I have to admit, I wasn't aware of who Carrie Underwood was until a few years ago, thanks to Reggie Yates on Radio 1's Official Chart Show. He asked a question along the lines of "Who has sold the most records world wide after being a winner on American Idol?" I had expected Kelly Clarkson to come on top with Jordin Sparks following, but instead Kelly came second with Carrie Underwood first, which really surprised me since Carrie Underwood, as of yet, has never charted on the UK chart. Carrie Underwood won the fourth season of American Idol, and has had a number of hits in the US.
This song was sung by Carrie Underwood, and released on the Enchanted Soundtrack (it's one of my favourite films ever, and I so hope the rumours are true that there is a sequel in the works). For some reason a music video was released, which I watched a few days ago on the music channels, but the song was not released as a single, therefore it obviously didn't chart anywhere, even though this song is sung beautifully and it's the only one I know from her.
I love this music video, it works perfectly, again it's another soundtrack music video, but this is different from the rest, they've used the animation scenes from the film at the start of the music video, also making Carrie Underwood into an animation, which was an extremely clever thing to do, and kind of reminds me of Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliot's hit "Car Wash". And they don't use any other scenes from the film, instead they use what they filmed, which is a really clever and unique idea.
I think Carrie Underwood is really pretty in both the live bit and the animation, I like the use of the waterfall, and in theory they HAD to use it. I like how similar it is to the film, and that they used all the same effects. I like the fact that Carrie spreads happiness throughout the street, that newspaper stand man was awe-struck by her. That florist liked her lots too, and I thought it was really sweet that she gives the flower to another person, and links them two together, and I love the dancing with the children bit. And especially the end how the people just stop and move away creating two lines. It's definitely a music video that stands out from the crowd.
Carrie Underwood has this strong and powerful voice that makes you realise she is worthy of winning American Idol, although she deserves to become a worldwide star, I reckon the UK will really like her, and her sort of music is definitely making the chart now, so maybe it's the time for her.
Overall I love this song, and it'll be stuck in my head all day. The music video is very different, and definitely stands out from the many different music videos out there. It's a shame she never released it as a single as I could see it charting quite high. I hope one day she manages success over here in the UK, and I look forward to writing more reviews of her music videos.
I haven't been much of a fan of Professor Green, to be totally honest Rap is not at all my genre, and I find it difficult to work out who is who. However this one stands out from the crowd, he uses such personal words that describe his life, one could almost shed a tear. His real name is Stephen Manderson, so you can sort of realise why he decided on an alias. He collaborated with Emeli Sandé, who has an amazingly strong voice. She has a university degree in medicine, but she no longer needs it. Every single she has released including collaborations have all made the UK top 10, and I can definitely see her being a worldwide star, I know America is going to love her.
This song was written by Stephen Manderson, TMS and Iain James. This song is extremely personal to Professor Green and deals with his life, especially the suicide of his father. I like Emeli Sandé's vocals on this song, they are so powerful, and it sort of makes sense why the song managed to get to number one so easily, but I also reckon it had something to do with performing this on the X Factor.
The music video is strong and powerful, I love the fact that it has a beautiful narrative that some people may even cry at, I also like the emotion that pours out of Professor Green's face, you can tell he means every single word, and this is what makes it such a powerful song. It's the same with Emeli Sandé, she's found a connection with the song, and she knows exactly what she is saying and what it means. This is definitely a powerful song and music video, and they've done a really good job with it.
The narrative side of the video follows a boy (who looks like a young Professor Green, although I don't know the actor's name), he is standing outside looking in, watching his step-mom and her daughter. His dad sees him and comes to the door, they hold hands and you all think aww, but then his dad lets go as soon as he walks in. We then see him go upstairs (to get away from his step-mom), and into his old bedroom, he is angry he wants to 'scream' and 'shout', and so in a fury he rips down posters and pictures and rips his bedding and all sorts, his step-mom shouts at him and he shouts back, he then goes into another room and does the same. He then puts his hands over his ears and shuts his eyes, the next thing, he's in a warehouse and Professor Green steps in. The ending is my favourite bit, it's kind of a future and past sort of distinction.
I love the narrative storyline, but I also like Professor Green's rapping, he performs it perfectly and his emotion in his face is amazing, a lot of people have compared his rapping to Eminem, saying you could easily mistake one for the other. Emeli Sandé's vocals are amazing and I can see her being a BIG star soon. She is singing under a shower of rain, well I think she is, I'm not sure what that is about, but I think it signifies fury and wanting to let loose, when really you can't, and you have to learn to control yourself, and that you can't always get what you want.
Overall, this song is amazing, even though rap songs aren't really for me. And the accompanying music video just blows me away, I could watch it again and again, and I feel so sorry for the little boy, and although I can't empathise with him, I can definitely sympathise with him. This deserves this rating, everything has pulled together perfectly and this is how a music video should be.
Hilary duff is a mega star, everyone knows who she is and has probably watched one of her TV Programmes or films. She is a big star in Music too with a number of hit singles. Haylie is Hilary's older sister, she has been in a number of films and has featured on a few soundtracks, but together they are an unstoppable force. They clearly love one another and they get along perfectly, the way siblings should. A lot of people, including me, reckon they are alike, they could pass as twins at some points in this music video, for those of you who don't know, Hilary is usually on the right, and Haylie is usually on the left. They been wanting to collaborate for a while, and I'm glad they have as this is a great song.
Our Lips Are Sealed, was originally sung by The Go-Go's, and became quite a big hit in the US. The writers are Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall. Not long after Terry Hall decided to re-record it with his band Fun Boy Three, this gained a lot of popularity managing to get to number 7 on the UK singles Chart. Then it was Hilary & Hailey Duff's turn, they managed to get moderate success in Canada and Australia, but failed everywhere else, personally I think it was due to little promotion of the single. Their version was sung for the Movie Soundtrack: "A Cinderella Story", which has Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray as the lead roles. (NOTE: This film is really good and it's one of those ones you can watch again and again, just like many chick-flicks).
