Chart Mondays again, I'm currently in the middle of my Christmas Special. At the moment, Justin Bieber is STILL at number one with "Love Yourself", which only has a promotional video. As for this one, this is a freestyle video, and although technically not a music video, I'm counting this as an official music video. Not only that, but I really do not like Coldplay, and that is my only other option to review in the top 10, so Stormzy is so much better, in my opinion, to review. Stormzy raps perfectly and on point, never missing a single beat, very rehearsed, and faultless!
Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, is literally someone I hadn't heard of until today. He's name rang a bell, but I wasn't quite sure where. After searching on Google, I found he featured on a remix of Nick Jonas' "Chains", which was released on iTunes. He seems to be doing well for himself, chart wise, and with those skills, I don't blame the high charting positions! This song was written by Michael Oman as expected, and was used as a bid to claim the Christmas number one in order to rival The X Factor winner's single, which was Louisa Johnson with "Forever Young", instead it charted at number 8, just one place in front of Louisa Johnson's song. This wasn't technically released as a single, more like a b-side on the "WickedSkengMan 4" single.
The video was directed by Jaiden Ramgeet, who is the one behind the camera, we expect, who encourages Stormzy to state his name. Stormzy seems embarrassed at the start of the video, as if he's nervous or not comfortable at all.
He loosens up as soon as he starts to sing, and really gets into spitting those bars. This is totally raw, and fresh, it works well as a music video, performance wise. He clearly means everything he is saying.
What is there left for me to say though? No narrative, but that was to be expected. The camera flits to various people behind him, in reference, occasionally, which piqued the viewers interest ever so slightly, but apart from that, there isn't much more to this video, as a music video. As a freestyle video, however, it is one of the best I've seen.
I have been playing Inna's cover version of "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber all day. The song has really grown on me, unfortunately it probably won't be released on iTunes, and nothing will come of the version, apart from the YouTube upload. Since there's no music video to it, and it not being a Christmas song, I decided to review Inna's only Christmas single to date. It's not the first time we've had a club artist release a Christmas song, Cascada released "Last Christmas" as well as "Let It Snow". Inna not only shows her amazing vocals in this track, she proves that she can be cute as well as sexy, ice skating and being fun and festive, this is a side of Inna we rarely see, and it's a joy to watch.
Inna, real name Elena Apostoleanu, has pretty much dropped off the radar in the UK, only her die hard fans, who call themselves club rockers, know what she's up to and when she releases a new single. However in her own country and in some other eastern countries, she has been charting well. This song was released in 2009, and against popular belief, it was never officially released in the UK and so subsequently didn't chart. Instead, it was released on iTunes in 2014 on a compilation album consisting of Romanian artists singing Christmas songs, called "Buna Dimineata La Mos Ajun". It was written by Marcel Botezan, Radu Bolfea and Sebastian Barac.
The music video was directed by Tom Boxer, it was done in no less than five hours, in the ice skating rink. It makes it seem more like a high quality home video, and yet it's not as great as her other music videos.
The song isn't one I'd normally attach to Inna straight away, and I suppose the video follows suit in that way. Inna shows herself to be having fun with Santa.
I've still never been ice skating, definitely going to have to try it sometime. There isn't much more to this video, Inna and Santa on an ice skating rink with a bunch of other people, adults and children alike. There's a small relation to the song as she sings to some male actors now and again, but it's more about spreading the Christmas fun and cheer.
There is a multitude of singers who have released Christmas singles and albums, and this X Factor winner is no exclusion. This has grown on me a lot every year, and I truly believe it will be one of those all-time Christmas songs that are guaranteed to chart every year. Leona Lewis shows that she has a fun side of herself, in this festive video, where she has a close friends only party, and has a wonderful time.
Leona Lewis has recently parted ways with Syco Music and Simon Cowell after seven years. She has not had much recent success on the singles chart lately, and her most recent album just missed out of the top 10 here in the UK. Is this what is left for Leona Lewis? Or will she make a big comeback? Her performance with Ben Haenow on The X Factor final was awesome, proving to everyone that she was a worthy winner.
The video reminds me a lot of Basshunter's "I Miss You / Jingle Bells". It's party time, and one more sleep until Christmas, obviously.
The opening starts with snow as Leona Lewis' song talks about snow, a great literal take on the song, it continues with fun, games and partying. It looks relaxing as well as enjoyable. Leona Lewis, invite me next time please.
The video features her boyfriend, Dennis Jaunch. The video doesn't excite me, although festivities is clearly being shown. It's the sort of party I'd like to experience, but only once and never again. Not capturing and not something I'd be interested in viewing a second time. Awesome song though, that should've hit the top of the charts.
Well look who is back, bringing the festive cheer... Well technically they never went away, they've still been releasing music, yet they haven't charted since 2013, and even then it wasn't inside the top 40... So in theory, they are back, but probably not back to the UK singles charts, since this isn't doing particularly well on the iTunes chart. Although I don't know why as I'm loving this song, it's ever so catchy. This becomes my New Release this week under my Christmas Special 2015. Scouting For Girls show us what Christmas is all about in 2015, with this amazing, laid back, relaxing type of music video.
Scouting For Girls are making their debut on my blog today, surprisingly. They are a three piece band consisting of Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Pete Ellard. They have had a string of hits including "She's So Lovely", "Elvis Ain't Dead", "Heartbeat", "Love How It Hurts" and number one single "This Ain't A Love Song". Despite that, they have been dropping off the radar on the singles chart here in the UK, however their albums are consistently doing well on the albums chart, despite people unaware of new singles. The song is worthy of being in the UK chart, it's instantly catchy and I was singing the lyrics before I even knew them. This song needs a lot more exposure, if it's got any chance of charting on Friday.
