I love both Hold It Against Me and We R Who We R so much- both pop classics for me and have so many amazing features each :heart:

05/02/2011

Chase & Status feat Liam Bailey

Blind Faith

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/BlindFaithSingleCover.jpg/220px-BlindFaithSingleCover.jpg

 

This is a song that I always want to like more than I actually do, and for the main reason being that I totally adore the music video. It's not a perfect video for any means but I do appreciate its efforts to visualise and accurately represent the Northern clubbing/party lifestyle. I wasn't doing much of that back in early 2011 (give it a year) mainly because I was 15 and still looked about 9, but I can at least now look at this and smile fondly because I recognize so much of what goes on. Not that I was ever particularly involved in the 'laddish' culture that this video puts across. The unfortunate thing is that out of every song covered so far in 2011, this is the one I genuinely can find very little to say about, its utterly unremarkable. It has a good beat I guess and parts of it sound like some sort of lost 1990s club banger but that's pretty much everything I can muster about this.

 

05/02/2011

Chris Brown

Yeah 3x

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Chrisbrownyeah3x.png/220px-Chrisbrownyeah3x.png

 

Chris Brown is one of my least favourite people on Earth. Ever. I'm not kidding. I just don't like the guy, away from the fact that he's somehow managed to get away with straight up domestic violence and retain a career, I also happen to think he's not a particularly talented performer either. Sure, he can dance but his voice is weak and it doesn't help that his songs are pretty much always awful. I have friends who think I'm too hard on Chris Brown because the whole Rihanna incident happened six years ago, he's moved on, she's moved on, why can't I? I'm not an unforgiving person and whilst I do believe in second chances, I've never thought that they should just be doled out to bad people without question. The very essence of a second chance means somebody has f***** up so badly that they have broken whatever trust you had in them, I believe such people can and should be allowed a second chance, but only after they've earned them. There's no point in giving someone a second chance when they've done nothing to prove that they deserve one and won't do whatever they did in the first place again. I haven't seen such behaviour from Chris Brown that I believes warrants him a second chance in my eyes.

 

He's never made a public apology about what he did (I'll get to why the fact it has to be public in a bit) but not only that, he's continued to be a general twit and got himself sent to prison. He's not learnt his lesson because we've not aptly punished him. The wider hip-hop community with the exception of a few have forgiven him and welcomed him back, which, if he's apologized in person or whatever, I guess is fair enough. Now, about that public apology. It's been a point of contention amongst me and a few of my friends who feel that it is Chris Brown and Rihanna's private business. I agree, however I'm also aware of how the media works, and Chris Brown's position makes him a role model, whether he likes that or not. People, especially a demographic of young men, look up to him and whilst Chris Brown continues to run around unpunished for what he did, and has never himself publicly acknowledged it, what kind of message is that sending out to impressionable youths? It doesn't make for a good public image either, he'll never be able to move past the stigma of what he did without one. Now, I reckon a few reading this have thought 'why are you talking about this? get to the song'. I can't.

 

Chris Brown's attack on Rihanna remains the single most known thing he's ever done, because his music is terrible and forgettable, and as it's gone unpunished and continues to do so, it's impossible for me to separate artist from person. It doesn't help that whilst he's never directly addressed what he did, he's made references to it in his own music, but it's never about regret or sorrow. It's always about how he is now. If you want a prime example, go to the hideous 'Look At Me Now' that thankfully flopped in the UK but went top ten in America. That song is full of Chris Brown talking about his own comeback and resurgence, which I wouldn't begrudge him, had he ever acknowledged just why he needed a comeback and re-brand in the first place.

 

'Yeah 3x' is a nothing of a song. It's bright and poppy and I don't think it's an unfair assumption to say that it was strategically used to re-brand Brown as someone who wasn't dangerous. I'd maybe even liked it in the hands of a different singer. Maybe it worked. The most annoying thing about this whole affair is that post-attack Chris Brown has a had a lot more success than pre-attack Chris Brown. I don't doubt that some of you are weary of me taking what may be perceived as a high horse hear but I'm tired of mincing my words when it comes to this a-hole. Until he steps up, takes responsibility for what he did and genuinely apologizes, I'm never going to be able to give him that second chance he and a lot of his fans seem to think he's automatically entitled too. James out.

