This song is literally everywhere at the minute (it's currently March - this blog is backdated to the end of January) and has been rising in listeners due to the Samsung using it during their Unpacked Live Event which revealed the Samsung Galaxy S9. Not only that, but the song have been used in various other places recently, finally allowing Aston Merrygold to gain attention for this song. It's certainly catchy, although I'm not so keen on the track itself. The hook at the start of the chorus is what draws us in, but the rest just spoils the track, which explains why Samsung only used the first half of the chorus for their live event. Watch Aston Merrygold, from JLS, dance around the shopping mall in his debut music video for the song "Get Stupid".
Aston Merrygold is best known for being a member of British boy band JLS, who came second on the fifth series of The X Factor - which Alexandra Burke won. The group went on to have a number of hits before parting ways and they will forever have established themselves in British music. Aston Merrygold has always been interested in a solo career, so it's not a surprise that he is now going it alone, although his latest releases haven't gained traction, if any at all; not only that, but he also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, so he can only hope that that helps him, music wise. He's always come across arrogant, to me, and I don't think he could shake that from my perception of him, as much as he may try. This song actually managed to chart at number 22 in the UK, number 10 in Australia, number 15 in Scotland, and number 72 in Ireland. "Get Stupid" was written by Aston Merrygold, Karen Poole, and Sonny J Mason.
Directed by James Lees, this music video is set at the Del Amo Fashion Centre in Torrance, California. It has a staring narrative that turns into a performance visual. I certainly can't knock Aston Merrygold's dance ability because it is certainly of a high quality.
The start comes off completely staged, to the extent that it's flat-out uninteresting to watch - where is this singer-songwriter's acting ability? - regardless, it doesn't last for long and we quickly jump into the song. It's clear that Aston Merrygold loves to show his dance ability with backing dancers, which does come across a little like he's still in JLS.
The rest of the music video sees him enjoying himself throughout, with the choreography relating to the song as he performs with a spring in his step. He is loving his life in the shopping mall - I wish I had that sort of energy on a daily basis. The ending sees him walk out. It's bright, it's catchy, it's fun, but does it really relate?
Time for Chart Mondays on this backdated date, and we have a brand new number one. It's Drake's song "God's Plan", yet the music video isn't released until late February, whereas this blog is being backdated to the end of January, so we have a few weeks until I finally review Drake's number one song, opening the UK top 10 to my review, and I have adored this song since it dropped - plus the backdated date is my birthday, 29 January - so, of course, I was going to review the music video to this, although I'm not happy about the music video itself. The song features one of my favourite artists, Ina Wroldsen, who's career I have followed for a few years. Watch dancers Shaadow Sefiroth and Shala Sarah Haruko Iwaskow perform in iconic London locations, such as the Natural History Museum, in this music video for Jax Jones' song "Breathe" which features Ina Wroldsen.
Jax Jones, real name Timucin Aluo, is a British DJ who has had a number of hits in his home country, as well as around the whole world. He's had the honour of collaborating with some massive names in the music industry. He continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with and this song climbed up to the UK top 10 after the release of this music video, so no matter what my thoughts on it are, it does show that the release of the visual helped the song rise. It features the incredible singer-songwriter, Ina Wroldsen. She's known for writing some of the biggest songs in the industry, as well as providing her vocals to some iconic tracks. She continues to get her name out there and keeps giving us hit after hit. I can't wait to see what the future brings for her. I originally wrote up about this music video for CelebMix; I also wrote about the song upon its release, for the magazine. This song was written by Timucin Aluo, Fred Gibson, Uzoechi Emenike (MNEK), Ina Wroldsen, and William Clarke.
Directed by James Slater, this music video showcases these two incredible dancers. Shaadow Sefiroth and Shala Sarah Haruko Iwaskow dance their way through intricate choreography in this visual, keeping the audience entertained throughout.
The problem I have with this music video is that the artists don't appear in the visual, not even slightly; not only that but the choreography isn't anything amazing, there's a lot of body-popping going on with some good translation of the lyrics, yet sometimes there's just nothing that relates to the song.
There are some great locations, such as the Natural History Museum during after-hours, which is filmed inside the entrance, which is usually taken up by Dippy the Dinosaur, however, he's currently on tour around the UK, so we get stunning shots of a Blue Whale skeleton, that's hanging from the ceiling. Other scenes include a derelict shopping centre, a deserted Millennium Bridge, as well as them performing in the middle of Oxford Street - in the middle walkway between the two roads.
