Sam Callahan first sparked my attention by appearing in a magazine. Since then I can't stop thinking about him, so I looked up his music on iTunes and on a whim bought this single, and what a lucky find I have found, an 18 year old and he can sing like that..... What is this world coming to? His voice is angelic and amazing, and one of those voices I could listen to again and again and never ever get bored.
"Runaway Train" is not the only track on the single I bought from iTunes, but it's definitely his own song, whereas the others are covers of Calvin Harris Featuring Example's "We'll Be Coming Back" and Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". Both covers are amazing with the former being one of the best versions of that song I have ever heard. This is one artist you do not want to miss, and I'm sure he is going to be on everyone's lips soon enough (and I don't mean that in a literal sense, I hope not anyway as there would be a lot of jealousy in the world if that did happen). He has recently became my Artist Of The Month in February. Watch out guys, he's on his way.
This music video is low-budget, which is to be expected since it is his first music video, and there is a lot of imagery in this that goes perfectly with the song. I especially like seeing the trains in the background.
There is a performance piece and a narrative, always a good starting point in music videos, so this puts him in my good books, and there is not much going on making it easy to follow, although you can't help but be distracted by his pretty face.
There's a few niggling things that has dropped my rating. From a technical point of view, there is way to many close-ups and mid-shots, we never see his entire body, and what he is wearing, focusing mainly on his face, sometimes too close. The long shots are quick and flits as if they weren't really there. Another point is the studio performance piece, this could've been in front of a crowd full of screaming girls, I think it would've captured us in more and seen the sort of energy he would give to a stage. Again the narrative could've been developed that little bit more, maybe him jumping off the train at the start and then him strumming about on the grass with his guitar.
But those are minor details that are missing, and I'm throwing ideas about this video, because I want Sam Callahan to become the mega star he clearly deserves to be, and I'm sure he will be. Watch out 2013, it's the year of Sam Callahan and many other artists so it seems.
Overall a great song I could listen to again and again. And an accompanying music video that may need a few touch ups here and there, but it's captivating and imaginable, that it makes you want to watch again, and not just because of his amazing voice. This is the sort of video I like, and hence for the rating. Please bare in mind this is a low-budgeted music video and so my rating would've differed if this wasn't the case.
MGMT is a band I've never been interested in, and a band I never thought would appear on my blog. But here they are thanks to one of my flatmates suggesting me to review this video.
MGMT are 5 piece band from America, consisting of Andrew VanWyngarden, Ben Goldwasser, Will Berman, Matt Asti and James Richardson. They aren't quite a successful charting band, with this song being their highest charting single at number 16 in the UK, and it's a similar story with America. On the other hand, their albums have charted high, this is definitely one of those bands that will forever be on the rocks, not quite sinking into the water, but not flying high either.
"Kids" was written by Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. This is usually what makes a brilliant song because the artist believes every single word they are singing, and you can definitely see that in the music video along with the voice in the song. But it's just not my sort of thing. I usually take a dislike to some songs, and I will never turn around and say I like it, never ever. Although I tend to end up singing a long to it by accident, so it shows this is just as catchy as the next song I take a dislike to.
This music video has confused me. My flatmate told me it was a great music video, and I agree to some aspect, but it's quite scary and then towards the end the video changes so dramatically it makes me think they may have ran out of money? It's like they've put two similar but different music videos together.
So there's two parts to this video, the live-action side which has a narrative with an extra performance scene, and then there's the animation side of things. I shouldn't split this video up, but that is what I'm going to do because it is split (although the music never splits so still don't quite understand).
The live-action side really gripped me, I was involved. I managed to get past the bad acting of the monsters, and managed to focus on how scared the boy looked. I can totally understand why critics went at this band, because the boy does look genuinely scared, but a behind the scenes video has proven it not to be the case. The monsters are scary and the only calm bit is MGMT dressed as a futuristic band, which fits perfectly with the song as it is quite futuristic.
Then for no reason whatsoever we turn to complete animation, where unrecognisable, unthinkable and shocking things happen that you wouldn't imagine would work, and we are completely right, it doesn't. What I really wanted was an ending that made me want to watch it again, but there was no such thing, leaving me unhappy and questionable about the switch to animation.
Overall a song that will inevitably be catchy although I am going to carry on disliking it. A music video that starts well and grips me making me think this is going to be a 5 star music video, but it soon changes with the animation and it just doesn't fit or work at all. So I'm indecisive with this rating, so I'm going straight through the middle today.
Okay, so some of you might have thought I lied to you, unfortunately I did not make a full return last week, due to an illness that drained the life of me. Just a simple cold, but it knocked me for ten. I am now back, no sign of any cold whatsoever, so I have no excuses. So I shall start this week with one amazing artist!
