Ashley

Not completely confirmed yet but it's ALMOST confirmed. This could be a hit if promoted in a half decent manner. However, we all know Shakira's record of decent promotion is pretty sparse. It did pretty well on iTunes everywhere when the album was released, so there's already some interest in the song. Apparently a twitpic of video rehearsal: http://twitpic.com/3prl9o No word on a release date yet. Probably won't be for another few months considering the video for Sale El Sol hasn't even been released yet.

The video is released 27th Jan if anyone cares anymore

This is good. I like this point especially: When downloads were first fully introduced to the charts, the charts were quite exciting. But now, it's basically the same situation as before downloads were introduced. It would've been interesting to see how Adele and Bruno Mars would've done if their songs had been released when they first hit airwaves.

I can't believe people are betting on Wonderland not to flop. Who exactly do they appeal to? They're not sexual enough to appeal to teenage boys. They're not outrageous enough to appeal to the gays and they're not cool enough to appeal to young girls. And if anyone thinks they're going to appeal to the adult contemporary audience, you're insane! Since when when have Radio 2 listeners been on the search for the next manufactured girl group designed specifically for them?? They look like someone trying to make some cross between B*witched and The Corrs. Did Louis Walsh not get the memo that both groups were practically over 10 years ago!? The only group there that has any potential and a semi decent song is SoundGirl, although they look like they will head to exactly the same place as Mania, Frank and Girls Can't Catch.

It's a tough choice between Ruby and Valerie. Possibly two of the most overplayed songs in history. Ruby.

Adele is number 2 on my iTunes.

What's Debbie Dean doing in a pop video that looks like it's beamed from 1999? I love the SoundGirl song, although it's whole amazingness rests around that "shoulda known better" line.

Wow that's bad.

kanyewest: Yo Britney, I'm really happy for you and I'mma let you be #1, but me and Jay-Z single is one of the best songs of all time! LOL GOD I LOVE KANYE.

BR is an amazing song - the lyrics and melody anyway. The production is nothing special though. IMO it sounds like a rock song born into an electro pop body. HIAM lyrics and melody have nothing on BR, but the production $h!ts all over it, and like I've already said, it's the production that makes this song. Really we should be giving Max Martin and Dr Luke the credit for the song. It says a lot for Britney's status that they saved this song for her. She really is the queen of pop.

+1 Still, hearing Timbaland's version makes me sad his sound isn't "in" right now. It would've been amazing if he'd produced this for Nicole. I love Physical.

Well really, the same kind of influences are all over the Cannibal EP. It's just like Tyler said though, it's the risks that Britney takes that has set her apart from the crowd, and she's done it again by having this as her first single.

Why the hate for Stronger. It's an epic song. One of my favourites of 2007. In fact, Graduation is one of my favourites in general. I'm voting Take That - Shine.

What I love about HIAM is that it fits in very nicely with California Gurls/We R Who We R/Dj Got Us Falling In Love/Dynamite etc etc yet it's the dubstep that in it that blows all them out of the water. It's the perfect balance of being current and pioneering.

This song is nothing close to dubstep - it just incorporates a very few elements of dubstep, just in the same way it incorporates elements of euro dance. That's what mainstream pop is, lots of specific genres distilled into a nice radio friendly package. It's not going to kill "proper" dubstep. It's not like a load of Britney fans are going to head to the west indian centre for some Iration Steppas.

Really? I don't get where all the negativity that surrounds her.... I never got the impression she was a brat or a diva or whatnot. I just got the impression that she was a bit misguided. The biggest problem with Cher was that for some reason Cheryl thought Cher's first audition was rapping - she said on one of the finals something to the effect of; "people liked Cher's first audition and that had rap in it, so that's why she's rapping." The truth is though that she didn't rap in her first audition - Keri Hilson's Turn My Swag On is an RnB song, not a rap song. And that was the problem, most of her songs in the finals were hip hop with lame raps instead of hot RnB songs. Personally, I'm excited to see what she releases. I just hope it's something like Keri's Get Your Money Up. She has the potential to hit the same nail on the head that Keri Hilson's solo career has constantly missed.

I wish producers would only use REAL guitars. The guitar setting on your midi keyboard sounds terrible. This would be good if it had the original Timbaland production.

I kind of think the opposite. The reason I like this so much is because it's definitely a Britney track and even though it fits in with everything else that's out right now, it doesn't actually sound like anything else right now (except maybe Take It Off). Really, it's not that great of a song; the chorus isn't strong enough to pull of the Only Girl beat drop and the verses aren't up to much. But there's just something about this that's a little bit amazing.

The live performance of this on Jools Holland was amazing but the album version is just yawntastic. Very bland pop which radio will probably eat up because it's so generic and non offensive.

I completely agree with this, although, even though Little Boots, Marina, Ellie Goulding etc had their mainstream promotion designed for the turn of year list makers, their development before did feel pretty natural, each building their own little fan base. This year it feels like the artists they're pushing on us are artists that no one really cares about. Jessie J's success so far just seems like the result of being the best of a bad bunch.

I wish I could've gone! The pics and the videos look amazing. I'm going to try and catch the show next year...I think she'll be back in Europe in the Summer - it would be nice to see her somewhere like Spain.

I quite like it too... although I am a sucker for certain drippy American indie ballads.

That line is the song's only gimmick. It's not great but at least it's not UK hip hop gone electro so that's some sort of blessing.

Take That - Shine. God that song still pisses me off. Other than that, 2007 was a pretty good year...

A couple of reviews from the london concert: