Looking at the chart for this backdated date - which is 25 December 2017 Christmas Day - Ed Sheeran is still at number one with "Perfect". This opens the top ten of the UK Singles Chart to my Chart Mondays review. I was planning on doing Rak-Su's "Dimelo" featuring Wyclef Jean & Naughty Boy, but the song doesn't have an official music video, which leaves me with a couple of choices. I decided on this one, purely because it has the less amount of hits on YouTube; who knows what that means in coming weeks, but I look forward to seeing what happens to the UK Chart. Music videos rarely make me cry, but this one certainly did, following in the footsteps of P!nk's "What About Us"; I swear I'm becoming an emotional wreck when it comes to personal emotional music videos. Watch an old man watching his son, NF, drown and then burn in a fire, then look down on him in a coffin, feeling sad he was never proud of him, with a mighty twist at the end in the music video for hit single "Let You Down".
NF, real name Nathan Feuerstein, is an American Christian hip-hop artist who has a total of four album releases to date. All of his singles have charted on the US Billboard Christan Songs chart, but this is the one that has truly given NF a massive international hit. It's true, it really does take just one song, and this is the one. I'm pretty sure this is the start of NF releasing chart hit after chart hit as more and more people discover his music. This song peaked at number two in Sweden and Norway, number four in Ireland, and number six in Finland and the UK. "Let You Down" was written by Nathan Feuerstein.
Directed by Nathan Feuerstein and Patrick Tohill, this music video hits every viewer in the heart; if the song wasn't emotional enough, paired with this music video it truly gives us all, all sorts of feels. It has one twist of an ending too.
The opening scene sees an old man walk down to a dock on a lake. As soon as the chorus finishes and NF's rap launches in, a young man is seen flailing around in the water, fully-clothed, drowning. The old man does nothing, as he watches his son, played by NF, die in the water. As the chorus returns, the older guy lip-syncs to the song, as if the chorus is words from himself.
The second verse kicks in and we're transported to a field where a car is surrounded by flames. Inside is NF, once again, as his father watches on - once again. The chorus comes back as the car lights up and burns completely. The final verse comes in as we see a coffin in an open grave, the old man opens the lid and reveals his son lying there; he's in shock and dismayed at himself.
We return to the drowning scene as we near the end of the video. This is where the full-on twist comes in. We see a close-up of the father's face, then a close-up of his arm, which displays a tattoo of a word starting with R-E-A - which we can presume is the same tattoo NF has which actually says "Real Music"; and, the shocker of them all, the old man's wife, we presume, comes out and says "Nathan?" as if that's his name. Meaning the whole video is an old man looking back on his younger self, proclaiming that he let himself down. It's such a shocking but interesting twist.
Most people are running with the father-son idea though, and let's just presume they had the same name and matching tattoos. This made me cry because this is something very real in my life, as well as many other people's lives. All I want to do is make my parents proud, and all that I have achieved to date is something I am proud of, myself; and I know I'm going to achieve so much more, but my father is always putting me down and it does make me want to give up sometimes. This music video is beyond personal, and so is the song. NF has created a masterpiece, one we all need to watch and listen to! He's certainly has become my new favourite rapper, singing about real things and real life.
I recently heard this song in a movie trailer, the film in question is titled "Breaking In" (which just goes to show that this blog is backdated, since the trailer, which can be viewed here, was released on 11 January 2018, and this blog is backdated to 24 December 2017). It has been stuck in my head ever since, and to be fair, so has the visuals from the movie - since that film does look epic! In comparison to this music video, this visual certainly falls short. What I wasn't expecting was the military couture, Rihanna's style is on point throughout and she certainly knows how to work these outfits! Watch Rihanna commanding her troops as she brings high-fashion to the military and the desert while Jeezy raps a segment in this music video for "Hard".
Rihanna, real name Robyn Fenty, has definitely established herself as one of the top female artists in the music industry. She has had a number of hits although my favourite era was certainly the Good Girl Gone Bad era and I still consider "Don't Stop The Music" a total jam. Her recent releases haven't quite hit their mark single wise, and it'll be interesting to see where she goes from there. She is currently working on her ninth studio album, so expect new music from her pretty soon. The song features Jeezy, real name Jay Jenkins, who was previously known as Young Jeezy. He was in rap group Boyz n da Hood, and has gone on to have quite a few hits, his biggest solo hit to date is "Soul Survivor". The song was written by Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Robyn Fenty, and Jay Jenkins.
Directed by Melina Matsoukas, this music video is a pure performance piece set in the desert, drawing inspiration from high fashion and combining it with the military.
As I previously stated, Rihanna totally works all the fashion items, to the extent where she really put her own stamp on the fashion industry with her military couture. Some of the clothes aren't typical, yet she works them as if they are everyday wear. Her spiked-shoulder tight-fitting dress became an iconic look for her and this video really established that.
The theme relates greatly to the song because the song is all about being strong and fierce - hard, for lack of a better word - and Rihanna styles that out with the theme and her confidence. Jeezy doesn't add much to the visual, but his words are needed to break up the song.
Overall, this is a completely unforgettable music video - there's even a bright pink tank, which is pretty memorable. Rihanna brings it and her gladiator look is totally on-point, well until she decides to get muddy. With this female singer being strong and powerful, Jeezy kind-of falls short.
This is completely random, I literally typed Lucy into YouTube and saw Lucy Hale's name and decided to finally review one of her music videos on my blog; to be fair, I am a fan of her music, so I'm glad that I've chosen this one, with the help of YouTube. Her debut album "Road Between" is certainly worth a listen and she really managed to establish herself as a country music artist, it's just a shame she hasn't continued music, although her acting career has certainly taken off. Watch Lucy Hale perform at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee while snippets of her having fun with friends and being carefree are cut between in this music video for "Lie A Little Better".
