I have been a fan of Sam Callahan for years, even before he auditioned for The X Factor, and today saw him drop a brand new single and music video, titled "Demons", and I am obsessed with this song. Highly relatable to anyone who has been in toxic friendships and relationships - let's be honest, we've all been there at some point - this song draws on the emotions of that pivotal moment when you decide to do what's best for you and leave the toxic person once and for all, detoxing yourself from that person who was dragging you down with them. It's quite possibly one of his best songs he's released lyrically as the structure is on-point, as well as his vocals, and his falsetto gives me chills every time he launches into that bridge. This is one brilliant song that deserves to become his biggest hit to date. Keep listening to it on repeat!
The music video, directed by Jake Pursey, is set in an abandoned building and is a pure performance visual. Sam Callahan takes all his honesty and emotion and unleashes it during the visual allowing the audience to feel what this track means to him. We imagine that he would bring this sort of energy on stage whenever gigs are allowed to go-ahead again. The last few scenes see him use all that emotional energy on smashing a TV with a baseball bat - which he clearly enjoyed doing. This is such a great music video to accompany this track.
Another music video that was displayed in my YouTube Recommendations and I was intrigued with the name, ROLE MODEL, so I thought I'll give it a shot and review this visual, titled "going out". He is a singer-songwriter whose real name is Tucker Pillsbury and his lyrics are always very real, touching upon mental health such as depression and loneliness, as well as hitting troubles that many people are having in the world such as failed relationships and self-doubt. This specific song is about not wanting to go out clubbing for various reasons, mainly due to his mood which hits upon anxiety and depression but as well as his character trait of being introverted and much preferring his own company. His lyrics give reasons as to why he doesn't want to go out and he makes plenty of good points that you can't even argue with. I can totally relate since I am quite the introvert especially around new people, but clubbing is my escape and it makes me feel like an extrovert, especially when I've had some alcohol.
The music video opens up with him being asked by his mates to go out with them, but he turns them down or even tunes them out with his headphones. He walks down the middle of the road listening to music through his headphones and I can so relate to that specific scene, it's literally so good to be in your own music bubble. We later see him enjoying himself being at his home, taking a bath, ironing, and just spending his time exactly the way he wants to.
This song, as well as the other songs from Pop Smoke's debut album, has been gaining traction over the last few weeks, which isn't a surprise sing the album hit number one on the UK Albums Chart a couple of weeks ago, with "Mood Swings" featuring Lil Tjay becoming his most chart successful song in the UK. Back in February, he was murdered where he was shot twice during a home invasion. As with most posthumous releases, he has charted well around the globe, defining his legacy and making sure we're all aware of his name. I'm reviewing this music video this week as 24kGoldn and iann dior is still at number one with "Mood". "Mood Swings" is a great hip-hop track with raunchy lyrics and an addicting R&B backing track that all piece up together brilliantly, with Pop Smoke and Lil Tjay working well together on the track. The artists include references to their women and the expensive items that they own and therefore boasting about their lives and fame. The track has gone viral on video-sharing app TikTok.
It's so sad that Pop Smoke is no longer able to appear in his own music videos but Lil Tjay fully brings it for the visual. The opening scene sees two women in a car with the driver discussing with the passenger that she can't keep picking her up when stuff happens in her relationship even though the passenger states that she loves Lil Tjay. Then we watch their relationship unfold from the sexual attraction - and a lot of it within this visual - to the fights and disagreements that end up with her leaving him at the end. It's an important topic to cover in a music video, and that opening scene sets up the rest of the video absolutely perfectly. Lil Tjay brings it for the performance visual throughout, giving it his all and managing to make this a solid video even though Pop Smoke isn't there. I just wish there was more to the narrative overall.
Okay, how have I never reviewed an *NSYNC music video on my blog before today? It sounds impossible to have this happen, and yet here we are. This song has been stuck in my head all day, probably because I've recently caught up with Celebrity Karaoke Club (which is a lot trashier than I thought it was going to be, but it's addictive trash), and this was one of the ending songs as they said goodbye to another contestant, and it made me realise how much I loved this track in the '90s. To be fair, it's still a brilliant song today and I could so see it resurfacing as a viral hit over the next few years.
*NSYNC were a '90s/'00s pop boy band consisting of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass. They had a number of hit singles but I never really caught on to the group and preferred UK boy bands such as 5ive and A1, at the time. This song is strong and powerful with the group giving it throughout and easily making it catchy. This is truly an unforgettable track with Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez impressing vocally. The song was originally given to 5ive, who rejected it, clearly, they missed out because it became a brilliant hit for *NSYNC.
The music video, directed by Wayne Isham, is totally iconic and one we all remember. It opens with all five members being string puppets, controlled by a woman, who is the former model and actress, Kim Smith. She cuts the strings of Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone first and they fly through the air and onto a speeding train where they run away and try to evade the woman, who gives chase. She next cuts the strings of Justin Timberlake and chases after him in an abandoned warehouse with a pair of dogs, but he manages to escape too. Lastly, she cuts the strings of JC Chasez and Lance Bass who land in a red Dodge Viper and they speed away as Kim Smith gives chase in her silver BMW Z3. They end up sliding into a u-turn to escape from her, which totally works. Throughout the video, there's a performance visual where the group are performing in a blue rotating box, which is made to look like they're on changing gravity fields. During this performance piece, they give us brilliant dance choreography and passion for the song. This is totally one of the best music videos released in the '90s/'00s.
Why do two of my all-time favourite artists release new music on the same day? Like, I love it because it's new music from both INNA (who has collaborated with Michael Calfan on the track "Call Me Now") and Alexandra Stan (who features on this song "Bandit" by Paul Damixie) but it causes me to have to choose which new release to cover - or it normally would, in this case, luckily, INNA hasn't dropped a music video for her new song and so Alexandra Stan has to be my new release music video review this week and I am loving it. This song effortlessly gets stuck in my head, to the extent where I just have the chorus going around and around, eager for me to listen to the song on repeat. It's a really fun song with Paul Damixie giving us some brilliant instrumental sounds throughout the track whilst Alexandra Stan brings the vocals and her care-free spirit as she sings.
The music video has been directed by SAN and has a cowboy-theme throughout with both artists appearing in a wild wild west village. Alexandra Stan appears in most of the scenes, giving us a performance piece where she's wearing a hat that has string hanging down all around it, which clearly gets in the way and she's always messing with it. There's also a performance with a cactus where she's watering it and herself with a hose, and then there are also scenes where she's inside a bar, performing on the tabletop wearing cow chaps. Paul Damixie can be seen walking around dressed as a cowboy throughout. It really has a bandit air to the video with the cowboy theme, but I feel it's missing connection and substance.
