I've been meaning to watch this three-part film, titled "Pictures", consisting of Hunter Hayes' latest music videos, for ages, but I really haven't been able to get around to it. Well, guess I can do that right now, and make up for it, by watching the first part and hopefully follow it up with the other videos in the following back-dated weeks. I can't believe how far behind on my blog I am. I've never ever been this far behind, so I'm in two minds on whether to focus and catch up, or just start over again; but, I know that if I start over again, I'll never forgive myself, and I'll probably fall behind again; whereas, if I focus and catch up and get into a rhythm, I may get so used to writing on my blog again that I will fully catch up and manage to keep my blog up-to-date - oh, how I wish that will happen, I guess we will wait and see. I love Hunter Hayes, his vocals and visuals are always on point. I adore continuing music videos, like the Basshunter ones, and Troye Sivan's Blue Neighbourhood visuals, that I seriously can't wait to start this one and watch it all the way through. Watch Hunter Hayes perform whilst playing the piano as we watch various characters in a narrative that makes us want to know what's going on in this music video for "You Should Be Loved" featuring The Shadowboxers.
Hunter Hayes is an American country singer-songwriter who went viral with his absolutely incredible song "Wanted". He has been on my radar ever since and I've liked a lot of his previous music, but his latest releases haven't quite captured me the way his early releases did. Take this song, for example, it took me months and months to finally like the song, and I'm not the only one since the track failed to chart. I expect more music to come from him soon, surely there's a new album being prepared, right? "You Should Be Loved" features The Shadowboxers who are a five-piece American pop band consisting of Adam Hoffman, Matt Lipkins, Scott Tyler, Cole McSween, and Carlos Enamorado. I just realised I have previously wrote about the release of this song on CelebMix. The pop group provides the backing vocals for this track. They've gone on to release albums and feature on other tracks - I'm excited to see where The Shadowboxers go in the future. This song was written by Blair Daly, Hunter Hayes, and Sam Ellis.
Directed by John Edde & Matt Edde, this music video has brilliant content - once again Hunter Hayes has given us an addicting music video. The characters in the narrative were apparently inspired by the painting that was created in the "Rescue" music video - although that music video does not officially link with this three-parter.
We'll start off with the performance piece of this. Hunter Hayes is lacking his usual energy, probably because he is sat behind a piano throughout this visual. Regardless, he still gives it his all to the camera and continues to showcase his many instrumental talents. It's great to see him play the piano, I just wish he had expressed this song a bit more during his scenes. It's also disappointing that he isn't a part of the narrative; however, it's still a great music video anyway.
As for the narrative, it is an in-depth storyline that definitely delves deep into Hunter Hayes' song and draws out this engaging set of events that is set in a different time era to that of the performance piece - this also makes it feel warped to some extent. We open up with dialogue from three of the characters. The girl in the backseat thanks her two friends - who are together - for giving her a ride. As she leaves to see the band, the guy (Bruce) grabs his girlfriend by the arm and tells her that he wanted to stay in tonight, and then asks if she's hiding something from him.
What a way to get us involved in a narrative from the get-go. It has a Grease/Hairspray-style setting, so the year must be 60's. Inside we see a band playing, this is not The Shadowboxers - who are a vocal group - and there's a clear connection between a band player and our main girl from the back of the car.
The story unfolds where we find out the girl who was in the relationship is actually hiding something, she's fallen for this other guy, who actually looks after her and cares for her. We also see a photographer who, after taking a few couple photos, is taken back to her bedroom where she's missing her partner; by the looks of the framed photograph, he has passed away.
During one of the scenes, we learn the girlfriend's name, which is Sophie, and she gets together with the guy she likes and kisses him. This is where this guy sees the bruises on Sophie's shoulder.
This is a well-thought-out music video, and it's certainly intrigued us into the second part of "Pictures" although I'm not entirely sure what route the whole three-part movie will take us down but I definitely want to find out, so expect the following music videos to be reviewed by me in the coming weeks. As much as this works on paper, I feel like it needed to be ironed out through the narrative, as the scene with the photographer at the end is quite confusing. Not only that, but Hunter Hayes does not fit into this at all and it jumps from present to 60's as if they're meant to be aligned. Regardless, it's a relatable storyline, that links in well with the song, and the artist does a great job.
Once again, I feel like I'm filling up my blog with female solo artists, so I thought I'd choose a male artist to review for this backdated blog, and this one came into my head. I used to be a fan of Justin Timberlake when I was younger, which probably explains why this song popped into my head, but I really don't remember this music video being so bad quality. It's definitely a colourful music video, and I used to adore this song. Watch Justin Timberlake dance and fly and do all sorts of things in this music video for his song "Rock Your Body".