Overall, I totally adore this song, but it's music video just isn't enough for me. Kudos go to the dancers, who bring it to the best of their ability; and, to the Jax Jones-head dancer, who appears on the Millennium Bridge with the two dancers and pulls off some simple moves. The ending sees Shala Sarah Haruko Iwaskow alone on Oxford Street looking at a billboard advertising Jax Jones' "Breathe" with the mint sweets.
The bar that I work at on Saturdays keep playing this awesome tune, and I just HAD to review its music video, even though I kind of wish I had never seen this visual because it really isn't the best. The song is beyond catchy though, one of those songs people will remix time and again as the years go by, once again making it a hit track. Then there's this music video, this was not what I was expecting at all. I was hoping for something more high quality than this, although most club classics tend to be low-budget music videos. Watch GALA run away from a bunch of men in this music video for the undeniably catchy track "Freed From Desire".
GALA, full name Gala Rizzatto, literally hit the international music scene with this song, as well as its follow-ups. However, as with many great club classic artists, they never manage to stick around and soon lost their chart hits when they release more songs. This has happened often and it is still happening today, disappointingly. I guess everyone just can't be superstars. This was the first single from her debut album "Come Into My Life", the second overall following debut single "Everyone Has Inside". I am surprised to find out that she is the daughter of Salvador Dalí and Gala Dalí. She's released two more albums since, and I'm definitely intrigued at her latest releases, especially "Start It Over", which was the most-recent, dropped in 2015. This song was released way back in 1997 and was written by Gala Rizzatto, Maurizio Molella, and Filippo Andrea Carmeni.
This music video has a performance piece and one hell of a dodgy narrative that is so difficult to keep up with; all of which is filtered in this vintage filter that just makes this look even older. There's just nothing here.
The performance is energetic, I'll give GALA that, but she repeats her actions and at times pulls scary faces which certainly doesn't convey the song, nor does it relate.
As for the narrative, I am not sure what is going on. The guys seem to be all over her and then chasing her down. One seems to be her love-interest as they are riding in the car together, but she can also be seen running away from him and his friends in a mad chase. He seems to offer her a diamond necklace which we've seen close-ups of previously, yet she gives it him back.
Overall, this music video is confusing overall. There's nothing clear going on and just feels like a complete mess. The performance could've been good if she had loosened up a bit more, instead GALA looks like she doesn't know what she's doing - which could actually be what's going on.
Back we go to my iTunes shuffler which played this song about an hour ago and it's still in my head in some way or another. I checked to see if there was a music video, and here it is - that's what I like to see, something for me to review. The song is an undeniably catchy country song with meaningful lyrics throughout, painting a picture for every single listener. As for the music video, I am certainly less impressed in every way. Watch Frankie Ballard perform his song on stage to his fans, showing off his performance skills whilst we see some backstage intercut scenes in this music video for "Young & Crazy".
Frankie Ballard launched into the music industry scene when he took part in Kenny Chesney's Next Big Star competition, which he won; he then went on to open shows for Kenny Chesney in Michigan, and it wasn't long until his music career kicked off. He's done really well on the US Billboard Hot Country and Country Airplay charts as well as in Canada too. This song did really well, proving to many people that he deserves to be in the music industry. His voice is country perfection and I hope that he has a worldwide hit, that's all it takes. This song was written by Rhett Akins, Ashley Gorley, and Shane McAnally.
Directed by Glen Rose, this music video really doesn't have a lot to it and is more of a tour video than anything else. The main visual is of Frankie Ballard and his backing band performing on stage. He's full of life, and it truly is great to see him connect with this song and release his energy out to the crowd.
His fans are clearly loving every minute of it, and to be fair I would be too if I had been there. The thing is the camera operator annoys me throughout. First off the camera isn't the best, so therefore not easily transcending to the viewers at home very well. Secondly, it could've been edited lighting wise to interest the audience. But, my main problem is that it's moving about way too much.
As for the intercut scenes, is there any need for them? Frankie Ballard certainly isn't acting young and crazy during these parts - if only he was. Overall, the viewers at home don't get much from this music video apart from understanding the energy that Frankie Ballard has when he's on stage - he's definitely someone I would love to see live; however, as a whole, it just doesn't work and with a song as powerful, emotional, and meaningful as this, you would think there would be a better concept.
