Heard this on the radio after Christmas shopping, so thought it would be the perfect excuse to review the video. This is such a sweet music video, yet could've easily been chaotic... Wait! It pretty is chaotic in a relatable way. I'm not so keen on the song, it's too nicey-nice for the lyrical context, and yet the music video does the exact same thing. Watch children take over Olly Murs' music video set in this visual of "Grow Up". Adorable but not engaging.
Olly Murs made his name by coming second in the sixth series of The X Factor. He has done the best from the contestants of that year, although that could be due to being signed to the Syco label and managing to hit out bangers in his early career. Now, he's totally been underperforming, releasing growing songs, much like this one. After hearing it over and over, it easily embeds into my head, which is his signature style of songs, and yet they're never easy hits, and never memorable enough. This is just another to add to the Olly Murs collection. This song was written by Olly Murs, Steve Robson, Camille Purcell, and Wayne Hector.
Directed by Jim Canty, children take over completely and make the video instead. See them reorganising the set, doing his make-up and being fashionistas.
Annoyingly they talk over the song, which doesn't make it that great to view. Not only that but it seems very messy.
This sort of video has been done plenty of times. We've seen people behind cameras and in director chairs often, enough that I can't even list them all because there's been too many. Yet, this is just another one; there's nothing unique or special about this one, apart from it being children, but they're not mischievous enough.
Olly Murs is known for being a cheeky chappy, and therefore, we expect the kids to be just as cheeky. Yet, this just falls flat.
The music video feels totally low budget. It should've been so much bigger, but it's not. The kids should be troublemakers but they're not. There's no doubt that Olly Murs will be a great father one day, but that is not what this song is about.
Time for a bit of house music on my blog today, although the only reason is because I struggled to find a music video for any songs that were released this week. It seems this is the only one I could find, and it's pretty unimaginative. Watch a guy with painted eyelids dance away to this house song titled "Closer To You" by WHOISJODY.
WHOISJODY, real name Jody Koenders, has been known by various different names in the past including Jody Meyer and Jody San. He is from the Netherlands and has released various different songs, but he has described this project as Super House. This song has already been released on Beatport and will follow onto iTunes in 2017. I can't deny that the song is full of beats that I'd love to rave to. A perfect tune for the clubs.
The music video is a performance visual of a guy dancing. That is basically it. There's nothing else to it.
It's not engaging whatsoever, although it is kind of shocking when he removes his sunglasses. You have to give yourself some time to adjust to the weirdness of it all and to understand what is happening.
There is a guy who is dancing with his eyes closed. Only, painted on his eyelids are eyes. It reminds me of a scene out of Tom & Jerry, where they don't want to be seen to be asleep.
At the end, he opens his eyes and confuses us even more. I don't understand what is going on. Yet, I can't deny how catchy this song is.
It's Thursday Revisit time, and I thought I had cocked it all up. I went through every artist I have reviewed this week, and none of them had released anything more than five years ago, apart from Inna, but I've reviewed all of hers; until I realised Gucci Mane was a featured artist on Rae Sremmurd's track "Black Beatles"; and so, I had to do one of Gucci Mane's old songs. Since this is the one that has charted on the UK chart, why not? Gucci Mane teams up with Usher who is hosting a party, but the rapper isn't up to it after parting ways with his girl. Watch some jealousy sparks in this "Spotlight" music video.
Gucci Mane, real name Radric Davis, has been going for years, but it isn't until he teamed up with Rae Sremmurd for track "Black Beatles" that he gained global chart success; even if the song is only known as the Mannequin Challenge song. He has previously charted a number of times, in his early career in the US; however, this is the only song that charted in the UK by him. The reason it charted may have something to do with Usher. He is the featured artist on this track, real name Usher Raymond IV. If you don't know who he is, he has been killing it for years. Global success all over; hence why this track charted in the UK because he was at the height of his fame then, and still is. This song was written by Radric Davis, Usher Raymond, and Jamal Jones.
Directed by Benny Boom, the music video also has cameos from Nicki Minaj (before she became famous), and Eddie Murphy's daughter: Bria Murphy.
The opening creates a narrative which sets up the performance piece, ending full circle. We watch as Usher urges Gucci Mane to come to his party, but the rapper isn't feeling up to partying as he is upset. We learn that he and his girlfriend has split up.
Usher wins him over, naturally. This is where the performance piece kicks in, and we see Usher doing his thing. Gucci Mane and Usher are a great duo, one we wish will happen again. They have a close energy, that has a lot of pumped up vibes.
We see some old dance moves, that is better left off in the 00's; although, I guess dabbing has been adapted from one certain move clearly shown in this music video.
