Geri Halliwell has been a guest judge twice now for The X Factor. So I chose her for my X Factor Special, since the only other guest judge who has appeared twice is Nicole Scherzinger, who is now a full time judge. Geri Halliwell has been in the spot light for quite a long time, she's quirky and fun and you can't help but laugh at the funny things she gets up to. She was one-fifth of girl group the Spice Girls, who have reformed and then disbanded a number of times. The other band members are Emma Bunton, Mel C, Mel B and Victoria Beckham. Geri Halliwell was the first to leave the band due to differences, she later went on to a solo career, in which this is her first single. The Spice Girls went on to release one more album before disbanding. They returned for a year with a new single and a greatest hits album but then disbanded again, they came together for the Spice Girls West End show, and for the London 2012 Olympics, and rumours have started again that it's possible they will reform again... Who knows? According to Geri Halliwell, she's going to be releasing a new album and single very soon.
"Look At Me" was written by Geri Halliwell, Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson. As expected it was a self-penned track from Geri, since that is what they did in the Spice Girls and it explains the whole meaning of the song perfectly. Geri wanted to get away from Ginger Spice, and this is what the song is all about, showing who she actually is. As for the chart number, it managed to get to number 2, Boyzone was her competition and they got to number one with "You Needed Me", they got to the top by selling 700 more copies which isn't much. However this song was certified gold, whereas the Boyzone song got silver. The reason they beat her to the top was because they released 2 CD singles of "You Needed Me" so fans could buy both and ensure they get to number one. Which is a shame because in theory Geri sold more, so some could say Boyzone cheated.
The music video relates to the song perfectly. It narrative, performance and dance choreography all in one, along with a sister, a funeral, a vamp, a virgin and a "bitch". The video is jam packed, and also in black & white giving us an insight into who she is, and who she isn't.
The funeral is for Ginger Spice, and it is the only bit of the video that is shown in colour. It gives us the last goodbye to the old Geri and helps us to understand who the real Geri is. I really like the start where there is just words saying "Image is just your imagination. Reality is rarely revealed." It shows that she wants people to know who she really is, and to be honest we all know she's done that, we definitely don't call her Ginger Spice any more.
There is 4 characters of Geri Halliwell, there is "Virgin... Sister... Vamp... Bitch..." Which makes me laugh as she clearly is a mix of all of them, well parts of them. And I bet she enjoyed playing each of the parts. I like what they're wearing as well, we can identify who is who and suggests she's a mixture.
There is also a lot of choreography, which is always a good thing as it shows she can dance and it also showed what was coming up, as she appeared on The Brits and Top Of The Pops amongst other shows to promote her songs. And from what I can remember they were big dance choreography routines.
Overall a great song and it what a perfect first single, the accompanying music video relates to the song perfectly, and I haven't got a bad thing to say about the video. It's more than what we expected and it is more or less a mini film that leaves you wanting more! I hope Geri's future music videos are just as good as this.
Nicole Scherzinger recently became the new judge on The X Factor. She was previously a guest judge a couple of years back as a stand in for Cheryl Cole then on the first series of The X Factor (US), she replaced Cheryl Cole as a full judge after Cheryl was fired. She was first in a band called Eden's Crush who didn't get much success, and then she went on to become the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. However it always seemed to be Nicole Scherzinger and some backing singers which is such a shame as all the other girls were great singers too. After the band broke-up she went on to a solo career (she did this a few years back and she didn't hit it off that well), recently she returned and topped the charts. She's definitely made it all on her own now.
This song gained Nicole Scherzinger her first ever UK number one, and it's possible it might be her only number one. It was written by Josh Alexander, Toby Gad and Billy Steinbeck. And I'm sure one of these songwriters have appeared on this blog before. This song is so emotional and Nicole pulls it off perfectly, she clearly connected to the song and I was surprised she hadn't written a bit of it herself too. It got to number one in the UK, and managed to chart high in other charts too.
The video is emotionally great, it's both a performance piece with a main narrative behind, clearly we know something has been going on and we can presume someone wants her back, but she's telling him "don't hold your breath" meaning it probably isn't going to happen.
The song is showing that she's powerful and all-knowing, and that she's struggling a bit. I love the very start in the taxi cab (or London Hackney Carriage as it's also known), I bet the cab driver was definitely happy. I also like the rain (pathetic fallacy as it is known) because the weather is a direct reference to her feelings.
There isn't a lot going on, and that is the only downfall of this video, but it's stripped back and emotionally perfect that it links in with the song like you wouldn't expect. This is exactly why it works so great as Nicole Scherzinger has obviously connected to this song.
Overall, a great pop song which makes you understand how it got to the top of the UK chart. It's accompanying music video works great, and I feel emotional watching it, as I think many others do, so I think it's pretty obvious what rating I'm going to give it, and it is definitely well deserved!
Tulisa, real name Tulisa Contostavlos became an X Factor judge with Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow, they replaced judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole. Tulisa used to be in a band called N-Dubz which also included her cousin Dappy and her then boyfriend Fazer. Now she has embarked on a solo career in dance music and she doesn't really get along with her ex-band members. This is her second year as a judge for The X Factor, she won last year with group Little Mix. This song features rapper Tyga, real name Michael Nguyen-Stevenson, who has been trying to hit the UK, but hasn't been doing well lately, this sure will be the song that will help him, hopefully.
