Rumoured to be about the Orlando Shooting, this music video really does hit home for many people. It's so theatrical with amazing dancing and choreography which we totally expect from Maddie Zieger now. This whole music video is shockingly great, and Sia's lyrics is definitely just as good. Inspiring the whole world not to give up, Sia's song is pretty catchy, but it's the video with Maddie Zieger that really makes this "The Greatest", especially when it's supposedly about the Orlando Shooting.
Sia, full name Sia Furler, has really come into her own in the last few years. Now she's one of the most talked-about female singers as well as one of the most popular. Her songs have always cut deep and has always been superb. Now she's back with this new song which will be the lead single from her eighth studio album, which will do amazingly worldwide. This song originally features a rap from Kendrick Lamar, however. the rap verse has been taken out for this music video. The song was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin.
Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, with the choreography done by Ryan Heffington. This video is full of emotion, and even though the dance sequences are crazy, as always whenever Maddie Zieger dances, it's so full of emotion just like the song.
I love the start and the end, how Maddie Zieger paints rainbows on her cheeks using her hands, and she's clearly upset. The song suggests to keep your head up, and so Maddie Zieger shows that in her performance.
All the kids perform amazingly, of course, Maddie Zieger stands out the most, and her wacky faces make this serious music video wacky and hilarious at the same time, yet as we journey through dance, we get to the powerful ending where they're dancing together as a group, as one, before falling to the ground and holes can be seen through the walls, suggesting bullet holes.
The last scene is Maddie Zieger crying, this is so powerful and so emotional and does hit home for a lot of people. This will always be raw for a lot of people in the LGBT+ community and it affected everyone around the whole world. This is what makes this music video special.
From what I have heard from Beyoncé's latest album, it's nothing that interests me, and yet it's flooded with emotion and is completely new and her own. No one can deny the influence Beyoncé has had in the music industry, regardless of the fact that I'm not a fan of her new music. Her new stuff just isn't for me, and maybe once upon a time I did enjoy Beyoncé's music, but she's practically developed her music into something that isn't for me over the past few years. "Hold Up" by Beyoncé is a hate loving exploration for wrecking things with a baseball bat. Progressive from drowning to being in control.
Beyoncé, full name Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, first came on the scene as the lead singer of Destiny's Child. But it wasn't until she went solo that she soon became this massive singer. Now she's poured her heart and soul into her latest album 'Lemonade', which has had mixed reviews from critics and the general public, which explains the not-so-great chart positions she's been pulling in. Regardless of which, her music videos for the album have all been FIRE! This song contains a sample of "Can't Get Used To Losing You" sung by Andy Williams, an interpolation of "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and an interpolation of "Turn My Swag On" by Soulja Boy. This is why there is a tonne of songwriters... Which are: Thomas Pentz (Diplo), Ezra Koening, Beyoncé Knowles, Emile Haynie, Joshua Tillman, Uzoechi Emenike (MNEK), Sean "Melo-X" Rhoden, Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, DeAndre Way (Soulja Boy), Antonio Randolph, Kelvin McConnell and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the video is part of a one-hour film titled 'Lemonade' which aired on HBO. Seeing only this snippet of the film is questioningly difficult as we haven't seen all parts of the film. However, judgement can only be made on this music video rather than the film as a whole.
The start, the monologue of words which Beyoincé uses to introduce the music video, is suggestive of drowning. That she once succumbed to things and changed herself to become someone.
That is not who she is now, she won't be told what to do, she won't become something she's not. This is who she is, this is the musical direction she has gone down, and she doesn't care what anyone else thinks.
The steps scene is my favourite, she looks like a sea creature breaking the surface, becoming a land creature. As she walks the streets, she grabs a bat and starts taking her hatred out on cars, shop windows, cameras and a hydrant. Although all she feels is happiness.
Overall, this video isn't exactly complete, what with it being a part of the one-hour 'Lemonade' film. However, it does relate to the song well, and it's a great reflection on how Beyoncé is feeling at the moment. There's not a lot else to say, although baseball bats seem to be in right now after Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn.
Last week I had two options for Chart Mondays, or so I thought... And I chose Calum Scott's "Dancing On My Own", knowing full well that my other option would make it to the top of the UK Chart this week, and it sure did.
Little did I know that The Chainsmokers hasn't released a music video for "Closer" which features Halsey, This is the song that is currently sitting pretty on the top of the UK Chart.
Regardless, if I had known this last week, I wouldn't have seen it as a choice. My opinion may have been slightly different, that being said, we can't dip into the past and change things around to see what the outcome would be.
End of the day, this is the fifth time I've not had a video to review for Chart Mondays due to the fact that I have already reviewed all the music videos for the entire UK Top 10 Singles Chart, apart from the ones that haven't been released yet, obviously.
Time to reminisce over my past reviews as click the links to the UK's Top 10:
To finish off this blog post, here's a little question to think about...
Is streaming services wrecking the UK chart?
