Tulisa is back, and boy is the female boss back! Having been away from music for a while, she is now ready to make a massive comeback, and this new version of this song has got everyone loving her again. This club anthem tune is so catchy, you'll be singing along the next time you hear it, guaranteed. It's stuck in my head right now. Tulisa is on holiday, once again, in her music video for "Sweet Like Chocolate", catchy, sexy, and totally on form, she is loving life and she is ready to make a massive comeback.
Tulisa, full name Tulisa Contostavlos, first came on the scene with N-Dubz. After they disbanded she had a successful solo career with "Young" being her first number one. It is unlikely that this new song will make it to the top, but it'll definitely chart well, especially with how catchy the song is. Featured on the track is Akelle, full name Akelle Charles, who is known as part of trio: WSTRN, who's song "In2" peaked at number four in the UK. The song interpolates Shanks & Bigfoot's song of the same name "Sweet Like Chocolate".
This holiday music video isn't anything new from Tulisa, she's clearly enjoying her life and she wants to show everyone. It has a similar narrative as "Young", yet less of a story and more about having fun.
Akelle adds a fun rap lyric, that breaks up the song nicely, but the whole visual is simple and uninteresting. Having seen many videos like this before, there's just nothing new being brought to the table.
Various extreme-water holiday amusements are shown in the video, to show extreme excitement, and that Tulisa has no fear. She's on holiday, having a good time. She's healthy, she's happy and she's totally genuine.
It's a pleasant sight to see, it's like she's back to herself. Now she's ready to come back to music and do what she loves. I hope she follows this single up with new amazing music because I am loving the vibes coming from this new track, even if the video isn't as great as I hoped it would be.
It's THURSDAY! Which means it's revisit time on my blog, and time to delve back into Jason Derulo's past and pull this one out of the bag. It was his first number one in the UK, and definitely wasn't his last. It is quite cheesy for 2009, but what can you expect from something that's seven years old. He is a much more talented singer nowadays, yet his old songs are just as catchy, if a little cheesy. Jason Derulo chats up Lala Escarzega in a parking lot as he envisions them together in his head, for his second music video.
Jason Derulo, real name Jason Desrouleaux, has had a great career so far, and it's unlikely to stop. This was his second solo single which hit the top spot of the UK Singles Chart back in 2009. Nowadays he has totally dropped the Jason Derulo name singing at the start of his songs, although it would've been quite fitting with 2 Chainz name singing in their collaborative song "Talk Dirty". This song received a remix with Nicki Minaj, as well as various cover versions released years later. This song was written by Jason Desrouleaux, Claude Kelly and J.R. Rotem.
Directed by Kai Crawford, it is set in a car park. Jason Derulo's love interest is played by actor Lala Escarzega.
Not much of a budget behind this one, it feels like we've seen what happened before "Want To Want Me" and how Jason Derulo got that one night stand.
Nowadays, this is quite laughable, look at that jacket which is way too big for him, totally baggy! And guess what? He changes clothes just to dance because you can't really dance in that blue jacket. Which kind of loses continuity, unless it's all in his head, which is suggested by the end of the music video.
At the start and the end, we're introduced with a snippet of his debut single "Whatcha Say", kind of relating this song to that one so people would realise that it's still Jason Derulo (and yes I sang that).
Jason Derulo serenades this girl, hoping she'll leave with him, although the setting is not a club as the lyrics suggest; yet we can deal with the car park.
Lala Escarzega isn't all that interested, she's eyeing up other people, seeing who else she can get the attention of, which is to be expected, but look what she missed out on because Jason Derulo is totally steaming now.
It turns out it was all a day-dream of what Jason Derulo hopes to happen as Lala Escarzega walks out of the store, but she just suggests that they have met before as his previous single ends the music video.
With little else to comment on, the music video is clever, suggesting everything we had just seen was in Jason Derulo's head, relatable and interesting, with dancing on point throughout, some great technical choreography throughout, although dated now, is intricate. This is definitely good, considering there wasn't quite a great budget involved, clearly.
Keeping up with my Eurovision Special, this song would've got 12 points from my country, the UK, if it was all down to the public vote. Highly sexualised and definitely catchy, Cleo is a star in the making, her clear crisp vocals are rhythmically amazing. Poland scored 62 points placing them 14th in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Sexualised to the max, Donatan and Cleo's "My Słowianie - We Are Slavic" surprised us all at Eurovision, with a catchy number and expressing Poland's traditional ways.