Justin Timberlake was previously in *NSYNC before he became this hot shot male solo artist, who is at the height of his career. He constantly brings out hits after hits, but following in the footsteps of his co-stars in the Mickey Mouse Club - way back when he was a child - Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, his recent material hasn't bagged him high chart positions globally. Promotion is key nowadays for these big artists, and Justin Timberlake sure knows how to promote, which is why he's done pretty well chart-wise, although not completely brilliantly as he did in the early days of his career; such as this track. This was a global success, giving him his first Australian number one. In the UK it hit number two, and in the US it hit number five. It was written by Justin Timberlake, Chad Hugo, and Pharrell Williams. As for the female vocals, they were provided by Vanessa Marquez.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, this music video is a pure performance visual, that sees him perform in a cube-like room where multi-coloured lights make up the walls; they transition light effects bringing focus on the walls more than Justin Timberlake. It's a total distraction; not only that but the lights transform the artist, to the extent, throwing light in various ways in the shot, making it less appealing.
The dancing is on point in every section of this, which we totally expect from Justin Timberlake. He can dance and totally nail choreography in every way. It's good that he's in-sync with the backing dancers at certain points, and he nails the solos.
What I do not like is the fact that Vanessa Marquez, who provides the female vocals in the song, does not appear in the visual; instead, we have Staci Flood lip-syncing to the lyrics. She's been featured in a few music videos and was once a part of The Pussycat Dolls when they were a burlesque troupe.
Overall, this music video was stylish and cool back in the day. Nowadays, it comes off not-so-great. The dancing is on-point, although I swear we all thought Justin Timberlake was hot back then, but now we're wondering if our judgement was correct. I love the light room and wish there was a club that was fitted with those light walls, that would seriously be a brilliant dancefloor.
I had planned to review this weeks ago, and then I noticed it would appear in the UK Top 10 in the future - no I did not foresee this with some magical power, I've been so far behind on this blog that I've been backdating every post for the past few months and that's how I saw that I would be reviewing this music video as a Chart Mondays review. Currently, Drake is at number one (and has been for many weeks after) with the song "God's Plan", the music video, of which, dropped a few weeks after this backdated date - so expect that music video review in the future. This opened the UK Top 10 to my review, and at number 10 is this song! I have not seen this music video before today and I believe Sigrid does her best with what she is given. Watch Sigrid move and dance around a set that looks like it's for a movie in this music video for her hit single "Strangers".
Sigrid, full name Sigrid Raabe, is a singer-songwriter from Norway. She's been globalising on her career for a few years, allowing her songs and music videos to go viral. She knows how to build up and it's certainly working for her. This song is her biggest hit to date, although her previous track "Don't Kill My Vibe" also managed to gain traction around the world. The big question is whether she'll be able to keep her popularity and release even more hits. This is something that a lot of rising stars are struggling with, and I'm guessing that Sigrid is going to be another one for us to add to that list. This song is written by Sigrid Raabe and Martin Sjølie.
Directed by Ivana Bobic for Riff Raff Films, the music video is a pure performance visual. We watch Sigrid interpret the song for the camera as she moves around a set.
The song mentions something to do with a film, so it feels like she's appearing on a film set and she's just using the props and the camera work for her own music video. It feels really unrelated to the song as a whole.
As for the performance side of things, Sigrid really works as much as she can. She does her best and that's all we can ask of her. However, I'm not sure if it is all that good as a whole. It just feels like it doesn't connect with the audience at home and it's missing some major things. It's just not all that interesting to watch. Kudos to Sigrid, though, because she works with what she's been given.
I know that I keep blaming Fergie for the reason why I'm behind on my blog, and I have to admit that she is no longer the whole reason why I am behind, because I'm like 40 days behind now, and since Fergie doesn't have 40 music videos out, it's not entirely her fault, but she was certainly the start of it. She just happened to keep on releasing more and more music videos which I just had to cover for CelebMix. Not long after, INNA then released a new single a day, and now all the Eurovision news is coming out, it's literally put me so far behind. Add that to the two part-time jobs that I currently have, one of which may go full-time soon, I am flat-out, and it's just put me behind on my blog. Failing to come up with any other music videos to review, I reverted back to Fergie, since she started this downward spiral on my blog, so it's only right that she helps me out. I adore the emotional connotation of this music video, and every subsequent one is just as amazing, as you'll know when I come to review them. Watch Fergie in this black and white music video, lash out at her lover as she spots him on the street which smokes them up into an imaginary universe which dispels him in this music video for "Just Like You".
