Before today, I haven't heard this song, let alone seen the music video, but since it's Thursday Revisit, I thought I'll choose Aly & AJ because it's unlikely they'll feature on my blog again, for a while at least. This is their debut single, that did all right. They were Disney stars, and I remember thinking they reminded me of Mary-Kate & Ashley, although Aly & AJ aren't twins. In this music video for "Rush", we watch Aly & AJ being gypsy-like, busking to earn money and then spending it on recording material for the song.
Aly & AJ are sister duo consisting of Alyson Michalka and Amanda Joy Michalka, they changed their name to 78violet for all of an unreleased album, before changing it back. Their biggest hit to date is "Potential Breakup Song" which became an international success. They have acted in a number of films and TV Series, mainly separately, although they have been in a few together. Their debut song hit the US Billboard Chart at number 59. It was written by Alyson Michalka, Amanda Michalka, and Carlos Tornes.
This music video is directed by Marc Webb. There is another music video out there, released by Disney, which features the sisters on stage whilst there are scenes of "Twitches" intercut throughout. I am reviewing Marc Webb's music video because it feels much more official.
We watch the girls in various scenes. Most notably Jackass Ginger, which is a local popular swimming spot near Pali Lookout, Oahu, Hawaii.
The scenes show the girls having fun with their friends, doing what they want and having a good time. To gain money, they busk, which clearly brings in a lot of money as we watch them go and buy recording equipment.
It's a simple music video, but it captures the essence of the song, and it really is quite visually interesting. On the second watch, you see things you may have missed the first time, which definitely makes this something special. Aly & AJ are currently working on a new album, so I look forward to that being released.
This is the emotional song that should've done much better in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Romania entered Voltaj and scored 35 points placing them 15th, which isn't such a bad placement. The song is so emotional, and Voltaj easily displays the love lost of the song in the music video and studio recording, however, on the night, it just didn't go so well, and they didn't display the emotion quite the way we expected. This led to the not so great score. Voltaj's "De la capăt" is about people going to earn a living in a different country and leaving their children behind; in the video we watch a child missing his family.
Voltaj, are a five piece Romanian pop rock group consisting of Călin Goia, Gabriel "Porcus" Constantin, Adrian M. Christescu, Valeriu "Prunus" Ionescu, and Oliver Sterian. They have released many singles and albums, and have been going for many of years. They won best Romanian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005. Since this release, they went on to release an album. This song is full of emotion, although I totally agree that it's much better sung in Romanian. For some reason, Voltaj loses the emotion slightly when they change to the English version of the song towards the end. The song was written by Gabriel Constantin, Călin Gavril Goia, Adrian Christescu, Victor-Răzvan Alstani, Silviu-Marian Păduraru, Monica Stevens, and Andrei Leonte.
This music video totally relates to the song, and has a brilliant narrative backed up by a typical performance piece. The visual is so stunning.
The narrative is intense. You watch a lonely boy missing his parents as he goes through his life. He gets a parcel from his mother, who then he writes to before he goes and explores, possibly going on an adventure to which is a part of his memories from the time he spent with his family, that's my theory anyway.
The mother is currently living in Austria, clearly earning money to give her child a much better chance at life, who she's left behind in Romania. Unfortunately, the letter is sent back to him, which makes him pack his stuff up and take a boat trip out over the water. We presume he's trying to get to Austria, although that is a long way to go by boat.
The performance piece isn't anything new, it's a typical band performance. However, I love that there are some scenic scenes such as when they're on the cliff, as well as on the boat in the open water.
Overall, the music video is completely emotional. It has everything, from a narrative that is so sweet and that many children and adults will identify with in Romania, as well as other countries; to a performance piece that may be typical, but is scenic. The boy is so adorably cute, that it was great to choose him for the role. It's such a shame this song didn't do better at Eurovision 2015, but it all depends on the night and for some reason, the emotion didn't come across as well as previous performances.
After seeing "The Edge of Seventeen" today, I had to review this music video, where the title character is collaborating with one of my favourite new bands! The film is highly relatable and is definitely a must-see film! This song doesn't really relate to DNCE, who have just released their very unique debut album, hence why they merely only featured on the song. Hailee Steinfeld and her love interest go to a DNCE concert, where Joe Jonas passes her a mic to sing the song with them, whilst jealousy seeps out of the boyfriend in the music video to "Rock Bottom".
Hailee Steinfeld was the main character, Nadine, in the new film that hits UK cinemas next week called "The Edge of Seventeen". Check out the review I wrote for CelebMix. She's played various roles in films and TV shows, and has proven a few times that she's quite the triple threat; she can dance, sing, and act. This song is much sweeter than her most recently released "Starving", and it's quite surprising to see this wasn't an international hit because it's definitely catchy even if it is only mediocre. DNCE are a four-piece band consisting of Joe Jonas, Jack Lawless, JinJoo Lee, and Cole Whittle. Their music is like nothing you've heard yet, their album is phenomenal and you should totally check it out and my review for Outlet Magazine. This song doesn't really go with the songs DNCE have released. "Rock Bottom" was written by Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson, Julia Michaels, and Justin Tranter.
Directed by Malia James, the music video is a memory-narrative music video, with a performance piece segment halfway through. Hailee Steinfeld's love interest / boyfriend is played by model and actor John Economou.