Donatan, real name Witold Czamara, is a Polish producer and a part of RafPak. Both of his albums, one of which is a collaborative album with Cleo, have both hit the Polish number one. His infectious beats will continue to score him chart success and be known as a influence within Polish music. However, Cleo and Donatan have now parted ways, with Cleo going after a solo career. Real name Joanna Klepko, Cleo has really hit it off with her solo career, becoming a known name within Polish music and the chart. They were selected by internal selection. The song was written by Cleo. And despite the clear public love for the song and music video, it didn't chart anywhere else apart from Poland.
Directed by Piotr Smoleński, the video was shot in the museum of agriculture, Muzeum Rolnictwa, and features the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Warsaw University, 'Warszawianka'; as well as model Kamila Smogulecka who is also known as Luxuria Astaroth.
As stated before, this music video is over-the-top sexualised in reference to Poland's traditional ways. Although Slavic women can be found in history in many different countries.
Set in a whole different time zone, this is turned modern, as there's dancing, singing and Slavic Girls.
Various chores can be seen performed by women, along with baking and training. It's clearly a celebration of their past brought into the 21st century.
The video is relatable, well overly relatable, to the song. Taking a tongue-in-cheek look into the past of Poland. With a catchy song, this visual music video has been watched by the millions. Definitely deserved it's placing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, maybe deserved a higher placing, but there was so many great songs that year.
This is the steamy music video everyone was talking about back when this song hit number one last year. He has definitely come a long way and made quite the name for himself. Jason Derulo is definitely one of the hottest R&B singers about at the moment, and I don't just mean in looks. He's pulling in some serious chart numbers and hit singles dropping left right and centre. Heard this song on the radio today, hence why I'm reviewing the music video for it, because I'm surprised I haven't already. Jason Derulo gets all loved up in this video, hoping this girl wants him as much as he wants her. "Want To Want Me" is sexy, super hot and quite naughty but in a totally good relatable way.
Jason Derulo, real name Jason Desrouleaux, recently released his first greatest hits album titled 'Platinum Hits' earlier this year, but with very little promotion it didn't fare so well on the charts globally. He needs a full on promotional release behind him, this has always helped him have worldwide hits like this one. This single stayed at number one for four weeks in the UK. The song was written by Jason Desrouleaux, Ian Kirkpatrick, Samuel Denison Martin, Lindy Robbins and Mitch Allan. It was planned to be a Chris Brown song, but he felt it didn't fit with his album 'X', instead he is known as a co-ghostwriter of the song.
The music video was directed by Colin Tilley, and features actress and glamour model Tianna Gregory as Jason Derulo's love interest. This director has worked with the biggest stars, and directed some of the best music videos, so it's no surprise that this is so amazing.
This music video has it all, a relatable sexy narrative, a performance like no other, and to complete the package there's Jason Derulo naked on a bed with just a sheet. What more do we want?
The song is about wanting someone to want you, and I love the start, where they're in two separate beds and you know they are thinking of each other.
We travel into the past and see what happened, and it's clear that a one night stand; a night of passion, is what happened between them, and now they're both lonely in their own beds wondering if it should've been more.
The performance side of the video is on form throughout. Jason Derulo has stage presence like no other, he is a performer, most definitely, and this is probably one of the main reasons why he has done so well for himself in the music industry.
Overall this music video is totally faultless, but that is what we're slowly getting used to when Colin Tilley is the director. Fully detailed and relatable this music video has it all going on.
Still at the top is Major Lazer's "Cold Water" which features Justin Bieber and MØ; it still has no music video. So the UK top ten is open for my Chart Mondays review and there's only two songs I can choose from... One is expected to hit the top of the charts this Friday, and so I have to go with this one! Calum Scott found fame from Britain's Got Talent, in which he auditioned with this song, now he has released it and it has been solidly charting in the top ten week on week. Strong throughout, this music video looks lifeless as it purely focuses on Calum Scott's amazing vocals on cover single "Dancing On My Own".
Calum Scott took part in the ninth series of Britain's Got Talent, and even auditioned with this song. He made it all the way to the final, where he came sixth overall. He went on to score a record deal with Capitol records back in May. This song is a cover version of Robyn's song of the same name. It was originally independently released back in March, and after the song gained momentum on the charts, it was re-released under his new record label. The song has been a chart success because of his amazing vocals and managing to change the lyrics into an emotional ballad. It was written by Robyn and Patrik Berger.
Directed by Ryan Pallotta, this simple music video has hardly anything going for it, totally focusing on Calum Scott's voice and visual.
