Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z - Umbrella

This song is very well known here in the UK, it made chart history by being the longest running single at number one during the 21st century, and it's a wonder if anyone will be able to defeat that? I don't think so. The media turned up a lot of things about this single and after a push and a shove, Rihanna (real name Robyn Fenty) managed to gain 10 weeks at number one here in the UK. But also it gained the "Rihanna's Curse" which I'll talk about later.

This song was written by many people, one of these people was Jay-Z who also performs a rap at the start of this song. The song was first given to Britney, but her label turned it down because she already had enough songs for her "Blackout" album. It was also given to Taio Cruz, and although he wanted it, he failed to convince his record company. It was then given to L.A. Reid who then passed it on, and finally it made it's way to Rihanna. She has released loads of songs and albums since then and has yet to beat this record, will she be able to do that in the future? I'm not sure, can a single really last more than ten weeks at number one nowadays? With the amount of different singles being released every week, and artists only last between 1 and 5 weeks at number one, it'll be very interesting to see if a single does stay at the top long enough to have the potential to beat this record, but I don't see it happening.

The song is now considered as Rihanna's signature song, and you definitely link the song with Rihanna . The song is about a romantic relationship and the strength of the two people in that relationship. Although Rihanna didn't write the song, and so could be considered unable to put emotion towards it; her voice makes the song even more perfect and you can definitely see that she has at least some connection to the song.

The music video heavily links in with the umbrella part, although has no connection to the emotion of the song. I really do like the dance choreography with the umbrellas, and I would really have liked to have seen how they made it, as I could definitely see a lot of umbrellas going here, there and everywhere. I also like the use of the water, obviously it is computer works, and it also suggests that Rihanna is the umbrella herself, which kind of joins in with the whole relationship thing, since she controls the water, and can move out of it's way and even push it into another direction, and she hardly gets wet, so it suggests that the relationship could be strong by standing "under my umbrella ella ella".

Now I HAVE to talk about the triangle significance, a lot of people have referenced it to the Illuminati symbol lately. Although this is doubtful, and it is just an idea that Rihanna and her director came up with. during this bit, she is naked but covered in silver paint, which was re-applied after every shoot. This bit doesn't link in well with the song as I can't think of any references, although it does put Rihanna's career forward into a more of a mainstream success, which she got, and although her recent videos have caused a lot of controversy, this is sometimes referred to as possibly worse than her recent ones (according to Rihanna).

Now onto the Rihanna curse. When this single managed to get to number one here in the UK, we had a lot of disasters including extreme rainfall and flooding. The Sun (a UK national newspaper, for those of you who don't know) decided that these two events were connected. They brought up ideas and even said that the single gave bad luck to this country and even mentioned that the video was shot on Friday the 13th. The newspaper suggested people should help by kicking it off the top spot, and even suggested other songs people should buy. This seems a little far-fetched, but when Rihanna's song was knocked off the weather conditions became better. Not only that but there was similar stories in New Zealand and Romania. In New Zealand there were some worst storms they have ever had including tornadoes and flooding, but everything stopped when this single got replaced at the top spot. In Romania another storm hit, at the start of one of the driest summer's they've had, but as the song climbed down the chart it cleared up...... There may have been more countries where this or something similar has happened, or it could be just a coincidence, what do you think?

Overall, I really like the song, it is definitely Rihanna's most iconic song, and I don't think she'll ever have another song as big as this, but I'm ready to be surprised. I like the music video although there's only a few links here and there. I definitely like the water idea and I can't wait to see more music videos by her.
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Swedish House Mafia Featuring John Martin - Save The World

Talk about man's best friends. While I was on holiday a few weeks ago the radio kept playing this song on and on, so..... It's kind of grown on me. Now I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of Swedish House Mafia, I haven't really watched any other music video by them and I also haven't really liked any of their other songs, but to be perfectly honest I haven't listened to it enough to judge properly, although you may see more of their music videos appear on here at some point.