The opening scene sees Hailee Steinfeld in the back of a taxi, singing away to the song, as memories of her time with John Economou unravel in a series of events, from loving and passionate scenes to fights and argumentative scenes. It all leads up to a concert event where they attend a DNCE concert together. This is where she takes to the stage to perform the song with DNCE.
Now this performance piece is full of emotions, she has really identified with this song and her chemistry with Joe Jonas is infectious. She is loving every minute of being on that stage. However, there's a continuity edit that does my head in, her furry red coat starts off relaxed around her arms, revealing her back. However, in some scenes, she has the coat half-on-half-off and, in others, she's wearing it over her shoulders. It's so distracting.
Her love interest ran out the door whilst she was performing with DNCE, he clearly couldn't put up with her making eyes at Joe Jonas; I totally don't blame her, though. She steps off stage to go and find him, which is why she ended up in the taxi in the first place. The ending sees them kissing in the rain in a sweet and romantic scene.
Overall, it's a great complete music video. Every aspect and scene has been completely thought out and works in a loving circle visual. However, that continuity error bugs me nonstop. A great music video that relates to the song perfectly!
It's Monday, and Clean Bandit is still at the top with "Rockabye" featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie. So that opens the top ten to my Chart Mondays review. There are two reasons I've picked this music video: one, this song is set to drop out of the UK top ten next week, especially since it's been dropping week-on-week and it's currently sitting at number 10; but, also, two, I'm going to see "The Edge of Seventeen" tomorrow, as I won two free tickets to the film, which Hailee Steinfeld stars as the lead character. Considering what films I have seen her in, she's going to be perfect in the film, yet it's her music videos and songs that really impact me as they are so different from her characters. Sexy, confident and full of fire, Hailee Steinfeld dances away whilst eyeing a guy in this music video for "Starving" which is in collaboration with Grey and Zedd.
Hailee Steinfeld is a singer and actress, who is totally proving that you can do both and make it big. Her film roles have been completely incredible and as she starts on her musical career she is releasing solid songs everyone is loving. She's practically the next Hilary Duff, for sure, and yet encroaching on the brilliance of Jennifer Lopez. In the next decade or so, Hailee Steinfeld will be one of the greats, she's already halfway there and it's not going to stop now. This song is a collaboration with Grey. They are an American electronic brother duo consisting of Kyle Trewartha and Michael Trewartha. They have remixed some pretty well-known tracks, and has released two collaborative tracks, including this one, the other being "Adrenaline". Zedd features on this track, real name Anton Zaslavski. He has worked with Grey on both of the aforementioned tracks. He is definitely one of the biggest DJs in the whole world, and I am a fan. This song was written by Michael Trewartha, Kyle Trewartha, Robert McCurdy, Christopher Petrosino, and Asia Whiteacre.
Darren Craig is the director of this mainly performance-based music video, which envelopes a slight narrative. Grey make a cameo appearance in the music video, although no sign of Zedd. Hailee Steinfeld is a vision.
There are a few scenes to point out. The opening scene is emotional, really impacting the audience making them think she's serenading us. Then a shirtless dancer comes in the choreography scene, he's obviously the love interest. The scene is fire, with Hailee Steinfeld completely showing she can dance as well as sing and act; totally a triple threat!
Then there's the fading into the wallpaper scene, where her outfit matches the wall behind her, this totally messes with my head, and I find it difficult to focus. Luckily, I'm not the only one, though. It's a slight insight into the sort of characters I've seen her play in the films I've seen, although the outfit in question totally pushes that idea out the way because that outfit is sexy, sultry and completely works for her.
The video's great, although a more-developed narrative would've made this brilliant. There are a few undeveloped scenes, that I wish I could see more of; the ending scene, in particular, is gorgeous but not long enough. There's not a lot else I can say, but it's one of the good performance-based music videos I've seen!
My iTunes played one of their songs today, and it totally reminded me of the days this song was popular on the music channels. It's such a shame they never became a big success, but they've stuck with it and has a new album on its way, so hopefully they have a hit single from that. This song is their biggest hit to date, but it's one most people have forgotten about for now. Yet, it's bound to do well if the girls returned with another hit song. The performance-based video shows sisters Aly & AJ recording and posing for the camera. Pure fun from start to finish.
Aly & AJ, full names Alyson "Aly" Michalka and Amanda Joy "AJ" Michalka, are sisters and were formerly known as 78violet for all of an unreleased full album before they reverted back to Aly & AJ. You may have seen them separately and together in various films and TV series. They were Disney stars, yet I never identified them as part of the group that was about during that time. Now they're no longer a part of Hollywood records, and as I previously mentioned, they have a new album coming out. This song is their biggest hit so far, having managed to hit number 22 on the UK chart. The song was written by Alyson Michalka, Amanda Michalka, Antonina Armato, and Tim James.
The music video was directed by Chris Applebaum. There is not much to this music video, and it is a pure performance piece that the girls manage to rock perfectly, and yet it's not so relatable to the song.
They reminded me of Mary-Kate and Ashley when they first came out, but I think that just came from the fact that they were sisters (not twins) with blonde hair. The connections children make.
There is a few different scenes, one where they're recording the song, another in a yellow-pink filtered room, and then there's the performance with the guitar. The latter scene allows them to go on full-on rock mode, wishing they will collaborate with Orianthi one day, wishes and hopes.
Literally, with nothing more for me to comment on, leaves a lot to the imagination. The song is about break-ups and the girls sing with passion. Their love for each other as sisters is obvious, and it's so heartwarming to see how much they get along. I can't wait to hear new music from this duo.