 

(Note: For the sake of these reviews I will attempt in the future to just look at the music. I just needed to get this out of the way as some form of disclaimer)

 

 

Blind Faith :heart: amazing track & yet still not even in their top 5.

 

I utterly loathed that Chris Brown track at the time but when I hear it now I really enjoy it :o

Edited May 7, 201510 yr by Dobbo

12/02/2011

Jessie J feat B.O.B

Price Tag

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/Price_tag_cover.png/220px-Price_tag_cover.png

 

I said in my review of 'Do It Like a Dude' that Jessie J wouldn't become a particularly hated artist of mine until later in her career, and it's true, and for most of 2011 I actually quite liked her. I wouldn't have called myself a fan of hers or anything, but I quite liked a lot of her stuff this year, and wouldn't have an issue with her whatsoever had she stuck to a more honest and personal method of song writing but that's an issue for another day. After the damage that its predecessor did to my impression of Jessie J, her next single would've had to be seriously good to have turned around my opinion of her in some way, and low and behold, it was and did

 

'Price Tag' remains the tightest and most well-rounded record that Jessie J has ever done. I like it's stance and at a period in time when most were struggling for money, hearing an anthem about decrying capitalism, over spending and the overall significance put on one's financial situation was a welcome change because popular music does have that sense of disillusionment with it sometimes. As much as I jammed to 'Billionaire' back in the summer of 2010, it leaves me a little cold nowadays when I go back and listen to it, because it just seems crass and completely out of the loop for its audience. Maybe they intended it as escapism, I don't know, but I do know that in the middle of a pretty bad recession, the last thing I want to hear is a millionaire saying how much he wishes he was a billionaire. I don't even wish I was a millionaire, I just need a tidy 200K to sort me and my family out

 

Anyway, songs like that just made me appreciate 'Price Tag' even more and on top of its theme it's just a very nice sounding pop record. Jessie J's voice is sweet and not pushed to eleven as it is done on most of her songs nowadays, B.O.B slots in quite nicely and the whole thing is rather joyful. I'm still bitter I had to pay for it however.

 

Edited May 9, 201510 yr by James Silkstone

12/02/2011

Enrique Iglesias feat Ludacris

Tonight I'm Lovin' You

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c4/Tonight+(I'm+lovin'+you).jpg/220px-Tonight+(I'm+lovin'+you).jpg

 

Or you know, the title we all know it really is. Back in my review for 'I Like It' I kind of tore Enrique apart for his descent from soulful, romantic guy to sleazy, douche, letch guy but when I look back at his back catalogue I see that 'Hero' itself was the anomaly and that a majority of Enrique's songs have been more in this vein than a soulful, romantic one. He followed up 'Hero' with 'Escape' which is pretty much a song about him stalking and refusing to let a woman go until she gave into his whims. So yeah, this wasn't exactly new territory for Enrique, it's just that he's basically still so known just for that one song that you'd be forgiven for thinking it as encompassing his entire career. He's always had a bit of the sleaze about him, though I maintain that his 2010's output, at least here, turns it up to eleven.

 

I prefer this song to 'I Like It', weirdly, even though this one is a lot more openly vulgar than that. I think my main issue with 'I Like It' is that it was still too tame and wholesome to really get across what Enrique was trying to be, say and do. In essence, for a track about a pretty horrible guy, it was way too nice. If Enrique is portraying a character here, I much prefer him. This guy is worse than the 'I Like It' guy but he at least is upfront about what a sleaze ball he is whilst 'I Like It' dude tries to hide behind a wall of false charm. If you're gonna go full out with a song like this, you need to go full out, and I think Enrique manages it. I'm not sure it's done wonders for his career in the long run but hey ho. I never liked Enrique that much anyway.

