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit", which got to number one. I like the idea of the video, even though three years later it is remade and modernised.
It doesn't really work when they are all together in a room. It's an amazing concept for its time, and they surely put a lot of money into it to make it just right, but it fails to work as a whole, and it's slightly on the messy side, but that could be due to the idea being put into motion in 2003, they should've done it years later. Fedde Le Grand pulls it off perfectly three years later with "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit", going to show how technology has advanced in that short amount of time.
It also fails to relate to the song, but I'm going to give it an average rating because it's a great concept that hasn't been done before, only copied afterwards. It makes Liberty X stand out more, although I'm not too keen on Kelli taking the lead in the song as well as most of the lyrics and vocals.
Andy Bell has been announced for Birmingham Gay Pride 2016, as a headliner. He was the last act to be announced on 17th March... The original facebook post has been removed, and so I have posted a later post below. Andy Bell is one half of Erasure. This is their biggest hit in the UK, and I mildly prefer it more than "Give A Little Respect", which seems to be their most known song, regardless of the fact that it only charted at number four, compared to this number two hit song. Erasure gives us a full performance, lots of energetic vibes emanate from this group and it works, sometimes.
WE'RE EXCITED! We've got some more exciting artists to announce NEXT WEEK!And with record ticket sales so far - we'...
Posted by Birmingham Pride on Thursday, 31 March 2016
Erasure are a duo consisting of Andy Bell, who will be performing at Birmingham Gay Pride 2016, and Vince Clarke. They are well known in the UK, with Andy Bell officially identified as a gay icon. They had a string of number one albums in the UK in the 80's and their singles from the 80's, 90's and 00's managed to chart respectfully within the top 40; although no number one singles, this duo is undeniably known in the UK. It just goes to show that you don't need a number one to have longevity. This song was written by Vince Clarke & Andy Bell.
The video isn't all that interesting, the duo can definitely perform, that is very clear, and yet no matter how much energy Andy Bell gives to this song, it still fails to entertain me.
The whole thing reminds me of a Daz washing detergent commercial. How to keep your whites clean, even during torrential rain.
There seems to be a hidden eye amongst the clouds in the sky, and it's clear Andy Bell is loving singing while it's raining.
Yet that is all I can really comment on, There's hints at a narrative, but it either didn't work out, or the scenes were just meant to be exactly what they are. Overall it doesn't feel complete, and definitely doesn't keep me interested at all. But if Andy Bell has still got this amount of energy when he performs on the main stage at Birmingham Pride 2016, he will definitely get the crowd going.
Will.I.Am is officially back, with an amazing song he will no doubt perform on The Voice UK tomorrow, hopefully with a special guest... Pia Mia. The song is catchy after a few plays, I don't know what it is about will.i.am, he just ends up releasing hits after hits after hits. Will.I.Am dances in this performance-based music video for Boys & Girls, he manages to really show Pia Mia up completely. Stylish, sexy, incredible dancing and perfect performance vibes, will.i.am wins me over with this song and video.
Will.I.Am, real name William Adams, is the lead band member in The Black Eyed Peas. He is currently a coach on The Voice UK, and has been for a total of five seasons, could he make it six as the show moves channels, from the BBC to ITV? Rumours suggest he might. The feature is Pia Mia, real name Pia Mia Perez, who had an amazing debut single release called "Do It Again", but her follow-up single "Touch" failed to get as popular. Personally, I thought this was the end of Pia Mia, but it seems will.i.am has come to her rescue, and here she is on his new single... However she comes across like she can't sing all that much, totally the wrong song for her, how could her and will.i.am get this so wrong? The song was written by William Adams, Charlotte Aitchison and Jef Martensis.
Directed by Spencer Creigh, the video is a pure performance piece, just like "Scream & Shout". Will.I.Am isn't just looking fresh, he actually looks quite hot! In comparison to "Scream & Shout", will.i.am has the spotlight on himself this time, and it is totally working for him.
I would literally go and watch him in concert right now, a solid performance piece from him. He is dancing in-sync with his dancers, with the highly complex choreography, that may look simple at first glance, but I assure you it's more complicated than you think, and it totally works.
Pia Mia... When she appeared I was expecting a Britney Spears starlight on her, just like Britney in the "Scream & Shout" video, but it didn't happen. Her vocals aren't on point, and her style doesn't scream star potential. She's pretty and looks good, but next to will.i.am, she fades into the background. Could this be the end of her short-lived career in the music industry? Her vocals are much better than this.
Overall, there isn't much to this performance-based music video, but there never is when it's performance-based. Apart from Pia Mia problems, everything is perfect, the performance, the dancing, the visuals, the music, the style. Will.I.Am has got everything right in this video, that I can't fault it whatsoever. I just wish Pia Mia's vocals were much better.
