As you all already know, I'm obsessed with Inna, and I'm excited to announce that I will be going to see her live in Dublin, Ireland for the first time and I literally cannot wait... She released this song and music video recently and I knew I'll end up reviewing it soon. Having already covered it for CelebMix, there's not a lot more I can comment on, although I will certainly make this review more of an opinion piece, like many of my reviews on here. Inna flaunts in this promotional online music video for "Say It With Your Body" and that is definitely what Inna and her love interest are doing.
Inna, real name Elena Apostoleanu, is one of the biggest Romanian female singers in the world. She launched onto the scene with debut single "Hot" which definitely gave her international success, since then she has gone from strength to strength, and this is the latest song from her next album. This follows the amazingly catchy single "Heaven", and both tracks are cut from her fifth studio album. Released under Global Records.
The music video is definitely sexy and sultry, but we expect nothing less from Inna. There is also a love interest, but the male actor is unknown unless someone knows who he is (comment below or message me on Twitter).
In one of the rooms, Inna is in, there is writing on the walls. They are lyrics from her previous album, check out my CelebMix article to find out more.
Inna gets all wet in what seems like shower rooms, whilst her love interest walks around her. She is clearly the central focus and the love interest is more background eye candy.
There's another scene where she's dancing, slightly, to the song in what could be a bedroom. It really looks like it belongs in the "Endless" music video if I'm honest, and although it does relate to the song, it just seems less inviting than the rest of the scenes. It feels out of place; on the other hand, it definitely breaks up the other scenes.
Overall, as a music video, this doesn't quite work, but since it is a promotional online video for a promotional song, we can give it some slack. It's relatable and there is a love interest. Inna is looking gorgeous as always and the song is another grower to add to her collection.
If there are two DJs we want to collaborate again and again it's Kaskade and deadmou5. Yet what makes this collaboration even better is the featured artist Skylar Grey, what more do we want? The last time deadmou5 collaborated with Kaskade, their track "I Remember" charted, could this happen again with this song? It's quite doubtful. Slow song and video, we watch as Skylar Grey emerges from a wrecked car and heads towards a light, but with a twist of an ending, do we really know what happened?
Kaskade, real name Ryan Raddon, was one of the hottest American DJs back in 2008-2009, hitting out amazing songs that even managed to chart around the world. He has gone on to work with some of the biggest stars as he continues to release amazing songs we can't quite get out of our heads. This collaboration with deadmou5 is surely one of them. deadmou5, real name Joel Zimmerman, is a name everyone pretty much knows. He was one of the most influential DJs back in 2008, with his song "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" even managing to hit number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Various other singles and albums have followed, and he will continue to be one of the biggest DJs around even if he's not a raging chart success. He certainly doesn't need to be. As for Skylar Grey, real name Holly Hafermann; she was originally known as Holly Brook. Her musical career has been up and down with some surprising collaborations and versatile song releases. The track as a whole is hauntingly quirky. one that I could listen to on repeat for sure.
The music video relates to the song well, it's quite a haunting visual to go with the haunting track. It's pretty slow too which is totally in time with the song.
Skylar Grey is in a car crash. The car is upside down, then she comes to, she starts to move and manages to get out of the car. She takes off her heels and heads towards the light. Then a few seconds later the camera returns to the car and her on-screen lover wakes up, rushes to the car and drags a semi-conscious Skylar Grey out of the car. Quite a twist of an ending.
Very slow with not much going on and yet it still manages to confuse. This video would've been perfect for a Halloween release, what with Skylar Grey all bloody and stuff. Guess this is the start of the Halloween music videos.
Overall it's a great interesting visual with an awesome track behind it. Skylar Grey astonishes in this piece, and I can't wait to hear more from her. I'm also happy to see another deadmou5 music video, as it has certainly been too long. This is relatable to the song, but the confusing music video doesn't quite make sense and leaves the viewers to make their own mind up about it.
It's Thursday so it's revisit time, so I picked this one out of Antonia's back catalogue. I definitely prefer her new song "Get Up And Dance"! This comes as a surprise to me as it was released in the UK under 3beat records, which released songs for Inna and Alexandra Stan before focusing their efforts on other artists (and that's me being nice about it). They clearly didn't promote this song because I didn't see this music video whatsoever, which probably explains why the song didn't chart in the UK. Antonia creates an ultimatum for her girlfriend "Morena" in this music video whilst giving a sultry stage performance.
Tom Boxer, real name Cosmin Simionică, is a Romanian DJ who has had a few hit singles namely this one and "Deep In Love". He has released a few more singles here and there, but none has made quite an impact. As for Antonia, full name Antonia Iacobescu, she has continued singing and has released some much better songs, as well as an album. She's going from strength to strength and I can't wait to see what the future brings for her. This song was written by Tom Boxer. It hit number one in Poland and Bulgaria.
There isn't a lot to this music video, focusing solely on the performance side of things rather than anything else. I can't find the original video; this one if from 3beat's YouTube Channel. This record label is known for editing music videos to a 'UK version', they did it plenty of times with Alexandra Stan and Inna, just look at "Get Back (ASAP)"; so I'm guessing this isn't the full video, but it's the only one I can find.