Lucy Hale is pretty well known as an actress, she's massively known for playing Aria Montgomery in Pretty Little Liars although she's been in a whole range of TV shows including loved but short-lived Privileged as Rose Baker and the equally loved but also short-lived refresh TV series of Bionic Woman as Becca Sommers; she also won American Juniors with five other children which made up the group of the same name. In 2014, she returned to music, releasing two singles and an album with moderate success. This was the second single and I love this track so much, I just wish it had charted better and helped her kickstart her music career. The song was written by Mike Daly, Chris DeStefano, and Melissa Peirce.
Directed by Philip Andelman, the music video must have been a dream come true as we watch Lucy Hale perform at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. She really manages to own the stage and her sense of inclusiveness to her backing band is heart-warming, to say the least.
It's nice to see Lucy Hale be herself and full on go for it on that stage. She is clearly meant to be on stages all around the world and I sure hope she comes back to music at a later point and goes on a world tour as I can just imagine the energy she gives out when she performs. Please come to the UK for a gig so I can come and see you, Lucy Hale. This video paints her in a perfect light making us all wish we could go an see her.
As for the fun-clips, they're full carefree moments with friends, something that we've all felt but wish we had more of. They're moments that you miss, but in those current moments, it's just you and your friends being yourself and doing your thing. It's cute, but unfortunately unrelatable to the song - if only this struck up a slight narrative, it would be getting the top rating from me, but these clips just make it fall short.
Usually, I hate this specific week of the whole entire year and the week after, purely because most artists don't release new music, let alone music videos. Luckily, for me, Loïc Nottet has come through (this blog post is backdated if you haven't already guessed). It is a Christmas-spirited music video and song, with it being a full-out piano ballad. This is certainly one of those songs that will grow on me, I automatically like every single Loïc Nottet song, but this just feels average compared to his previous tracks. Watch Loïc Nottet and Justine Vercleven dance together while the former sings at what looks like a piano in this music video for his song "Go To Sleep".
Loïc Nottet is mainly known internationally for coming fourth in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, where he represented his home country of Belgium with the song "Rhythm Inside"; he scored 217 points. Previously, he came second in the third season of The Voice Belgique. That's not the only talent shows he has been on, after Eurovision, he went on to win the sixth series of Danse avec les stars (the French version of Dancing With The Stars / Strictly Come Dancing). He released his debut album last year, titled "Selfocracy" and I chose it as my favourite album of 2017 for CelebMix - make sure you check out what other albums made the CelebMix Top 2017 Albums, the article I wrote up. I can only hope that the release of this single suggests he's working on new music for 2018. This song was written by Loïc Nottet and Eric Chevet.
Directed by Sidney Van Wichelen, this music video is displayed almost like a vertical music video, containing the imagery into a box, reminding us of when TVs used to be square.
There is a performance piece and a narrative going on. The performance side of things see Loïc Nottet singing into a camera, we can presume he is sitting at a piano, playing the song, with the camera propped up on the piano so we just see him. It's quite a different performance piece but allows focus on the dance narrative being displayed.
Together, Loïc Nottet and Justine Vercleven work brilliantly as a dance duo. They have been in a romantic relationship for years, and their passion for each other is very clear. They perform on a bench in front of a Christmas tree. The choreography is flat out amazing and totally on point, although eagle-eyed fans did notice that it was a similar dance choreography that they performed previously in a video to Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love".
Overall, this music video is completely loving and perfect for Christmas time. I like how the song isn't a typical Christmas song, and instead brings something lovely to the table. The music video is all right, but nothing as epic as what Loïc Nottet has previously released! I don't get why it's a square music video. This is nowhere near as great as "Million Eyes" or "Mud Blood", even "Doctor" is better than this; but this certainly is love-filled.
Here is Thursday Revisit, and since I didn't think I'll ever get the chance to review another Modjo music video, I thought why not choose this one? I previously reviewed "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" earlier in the week, hence why I'm reviewing this one for my Thursday Revisit. I actually have a slight memory of it, but the song wasn't to my taste so I don't think I ever watched the video all the way through; although, I have a slight recollection of the track, or maybe it's just the similar groovy vibes? Watch a bowling competition take place between two teams, while there is a disco ball head man dancing and Modjo working at the bowling alley in this music video for their song "Chillin'".
Modjo were a French DJ duo consisting of Romain Tranchart and Yann Destagnoi (also known as Yann Destal). They only released an album before parting ways. This song became their second single and had moderate success in some countries, clearly riding the "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" wave. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to their debut single and was certainly the start of their downfall. The songs certainly have similar vibes, with this one focusing much more on the fun side of things lyrically, whereas the debut single was filled with much more emotion. The song hit number three in Finland, number four in Spain, number ten in Switzerland, and number 12 in the UK; which just goes to show this didn't live up to the first song. The song was written by Romain Tranchart, Yann Destagnoi, Nile Rodgers, and Bernard Edwards. It samples Chic's "Le Freak", hence the songwriters.
Directed by Yannis Mangematin, this music video was set in a bowling alley. It opens up with a dancing man with a mirror disco ball as a head, backed up by two female dancers. This precedes the bowling competition.
This was way back when bowling was all the range and something everyone did. Nowadays, the bowling alleys are pretty empty which brings a much different atmosphere when attending. We watch as each player is knocked out, leaving the top two players; one team is wearing masks. Yet, it's the other team that wins, after being distracted by one of the female dancers.
The ending sees a party going on, and many people have spotted the young woman from the "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" music video. Not only that, Modjo also make another appearance, this time as staff of the bowling alley. The music video doesn't really go anywhere, although does create some hype and tension around the bowling competition. It feels unrelated to the song though.