Fergie, full name Fergie Duhamel and previously Stacy Ferguson, is mostly known for being the female singer in the group The Black Eyed Peas. She has had a successful solo career to date, and took ten years to release her second studio album titled Double Dutchess and gosh was it worth the wait as it is one of my all-time favourite albums that has been released. She also released a music video for every single song on the album - hence why I started being behind on my blog; yes, I did previously write up about this music video on CelebMix. This is a great video although the song is just okay, nothing special. It was written by Fergie Duhamel, Leon "Roccstar" Youngblood, Steve Franks, and Taylor Parks.
The music video was directed by Bruno Ilogti. The opening scene is continued by the ending scene whilst smoke clouds these two characters into an imaginary world which allows Fergie to sing about a guy who broke her heart and where she gets to call him out and make him disappear so she can continue walking down the street.
Now, anyone who has read my music video reviews, know that I hate black and white visuals and again I don't understand why it is in black and white. It does make the smoke more integral to the piece and possibly makes the visual easier, allowing them to be covered in smoke, but I'm pretty sure the concept is still easily conveyed in colour.
The performance piece is slightly lacking too, she's missing her usual energy and it's clear she doesn't enjoy trying to translate this song into a performance visual. The scenes with the guy are amazing - who looks a bit like her husband who she has split from, Josh Duhamel - fully getting into acting. There's just something missing throughout. I just wanted more emotion, more realness in this.
My boyfriend kind of quoted some of the song lyrics to this track to me and when I found out what it was, I told him I was going to review it on my blog, and here it is. He also told me that he's going to get a list together for me so that I don't have to struggle to come up with music videos to review - which is a really good idea since I usually rely on my iTunes or my YouTube Recommendations. After exploring the comments, I now know why my boyfriend likes this song, because it was in Pitch Perfect 3 and sung by Hailee Steinfeld and The Bellas - I still need to watch that film! Watch Daya sit still and look pretty as people choose her clothes for her using an app before she gets up and strips the guys down and lock them in a box in this music video for "Sit Still, Look Pretty".
Daya, real name Grace Tandon, is best known for featuring on The Chainsmokers' track "Don't Let Me Down". This helped to launch her solo career where she has gone on to release a few singles and an album, all of which has managed to chart well around the world. Her voice is off the radar and will certainly help her to become a global star in no time at all. She just needs to maximise on her popularity and get her name out there even more; no doubt, a solo hit will make her into an international sensation pretty soon. Keep an eye on Daya. This song was written by Gino Barletta, Mike Campbell, and Britten Newbill.
Directed by Chán André for VOYEURIZED. It's mainly a narrative piece that is set in the future. Imagine a world where all it takes is an app to change your style - now that's something we all need in our life, no more being overdressed or underdressed for any event.
Most of the video is taken up by establishing that Daya is sitting there, looking pretty, whilst other people choose the outfits she will be wearing. I love the way it's been edited and it's completely engaging from the outset, although none of the outfits are amazing or out of this world. It takes some time for her to rebel and actually move, regardless of the fact that she's been singing about not being someone who sits still and looks pretty.
She grabs at the two bodyguards and strips them from their masks and tops. She then explores and make many of the other men remove their clothes, but only the top-half, exposing their bodies. The ending sees these guys trapped in a box, while Daya escapes.
Overall, this music video does relate to the song, but it's mild for what it is. Her performance piece. that is segmented throughout, is completely forgettable totally not making me want to see her live. The fact that it takes so long for her to rebel is annoying, and why doesn't she use the app on these guys? I understand she probably wants to see them topless but surely if someone has been choosing your outfits for you without your consent surely deserves payback.
There wasn't much choice for this backdated new release so I just went with this as I'm not so impressed with the music video and I'm hoping this doesn't take too much of my time to write up so that I can hurry up and catch up on my blog; on the other hand, I haven't heard of any of these artists so I may have some research to do; regardless, this song is addicting and I love how it sounds. Watch a couple spend time together in various locations in this loving music video for Nikless & BEFORE WE GO's song "Don't Wanna Let It Go" featuring Maurice.
Nikless, real name Roman Gilgen, is a DJ from Switzerland. He has released a few singles but there's not much information on him. He's an upcoming emerging artist who plans to hit the road soon and who would love to release an album in the future, but he is currently focusing on collaborations and singles, for now. He's currently been working with ENV and has more music on the way. This collaboration is with BEFORE WE GO, which is a project by Maury Pozzi who is also known as Maurice - who provided the vocals to this track. As a project, quite a few releases have been released and they have all been addicting, just like this one. I can't wait to see where both these artists go, their futures are bound to be bright. This song was written by Nikless and Maury Pozzi.
Directed by Cutloose London, this music video is a pure narrative visual that doesn't connect with the audience. It shows a loving couple in various locations enjoying their time together, before separating.
The first scene shows them walking across a desert. They then start collecting log-like sticks so they can start a camp-fire. This takes up the majority of the music video, taking the word "flames" from the lyrics and turning it into a central part of the music video.