Antonia gives a great sexy performance on stage. Her modelling background really comes to play in this music video. She's in a bar singing to her lover called Morena. She later gets up from her seat and dances around Antonia.
It's not until we near the end of the music video, we realise that it's all a part of a slight narrative. We watch as Antonia storms out of a house and then turns around and talks to Morena. From the words they say, we find out that she caught Morena cheating with a guy, of all people.
Antonia gives Morena an ultimatum and kisses her to help her decide. As she drives away, Morena comes after her and gets in the car. That kiss must have been something so powerful.
Focus on the performance is what makes this video slow and uninteresting, it isn't until the narrative kicks in that it brings the audience back. I'm sure the full video is slightly different and much more engaging, but this one fails to keep the audience attention. The video slightly redeems itself at the end, hence my rating.
Back to my Eurovision Special, I'm so close to finishing off my favourites from Eurovision 2014, before having to launch into my Eurovision 2015 Special. This was Russia's Entrant in the 2014 contest and they came seventh place with 89 points. The performance on the Eurovision stage was memorable because it consisted of a seesaw. The Tolmachevy Sisters received a lot of boos after their performance, but that was mainly because they were representing Russia, and the points and placement proved that the Eurovision Song Contest has nothing to do with politics, otherwise this great sweet song would not have ranked so well. The Tolmachevy Sisters contrast in this video with a black and white filter which gives a classy look for this sweet "Shine" song.
The Tolmachevy Sisters consist of Anastasiya Tolmachevy and Maria Andreyevna Tolmachevy. This isn't the first Eurovision contest they have competed in. They previously represented Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, where they won with their song "Vesenniy Jazz". Eight years later and they represented Russia again in the Eurovision Song Contest and came seventh. They were chosen through internal selection. The girls released an album after they won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006, but since the 2014 Eurovision Contest, they haven't released anything new internationally. This song was written by Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulous, John Ballard, Ralph Charlie and Gerard James Borg.
This was directed by Aslan Ahmadov. It is a full-on performance piece. Contrast is used effectively in this black and white video, it helps to distinguish who is who, although we're not told ourselves. It feels classy and has an oldness quality to it.
They use the two separate colours, black and white, dramatically. They kind of separate the sisters, which can be both detrimental and helpful.
The girls are relaxed, they clearly love this song and they love to perform it. They scenes they are in adds a quality to the video, but not much else.
The performance is lacking compared to their Grand Final stage performance. It's entertaining to an extent but seems too old-fashioned, there's hardly anything new and current. The video doesn't exactly show the girls personalities, and then there's nothing to relate to the song. A clear narrative would've worked better than a lifeless performance piece. At times the sisters look lost and confused as to what to do, yet they still attempt to perform.
Anyone who keeps an eye on my articles on CelebMix will know how obsessed I am with Alex & Sierra, this song is just perfect as well as the rest of their album which they released this week. I feel I have exhausted every word I can possibly use for Alex & Sierra because they are that good! I'm just glad they chose this song as the first promotional single because this is their audition song for The X Factor (US). Alex & Sierra are "Toxic" to each other in this music video as they hauntingly twist the song and it's meaning into something sexy, sultry and hypnotising.
Alex & Sierra consist of Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton. They won the final season of The X Factor (US), which wasn't at all surprising, even though it was a stiff competition that year, they were clearly a favourite. They went on to release an album and a few singles in America but didn't release internationally, and so this album 'As Seen On TV', without the influence of Simon Cowell, is their first release in the UK, and we are loving it! Soulful throughout, flipping songs we all know on their head and making them sound amazing, totally making them their own and fitting them nicely with original songs, it's an album you need in your life. This song is a cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic" and was written by Cathy Dennis, Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg and Henrik Jonback. Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton has additional writers Mikal Blue and Johan Lindbrandt in their version. They have totally transformed this song and made it their own.
This music video was originally released on Yahoo Music but later appeared on YouTube. Even without the music, you can literally tell that they've switched the song because of the slow dance and the whole visual. There's a deeper meaning to this Alex & Sierra version and it's so intricate.
The main performance piece is sweet, it's clear these two know how to perform. They would definitely be amazing to see live, they work the song to their advantage and there's such a beautiful chemistry flitting across the air between them as they sing.
There's a slight narrative as they are dancing. Alex & Sierra start off in white clothes, but as they start to dance they leave black handprints on each other's clothes, which soon intensifies like some sort of poison or toxin.
By the end of the video, they are wearing black clothes, signifying that they have transformed into something else and still love each other. This reminds me of a typical relationship where people fight but become stronger because of it. Even though they may be considered bad for one another, they fight through it and become something so much more and better.
What's not to like about this music video? It shocks and outstands us and we can't help but love it. It is toxic in its own right, it infects me and I just end up loving this new version of this song! There are a few times the song lyrics don't match up in time with Alex & Sierra singing, but it's hardly noticeable. There could've been more of a narrative too, but it's still on point throughout.