Rita Ora. She appeared out of no where and here she is again. Most known as having 3 consecutive number one singles in the UK which are "Hot Right Now", "R.I.P." and "How We Do (Party)". And a number one album. We all thought this girl would be unstoppable. Unfortunately "Shine Ya Light" stalled at number 10 and it looks like this single is also going to fall short of that all important number one.
"Radioactive" was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin. The former is well known for collaborating with David Guetta on "Titanium". So I'm surprised this song hasn't done as well as the others, and it's making me question whether it's got anything to do with the fact that the album is released and that people have been buying the song from the album, therefore splitting potential sales between the album and the single. However I don't think that is the only problem, I think it may also be down to the music video.
I struggled deciding which new release I should choose, it was between this song and Avicii Ft. Nicky Romero's "I Could Be The One". So I decided to choose the one that is currently the lowest on the UK iTunes chart. I thought I might be able to help Rita Ora, but I can't help but say this music video is not at all what I expected.
Rita Ora should be bringing in a lot of money from all those number ones, but why are we left with a music video that looks like it's low-budget? After more viewing, you realise the budget may have been spent on the theatrical backgrounds and features. Leaving you wondering if they may have had a short amount of time to cut this. As this wasn't what I was expecting at all.
I wanted something similar to Ke$ha's "Die Young". A complete narrative and a perfect choreography, since this song allows you to do such a thing. But no signs of it, leaving me thinking a lot of green screen was used to make this and that Rita Ora wasn't given much to do, especially since we only see her back through the first minute or so.
Overall a song that should be performing better on the iTunes chart. But a music video which falls short of anything I imagined. There's nothing to grip you, nothing to keep me entertained. And if I were flipping through the music channels and this video came on I would flip over it looking for something better, and there probably would be something more interesting on another music channel. I hope her next music video is a lot more entertaining than this one.
Booty Luv are officially back, after a two year hiatus, they are back, and should be storming the charts with this amazing single. I am also back, and shall be reviewing everyday, after a five-week break (more or less), I feel I need to be back, and all problems are much more settled now.
Booty Luv consists of two members who are Cherise Roberts and Nadia Shepherd. They originally were in Big Brovaz, but they took a whole different path and arrived at dance music. They were hitting the clubs hard with their amazing songs, but "Say It" only managed number 16, and they were subsequently dropped from the Hed Kandi record label (although number 16 isn't bad there's a whole host of worse chart numbers). Now they are releasing under Pierce Entertainment record label, and the song is amazing, but not enough people know about it.
This music video coincides with the song "Black Widow" amazingly, and it's quite surprising to see a music video that may have had a slightly high budget, considering I have never heard of this record label.
It kind of reminds me of Britney Spears' "Toxic", it's got the same sort of element and theatrical dying that always draws people in.
There a narrative and a performance piece, which makes this incredibly detailed, however the narrative is not so clear, there's not much purpose to what is happening, as far as I can tell. I could take a guess that the girls agree to kill these guys, but once Nadia has killed her man, she finds out Cherise has actually fallen for her guy, and so it's left to Nadia to complete the task. But is that really what is going on?
Overall a great song, that should climb quicker up the chart, it's quite low at the moment. The accompanying music video has everything I need to give it a high rating, however the unclear narrative leads me into thinking it isn't as good as I once thought it might have been. Hence the rating.
50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson III, has had a lengthy career gaining hits here there and everywhere, but this is the first time he has appeared on my blog, however probably not the last. He has yet to reach the UK number one spot, but this song seems to have a pretty good chance. And it's no wonder with the people who are featured. Eminem is the rapper on everyone's lips. Real name Marshall Mathers III, has also had a lengthy career, but has only appeared on my blog once because he is a member of Bad Meets Evil which I reviewed "Fast Lane". The other featured guy is Adam Levine, who is famously known as the lead singer from Maroon 5, however he is also known in America as 1 of four coaches on The Voice.
"My Life" was written by Curtis Jackson, Marshall Mathers, Adam Levine, Larry Griffin Jr. and Herb Rooney. The song is about the pressures of fame, and it is clearly identified in the rapping. This is going to be a hit, and 50 Cent knows it, plus there is not much competition this week. Could it possibly be 50 Cent's first UK number one? We'll have to wait and see.
The music video is one of those ones that look like a typical rap music video, but turns out that there is great imagery involved.
The use of the helicopter is very interesting, and at first could be suggested as a waste of the music video budget, but as the song progresses and you hear the rapping, the helicopter is fame with a spotlight, and it's hard to deal with as you can't get away from it. I loved it when Eminem is running away from the helicopter. I couldn't help thinking "you can't out-run a helicopter", just like celebrities can't run away from fame.
However the good imagery stops there. The helicopter is the main focus, leaving us with a typical rap music video that doesn't outshine any of the many others easily found and easily accessible.
Overall, a catchy song that will be charting well this week. But the accompany music video is lacking compared, with the only good bits being the helicopter and the use of lighting.
