Well this music video has created quite the stir, unsurprisingly since what Little Mix wants is cut out, and instead it's what the management team thinks would work, which it clearly didn't, and failed in so many ways. The back story of this music video is so sad and disappointing, because it fails to relate to the song... But more on that later. Little Mix bring out their Spice Girls video in a landmarked London, whilst Jason Derulo dances to this slow song.
Little Mix won The X Factor back in 2011, they consist of Jade Thirlwall, Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock. They've recently released their third album Get Weird, that has many songs on there that are worthy of singles. I'm really hoping for "Weird People" to be released as a single. However this was chosen as their third single; it's another ballad from this group, which would've been fine if it wasn't a follow-up to "Love Me Like You", which is also a ballad and didn't perform that well and took some time to climb up the charts, This song has followed suit, although it has been climbed up the chart quicker. Jade Thirlwall has mentioned that to her the song is for the LGBT+ community and the struggles they face in being in love and open about it in public. Jason Derulo, real name Jason Desrouleaux, wrote his own verse which puts a twist in the song, suggesting it's more about an affair. However, Little Mix had the perfect LGBT anthem on their hands, remixed well and it would be played in every gay club, especially during pride, but management clearly overruled. The song was written by Jez Ashurst, Emma Rohan, Rachel Furner and Jason Desrouleaux.
The music video was directed by Frank Borin. A pure performance piece, it should have been magical. There probably is a director's cut in storage somewhere, which would show the narrative that apparently got recorded, since they hired actors to play on-screen heterosexual, homosexual and interracial relationships to relate to the song, but management decided to cut it from the video altogether.
Set in London amongst landmarks, such as Tower Bridge, the video is very reminiscent of the Spice Girls' music video for "2 Become 1". Especially with it being a purely performance music video.
There's not a lot to comment on, the vocals are impeccable, if I hadn't have known who sung this, my initial guess would've been Leona Lewis. Whoever has said in the past that Little Mix aren't great at singing, this song proves them totally wrong. Their portrayal of the song in the music video is heartfelt, but not full of emotion, it's almost as if the girls have been told that the narration has been cut, this could explain why they haven't put their all in this video because their hearts aren't in it, as this is not what they wanted.
Jason Derulo's part is more awful. This is a ballad, his vocals are pretty good, some may even say surprising. Yet, he's dancing to the song, it's a freaking ballad, unless you're going to be slow dancing, then fine, but not pop and locking... just no! His emotion towards the song failed in the video and although all the steps he had been instructed to do worked, he didn't seem into it either.
Overall this video could have been amazing, this song is an LGBT+ anthem whether people like it or not, you could say that Little Mix relate to this song even more now because they wanted it to have an LGBT storyline, and yet that was taken away from them. In doing so the music video fails to relate and to connect with people. Luckily the song has performed well on the charts, via album track downloads only, and although the cover art has been released, the single has yet to appear on iTunes... Will it ever get released? Or will the original video be released with the single? I am literally praying for the real video to be unveiled.
I've had this song stuck in my head all day. The Jonas Brothers are doing well for themselves, Nick Jonas has become a superstar and Joe Jonas has had hits with this new band... Kevin Jonas is just being Kevin. Joe Jonas has fought hard, and finally it looks like this song will become a hit. DNCE perform behind a cake by the ocean on the sand, whilst a food fight rages on in front of them.
DNCE are a four-piece band consisting of Joe Jonas, Jack Lawless, JinJoo Lee and Cole Whittle. The band was formed after The Jonas Brothers split. Joe Jonas was unsure whether to release a second solo album or to start a new band, he clearly decided on the latter, which definitely worked out for him. It's like Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas has swapped, because the first time The Jonas Brothers went on hiatus, Joe Jonas came out with a solo album, and Nick Jonas created a band. Their roles have definitely switched this time around, and both brothers are doing well for themselves. This song is currently climbing the UK chart, and as it is played more often on the radio, I can see it becoming a chart hit as it's so catchy. The song is written by Robin Fredriksson, Joe Jonas, Mattias Larsson and Justin Tranter. The song's title comes from the Swedish producers misinterpreting Sex On The Beach, as they mistakenly translated it to Cake By The Ocean.
The music video is directed by Black Coffee & Gigi Hadid. Yep, once again she has popped up, and not as a female lead in the music video, not this time around, instead she has focused herself as the director of the music video, surprisingly. She is the name on everyone's lips lately, she's fully in the limelight, and girl is she working it, and we can't blame her, if we had this chance we would be taking it with both hands, just like she is.
The official international cake fight starts in this music video. A team of girls in bikinis vs. The Fat Jew. The latter makes it seem like he's the previous winner, the reigning champion, and the game begins, in the style of dodgeball, only with cake, that looks scrumptious (probably full of gluten, to which I'm allergic to, but it could've been gluten-free; the dream of a coeliac. Only the dream would be full of sexy guys instead of sexy girls; gay coeliac right here).
There is product proposal by Bumble which is a new rival for Tinder, where girls are in charge because they have to make the first connection (unless it's same-sex conversation), sounds good right, but the reviews aren't that positive, with many users rating it low.
DNCE gives an amazing performance, focus is on Joe Jonas, unsurprisingly since he is the name that will be pushing this band to international fame, plus he is the vocalist of the band. Amazing riffs and beautiful harmonies is what this song has and the actors in the video had one heck of a performance, they pull the song off perfectly, and Joe Jonas is looking damn hot in this video, not going to lie. Definitely giving his brother a run for his looks.