The video, directed by Damien Reeves, is gentle to say the least. Filmed in Marlborough, the whole scene has the feel of Christmas.
This band doesn't need any gimmicks, no reindeer, no snow, just a simple town celebrating Christmas. This is usually what happens when people go to city centres, there is no snow or reindeer. It captures the viewers sense of Christmas, and you could just imagine being there.
A performance piece is set into this literal narrative piece. The crowd seems to be enjoying their stage presence, and their connection as they walk down the road is very clear. This is a band that you definitely wouldn't be disappointed to see live, especially outside in a winter's air.
Overall, a great video, that relates perfectly, almost too perfectly, taking certain sentences of the lyrics and creating a scene because of what has been sung, and then paired them together. Too literal, but in a sweet Christmas kind of way, one that isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be. Definitely a catchy Christmas song, that has definitely became one of my top Christmas songs, and a video I wouldn't mind seeing again and again, well done on capturing the Christmas spirit in a music video.
I have been exploring Jennifer Paige music videos so I could decide to review one tonight, and although there was a lot of music videos to choose from, since most of her songs that have charted have all been before 2010, this one stood out, mainly because it reminds me of a High School Musical song called "Gotta Go My Own Way", as pointed out by a YouTube commenter. Nick Carter stands out both vocally and visually compared to Jennifer Paige, but their performance is atrocious as they have no chemistry whilst performing together, luckily the narrative side of the video makes the video stand out.
Jennifer Paige is attempting to kickstart her career with the help of ironically named website kickstarter, and it doesn't look like she will gain the money she is hoping to raise. Her debut single "Crush" was a massive global hit, and has been stuck in my head for the past week, still for the same reasons... I think I'm going to have to deal with this problem of mine at some point. Her vocals are stunning on "Crush", but on this single it isn't as great as I was expecting, and even with the help of Nick Carter, this single never hit it off. Nick Carter has recently been brought to my attention because he has released his third solo album which features Avril Lavigne on the track "Get Over Me" which is set to be released as his second single from this album, which I'm so excited for. For those of you who thinks his name rings a bell... Well he is best known as one fifth of the Backstreet Boys, as well as being the older brother to Aaron Carter, who sung "I Want Candy" amongst other hit songs.
Usually a video that is split into two parts, a performance and a narrative, scores highly with me, however the awkwardness in the performance piece lets the entire video down. Jennifer Paige and Nick Carter clearly don't work well together, it's like they had an argument before shooting, or they just didn't get on. This really didn't help as they aren't performing at their best and their hearts aren't into the song, let alone the music video.
As for the story line, it's perfect. Performed by Miles Ramsey and Ciara Miller, a couple robs a jewellery store, they then pawn off the jewellery and gain money in cash, which they spend on new clothes and going out partying. She ends up drugging him and leaving him in a room, whilst she goes out and attempts to rob another jewellery shop with someone else. It's an amazing music video, and relates to the song perfectly.
Half of me wishes that there wasn't a performance piece, as the narrative works well all by itself. Unfortunately there is no ignoring the dreadful attempt at passion by the two talented singers. Luckily Nick Carter redeems himself in his new song "Get Over Me" which features Avril Lavigne. I'm hopeful a video will appear soon, one much better than this one.
This is one of my favourite Beyoncé songs of all time, a guy at work was singing it today, and it instantly got stuck in my head. I even remember watching the music video when I was younger. Beyoncé looks stunning as always in this video, asking a guy she likes to check on her tonight. She's not the only one hoping that will happen, there's this guy I like, as I've previously stated in other blog posts, but I just know he won't make a move on me, so again here is another song to describe exactly how I'm feeling.
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, has had a career that could already last a lifetime. She was one third of girl group Destiny's Child, and now as a solo star she has become one of the biggest female artists in the world. A total of five number ones in the UK, she is probably guaranteed a lot more. This song features Bun B, real name Bernard Freeman, who was part of rap duo UGK, and has done all right for himself over in the US... The same goes for her other collaborator Slim Thug, real name Stayve Thomas, who is currently a part of Boss Hogg Outlawz, and who's career is doing all right too. Of course, this single totally pushed both rappers into the limelight. It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, Kasseem Dean, Sean Garrett, Angela Beyincé and Stayve Thomas. Beyoncé was once reported as saying she isn't a fan of this song because it's too simple, and I definitely agree, however it's catchy chorus is undeniably dance-worthy, and it gets stuck in my head easily. The song was planned to be on the Pink Panther soundtrack, however it was dropped last minute.
This pink filled video was directed by Hype Williams. The song features a remix of The Pink Panther Theme.
There is a lot of pink in this video, to bridge the link between the song and The Pink Panther movie. The video is unique as pink curtains appear where black bars are normally when things are shot in a 4:3 full screen. This was a common theme with the videos that Hype Williams directed back then, including Jamie Foxx's "Unpredictable" and Ne-Yo's "So Sick".
The choreography is on point, as expected when it comes to Beyoncé, however there isn't many dance sequences to the choreography, and it's not complicated at all, Beyoncé is so much better than this. It's clear that they wanted to show off a few dance moves more than others, mainly twerking.
This is all a little too pink for me, it's over the top, although quite good, making sure she's looking amazing and that her man better come over and check on her. Yet it feels too simple, both the song and the music video relate perfectly in that way, and definitely not something that eagerly makes the viewers watch again and again, a few times is more than enough, if that.