There is a slight narrative involved, yet it never fully develops into anything. They find each other in the crowd, and it's obvious that they want to be together. Which is totally confusing because it's not at all relatable to the song.
Regardless of whether this is Calum Scott's emotional ballad or Robyn's upbeat club track, this so called story line does not fit with the song whatsoever. Whether there was a developed narrative, that got cut, is something we may never know.
As for Calum Scott's performance segment, it's very static, as was the guidelines for this music video; yet he can perform on stage, we saw it during Britain's Got Talent but he's just standing there amongst the crowd, and occasionally it looks like we're playing Where's Walley, or should I say Where's Calum?
This is not fully developed, like what are they staring at? Why are they there? This music video makes no sense to me, and although some things are explored, it fails to relate and it fails to promote Calum Scott all that much. So many questions with no answers and a video that doesn't make a lot of sense.
I'm hearing this a lot lately and it is such a great catchy song that suits her voice, and hopefully her following singles do the same thing. Dua Lipa is new on the scene, and her voice has got us all captured in her music. This video for "Hotter Than Hell" is teasing, sexy and totally hotter than hell. Dua Lipa is relaxed and totally one to watch in the coming years.
Dua Lipa, which is her real name by the way, is a British rising star, currently doing well with this single globally. Her other singles haven't reached quite the expectation as this one, although "Be The One" charted amazingly in other countries. Although her lack of chart success in her own country might impact her future releases, being a hit in other countries may just tip her to be someone to watch out for. Her vocals are on form throughout this song, nice and deep this was not the voice I expected out of such a stunning beauty. This song was written by Dua Lipa, Gerard O'Connell, Tommy Baxter and Adam Midgley.
Directed by Emil Nava, it was filmed in a warehouse. Sexy and sultry throughout, Dua Lipa is a vision of beauty, as she sings the racy lyrics.
A pure performance piece, there isn't an awful lot going on, a lot of visual sexiness in the entire clip, with Dua Lipa showing her confidence.
She does a bit of freestyle dancing, in which we see how much confidence she has as a performer, which will definitely make me interested in seeing her live.
There isn't an awful lot else to comment on, the use of the cameras by the extras really adds a texture to the video, and shows how the same scenes can be seen totally differently, due to the camera used. Although the constant switching between handheld camera and the professional one really messes with the viewing of the music video.
Overall it's relatable, yet distracting. It doesn't really introduce Dua Lipa at all, but that's not what this music video is meant to do since this song wasn't expected to become as popular as it did. Now all eyes are on Dua Lipa, because she is definitely one to watch.
After Honey G sung this on The X Factor, I just had to listen to the actual version, and although no one can ever sing this song as good as Missy Elliott, she gave it a pretty damn good go, and to nail the reversed lyric is just amazing! This is quite a scary music video, and the explicit lyrics is something that sailed past my head when I was younger and listening to this. Yet they're nothing new in rap music, just more obvious here. This quite frightening music video has Missy Elliott doing all sorts of things that is visually worrying, but hell can she "Work It".
Missy Elliott, real name Melissa Elliott, is currently working on her next studio album. She made a full comeback in 2015 with single "WTF (Where They From)", yet nothing else has come from it, apart from uncharted follow-up single "Pep Rally". Missy Elliott will always be one of the biggest female rappers in the music industry, and everyone pretty much wants to work with her. She might be returning to music slowly, but we all know that this new album is going to be off the radar! This song was written by Melissa Elliott and Tim Mosley.
Directed by Dave Meyers, this music video is so ahead of its time, that it actually hurts. They try to do things that you wouldn't expect back in 2002, and yet here it is. The video also features cameos by Timbaland, Eve, Tweet, Alyson Stoner, Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. The latter two had died not long after the video and so therefore are commemorated on the front of a car.
During the production, apparently Missy Elliott got quite drunk due to the wine actually being wine. Not only that but real honey bees were used for the one scene and only one crew member was stung.
Totally an artistic piece, with various visuals messed around with to make it look weirdly real, this music video definitely defined visuals back in 2002, even if it did creep us all out back then, and still does today.
Overall realistically weird was basically the concept and they made it work. Totally ahead of it's time, this music video could have been so much more if left for a later date. Yet it doesn't quite relate to the song, even though the dancing is on form throughout.
I wasn't even aware that this was going to become an actual single, especially since this is only an online video, and so in theory I'm breaking my own rules, however it was released, and I'm a big fan of Alexandra Stan, so why not write another review about one of her songs this week? This song has been taken from her album Alesta and none of her fans was really expecting a single release on top of this video. Alexandra Stan invites us to her home town of Constanţa, Romania as she sings, dances and hangs with her crew and her boyfriend Staruiala Bogdan in online video for "Boom Pow".