Nicki Minaj can clearly be seen talking to Gucci Mane, which flits a whole lot of jealous looks from Bria Murphy, who we later work out is Gucci Mane's girlfriend, that he had just split up with. The ending sees him rushing out to her and they make it up.
Overall, the music video has a brilliant narrative and an energetic performance. What more can we ask for? It's relatable, interesting and story-focused. It works well but doesn't really grip the audience all that much. It's great to watch, and totally gets kudos for not putting a bunch of provocative girls in the performance piece. Nice one!
One of my top favourites from this year. It still shocks me to this day that it didn't get nearer to the top! I don't really know what happened during Eurovision 2015, but it wasn't as good as the previous years, and yet there were definitely some treasures that we still haven't got over; this is one of them. Aminata represented Latvia and scored 186, placing them sixth. This should've done much better. Aminata gets soaking wet during her performance and narrative music video for "Love Injected", sexily involved with her love interest, who also gets fired up.
Aminata, full name Aminata Savadogo, was definitely one of my favourites from this year, her unique vocals will make her an international star, if she continues to stay focused and fights to become a global singer. She previously entered Dziesma 2014, the Latvian national selection for Eurovision 2014; unfortunately, she came fifth with "I Can Breathe". It clearly wasn't meant to be, especially when she went on to win Supernova 2015 and became Latvian's representative to Eurovision 2015. Then in 2016 she wrote Justs' winning entry "Heartbeat", where he came eighth in Eurovision 2016. Now, she's competing in Golos (the Russian version of The Voice), where she's a part of, fellow Eurovision 2015 contestant, Polina Gagarina's team. This song was written by Aminata Savadogo and Kaspars Ansons.
Directed by Andžejs Gavrišs, the music video is gripping from start to finish. Aminata controls the viewers attention all the way through. She has so much potential that, in this video alone, she proves her star quality.
The performance side of this music video is completely powerful. Wow! She can easily grip an audience in a second. With her beautiful vocals and her stunning looks, Aminata is definitely someone who will go far.
The narrative part sees Aminata and a very sexy love interest, who is played by actor Martiņš Kapzems, completely soak themselves with the contents of a fuel can. We can presume they plan to burn themselves alive by pouring fuel all over them in a gorgeously sultry way.
Martiņš Kapzems can be seen lighting a match, which he brings to a cigarette, before they both free fall over the edge. The cigarette has previously been dropped after some erotic smoke scenes, lighting the floor.
However, they aren't committing suicide, they are honing a power. Martiņš Kapzems is pretty much similar to The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, being able to control fire now that he has fuel all over him. Can he become any more hot? In more than one sense of that word.
Much like the song, this music video is strong and sexy. It's hot all over, and is so captivating that I can't stop watching it. The song is one that is worthy of being a winning song, and yet totally under performed. Aminata is going to be a big star, no doubt; I literally can't wait for what the future will bring for her.
If there's one newcomer to the table who has hit it off well globally, it's DNCE! They unleashed internationally with the globally successful song "Cake By The Ocean" which was followed up with the equally addictive "Toothbrush", yet this is the one song that launched their album, that said album is one of the best albums I have heard all year. DNCE get completely sexy in a strip-like type of a music video for "Body Moves", but what do we really expect?
DNCE are a four-piece band consisting of Joe Jonas, Cole Whittle, JinJoo Lee, and Jack Lawless. They kept this project a secret until they were ready to launch their debut single, and it definitely worked out well for them; especially with Joe Jonas being such a well-known figure in the music industry. The group recently released a self-titled debut album which is for sure one of the best albums I have listened to in a while, don't forget to check out my review for Outlet Magazine. This song hasn't done as well as their previous singles and isn't quite the chart success it clearly deserves to be, what with the extremely catchy hook. The song was written by Joe Jonas, Rami Yacoub, Albin Nedler, and Kristoffer Fogelmark.
The video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis, a name we keep on having to type out since she has certainly made herself known amongst the music video industry.
It's extremely sexy, with a main performance piece where DNCE are looking so hot. Full of energetic vibes, DNCE definitely know how to perform.
There are quite a few people reacting badly to this music video due to the provocative sexual theme, however just look at the lyrics and you'll realise that it is completely relatable to the song.
Joe Jonas is seen kissing model and actress Charlotte McKinney in the music video. All four band members have their own love interests, keeping it equal, regardless of the extra airtime that Joe Jonas gets since he is the frontman and lead vocalist.
Overall, it's a sexy relatable music video with a brilliantly underrated catchy song that we constantly have stuck in our heads.