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm obsessed with Global Records and their array of artists on the record label. They recently created a division titled Global Records Latin, which Micke Moreno was the first star to release under that division with "El Amor" which featured Antonia. The label has continued to release songs that are beyond addicting, and here is another one on this backdated new release. I previously wrote up about this for CelebMix, and although it wasn't strictly released on this backdated date, it was released a few days earlier, it was still new for that week. Watch Micke Moreno and Kryan battle it out during a car race intercut with performance scenes in this music video set in a car park for "Juego".
Micke Moreno, who is sometimes known as just Micke, is best known for taking part in The X Factor (US) and La Banda. Now, Global Records Latin has picked him up, along with some of his friends for their new record label, and it is proving to do well for everyone involved. His debut, "El Amor" got millions of YouTube views, although we reckon that was with the help of featured star Antonia. This single sees him collaborate with Kryan, again - they first teamed-up for "Eres Tu" along with Fabyan and Yoandri. Kryan is known for being on La Voz Teens where he was a semi-finalist. Now, he's a part of Global Records Latin allowing him to pursue his dream and passion. He manages to twist up this track, adding his stamp and flavour. The song was written by Micke Moreno and Brien Melo with Alexandru Cotoi helping to compose the music.
The music video has both a narrative and a performance piece, so you would expect my rating, at the end of this review, to be high; this is the core of a great music video, however this just doesn't come off quite so well. The performance takes over as the main part, leaving the uninteresting and overdone narrative to become a minor part.
The car race launches this whole music video, but sometimes the cars don't look as if they're competing. They go around the car park as we wait to see who wins. We've seen plenty of car races in music videos. Micke Moreno looks disappointed at the end, suggesting he lost, but maybe he's just unhappy about Kryan's inability to perform in the performance part.
To be fair, it's not just Kryan's fault, the camera operator focuses on the women dancers far more than the two singers, and we can't really blame Kryan for being distracted, now can we? It would be good to see Kryan perform all by himself, to see if he does grab the audience at home. As for Micke Moreno, he is on point and definitely a future star, he controls the energy and slams it right into the viewers at home. He's not distracted and wants to give a good performance, and he manages to save this video in every way.
Another week, another Thursday Revisit, and I have been waiting for a 2018 Thursday where I get to review this track by Antonia. This is totally her top solo song in Romania, and gosh is it catchy. It's one of those songs that stay in your head even a day after you first heard it. It's no surprise it climbed so high on the Romanian charts. Today is the first time I've seen this music video and I am so not impressed. Her latest music videos are on fire in every way, whereas this one just feels low-budget and it's beyond simple. Watch Antonia perform this hit song against a white background, flooding the visual with her modelling skills in this music video for "Marabou".
Antonia, full name Antonia Iacobescu, is one of the top female Romanian singers about at the moment. She's just released a brand new single that I can't get over, titled "Tango". I am hoping she plans on releasing a new album as we totally need a follow-up to her debut, especially since some of her latest tracks have charted well in her home country. All her recent tracks have been amazing, but none have quite reached number one in Romania like this song did. Catchy beyond anything we can imagine, Antonia sounds perfect on this song and is subtly sexy with the lyrics, which makes it even more addicting. "Marabou" was written by Thomas Troelsen and Anna F.
There really isn't much to this music video at all, and considering what she's released recently, this visual doesn't live up to Antonia's true potential. It was directed by Khaled Mokhtar - which really shows how far he has come in directing music videos since this.
Within the clip, Antonia draws on her modelling experience to sell this song. She is wearing a black dress that exposes her chest and the sides of her body. Throughout she's sexy and sultry as she stares into the camera and she tantalises the audience with certain moves.
Overall, this music video is beyond basic. It uses Antonia's strengths from when she was a model and wraps it up in a sexy music video that doesn't go anywhere. There are some synchronicity issues, where her lips don't match up to the lyrics, which draws the whole music video down. Regardless, Antonia stays in character throughout and does what she can to make this visual, good.
Once again, YouTube came through for me with this music video as I found it on the right panel when I was reviewing Forever In Your Mind's "Smooth", and the thumbnail just stood out at me. I recognise his face, although I'm not quite sure where from, as I've only ever seen Grease Live! from what he has been in, and I don't remember him in that show, although he clearly was one of the main characters. I probably recognise him from all the press from the 25th season of Dancing With The Stars, which he won. He's been trying for a music career for some time and he has done all right to date. Watch Jordan Fisher profess his love for a woman while he knocks out some brilliant dance choreography in this music video to his debut song "All About Us".
