Once again, I have left my iTunes to choose which music video to review. I always have it on shuffle and I have such a diverse range of music available that I'll probably be using this method in years to come since it actually allows me to stumble across videos I've never seen before or ones I've forgotten all about - which is the case with this one. There are two music videos released for this song, one of the original song and another of the Richard Vision Remix; I was planning on doing the latter, since I much prefer the song, however, as for music videos, I much prefer the original, but only by the tiniest little bit. Watch Hilary Duff bring fire in the background of this visual while she sings to the camera in this performance-style music video for her song "Play With Fire".
Hilary Duff is someone I have been a fan of for years, both in her music and her acting roles. She's recently been focusing on acting where she stars in TV series Younger, and she has a new film coming up, titled The Haunting Of Sharon Tate. She has dipped into music and is planning on releasing her sixth studio album in the future, although news about new music has pretty much died, with the last mention of it in 2016, although rumours are certainly hyped up. We certainly are dying for new music, especially since her last album was released in 2015, and as much as we all loved it, there wasn't much promotion around it and the singles, and she didn't tour with it. We're hoping that a world tour happens when she next releases music - we so need to see her live. This song wasn't a commercial success at all. It only managed to chart on the Billboard US Dance Club Songs at number 31 and didn't chart anywhere else. The song was written by Hilary Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Rhett Lawrence, and will.i.am.
The music video was directed by Alex and Martin. It is a pure performance piece using video editing and mirrors to transform what could've been a great energetic visual into an unreal, uncaptivating, and quite off-putting music video.
Any energy that Hilary Duff could've pushed out to the audience falls flat with the editing techniques used. This is so not engaging at all. It was inspired by Orson Welles 1948 film noir The Lady From Shanghai.
The music video is known as Hilary Duff's sexy transition into a woman. I actually think people grasp at straws when it comes to Hilary Duff since she is a Disney star and we've all them take down this sexy route so they can strip away their too-nice front; however, this phase isn't easily found in Hilary Duff and she's gained a lot of respect from her peers for this exact reason. Regardless, this music video just doesn't work and although it was nominated for awards, it just falls flat.
I've been planning on watching this music video for some time, but I keep forgetting about it, until recently when it appeared in my YouTube Recommendations. Sunstroke Project were my favourite act in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, where they sang "Hey, Mamma!"; they came third overall, having appealed greatly to the public at home. Personally, I think they deserve international success, but I'm not that surprised that this song didn't do well when it was dropped since it has a summery feel to it even though it was released at the end of last year. I'm hoping that 2018 brings new Sunstroke Project music that we all will fall in love with. Watch Sunstroke Project host a carnival in a street as a group of children discover what's going on through a gap in a wooden door, fighting over who gets to watch in this bright and colourful music video for "Sun Gets Down".
Sunstroke Project are a three-piece group consisting of Sergei Yalovitsky, Anton Ragoza, and Sergey Stepanov. They've represented Moldova at Eurovision, twice; the first time was in 2010 alongside Olia Tira with the song "Run Away" where they came 22nd in the Grand Final with 27 points. They attempted to return by competing in following national selection shows. Finally, they won, in 2017, with the song "Hey, Mamma!", which was well received by the public at home. They came third in the Grand Final with 374 points. This is the song that followed that Eurovision hit. I am hopeful that they continue to release music and we all hope a brand new album is on the horizon.
Directed by Slava Sirbu, this music video relates to the song with its summery vibe and engaging narrative. The video opens up with a bunch of children interacting with one another. This then pans out to the carnival festival that is going on. The street completely reminds me of Antonia's "Jameia", for some reason, I guess all street sets all look the same.
The one child finds out about the carnival by looking through a hole in a wooden door or gate or fence - I'm not sure what to call that. He quickly rides his bicycle to his friends and tells him about what he's just seen, and they all rush over to watch. Then, one of the children is pulled through the door to enjoy the festivities. The ending, sees someone beckon the other children to join.
As for the performance piece, Sunstroke Project are full of style, class, and fashion. They exude their magical energy and really light up the carnival with their moves and their music. They stand out amongst the festivities while others take centre stage such as the day of the dead woman and the dancers.