 

12/02/2011

Taio Cruz feat Kylie Minogue

Higher

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cd/Taiocruz_ft_kylie_minogue-higher.jpg/220px-Taiocruz_ft_kylie_minogue-higher.jpg

 

It's all about the beat for this one with me. Taio Cruz seems like such old news now, he hasn't troubled the Top 40 in at least three years, and is pretty much the definition of flash in the pan. It isn't hard to see why, as good as his songs were, they weren't ones that necessarily stood you in good stead for a long career. There's personality-less and this is no more truer than it is in 'Higher' which, whilst it does have an excellent beat, is probably the least original thing Taio Cruz ever did. And that's saying something. The insert of Kylie Minogue was probably done to boost the track in the UK (I guess, otherwise it's just bloody baffling) and to date this remains her last visit to the top ten as well. Kylie sounds pretty bored on the track, though with a sense of arrogance as she clearly thinks she's being very down with the kids, which she hasn't been since around 1991, if ever.

 

It's not bad, it's just terribly unoriginal and a clearer sign than any that Taio's career was dangling on through good fortune and pure luck.

 

Edited May 17, 201510 yr by James Silkstone

19/02/2011

Chipmunk feat Chris Brown

Champion

 

 

It's kind of a shame that Chipmunk burned out after this single, because this is a big improvement on his 2009 output, which was rather immature and gimmicky at times to say the least. It's been four years since this now and I'd be quite interested to see what Chipmunk would be like to now if this was the progression he'd made between album one and album two. It's such a mature outlook on life, and whilst it's certainly self-aggrandizing and boastful at times, it's a refreshing effort and a lot better than anything Chip's rather obvious rival Tinchy Stryder ever did. Chipmunk puts in the best performance of his career here.

 

Then, there's Chris Brown. I stand by absolutely everything I said about him in my previous review, but if Chris Brown insists to continue to exist post-Rihanna gate then I'd much rather he existed in a mould similar to this than the party boy misogynist douchebag act he pulls out of the bag with every record to this day. This is not simply the best thing Chris Brown has ever been involved with, it's the only good thing he's ever been involved with period, and I'll be honest - I actually think that he kind of makes this record. His vocals are as strong as they'll ever be and his half-rapped, half-sang solo verse is the best thing to have ever come from him. 'The realest shit' he ever wrote indeed. If Chris Brown was as insightful and honest as he is here, I'd likely respect him a whole lot more than I do now.

 

Very, very, very good record.

 

 

 

19/02/2011

Lady Gaga

Born This Way

 

 

Does anyone else remember the build up to this? It seemed like it went on forever before we finally got to hear this song. It says a lot about the behemoth of a career Lady Gaga had back then and even how her tweeting a few lyrics to her next single could seemingly send the whole world into some kind of mass hysterical excited hysteria. Such was the power of Lady Gaga back at the beginning of the decade but what of me? Was I excited? Not overly. For me, Gaga was one of the better breakthroughs of the late 00s and I had loved her 'The Fame Monster' album which housed some of my favourite tracks of the era overall but I was always very aware that 90% of her success was pretty much just hype because she wore weird costumes. I never found her actual music, whilst impressive, to be particularly genre pushing or innovative it was all about image, image, image and I was not that into Gaga's image. I always felt that she was trying to make herself more exciting and standout because otherwise her music would be seen as just generic pop. Which it is. Good generic pop I grant you. But generic pop music all the same. 'Just Dance' being the worst offender there, though I'll grant you 'Poker Face' is a little odd and only Gaga could sing 'Bad Romance'. But yeah, my point remains.