Now Swedish House Mafia is a three-piece dance/house band compiling of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The song was sung by John Martin, who is a new singer from Sweden, so it'll be interesting how far he would go, however this song doesn't officially state that he's featuring as the vocals, although he is credited, so I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing... The band and John Martin are all from Sweden, who has released many dance artists here in the UK such as Basshunter, September, Danny Saucedo (who has yet to do well) and Edward Maya.

This song is all about saving the world, bringing it back to normality (whatever that is). After the past few crazy years, surely this song should help normality settle. In my opinion, I could so see this music video being presented to Swedish House Mafia, and they had to produce and create a song that fits perfectly within the music video, but of course nothing like that ever happens, but it just proves how well this music video fits in with the song, and although it is bizarre and weird, it is perfect in many different ways.

I have to admit, hands up, this video has captured me. Personally I'm a cat lover, sorry for all the dog lovers out there, but I am, even though I currently have a pet dog, yes yes yes, I can see you all laughing now reading this. BUT why couldn't they have made it a dog and cat world where they saved us humans, why just dogs? Did they prefer dogs? Have they been watching too many re-runs of "Krypto the Super Dog" or something similar that is shown in Sweden? However I have to admit, these dogs are so cute, and love able, and they were recorded perfectly, now don't you lot dare post telling me that they are animation, because my heart will literally brake. Just in case they are animation, I have to admit that I've recently watched "The Smurfs" and a cat appears in that film, and it took me a while until I realised it was animation, that's how advanced creators have now became, so I'm telling you this could be animation, it is so similar that I can't even tell the difference now.

I like the surrealism of this story line, "man's best friend just saved man", I could so see that being the headline on the front cover of some newspaper. And it's kind of weird thinking that could happen, although to be totally honest, I believe my dog would save me (not sure on the whole world, but definitely me and my family). I currently have a border-collie named Harvey, and as all the pictures of the dogs appeared in the video, I was kind of hoping to see some sort of collie appear but I was a little disappointed that there wasn't.

I also like how this video teaches younger children about "stranger danger", there are definitely bad people out there, no matter the reason they still do the bad things they do, and so I like how this video warns people, that things could be safe, but aren't always. To be honest dogs can sometimes be very vicious, which then leads me to understanding why dogs were used, and although cats can be vicious, they aren't as scary, am I making sense?

Overall I really like the concept of this music video and I've finally caught on to liking this song. I definitely wish there were more great music videos like this, and the song connects well with the music video. I like the various dogs and how it shows that small dogs can be just as scary as bigger dogs. I hope you all agree with my rating!

Big Time Rush - Til I Forget About You

I had no idea who Big Time Rush were, I saw this music video, and there was nothing else on the music channels, so today I decided to watch this one, and I've had this annoying song in my head all day. The music video must have sounded great on paper, but personally I don't think it works, it's really weird when that happens, but by the looks of things Big Time Rush need to do a lot better, or soon enough they will be dropped from their label and ceased to exist.

Big Time Rush are a 4-person bubblegum pop band that consists of Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Carlos Pena, Jr. and Logan Henderson. They were created through Nickelodeon television series, which has the same name, which I never watched, although apparently it was a big hit. The series has released 2 seasons so far, with an expected third season on it's way, also the band confirmed that there will be a film released to coincide with the third season. So although the series has been doing really well, the band itself is doing rubbish on the charts, and this song performed particularly badly, as it didn't chart anywhere in the world. I definitely see this band going there own ways, soon enough they will give up with the singing and just do the TV show, which then might perform badly.... That's how I see things going, but I hope they manage to gain success as it is particularly difficult to get a song stuck in my head after only hearing it once.

The song is all about forgetting about the person who's just dumped you, which is kind of a little weird in my opinion. It suggests rebound alert, and that is by no means good. It's all about distracting yourself until you forget about that person, but in theory how do you forget about someone who's been a big part of your life? It just never happens and at the end of the day you'll always remember them no matter what. So I understand what the song is about, but to be honest I don't think I agree with it.