Overall, this music video is stunning in concept. It really relates to the jovial sun vibe that is being leached out of the track. The addicting storyline keeps the audience entertained throughout, although I'm quite confused as to why the children run away when the door opens and a hand beckons them in. Otherwise, this music video certainly excites me for future Sunstroke Project songs.
I used to be a massive fan of Justin Timberlake, but my love of his music certainly fell as time went on, and I'm glad it did since I do not like this song, or it's accompanying music video. He's made quite the comeback this year, but it falls short. He is one of the top male singers in the whole world, and yet his latest music hasn't quite slammed the charts as his past tracks have done. Watch Justin Timberlake present to the world the first dancing robot that copies his moves on stage in this futuristic music video for "Filthy".
Justin Timberlake released this track as the first single from his new album, which is his first in five years. Usually, if an artist has waited so long to release an album, you would expect a brilliant collection of tracks. However, he doesn't meet our expectations when it comes to this album, and it really does make us miss his previous tracks. He came back with the awesome "Can't Stop This Feeling", last year which got us all excited about new music, yet this all just falls short, in my opinion. Since his latest singles haven't hit the charts hard, it just shows I'm not the only one who thinks this. However, there's bound to be a surge soon as he performed at the Super Bowl's LII halftime show. This song was written by Justin Timberlake, Larrance Dopson, James Fauntleroy, Floyd Nathaniel Hills, and Timothy Mosley.
Directed by Mark Romanek, the music video is set in 2028 at the Pan-Asian Deep Learning Conference at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He takes inspiration from Steve Jobs and presents his new creation, this robot. He pulls off the geeky-look effortlessly whilst still remaining professional.
This is quite on the freaky side, it reminds me so much of iRobot and all the other robot films where it just doesn't turn out all that great. I keep expecting something to happen every single time I watch this music video, but all we are watching is a dancing robot.
There is a slight twist at the end, but rather than the robot deciding to think for itself and kill everyone, we have Justin Timberlake disappearing from existence. He really is a holographic image! It's an interesting concept of a music video, which becomes slightly relatable to the song as the dancing continues; however, they should've done more with it, there's nothing to keep the audience entertained unless your a robot fanatic and cannot wait to see what this robot does next. Nope, that's not me.
I could've sworn this became a UK number one single, but it turns out that it only hit number 13 in the UK. I'm not sure why I thought it became number one, mainly because the song and music video was literally everywhere back in 2011. It's time for my catch-up blog's Thursday revisit, and I am more than a month behind on my blog, and I totally hate myself for it, so much so that I'm determined to focus in the next few weeks and totally catch up! This music video was totally everywhere back in the day and was filmed in real time, so this tennis match actually happened! Which explains the clarity of the visual. Watch Martin Solveig compete against Bob Sinclar in a tennis match at Court Philippe Chatrier in this music video for "Hello" in collaboration with Dragonette.
Martin Solveig, real name Martin Picandet, is one DJ who continues to bring out hit after hit after hit. This track was certainly the start of his success. In recent years, his music has grown on me a lot, and I was completely honoured to have been given the chance to exclusively interview him for CelebMix. He's been bringing out brilliant songs to date, and I'm still obsessed with "Places". There's no sign of a new album on the horizon, and he even admitted, in my interview with him, that he doesn't plan to release an album, just yet, unless he feels it is right. This song is a collaboration with Dragonette, who currently consists of Martina Sorbara, Dan Kurtz, and Joel Stouffler. They've had a number of hits in their time as a group, although in recent years they haven't had the success that their early years gave them; however, they have an established name and when it comes to this sort of music, it comes in waves and I'm sure Dragonette will return with an absolute banger. The song was written by Martin Solveig and Martina Sorbara.
This music video takes place at the French Open at Court Philippe Chatrier and stars Martin Solveig, Bob Sinclar, DJ Grégory Darsa, Flo Lafaye, Olivia Sanchez, Mathilde Johansson, Novak Djokovic, and Gaël Monfils. Unfortunately, Dragonette does not appear in this visual. There are two versions of this music video, a long version which is part of the series of music videos titled "Smash", and then this shorter video. I may review the longer video at some point in the future.