Overall a perfect song that has brilliant harmonies, which will not only get this song to chart high, but will also make their other songs hits, if their harmonies are on point just as much as it is in this song. The music video has taken the literal meaning of a cake by the ocean, and put an actual cake on a beach by the sea, which is part of the ocean, and has a food fight, or a cake fight in this case. Humorous and enjoyable this is a music video I could watch again and again, although would've liked to have seen some hot shirtless guys in this music video too, just to balance it out a bit, but I guess I'll have to deal with Joe Jonas fully clothed, which is an okay compromise.
Little Mix released this ballad last year, and it took a while for people to like this as a single. It was a grower on the charts and just when you think that Little Mix has released the wrong follow-up single to "Black Magic", frequent performances on TV really helped to pick this song up, and radio finally started to like it, and therefore the public started to like it. Little Mix continue their narrative music videos in this fun loving video about a guy screwing all four of them over.
Little Mix first came to light on The X Factor. They are still currently the only group to ever win the British version of The X Factor. They seem very underrated in global terms, not attracting that much attention outside of the UK. However, now that One Direction are on hiatus, Simon Cowell and Syco have to focus on their two girl groups, Little Mix and Fifth Harmony, although it seems they're putting a lot more effort into the US girl group Fifth Harmony, than they are in Little Mix. This group consists of Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall. This song was written by Steve Mac, Iain James, Camille Purcell and James Newman.
This was directed by Sarah McColgan and it is pure genius, a perfect narrative with a nice performance piece; the girls have really connected to this song!
Jade is whisked away in a car by this guy, then Leigh-Anne yearns for him at the basketball game, Jesy pounces on him at the cinema, and Perrie falls off her bike as she drools watching him work out. They all await him at the school dance. He arrives with another girl in tow, this guy gets around easily.
This is a perfect follow on from "Black Magic", almost like the story continues; similar to Basshunter's videos. The professor also appeared in "Black Magic", as well as many of the students that have attended the school dance. After a difficult search, it turns out that the guy in this music video that plays Little Mix's love interest is male actor Hector David Jr. who is mostly known as the green power ranger in Power Rangers Samurai / Super Samurai.
Apparently this music video and "Black Magic" was filmed together, hence why the same actors appear and the story line follows on.
Overall, it's a grower of the song, and the music video is perfect. It's a gem, it relates, it's upsetting with light humour. I prefer the music video over the song though, but I've slowly started to love the song, it instantly gets stuck in my head, like it has done all day today.
My plan for New Release this week was Tinie Tempah feat. Zara Larsson with "Girls Like", unfortunately, the music video for that song has yet to be released, and a quick look at the New Releases this week have turned up similar stories. Miguel seems to be one of the only New Releases that has a music video out this week. He has been chart hungry for years now, and just when he gets into the limelight, it soon disappears again, and with songs like this, it isn't surprising. Miguel drops himself in water to relate to the song, whilst performing in a club where he's obviously intoxicated. Slow, misguided and twisted, this music video is wavy at best.
Miguel, full name Miguel Pimentel, is probably best known for featuring on Mariah Carey's song "#Beautiful" which is his biggest hit here in the UK, his other top songs failed to make the UK Top 40. A quick look on the iTunes top 1000 and this song is no where to be seen, and considering iTunes has promoted the single by putting it on their homepage under the Singles tab, it just goes to show that what Miguel really needs is a hit song. The song was written by Miguel Pimentel, which surprised me since his performance clips in the video fails to portray much passion towards the song.
This choppy video isn't exciting and interesting, although finding a house party behind a fridge door is pretty intricate.
I just feel like this was a rushed music video, the song is about making love to a girl all night, and instead it portrays him singing the song at a club and getting the crowd going as well as some scenes of him in some water.
He is also shirtless throughout, which would be great if he didn't clearly have this arrogant side to him. He thinks he's all that in this music video, and that just makes the song and it's accompanying music video less appealing than it would've normally been. I can't find much else to comment on, just that if Miguel is looking for a hit, he better do something about it soon.
I love looking at Rihanna's old videos, she's so different and yet still popular today. This was the time I loved Rihanna, although my favourite song is "Don't Stop The Music", which I've already reviewed. "Umbrella" has been reviewed also, so let's go with this one, one me and my brother used to sing a lot due to a character saying it on The Simpsons: Road Rage game. Rihanna looks sexy as she cleans, fixes and buffs cars up in a junkyard before starting a street race.
This was released nine years ago, how time flies and how people change. Nowadays Rihanna is banging out chart hits but it's far from these days when I became a fan of her. Rihanna, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, brings out her rocker chick in this song and music video, probably inspired slightly by Avril Lavigne. The song was written by Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Stephen Morris, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Gillian Gilbert. It samples New Order's "Blue Monday".
The music video is directed by Anthony Mandler, it is a slight narrative built in to a relaxed performance piece, you can really tell Rihanna loves singing this song.
This isn't anything new, but it's nothing old either, it has been done plenty of times before and after... Inna's "Clubrocker" and Taio Cruz "Dynamite" easily come to mind.
The choreography is slight, but well thought out and done to precision. Exactly what we expect from Rihanna.
The street race could've been more interesting, and a narrative could've formed, making Rihanna the prize, since the song suggests she's looking for a driver who's qualified.
The performance is perfect, if there wasn't so many different scenes, some come out of nowhere, such as Rihanna performing with a band, this would be fine if it was the main focus, but Rihanna being gorgeous is the main focus so the inclusion of the scene felt unnecessary. Rihanna performs sultry, she obviously loves this song, and you can't blame her because it is catchy with a hidden meaning to the song, it sure ain't about driving cars. Yet there's too many different performance scenes, it would've looked better with two, maybe three different ones.
Overall, a great simple music video, yeah it's nothing we haven't seen before, and a narrative could've come out of it, and yes there was many different performance scenes, but looking at the video as a whole, it's sexy, it's sultry, it's relatable, it's daring, it's hot. This may have it's errors, but it is gorgeous nonetheless.