Now if this music video was written down on paper, I bet it sounded like an amazing idea, but I don't really know why the video didn't turn out as great, I'm not exactly sure what it is about it I don't like but something spoiled the whole idea. My favourite bit in the music video is the "Rock Out" button on the camera, and I think that just shows how much I enjoyed the music video because that little thing was my favourite bit. It just seems a little dull, and unrealistic.

I like the idea of how the camera can change people, but in theory that's a little unfair, because they are changing them in a similar way people change because of peer-pressure. Seriously, if they want to look the way they did at the beginning why change them? Everyone's perfect in their own special way, so why turn them into someone they may not be just because of yourself? Okay I must admit, this video goes against a lot of things I believe in, especially about originality.

I have to laugh at the 90's cheesy dance moves that are shown when they are performing on stage, it kind of reminded me of A1 and D-Side and 5ive and *NSYNC. But will they mark the comeback of cheesy pop and hopefully push our now disbanded bands back together? Or will they fail like many of the others? We'll just going to have to wait and see, but personally I'm expecting failure.

Overall, I like the song it's very catchy and is still stuck in my head, but I don't agree with the meaning. I like the concept of the music video, although I don't think the music video works well enough, and it doesn't relate that well with the song. So I am wondering if this ban will make it, or will they become another one people's paved over? Well here's my rating....

Linkin Park - Iridescent

Here's another rock ballad by the almighty Linkin Park. Is this the route the 6-piece rock band plan on going down? We'll see. Linkin park contains 6 members who are: Chester Bennington (singing the chorus), Mike Shinoda (singing the verses), Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn (directed the music video). I always love it when a band decide to split the vocals up between certain members, it gives the song power, and if they are both great singers then emotion comes across a lot better. Linkin Park has been doing this for years, and I'm really happy that they are continuing.

This song is so good, although could be considered annoying every now and again, especially since it is yet another rock ballad by Linkin Park. The song is the fourth release from their fourth album: A Thousand Suns. This song is also been made as the lead single from the third Transformers movie: Dark of the Moon. I have not watched the film yet, so I'm not entirely sure if this music video goes well with it or not, however I will do my best to rate it fairly. The song is all about hope in the midst of chaos and sadness. This works well with the film, as that is what the third transformers film is all about.

The music video is definitely something I wouldn't normally watch. If I were flipping through the music channels I wouldn't watch this video mainly because it is mostly in black and white, and although this easily brings across raw emotion and perfect feelings, it annoys me to an extent and it kind of bores me. To do well in the chart Linkin Park has got to appeal to the teenage market, as well as the adults, and in doing so, a black and white music video will not help much. And although colour does appear it isn't that appealing, it's quite dull and bland and doesn't really make me interested in this music video. The reason I am reviewing it today is because I was on my computer and was just listening to a particular music channel and this came on, and the song got stuck in my head, so I had no choice but decide to rate the music video, however if this was a normal day like all the others, I would have flipped over before the song even started.

The clips from the film is integrated really nicely and makes the music video work well, and suggests that the transformers are their kind of hope. Although at some points the band members are doing something that I don't think really works that well with the song, and only has a little bit of a reference, such as the bit where they are all sitting at the table, this directly links with Leonardo da Vinci's painting called "The Last Supper". Although I have no idea what it means, but I think it goes down the line with the fact that they are having supper during a world of chaos and sadness, and this could possibly be their type of hope.

the use of animals such as a snake and a white dog, suggest danger, which goes well with the transformers theme. Apparently, according to Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn sent him a message that said something along the line of "in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" and the next thing he knew was that he had a snake and a white dog, and he was on a throne made of antlers, and he had horns growing out of his shoulders and he had one blind eye. To be totally honest I think this music video is very different to what everyone is used to however it works well with the idea of sadness and chaos with hope mingled in between.

Overall I'm not totally sure what to make of it, I really like the concept and the absurd idea that Joe Hahn came up with (I really wouldn't like to take a look in his mind, it would be too weird), but I dislike the black and white feel, and I think that what lets the music video down. Anyway, I think I'm being pretty generous with my rating and I hope you all agree.