The music video is the perfect soundtrack music video, I have reviewed quite a few soundtrack music videos over the past months, but I think this one is one of the best, it has intricate prominent scenes from A Cinderella Story. I like seeing how well the girls get along with one another, having a laugh and enjoying themselves.
I like the scenes in the car, they are enjoying themselves, obviously Hilary Duff isn't actually driving the car, it could be on a trailer, or even Blue/Green screen. But I like it when Haylie gets in the back and puts her hands over Hilary's eyes, and I love the ear bit and the green gherkins bit, it's really funny.
I like the special features they use, like the pink and green, ultra-violet lights that make the girls stand out. And the scenes they use from the film is nicely added to the music video giving it a really good effect, and puts the music video together really nicely.
Overall I really like this song, and Hilary and Haylie Duff should definitely collaborate again in the future, the music video is pretty good, I think the use of scenes from the film has been edited in perfectly. But I still think there's something missing, it doesn't make you go WOW, and you can easily forget about this video if you watch it amongst a load of others, such as when you're watching the music channels.
Amerie was a big hit a few years ago, maybe a few more. And this song is her biggest song in the UK, managing to get to number 4 on the chart. I have to admit, I hadn't heard this song until about a year ago when I went on holiday with Tink09 (who seems to introduce me to a load of songs, according to this blog), and she was singing along to this song, and I had never heard of it, but it's really became catchy and as soon as I heard the video being played on the music channels I couldn't help but watch it. It's one of those songs that will get stuck in your head all day, even if you know none of the lyrics the music behind is catchy enough to play again and again in your head. Amerie has a new album coming out next year, people thought she dwindled down and disappeared, but that's not the case, and I can see her doing really well since R&B is doing amazingly here in the UK, could this be the time for her to become big? Time will tell, but she does deserve it.
This song was written by Amerie, Rich Harrison and Stanley Walden. Rich has written for a lot of stars, but has mostly collaborated his writing with Amerie, but has got writing credits for Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland. Will Amerie and Rich join forces again for her new album? It's possible, and will a hit single like this one come out, I think so. We nearly didn't get this as a single, as the record label felt it was unfinished, but were unable to give details. Amerie and Rich Harrison then leaked the song onto radio stations across America, in an attempt to get it released, and it worked. Amerie became more known because of this hit single.
The song was remixed with a vocal performance by Eve, this is the song that people tend to listen to nowadays, and it is considered to be a collaboration. Amerie picked Eve to do the remix with because she feels that Eve is in a male dominant genre, full of all these male rappers, and that Eve, along with few other female rappers, show that anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it.
I actually like the music video, there is a lot going on, which accompanies to the amount of music behind Amerie's vocals. There's no narrative, but that's okay, and there are some cut-scenes of this hit movie "Hitch", as this song was a last-minute soundtrack from the song.
Amerie co-directed the music video, as she had the perfect idea for the video. She appears as a Go-go dancer and it works perfectly with this up-tempo chaotic song that is just right. I like some of the choreography, even though she isn't dancing all that much.
I love the start, the way she struts down the road, it's a strong and powerful walk, which suggests that the song is strong and powerful. I like the drums and all the other instruments behind her, and that red panelled wall is really interesting too.
There is so much going on in the video, it's hard to comment on it all, but I do like it lots. It seems there's not a lot I can comment on as the dancing and the performance is all we have, but the fast-paced song goes perfect and they've done really good editing. I just have to give it this rating, I just think it's lacking something, although what it is I don't know, maybe it's the narrative?
Sunday Girl is an artist I've never heard of before, she comes from the UK, and has released 4 singles, with not charters, as of yet, why she is still around, I have no idea, generally by this point artists are dropped from their record label, and disappears for eternity. Her real name is Jade Williams, and she gained her alias when she worked for a pet store, she didn't mention to the other members of staff her real name, and since she only worked on Sunday's she was always referred as "Sunday Girl". Will she still be around in a few years time? I don't think so, and to be honest if this is the sort of songs she releases I can understand why she isn't that popular.
Now this song... When I first saw the video, I was really excited as I thought it was Basshunter's new song as he covered this song in his "Now You're Gone (album)", but then I realised the music was different and the lyrics were different. So I decided to find out more about this song, hence coming to do this review. This song, which shocked me, was originally sung by a band called Sunscreem, in 1992 (meaning this song is one year older than me), and has been covered by many artists including Steps and Rollergirl, who made the song famous in Sweden. My favourite cover is Basshunter's (which also features Lauren Dyson's Vocals).
I have to say I hate this music video, it has no link with the song what so ever, and I'd understand it if they were in a club or something, because this is where this song is more than likely going to be played, but no, the people are "Whipping their hair" to the song, which I would totally understand if this was a cover song for Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair", but it isn't.
Sunday Girl, doesn't look like she's enjoying this, usually if you are singing a song and performing it you usually put some umph into it, but there's nothing here whatsoever. It is really boring, and I know I shouldn't have expected much from it since she has failed to make any chart position thus far, but I reckon her other music videos were better than this (I haven't seen them so I wouldn't know).
Overall, I don't really like this version of this song, it sounds a lot like the original by Sunscreem, and they haven't changed the song much, for those of you who want to hear a better version I totally suggest Basshunter's version, as I haven't heard a better one just yet. The music video is bland and boring, there is no narrative, and no performance, and I will not be watching this video on the music channels whenever it comes on. As much as I like the song, there are better versions and the video could have been so much better, there isn't any "heart hands" either.