 

As a song of itself away from the context of what it's trying to be (which I'll get to later) I was always a little disappointed with 'Born This Way'. It isn't a bad song by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly did not warrant the hype that it was given - most vocally by Gaga herself - before its premiere and it's here that I think the backlash set in and her career has never truly recovered from it. The video didn't do much good either, it was pretty much 2010 Gaga turned up to eleven and it almost felt like she was parodying herself with it, but the knowledge that she was clearly playing it ultra straight was a complete buzz kill for me. If Gaga wanted to surprise and shock but also come up with a winner, she should have gone with 'Edge of Glory'. The most shocking thing Gaga could have done back then was to come back and be normal, but 'Edge of Glory' is a good enough song that she would have gotten away with it. More on that when we get to it, but now, I want to move on to the second big issue I have with 'Born This Way'

 

I'm not gay, and I'd hate to speak for a community of people whom's voices have always been marginalized by people of my sexuality. What I will do however is inform you that back in early 2011, I had two friends who were gay. Jake and Connor. Jake was about as stereotypically gay as you could imagine, and a Gaga fan to boot whilst Connor was about as polar opposite to that as you could imagine and I always found in interesting that these two had such different reactions to this song. This is mainly because 2011 James was an uneducated fool who seemed to think all gays were some sort of hive mind, I now realize this is untrue, but back then I was shocked by the polar opposite reactions they had to it. Jake loved it. He felt it spoke to him and Gaga was some sort of saviour queen. Connor hated it. He said it made him feel patronized and like Gaga was using the gay community as some kind of pet to further her own ends. Now, I can't speak for a community I'm not a part of, but I've always leaned towards Connor's opinion on this. It does seem patronizing and pandering, and whilst Gaga's gay fan base has clearly not dwindled, it just seems so calculated. Which, in a way, I understand. Gaga was so huge and had so much to live up to by this point that I don't suppose I can really blame her for sitting down and coming up with a perfect formula for a song to maintain both her success and image in equal measure. It's just a shame the quality suffered as a result. This record leaves me cold.

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 201510 yr by James Silkstone

Both good tracks there, Champion I actually didn't really like that much back then but it's grown over time. As for Born This Way I actually think it's one of her best singles. Although I prefer The Fame to Born This Way (the album) overall the latter provided superior singles IMO.

26/02/2011

Adele

Someone Like You

 

 

It may have lost its former title of 'Best Selling Song of the Decade' but I reckon when we look back on this decade in future years, it will be this song that is remembered more than any other. Adele's performance of this track at the 2011 Brit Awards was truly a moment to remember, everyone, and I mean literally everyone, I know knew of that moment and discussed it at length the next day. I've talked a little about how pre-2011 we were stuck in a rather barren artist-less era where our charts and popular music in general seemed to be completely run by non-descript, vague club songs. You'd have the odd exception creeping in, but for those most part, it was club music or some kind of RnB/Dance fusion. Not that those genres are totally without merit but if you're someone like me (ha-ha, puns) and would quite like some depth and meaning to your music, it wasn't the best era. I always believe that something becomes iconic through influence and memory, and this song, and particularly that performance, certainly influenced the following years and drove music back to a more real and honest place. 'Someone Like You' is universal, perhaps not in a very literal sense of what the lyrics are describing, but it's certainly universal in its theme. Heartbreak. Sadness. Regret. As James Corden put it before Adele began singing that night, we've all been there. This song struck a chord with people not just in Britain, but around the world, but what I'm interested in exploring is why? It's not like there haven't been ballads about heartbreak that came before 'Someone Like You' and were better.

 

Well, my answer refers back to a previous statement. Musically, we weren't living in a particularly deep era. Whilst writing this review I tried to think back to the top ten hits of 2010 and see if there was anything in there that was like 'Someone Like You'. There wasn't. Nor was in there in 2009 or 2008. Simply put, it had been years since we'd had such a deep and emotional song touch so many people so quickly at the same time. It is that which makes 'Someone Like You' rather special; it is only every so often a song comes along is this vein that means the same thing to everyone. Music can be as eclectic as it wants to be but at the end of the day, I feel, what it is more than anything is a unifying force. The best thing about 'Someone Like You' as a song rather than an event which is how I've been describing it so far, is its honesty. I love '21' but I'll be the first to admit it's a very angry and perhaps biased record, and why shouldn't it be? There Adele's feelings? We're seeing all of this from her point of view. Of course the guys going to come off badly. That's fine. But what makes Adele such a good song writer here is that with 'Someone Like You' she makes herself the bad guy. She's the one who's not over it. She's the one who's turning up out of the blue invited when her ex is settled down with someone else. By finding "someone like him" Adele is saying that she'll never love her new boyfriend for who he is, merely for the parts of him that remind Adele of her ex. It's nasty and uncomfortable but it's honest. I like that Adele's not afraid to paint herself in that way. It's certainly a more sympathetic approach than the Taylor Swift/Cher Lloyd/Avril Lavigne model of merely criticizing the other girl in question.