Jordan Fisher is a name people are quickly getting to know. He's an established actor and musician, and he is certainly getting his name out there. As previously mentioned, he's the winner of the 25th season of Dancing With The Stars, which is bound to push him to future success. He has appeared in 12 episodes of Liv & Maddie; starred in Grease Live!, Teen Beach Movie, Teen Beach Movie 2, and appeared in 9 episodes of The Secret Life Of An American Teenager. He has also appeared in the Broadway production of Hamilton. As for his music career, this song was his debut single back in 2016. He has since released an EP and three follow-up singles. I am certainly interested in seeing what the future brings him, music wise. The song charted on the US Billboard Mainstream Top 40 at number 26. It was written by Nick Bailey, Rick James, Ryan Ogren, and Steve McMorran.
Directed by TK McKamy, this music video is a pure performance visual that really showcases everything about Jordan Fisher. He sings passionately, he dances like he's on fire (no wonder he won Dancing With The Stars), and he can stay in character all the way through a music video.
You would think this visual has it all. The choreography is on point all the way through, and there's even a slight narrative with his love interest. However, he loses connection with the audience. I'm not sure if the song isn't exactly to his liking, or he hasn't quite felt it within him, but whatever it is, he feels slightly out of it.
The audience loses interest as the first scene progresses and we're drawn back in when additional dancers added into the scenes. However, it happens again towards the end of the music video as it doesn't develop or grow. It feels like it's one flat visual.
Regardless, Jordan Fisher gives it his all. His dancing is superb and the choreography is so on-point that we all wish we could dance just like him. The additional dancers, as well as his love interest, add flavour and intrigue to the mix, but it's just lacking connection overall. Jordan Fisher is on fire in this clip and this excites me for what is to come from him in the future.
I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Forever In Your Mind, but I do love their music, and here's another example of a very catchy song; although, I don't approve of what they said about BTS, on the other hand, they did apologise about it, so I guess it can be forgiven. This song may be beyond catchy, but the music video is lacking a smooth quality which we were expecting - there's just way too much smiling going on. Watch Forever In Your Mind attempt to be sexy and sultry and smooth whilst they dance with female love interests in this music video for their song "Smooth".
Forever In Your Mind are a three-piece boyband consisting of Emery Kelly, Ricky Garcia, and Liam Attridge. They made their name when they were formed on the third season of The X Factor (US); however, they only made it to the Bootcamp stage before being eliminated. I guess they proved Simon Cowell wrong though since they have gone on to release two EPs and a bunch of singles. Not only that, but they almost bagged a Disney TV series as the lead stars; unfortunately, the show wasn't picked up - they could've been the next Jonas Brothers. Regardless, they are still going and releasing contagious music that I can't help but love. This song, "Smooth", was written by Dustin Atlas, Emery Kelly, Emily McDonald, Liam Attridge, and Ricky Garcia.
Directed by Nayip Ramos, this music video is a pure performance piece with the guys attempting to nail it with the song. They clearly connect with it but are just having too much fun on set that they can't help but smile, rather than act smooth - this is the major flaw with the music video.
The concept is great, seeing the women in the music video as parts of their imagination; clearly, they are still on the guys' minds. Then, they surprise us with some brilliant dance choreography that they completely nail in every single way.
Throughout, they bring sex-appeal and killer dance moves. They manage to be sultry and smooth all the way through the scenes; however, it isn't consistent. The worse is Liam Attridge who may have perfected his smooth look during his verse, but throughout he's always smiling for the camera before he realises he's not supposed to smile and tries to look sultry again. He's not the only one, Emery Kelly and Ricky Garcia have their moments too. They're just living the life and having fun on set; it just sidetracks the viewers. If they can't stay in character for an almost four-minute visual, then it's no surprise their TV show wasn't picked up by Disney Channel.
