S Club 7 - Reach



Not an easy decision to pick between this and "Never Had A Dream Come True", but this was another favourite of mine and rolls nicely on from "Don't Stop Movin'" for my Thursday Revisit. This wasn't my initial plan but I didn't realise how much Reach meant to me, looking back on this song, I thought it was complete cheese with extra on top, but it really isn't, it's still a banger even if it isn't in my head. S Club 7 takes the party bus on the road, living it up large and dancing away on top of it, the group members have a blast as they Reach for the stars.

S Club 7 is a fond memory of nearly every 20-30 year old's childhood, they hit the charts hard in the UK, and their popularity never stopped, creating hit TV shows and TV movies as well as spawning a junior band. Yet all good things come to an end, and they ended up going their separate ways. The group consisted of Jo O'Meara, Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole and Rachel Stevens. This song didn't quite reach number one and had to settle for peaking at number two, behind Sonique's "It Feels So Good". It was written by Cathy Dennis and Andrew Todd.

The music video is a simple performance piece, the song served as the theme tune for L.A. 7, the next instalment series of the group's TV shows.

The video doesn't link back to the TV series, this time around like "Bring It All Back" did. Instead settling purely on the performance side of things.

There's a few possible narratives, especially with all the extras used in the video, where they have a sweet with the letter 's' on (which definitely reminds me of Skittles), which turns them into loving the group too.

The extras follow the party bus, which kind of copies the Vengaboys bus in "We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)", yet explodes it much more. It looks quite dangerous.

As for performance wise, they are on form as always, although no grouped dancing, all members are pretty apart meaning it's difficult to see any mishaps and so it looks more of a collective in-sync production.

Overall, there really isn't anything to this music video, it's pretty bland and totally simple with no narrative or an outstanding performance visual. It's remembered because of the party bus, yet it's easily forgettable compared to their other music videos.
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Booty Luv - Say It



This was supposed to be the start of the return of Booty Luv, it was planned as the first single from their second studio album, yet the low charting position (number 16 is far from low if you asked me) suggested the end of the second album, which got cancelled and therefore scrapped. This was a new direction for Booty Luv and it's such a shame we didn't see how this could have developed. Booty Luv are sexed up and loving life as they finally have a high budgeted music video for "Say It" which became their last charting single.

Booty Luv, consisting of Cherise Roberts and Nadia Shepherd, had a string of hits after their group, Big Brovaz, split up. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be and although they tried to make a great comeback in 2013 with "Black Widow", it never pushed them back into the limelight enough to carry on their career. This song was written by Carl Björsell, Didrik Thott and Sebastian Thott.

Directed by Emile Nava, and set in a luxury hotel that literally has everything, the girls settle into a character role that seems similar to the young doppelgangers found in their previous music video "Don't Mess With My Man".

Crazy and over the top the video heightens on men's desire of Booty Luv and how they never build up the courage to say something. Not that they are giving these guys a chance to do so.

The song tells guy to go and say that they like them, to just come out and say it. But life is never that easy, especially in a club, or just in a corridor or at an event as this video suggests. However confidence gets you everywhere, even in my books. Pluck up the courage and just say it.

Fun and sexy the girls put so much energy into this video, however they look a little possessed, over acting everything which totally makes this video slightly off-putting. There's a lot to like and a lot to not like about this video, I am one of Booty Luv's biggest fans, but their videos rarely engage. This should've worked well, but it just fails completely, over done and overly emphasised.
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S Club 7 - Don't Stop Movin'



Oh how this video brings back memories, I swear the music channels had it on repeat, so much so that I never stopped singing, dancing and watching "Don't Stop Movin'". If I had to pick a favourite song back when this was released, this was it, this was my jam! How embarrassing to think of that now, but I still know every lyric, every memory and every bit of this music video. S Club 7 dances in a club to "Don't Stop Movin'", with motion-blurring snapshots and a full choreography.

Still embarrassing to watch now, and what is with that choreography? S Club 7 consisted of seven singers who were: Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt, Rachel Stevens, Paul Cattermole, Tina Barratt and Jon Lee. They had a tonne of success in the UK, but it soon fell as Paul Cattermole left the group. This song won them a few awards and hit number one in the UK. It was written by Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens, Sheppard Solomon, Simon Ellis and Tina Barrett. The verse of the song samples Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".

Directed by Andy Morahan, the video is set in a club, with the group taking over the dance floor as they show off their moves.

At the time this may have been current, but it is totally embarrassing to watch and definitely makes sense as to why I was such a confident child with my dancing. I had this group in my life, with their choreography on my screen, no wonder I was like that.