 

The fact so many people readily identify with a song this uncomfortably true, I think says a lot about who we are. It's like knowing it's ok to laugh at a rather offensive joke because everyone else in the room is also laughing at said joke. The fact so many other people identify with this song means we feel it's alright for us to do so, because we all have had those feelings on selfishness, jealousy and bitterness that Adele puts across in this track. This is what music should be.

 

 

 

26/02/2011

Rihanna

S&M

 

 

I love this song. I'm sorry. I know it was much maligned and censored at the time for being so obviously and proudly about "S&M" but by god*, this is probably the most fun I've had re-listening to a song again for this thread. It's just so, so, so unapologetic and Rihanna sounds like she's so into it and to be honest, that's needed if a song like this is going to work. You need to properly throw caution to the wind and go with it if you're going to sing so bluntly about being tied up for pleasure, or else it will just come across as obscenely awkward and you could destroy your career. I have a feeling that this would have wrecked the career of anyone but Rihanna, I do like that a woman was so free to sing about sex in such an open and fun away. And that's what "S&M" is at the end of the day. It's just a fun song. It doesn't really touch on the community of S&M or BDSM but I don't think it needs too, "S&M" isn't a commentary, it's just a dumb song about how much Rihanna loves sex.

 

Maybe I'm too open and liberal, but I never found this uncomfortable in any sense of the word, and was very annoyed when the BBC opted to rename it "Come On" whenever they played it (like 'come on' doesn't sound sexual at all). I suppose in a way it's kind of ironic that this song doesn't make me uncomfortable yet the actual concept of S&M or BDSM makes me feel very uncomfortable. Also, while we're on the subject what is the difference between Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism anyway? Like, don't they all just mean tied up? I have a severe case of acute claustrophobia so the whole practice just doesn't appeal to me whatsoever. But power to you Rihanna, power to you.

 

(Also, shout out to my best friend Callum, who spent the entirety of April 2011 singing this song. Out loud. To himself. Frequently)

 

Edited June 17, 201510 yr by James Silkstone

05/03/2011

Alexis Jordan

Good Girl

 

 

Alexis Jordan was probably the least interesting female artist that was releasing music back in early 2011. Compared to the supremely talented Adele, outlandish Gaga, newbie Jessie J and various others, Jordan stood out as being extremely ordinary but I always found her music a lot more enjoyable to listen to than some of the aforementioned artists. Her previous single 'Happiness' was far to twee and sunny for my likings, it's pretty much the most wholesome song ever released and to be honest I never understand the success that it endured. 'Good Girl', at least, had something a little more about it.

 

I don't necessarily buy Alexis Jordan as a bad girl who needs to become good, I doubt I would anyway but the fact 'Happiness' came out before this does it absolutely no favours either. Bad girls don't sound like Alexis does on this record, despite the fact she's singing about not wanting to break hearts anymore and a desire to reform her bad girls ways, she sounds way too happy. It's like she's just dying to burst out in a massive smile and throw sunshine and optimism down onto a worshipping crowd. She's just too pure to pull this off and it is a nice record to listen too, it just suffers from the fact that it's sung by the nicest girl maybe in the history of ever.

 

Not that that had to limit Alexis in anyway, I bought 'Hush; Hush' and 'Got 2 Love You' both of which I like more than this. What happened to her anyway? I like to imagine she's become a nursery school teacher.