Alexandra Stan has really came into her own with her last two recent albums, Unlocked and Alesta really showcases her as an incredible artist. Unfortunately she had worldwide career success early on with "Mr. Saxobeat", yet less promotion on her follow-up singles had a massive impact on her. Now she's hitting out the tunes and only her fans are hearing her. It may feel more exclusive to us, especially since this video was only released because of us, and yet this is a singer that deserves to be heard globally. The song was written by David Ciente and Trey Campbell.
Directed by iRonic Distors, this video was only released after Alexandra Stan encouraged fans to watch "Ecoute" on YouTube and get the view count up to 10 million. This single has not been released in the UK as of yet, hence why I haven't reviewed the music video, but now I'm thinking it never will be.
The two scenes are quite different from one another, As explained in my CelebMix article I wrote on Friday, the home town online video is relaxed and calm. It's totally nice to see Alexandra Stan happy to just be performing. This video only intensifies my desire to see her live.
There's not much to say about this. She's quite comical, and at times she gives an insight of her personality away from the camera, which we constantly see on her Snapchat stories. This video may not have a high-end budget, it may not have the best camera work, those low-angle shots does nothing for me; but it's probably one of most real videos, and I can't help but appreciate the rawness of it.
This was the collaboration that would've got Alexandra Stan back on form, or so we all thought, yet it was promoted slightly in the UK before she parted with 3beat records, this could've been a hit, but instead featured as a bonus track on "Lemonade". Alexandra Stan turns to the street in this performance-based video with Carlprit for "1.000.000" which features a bird cage and lots of glitter, but have we seen it all before?
Alexandra Stan had to be my revisit this week, since none of the other artists from this week have been going long enough. This was one of her early songs from her first album. Unfortunately, it was the start of her decline in the international music world. However, she continues to release music, as I'm sure you are well aware, since I continue to support her on my blog. She just needs worldwide promotion, because she definitely has the voice for it. Featuring on this track is Carlprit, real name Rudi Schwamborn, mostly known for the UK number one feature on Cascada's "Evacuate The Dancefloor", since then he has gone on to feature on many singles as well as released his own music that has been received well. This song was written by André Nemirschi, Marcel Prodan and Marcian Alin Soare.
The mirrored box is back, and is usually seen in various music videos and commercials as well as advertisements, and maybe some other art pieces. Not only that, but there is also a bird cage... What is with bird cages recently?
The glitter scene was a surprise, although considering her management at the time and what she went on to do still under the said management, it's still shouldn't surprise me. Luckily she's away from them now, and on to much brighter and better things.
Carlprit is actually a great addition to this video, and it's great to see him take an active role in the performance side of this music video. With only Alexandra Stan to keep him occupied, it's no wonder he shines better than in other videos I've seen him in.
Overall this is a great performance piece from both of these artists. Although more could have been done to relate the content of the song, it's both interesting and engaging nonetheless. I just wish Alexandra Stan was more worldly known, but I guess it's all down to her fans.
Probably one of the catchiest simple songs in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Both favourable and disliked by fans, this song was the Marmite of the group and yet it did so well! This was the entry for Belarus and managed to place 16th with 43 points. Teo, unfortunately, hasn't released anything new since the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Teo is tired of being you sweet cheesecake as he tells a girl where to go in this cheeky low-budget music video.
Teo, real name Yuriy Vashchuk, competed in the Belarus national selection to become the entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. He won and easily outdid the other contestants. Definitely a worthy winner, but the 2014 contest was such a tough year, that it's no surprise that it didn't do better. He is also known as one of the songwriters for Alyona Lanskaya's "Solayoh" which represented Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. "Cheesecake" is about a man who ends a relationship because she wants him to be something he's not. The song was written by Yuriy Vashchuk and Dmitry Novik.
The music video is basic at best, definitely a low-budget music video, but Teo is looking more than sharp and slick, whereas his love interest is less stylish.
She does look a bit like Nicki Minaj, no doubts about that, and yet she's dressed quite cheap and easy. This is the whole concept, a bubblegum pop girl who's quite needy, and he needs someone more mature.
There's some cheeky scenes, that are quite comical, but it's difficult to fit things in, when there's nothing else going on.
This is way too basic for my liking, but the tongue-in-cheek humour, alongside the simple lyrics with Teo's pronunciation of the words, adds more to this than you can possibly think. What would be a throwaway music video, is actually quite engaging.