I'm not sure what tennis has to do with this song overall, but it's comical and great to watch. Who knew that Martin Solveig and Bob Sinclar could play tennis, let alone this exceptionally? I love the fact that Bob Sinclar pretty much thrashes Martin Solveig until the final match point, to which Martin Solveig's love interest, played by Flo Lafaye comes in, and this is where he finds energy and motivation to impress his girl.
During the match point, Novak Djokovic refutes the referee, telling him to check it again. It turns out that Martin Solveig's return is actually in, rather than out. The game continues and Martin Solveig racks up the points to level with Bob Sinclar for the match point.
This is where it becomes interesting, because on comes Gaël Monfils, who will apparently be playing the winner of this match, and therefore is there to scope out the competition; although let's be honest, if that was the case, he would've been there from the beginning rather than appearing at the very end. Martin Solveig watches him walk up to Flo Lafaye, kissing her right in front of him. This is where Martin Solveig gives up and essentially throws in the towel by literally throwing in a towel, and the music video ends.
Overall, the song is about going over to someone and just saying 'hello' and not meaning anything in it and just enjoying the party. Instead, we have a music video all about tennis and competition; there is a love interest, but she isn't saying hello, instead she goes off to someone else. It does have a slight connection as Martin Solveig tries to impress her; however, she's not there to be impressed as she's already in a relationship. It's a very slight connection to the song, but I applaud it for not showing a typical party music video.
Anyone who saw my last blog post certainly expected me to follow it up with this one, since I had just realised that I haven't reviewed any of CeCe's music videos, until now. "Broke AF" was totally one of my favourite music videos from 2017; yet, her debut single "Dead 2 Me" still manages to resonate with me, and I'll never forget the day she dropped this music video. There's just something so incredibly special about this. CeCe really brings it for this visual, maybe because it is officially her debut. Watch CeCe get revenge on her guy who cheated on her in this music video for her debut single titled "Dead 2 Me".
CeCe, full name CeCelia Frey, made her name known by coming eighth in the second series of The X Factor (US). Her vocals are phenomenal, and this track really doesn't do her justice, although it is catchy. If you take a listen to her follow-up song "Broke AF", you'll see how amazing her talent really is. This song and its music video feels like the CeCe that we met during The X Factor, who was almost on the side of arrogant; however, she's grown up a lot since then. The series also made stars out of Tate Stevens, Fifth Harmony, Emblem3, Diamond White, Bea Miller, and Sister C. This song was written by Lydia Vaughan, CeCelia Frey, and Andrew Kremer.
Directed by Patrick Lawrence, this music video has three sections or parts as the video calls them. It's a great narrative from start to finish; although, it's something we've seen time and time again with just a different take on the storyline every time. However, this isn't that much different to others we have seen.
"Act I: The Set Up" starts off with a phone call between CeCe and the guy who has cheated on her. She announces that she totally understands and that "friends kiss all the time" in quite a sarcastic way without giving it away that it's a set up. She invites him to a party, proclaiming that they'll kiss and make up. At the end of the phone call, she tells her girls that "he bought it", before laughing and the track kicks in. They drive to the venue as the first part of the song is sung, with CeCe bringing fire to the track in her performance visuals, which we totally expected.
"Act II: The Trap" sees CeCe's on-screen lover walk on to the set of the party. The venue is deserted as he tries to find out where about the party is being held. He arrives at a garage as the second part of the song kicks in. The girls surround him, as CeCe sings and throws punches at him, which he attempts to avoid until the last one knocks him to the ground.
"Act III: The Party" is the final part, where they drag him to a chair and tie him up. CeCe has on her leopard-print face paint which we're used to seeing from her days on The X Factor (US), as all the girls dance away at the party. She sings the song right in the face of her love interest before they all walk away, leaving him strapped to the chair.
Overall, it's a brilliant music video that completely relates to the song in every way. The storyline has been thought out and is cleverly split into three parts. On the other hand, it's not something new, and this narrative has appeared time and again in music videos.