Taking Bradley McIntosh and Jo O'Meara into the main vocals, this really pushed the other members back. Nowadays a song like this would be separated between each of the group members, but since there is seven of them, this would be possible but pretty difficult. The music video definitely showcases Bradley McIntosh and Jo O'Meara more than the other members, which must have been quite disconcerting for the other S Club 7 singers.

There is very little else going on, the choreography is sort of in-sync, but not to an exact point, and when looked into detail it seems kind of flimsy. This is not as tight as we've seen previous dance choreography from these guys. Overall this could have been better, but it just isn't and looking back on it nowadays, it looks worse than what I thought it was.
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Chart Mondays: Clean Bandit Featuring Louisa Johnson - Tears



Once again Drake is at the top of the charts with "One Dance" which still has no official music video, come on Drake what are you playing at? So the UK top 10's music videos are available for me to review this week. I picked this song because I've been ignoring it for a while because of the stunning hit the song is. Clean Bandit makes a solid return with the most recent X Factor winner Louisa Johnson in this incredibly visual music video.

Clean Bandit are an instrumental pop band consisting of Jack Patterson, Luke Patterson, Grace Chatto and Neil Amin-Smith, They have had various hits especially with Jess Glynne on tracks "Rather Be" and "Real Love". They are always hitting the charts hard because no other band is doing what they are doing, it's innovative and all-so clever. They have made a massive mark on the music industry and they are not going anywhere. The featured singer if Louisa Johnson, who won the 12th series of The X Factor, which was the most recent series. She was one of the stars from the get-go, and her vocal talents are unbelievable, and this track doesn't show them off fully, yet adds to her versatility. Many have said it sounds like a Eurovision song, both as a winning song and as a catchy unnoticed song. I vote Clean Bandit as the next UK Eurovision representative! The song was written by Sam Romans and Jack Patterson.

Directed by Jack Patterson, yes that's right Clean Bandit's own Jack Patterson, this video is completely stunning with amazing visual effects and scenes that definitely captures the intensity of the song. It also features Hedwig, the snowy owl from Harry Potter, apparently.

This video has it all, flamethrowers, Hedwig, rain, water, smoke, dancing, singing, instruments and fire. What more can you want? Literally Jack Patterson threw it all in, and it really worked.

A stunning music video to match Louisa Johnson's stunning vocals. The choreography is in time with the music, and performed professionally. The band and the vocalist perform emotionally, who wouldn't want to see these people live? Even without all the effects going on around them, their energy is the electricity that fuels this entire thing.

There's a lot going on but little more I can comment on. Overall it's in-depth intensity with a visual concept that works fluidly with the song. They have literally captured the music and turned it into a conceptual art piece.
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Big Brovaz - OK



Big Brovaz will be performing at a club near me (they already have done, I've just changed the date on this blog post), and they are bound to sing this song! OK is probably one of their least known and least catchy songs from their first album, but I totally understand why it was released as it shows them off more as a group. The music video coincides perfectly with it. We all want a Big Brovaz musical, and this is what this video does, puts on a Big Brovaz musical, and boy do we love it.

Big Brovaz were a six-piece group consisting of Cherise Roberts, Nadia Shepherd, Dion Howell, Randy Jackson, John Paul Horsley (J-Rock) and Tayo Aisida (Flawless). They later carried on as a four-piece and attempted to represent the UK at Eurovision. They split up in 2007, and Nadia Shepherd and Cherise Roberts became Booty Luv, who had a string of hits. Nowadays they reform for mini concerts and gigs, but they have no new material, as far as I know. I hope they have something coming soon, because the music industry need this group in the world. For now we'll have to deal with their old music, which can still be considered current. This song was written by Michael Mugisha, John Paul Horsley, Michael Brown, Cherise Roberts, Nadia Shepherd, Abdul Bello, Thelma Howell, Temi Tayo Aisda.

This music video is mainly a performance piece as Big Brovaz perform on a stage. Turning the entire song into a quick musical making us all wish we could buy tickets to see this said theatre production.

All six group members perform with their usual energetic vibes, taking us back to "Nu Flow", except this is on stage, with a great reaction from the crowd.

Interesting and engaging, this group never fails, with perfect dancing choreography, in sync with the professionals, they pull this off easily.

Overall, a great music video, that we hope suggests a future musical down the line, this is what we want. Well, we want the group to fully reform and release new music, but a theatre production is something we could all settle at... Yet that also seems just as unlikely, but we can keep hoping and dreaming!
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