A new week means a new Chart Mondays, and I'm still weeks and weeks behind - I will catch up! I swear! On this backdated date, Eminem reached the top of the UK chart with "River" featuring Ed Sheeran; knocking off Ed Sheeran's "Perfect". At the time of this date, there was no music video to the UK number one song - it was released weeks later and I'll probably end up covering it in a future Chart Mondays review - so today's backdated Chart Mondays was open to the UK Top 10, and this song seems to be falling on the UK Chart, so I thought it was about time I covered this. Watch Rita Ora perform in various places in New York in what looks like a spontaneous recording in this music video for "Anywhere".
Rita Ora is currently one of the biggest female singers in the UK at the moment. She's managed to get all of her latest singles into the UK Top 10, which is certainly not easy to do nowadays. Her songs have been instant hits, and this all happened after she had a few legal troubles with her previous record label that could've turned into a #FreeKesha / #FreeJoJo movement if it hadn't all worked out in the end. She now has 12 UK top ten hits, which equals the record for the most UK top ten hits by a British female artist, equalling with Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark - it'll only take one more and she'll have the record all to herself. This song peaked at number two on the UK Chart and was written by Nolan Lambroza, Alexandra Tamposi, Alessandro Lindblad, Nicholas Gale, Andrew Wotman, Brian Lee, and Rita Ora.
Directed by Declan Whitebloom, the music video took 14 hours to shoot in various places in New York. The video is a pure performance piece with some iconic looks from Rita Ora throughout whilst she nails the energy for the song in every way.
Let's start this review about the fashion. Rita Ora manages to style every single bit of clothing in every way. Most of the jewellery was designed by Alexis Bittar, whilst most of the footwear was designed by Sophia Webster. As for the restaurant scene, the diners are real diners and the restaurant remained open during filming, allowing the diners to accidentally appear in the shots.
The whole clip embodies running away and escapism. What it is lacking is a love-interest, however, I'm going to imagine that her love-interest is actually behind the camera, shooting her being free. There's so much on-point fashion from different designers and in different styles that this blog will be way too long to list them all. Regardless, Rita Ora shines throughout, pulling off any sort of look possible.
Overall, this music video is good; however, it feels like it's a fashion-forward music video. This would be fine if the song itself was focused on fashion at all; instead, the song is about running away with a lover. Minus the lover, Rita Ora certainly isn't in LA, and she does act free as if she's been released from the binds of LA - we're going to ignore the fact that New York is on the other side of the US so it was totally a planned getaway. I also believe the viewers at home are the people she's running away with.
I absolutely adore this song and its music video. 4th Impact continues to bring their firehouse vocals, and this is definitely a track I could listen to over and over again. Their harmonies are always on point, and that's why I'm so happy I'm finally reviewing this track. Unfortunately, I am so far behind on my blog that I'm trying to go on a catch-up spree, which isn't really working all that well, and I seem to be getting more and more behind each day, but I will catch up, I swear I will! Watch 4th Impact perform their song on some stairs, in a recording booth, and in front of a metal gate as we watch clips from the film "Ang Dalawang Mrs Reyes" in this music video for their song "It's Not The Same Anymore".
4th Impact are a Filipino girl group consisting of Almira Cercado, Irene Cercado, Mylene Cercado, and Celina Cercado. They are known for owning it on talent shows under various names. They came eighth on Superstar K6 and then came fifth on the twelfth series of The X Factor. They have since gone on to release their debut single "Unleash The Diva" and signed to US management. This is their follow-up single and is the soundtrack to Star Cinema movie "Ang Dalawang Mrs Reyes". I previously wrote about this for CelebMix. It was written by Edgar Van Passel and Daniel Van Passel.
The music video is a typical soundtrack visual that is completely on-point in every single way. It has clips of the artist singing the song and clips of the film in extra promotion - which is exactly what we need.
To be fair, the best thing about this music video is that we understand the plot of the film just from the clips shown. This is exactly what we expect to find in a soundtrack music video. If you understand what is going on, without any major twists being exposed, then the editors have done a brilliant job of creating a music video, and that's exactly what has happened here.
Then there's 4th Impact's performance, and gosh do they bring it - nothing new there. They bring it, especially from the clips in the studio and in front of the metal gate. The clips on the stairs are fire in every way; however, we certainly miss their dancing, regardless of the passion they flood this song with.
Overall, this music video is almost perfection. Unfortunately, there are some editing problems, mainly with the film clips having the audio on. I understand that in some of the clips, they wanted to get the humour across; however, without subtitles, people other than Filipinos will understand these jokes. I truly believe that this would've worked so much better without the audio from the film clips.