Just a quick glance at the UK iTunes Chart tells an extremely different story... They said streams won't affect songs near the top of the chart, but it clearly has. In America, they count YouTube plays and various other things towards the Billboard Chart. Things are going to have to change, mainly because the chart is supposed to show what music is most popular, and although that may be the case, slightly, I'm sure that top 10 isn't the current most popular music in the UK.
What do you think? Let me know below or on my social channels.
After a random tweet suggestion asking me to watch this music video; it's time for Bronnie to be a part of my blog. Inspiring musician, Bronnie is ready to bring back the pop/rock music we all fell in love with a decade or so ago. Unsigned and going after her dreams, Bronnie is fighting for what she wants, and totally inspiring a lot of people. With a massive fan base on Twitter, it's only a matter of time before Bronnie makes it big. Bronnie rocks on this "High School Sucks" track, showing scenes of her recording session at Edge Recording Studio as well as scenes from famous films to relate to the lyrics.
Bronnie, full name Bronnie Hughes, is an 18-year-old singer who is currently unsigned. She has currently over 300,000 views on her YouTube Channel. A total of two releases on iTunes, one of which is a Christmas song. She takes inspiration from 00's pop/rock music from Avril Lavigne to Busted to Bowling For Soup. She won the Ryan Seacrest Cover Song Contest, and has been in musical theatre since she was seven. This girl is focused and driven, and is definitely someone to keep your eye on. Requesting the help of Josh Bentley, Patrick Doyle, and Tom Atkinson of the band Liberty Calling, Bronnie recorded this song at Edge Recording Studio, where many famous acts before her have recorded songs and albums. She announced in a behind the scenes video clip, that she wrote the song in February 2015.
The video is less high school and more recording studio, although high school clips from famous films are shown throughout, which nicely links in with the lyrics.
Great visual editing throughout, it really shows Bronnie as this up-and-coming star. It introduces her as a singer-songwriter, showing what she's been up to with this song.
Various clips from American Pie are intercut with a perfect visual of Bronnie. Relating in perfect timing to the lyrics, especially the ode to Sum 41.
As for the performance scenes, Bronnie is on form, you can tell how much she loves this song, and what it means to her. Full of life, in the video, her bubbly charm can be seen throughout and even in the BTS videos. She's a positive person and so genuine, which she easily outputs in the video. If she replicates that on stage, which she no doubt does, then anyone who goes to see her live will be in for a treat.
This is Bronnie, and we all better watch out for her. This video shows her time at Edge Recording Studio, as well as her upbeat positive vibe and performance presence. This is who she is, prepared to bring back the pop/rock genre we all loved a decade ago. Making it current and making it new, Bronnie is ready, are you?
We all have to admit, this track was FIRE when it was released; actually, all of the Pussycat Dolls' songs were TUNES! This was sung on The X Factor today, and I just had to review the video. The problem I had back then was Nicole Scherzinger taking on the lead vocals and the other girls were more like backup singers. Regardless, I still bought the albums and singles. They were full of sassiness and sexiness, much like Fifth Harmony now, only with a lead singer. Totally turning themselves into strippers, the Pussycat Dolls loosen up some "Buttons" with Snoop Dogg in this music video.
The Pussycat Dolls were a six-piece group, at this time, consisting of Nicole Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, Kimberly Wyatt and Melody Thornton. They made a massive name for themselves back then, becoming one of the biggest American girl groups around at the time. Regardless of the problem with Nicole Scherzinger being the lead singer and the other girls giving backing vocals, the songs were amazing, enough for people to forget about the problem with the group and just focus on the songs. If it weren't for this group, we may never have had Nicole Scherzinger. Yes, she may have made it all on her own, but I doubt she would be as big as she is right now. Not only that but the other girls have started making a career for themselves now too, which really proves that each girl in this group are just as good as one another and deserve to be a part of the music industry. They only had two albums, but if lyrics were shared like other current girl groups do now, then maybe they would've continued. The song features Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus Jr., who's one of the biggest rappers in the world, and he's made his name, he's made his fortune and he is still releasing music for his fans. This song was written by Sean Garrett, Jamal "Polow da Don" Jones, Jason Perry, Nicole Scherzinger and Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus Jr.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, this music video is sexy, stylish and totally relatable. There's some great editing work in the video, with the fire and the chairs definitely making the girls look even more hotter.
There are continuity edits that annoy me, though. During the chair scene and the fire dancing scene, the girls lose a member. Melody Thornton isn't involved in these two scenes. She's definitely not a part of the chair lap-dance scene, with the Pussycat Dolls dropping down to five members. As for the fire dancing scene, she disappears when the girls are on their backs in a circle formation, only she reappears later on when the circle is finished. For those of you who notice this, it's an annoyance that I certainly can't get over. It's bad enough that Nicole Scherzinger takes the spotlight in the verses and most of the choruses, but excluding Melody Thornton completely is shocking, even if it was at her request.
Snoop Dogg's inclusion is mysteriously intricate. He's seen as this guy who the girls want to be with, and his rap lyrics does the song justice, but he just doesn't look the part.
Overall, sexy, stylish and on form throughout. A few annoying continuity edited scenes that although are worked well with the help of some CGI, it tries to hide the fact that they are missing a girl.
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.