 

05/03/2011

Pink

F***in Perfect

 

 

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS UNCOMFORTABLE AMOUNTS OF SINCERITY

 

Over the past few years we have a had a lot, and I mean a lot, of inspirational songs and I do appreciate them, some of them at least. I think it's very important to have all these songs out there that tell young people - particularly young girls and young gay people - that they are worthy, they are important and they don't need to worry about what everyone else thinks of them. I, as a white straight male who is considered conventionally attractive (though I've never agreed with that assumption), have never particularly wanted one but hey, I feel down about myself sometimes and need that reassurance and I love that we now have a plethora of these kinds of records to choose from. My personal choice is Bastille's "Pompeii" which I know is weird, and I don't know what it says about me that I find a song which uses the imagery of a whole city of people being burned alive inspirational but there you go. I'm a weirdo.

 

That said.

 

Over the course of this thread we will come to these 'believe in yourself' tracks that whilst have good intentions, are actually very, very problematic. A lot of them come from boybands. There's one particular song from a particular boyband that wants to make me throw whatever device I'm happen to be listening to out of a window, but that's a way off yet, so I'll wait until I rant about it. However, there are some genuinely good and helpful ones out there, and my personal favourite (because I know deep down 'Pompeii' doesn't really count) happens to be this record by Pink, which I find to be the most honest. Earlier I said about how I'm pleased these records exist as they mostly are used to help and inspire young people of marginalized groups, and whilst I think that's important, us non-marginalized folk may need a boost every now and then as well. Insecurity doesn't discriminate. That's why I think 'Perfect' works so well for me because it's universal, it's not about anything specific, but it's just relating to all young people (and old, I guess) that they are, f***ing perfect.

 

One aspect of this song that makes me feel....not uncomfortable, but certainly a little uneasy, is the desperation to it. Songs in the vein of Katy Perry's "Firework" for example are often very optimistic sounding, they inspire, whilst though the things Pink's singing about are inspirational the whole song itself is a little melancholy. It's almost desperate in places, with Pink sounding like she's literally begging you to realize this about yourself, is more than a little uncomfortable but perhaps necessary. I don't want to get too into this here, but I know of someone who attempted to kill herself, she took some pills and wanted to drift off whilst listening to music. She's never told me what song, but apparently whatever song it was, made her realize that her life was worth living, her problems were salvageable and she was then able to get herself helped and she lived.

 

I'm not saying that's what Pink was going for with the purpose of this record, but it's an interesting thought all the same. For me, this song works best because it doesn't sugar coat in ways that many of the same ilk will, it sounds desperate and pleading because that's how the people who need it most will be feeling.

 

Edited July 5, 20159 yr by James Silkstone

Very sorry for the delay to these guys - I've been on holiday for 2 weeks but I should be back properly now!

I loved Alexis Jordan - I saw her supporting JLS at Hylands Park in Chelmsford that summer and went out and bought her album a few days later. She was a bit like a one woman Saturdays - if you listen in particular to a track of hers called 'How You Like Me Now' you can just picture Vanessa or Rochelle warbling all over the top of it. Shame you don't hear much from her now.

Bad news guys - My PC completely broke down last week and I've lost pretty much all of my doccuments. I'd had a few important ones backed up and saved, but unfortunately did not think to save my doccuments with the reviews for this thread on. I'd reached December 2011 as well, so I'm a bit gutted to say the least.

 

That means, unfortunately, this thread will no longer be active however for those who may be interested I am thinking of starting a Review of 00's Top Ten hits thread that I'll be starting soon. I hope to see some of you there.

Awww that's sad to hear :( I know the feeling I was planning on a review like thread got half way then lost everything. Literally no point in restarting as it'll never be quite the same the second time round.

 

I am always keen on reading these kind of threads so a 00s one would be great :D

Awww that's sad to hear :( I know the feeling I was planning on a review like thread got half way then lost everything. Literally no point in restarting as it'll never be quite the same the second time round.

 

I am always keen on reading these kind of threads so a 00s one would be great :D

 

New one already started!

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=181050

You know what? f*** it, I'm not giving this up.