Linkin Park - Rolling In The Deep

I've been aware of Linkin Park for ages, I used to be a massive fan, and so I have a few Linkin Park albums hidden here and there, but I stopped buying their singles and albums because I had a year when I went completely off the band. However this cover version has totally changed my feelings about them, and although I know I will not be buying any of their future material, I would definitely keep up to date with them, and there may be more and more videos of theirs posted up on here. This cover version is really good, and I totally enjoy listening to it.

Linkin Park is a six-piece rock band consisting of Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda. In the early days Linkin Park made a really big impact on the charts, and rarely dropped out of the top 40. However recently they haven been performing as well, however on the Albums side of the chart, they keep getting really high, with a couple of number 1s here and there (which is to be expected as rock bands seem to do really well in the Albums chart, which totally makes up for their not so good attempt at the singles chart). This song was released on their iTunes London Festival 2010 album which was exclusively released on iTunes. iTunes then decided to release this song as a single here in the UK, and it performed pretty well on the charts getting to number 42, which is usually an achievement in the world of rock.

This song was originally sung by Adele, who's voice gives off amazing emotion and you really feel what she sings about, however in my personal opinion I don't exactly like her, now I have no idea what the reason is behind it, whether I just don't like her voice or I don't enjoy her performances, I haven't got a clue. It usually takes me ages until I end up liking her songs, and that is mainly because of hearing it over and over again on the radio. Now Linkin Park's version blows me away. Chester Bennington's voice is filled with tonnes of passion and feeling that you can truly believe he wrote the song himself for the band. Although this song only features Chester on Vocals and Mike Shinoda on the keyboards, I like the ballad, it's interesting and I could listen to it all day and all night for the next twenty years and I still don;t think I'll be bored with it. Chester has this voice that's so magical and interesting, that it glues me to Linkin Park for a couple of months until they stop releasing songs, I don't know why but he is such a great singer, and I really don't think he gets enough credit for it.

Now unlike all the other music videos, this one is a little different, and although it could be considered similar to other music videos, there is only a few that is done in the same technique. This was done totally live, the audience are real, Chester and Mike are real, and so are the vocals and the keyboard. To create a music video like this is extremely difficult, one mistake and you'll either have to start right at the beginning again (which would annoy the audience), or leave in the mistake, which could be disastrous for the music video. So although many people (like myself) don't think much of live music videos, and we all think it's kind of lazy and there's no thought behind it; a lot of hard work and preparation and sound checks and audience calmality and effort goes into this to make it perfect first time around.

This music video is shot slowly, this helps us to connect to what Chester is singing, but also is a technique that could possibly cut off a mistake which might happen, such as a fan crowd surfing (which usually happens at a concert). It is clever how it is done, and I really like the fact that you can hear the audience singing along to the chorus as if there is a mike being held out to them. I really like, also, how stripped back this is, when I first watched it, I expected the drums to come in after the first verse, and then a guitar, somewhere else, which would make it more of a rock song, but then again this would've excited the audience, and they may have been louder that Chester's singing.

I also like how Chester sings it really slowly, especially after the chorus, because of all the fans screaming. I like how he carries on singing just after they've stopped , it kind of gives a real sort of feel, as if you're actually in the crowd singing along and listening to this amazing performance, those people who went to the Linkin Park iTunes London Festival 2010, had one big treat, and to be totally honest, yes I am jealous.

Overall I am in love with the song and I really can't stop hitting the replay button. But on the other hand the music video is not unusual, and therefore it lacks originality, even though it is a cover. Some of the comments on the YouTube Video (which has over 7,000,000 viewers) state that some people think this cover is better than Adele's original, whereas other people disagree and say that it could never beat Adele. I'm a little torn, I so want to be biased, and I think you know how I'd be biased, however putting my personal thoughts aside, Adele has a strong emotive voice that affects a lot of people, and I think Chester Bennington's voice, at times, can be just as good, so I'm planting myself right in the middle and I am saying that both versions (the original and Linkin Park's cover) are just as good as one another. Some people may be surprised by my rating, after all I've said, but I really want to remind you, I am rating music videos, and not the songs, otherwise it would've been higher.
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