From the fire, we get the exact opposite in the next scene in a snowy landscape and our couple gets into a snowball fight. It was clearly a memory of their fun time together, and they miss those times. We also watch other memories including them crossing a rickety bridge, having tea in the snow, an overlooking swimming pool, and climbing a rock face.
The ending sees them go their separate ways, leaving the past in the past and breaking up. It's an all right music video and does relate to the song, but it doesn't establish the loving connection all that well with the viewers at home. We're missing the sparks and the passion.
I doubt I'll get the chance to review GALA again, so of course, I was going to review one of her old music videos for my backdated Thursday Revisit. Surprisingly, I had never heard of this song, even though it charted in the UK at number 11 back in 1997; I just guess trance never really got to me as a kid; to be fair, we're all just rediscovering "Freed From Desire" since DJs absolutely adore the song and continue to play it in the clubs nowadays. It's that song that is the reason I'm reviewing this music video right now. Watch GALA perform her song about it being okay to be different and who you are in this pro-LGBT music video for her song "Let A Boy Cry".
GALA, full name Gala Rizzatto, is an Italian singer who made her name known in the 90's when her track "Freed From Desire" became an international hit. This song was the follow-up and did moderately okay for that time - nowadays if she had pulled off those chart numbers it would've been considered another international hit; however, that's only in some countries; in others, it did better than her previous track, such as in her home country of Italy. Since then, she's released more singles and more albums and has clearly continued her passion for music. This song was written by Filippo Andrea Carmeni, Gala Rizzatto, and Maurizio Molella.
This music video is in black and white, which automatically makes me dislike it, I don't care that it's a 90's music video, that doesn't give it a good enough reason to be in black and white. I understand it is used so that the gold can stand out more, but the same effect could've been done using colour.
Putting that aside, GALA does give a pretty good performance of the song, considering she is surrounded by extras who take a role in the portrayal of the narrative. We see people from the LGBT+ community being themselves.
There's a lot of sweet moments and, for the 90's, it's good to see that something like this was being filmed and shown. On the other hand, there's nothing substantial and heart-warming. No one would say a thing if it was showing women putting lipstick on or straight couples holding hands. They don't try to identify the issue at play and instead of showing us a loving narrative, we're left with scenes that don't really come together to portray a story. Kudos go to the gold vs silver thing going on and the concept - even if it didn't work out quite so well.
This song has been stuck in my head after I came home from work the other day (this is a backdated post - it is actually March, and I've been working for a month now). So, I thought I'd see if there was a music video for this song, and once again Eric Saade has come through for me. This is not only a good music video, it's a great music video which relates well to the song and represents his home country perfectly. I'm surprised he didn't attempt Melodifestivalen with this song, as I reckon it would've been a good contender. Watch Eric Saade present his country for the whole world to see, allowing us to see some beautiful sights, some beautiful Swedish people, and this singer-songwriter dancing in this music video for "Girl From Sweden".
Eric Saade is best known for competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with "Popular" where he represented his home country, Sweden, coming third with 185 points. Since then he has released a tonne of music and even returned to Melodifestivalen a few times in the hope to represent Sweden at Eurovision again. I adore this track, and I think the song and its accompanying music video would've been perfect for Eurovision, but it wasn't a part of the competition. It didn't do quite so well chart wise in Sweden, only hitting the heatseekers chart. Regardless the song is a jam and truly shows what Eric Saade is capable of. How he isn't an international star yet, I do not know. He was also originally a part of boy band What's Up! for two years.
Directed by Alexandra Kentsdottir & Silja-Marie Kentsdottir, this music video is a pure performance piece with a narrative that doesn't really go anywhere at all. The location was filmed in various places in Stockholm, including Hornstull, Västerbron, Värmdö, and Levon. There's also a scene filmed in Smedby and Hagen in Leksand.
This really manages to show off Sweden - mainly Stockholm - amazingly and totally makes me want to visit even more one day; no doubt I will. It's a cute narrative showing Eric Saade at a press event by himself before exploring Sweden, clearly going after his "Girl From Sweden"; however a love interest never pops up, and instead three women dressed in Swedish traditional clothing appears beside him at the press event - these women can be seen during the performance pieces.
Finally, we get to see Eric Saade's dance moves, and he can certainly follow choreography. It may be basic but it's definitely one of those sequences that people will copy and perform in the comfort of their own homes or with other people. It's like he's bringing back something we've seen plenty of times from the 90's and the 00's and it really works. We want to be able to pull off those dance moves with his style and flair.
Overall, this music video is really good, it sort of relates to the song, to the extent where it shows off Sweden and the pretty women who live there. However, a love-interest would've certainly upped this music video rating that tiny bit more.
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.