"Live It Up" is Tulisa's second single after gaining a number one with her first song "Young". This song was written by Rico Love, Pierre Medor, Paul Love, Barrington Levy and Michael Nguyen-Stevenson. This song is more R&B/dance than the pure dance first single. It is more urban, and you can tell that Tulisa is finding herself in the music industry. I have to admit I didn't like it at first, but now I've played it a few more times, I really do like it, and I tend to be singing along to it without realising. It is released next week, will it chart well? Who knows? But she has difficult competition especially since Amelia Lily releases "Bring Me Joy" on the same week.
This music video is stripped back, and it's got a performance side to this along with the usual party on the beach that is so reminiscent of Cascada's "Summer Of Love". However they are on the same record label, so you sort of expect some similarities.
I haven't got much to comment on, I like the party on the beach but it has been done so many times, and the same with her kneeling in the water, didn't Geri Halliwell do the exact same thing in one of her music videos? Unfortunately this reeks of copies from various other videos, and there really isn't anything that sets this music video apart from the other similar ones that is out there.
Overall this is one catchy song that the more I hear it the more I want to hear. But it's video is something I wouldn't go out of my way to watch again, there's just no substance to it and seems more like a bunch of copied videos put together. However it does look like they enjoyed filming it and they look like they had a lot of fun too.
Okay so this hasn't been officially released so instead I've used the advert. This is the second advert to get onto my blog, the first being Channel 5's Big Brother "When Bruv Takes Over". I chose this as it's my favourite Gary Barlow song, and there isn't many to choose from either. Gary Barlow became an X Factor judge with Kelly Rowland and one other person (to be reviewed tomorrow). He has also stuck on for another year but will this be the last year? Who knows. He is one-fourth of a boy band called Take That, the other members being Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald. They used to be a five-piece and most recently the fifth band member: Robbie Williams reformed with the band for one album. Now it looks like he has gone back to his solo work.
"Here Comes The Sun" is a cover version of the original version sung by The Beatles, who hasn't appeared on this blog just yet. It was written by George Harrison and it is a great song. The Beatles only released it on one of their albums and never actually gave it a single release. Gary Barlow included it on his album, and thanks to album downloads only the track sailed to number 59. If only it got released as a proper single, then it would've soared to the top spot!
The advert is for M&S and contains a lot of celebrities, there is Twiggy, Jamie Redknapp, Dannii Minogue, Myleene Klass, and Gary Barlow, just to name a few. They are all taking part in various activities, some of which might reference the London 2012 Olympics, as well as the British spirit and a camp-fire (which is more American than Britain).
I really don't have a lot to say, it's nice and I like how they are all getting along, but there's just something missing, maybe it's because it's not an official music video? I'm not sure but there is definitely something wrong, as I haven't got much more to say, which is very unlike me.
Overall a great song that Gary Barlow should've released as a single, the video/advert is all summery and interesting with a lot of celebrities, but there isn't much to comment on and something is definitely missing. Hopefully this will be the last advert to appear on my blog, but guess there will be more to come.
Kelly Rowland, along with two other artists, became judges after Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole left The X Factor. Kelly Rowland was only on the show for one year and so I thought I'd review one of her songs now for my X Factor Special. This song is originally David Guetta's song, and Kelly Rowland provided vocals, however it is her best hit in the UK, and it is still played today on some radio stations and music videos. Kelly Rowland was part of a girl band called Destiny's Child, who went on to release some very great, chart worthy songs. The other band members were Beyoncé Knowles and Michelle Williams, there were more band members but they never returned to reform.
The song was written by Miriam Nervo, Olivia Nervo, Kelly Rowland, David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. Kelly Rowland first heard the track on holiday at a David Guetta gig, and she loved the song very much. At that point the song was in the instrumental version only (which probably sounded very much like Coldplay's "Clocks"). Kelly Rowland asked David Guetta for the track so she could add vocals and write lyrics with various other songwriters. And that's what she did, they went as far as recording it and everything, but the label wasn't happy with the song and it got shelved. A few years later David Guetta stumbled across the song and decided to use it in his new album, and BOOM! It hit the UK and various other countries like a storm and shot straight to the top spot. Big Brother UK did an advert using this song, in which I reviewed, check out "When Bruv Takes Over".
The music video was described by David Guetta as "Kelly Rowland doing her thing and me doing mine and we come together". And that is exactly what they are doing in the video, doing their own thing, but it does lead it into quite an uninteresting music video that fails to capture me.
There's not a lot to comment on and not a lot going on either, there is professional dancers dancing in certain scenes which looks like they are attempting to make this video street-wise but I don't see how it works with Kelly Rowland looking quite posh and then she does her own dancing, which isn't choreographed and just doesn't fit in after seeing the professionals.
Overall, it's quite a catchy song and it's understandable why it managed to get to the top spot in the UK, but the music video is lacking quite a bit, it's not what you expect and it looks like they were left to do what they wanted, which leaves the audience feeling disappointed.
