And now for a televisual poll

January 5, 2010 in TV, US TV with 0 Comments

Thanks to you and your votes, Alesha Dixon’s video for ‘To Love Again’ can officially be decalred godawful and Lady Gaga can pride herself on being both ‘good’ and ‘crap’ simultaneously. Well done, everyone. Now we move on from music to the more televisual ’art form’ and ask you to fill out our voting form  to determine the best and worse in British and International TV.

TV Awards have a bit of a knack for awarding programmes nobody in the world has ever seen, so this is more of a “poll” as it were to find the most popular shows. We’ve got our fingers crossed that Tina Fey will walk away with EVERY AWARD for all her work on ’30 Rock’, but somehow we can’t see that happening…

Here’s that link again. And again.

The TL Poll of 2009: Results

January 4, 2010 in Music with 3 Comments

After a worrying opening two days in which nine people voted, things gathered momentum massively over December and we were left eventually with an incredibly impressive amount of votes, and an incredibly annoying amount to have to count together.

Here are your results, then:

 Your Top 30 Singles of the Year
01. Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You
02. Cheryl Cole – Fight For This Love
03. Lily Allen – The Fear
04. Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
05. Alexandra Burke ft Flo Rida – Bad Boys
06. Pixie Lott – Boys and Girls
07. Beyoncé – Sweet Dreams
08. Lady Gaga – Poker Face
09. Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
10. Lady Gaga – Paparazzi
11. Agnes – Release Me
12. Britney Spears – 3
13. Florence and the Machine – Rabbit Heart
14. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
15. Miley Cyrus – Party In The USA
16. Sugababes – About A Girl
17. Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me
18. Leona Lewis – Happy
19. Jordin Sparks – Battlefield
20. Alesha Dixon – Breathe Slow
21. Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas
22. Pixie Lott – Mama Do
23. Tinchy Stryder ft. Amelle – Never Leave You
24. Lily Allen – Not Fair
25. La Roux – Bulletproof
26. Little Boots – Remedy
27. Florence and the Machine – You’ve Got The Love
28. Miley Cyrus – The Climb
29. Britney Spears – If U Seek Amy
30. Lily Allen – 22
Notes: After giving you 100 options and an “Other” box, we were planning on going the whole hog and telling you the entire Top 100 in order, but inevitably it got to a point in the mid-30s where songs were recieving the same numbers of votes and we couldn’t be arsed with all the ties etc… plus with Excel being temporamental it was a great excuse to relieve ourselves of the mind-numbing pain of counting votes manually. Anyroad, nice surprise to see Our Kel at the summit, and overall this is quite a well voted-for list. Well done everyone. Lord knows how ‘Battlefield’ only scraped into your Top 20, but we digress… 

Worst Single of 2009
1st: Mariah Carey – I Want To Know What Love Is
2nd: Pitbull – I Know You Want Me
3rd: Little Boots – Remedy
Notes: If Mariah hadn’t performed on ‘The X Factor’ then nobody would have noticed how shit the single was. Unfortunatley she did, and you all did. Pitbull’s single is probably even more deserving of the title, but WHY DID SO MANY OF YOU VOTE FOR ‘REMEDY’?!?!?!?!

Best Album of 2009
1st: Taylor Swift – Fearless
2nd: Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D.
3rd: Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
Notes: Didn’t know we had such a Taylor Swift following (we’ve never posted anything about her) but NOTE TAKEN. Noteable absence from the universally-bummed Lady Gaga. She came 4th however.

Best Newcomers
1st: Pixie Lott
2nd: JLS
3rd: Lady Gaga
Notes: Pixie and JLS were runaway contenders, with Miss Lott winning by a mere handful of votes. Given the underwhelming averageness of the JLS album we wouldn’t have ranked them so highly, but good for them for doing so well post-’X Factor’.

Absolute God-Awful Artist of 2009
1st: La Roux
2nd: Lady Gaga
3rd: N-Dubz
Notes: EVEN THE BAD AWARDS ARE INVADED BY THE GAGA. We thought we were very rare in our dislike of La Roux, but apparently not. In fairness, the first two singles were quite pleasing. It was just a shame that they bought out an album that sounded pretty much the same.

Best Video
1st: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
2nd: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
3rd: Beyoncé – Single Ladies
Notes: Only about half the voters bothered with this category, but obviously the Lady Gaga video repertoire is quite impressive. Beyoncés video was technically around in late 2008, but seeing as the next one down was Lady Gaga again and ’Single Ladies’ was officially released in February, we included it anyway. 

Worst Video
1st: Alesha Dixon – To Love Again
2nd: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi
3rd: Pixie Lott – Cry Me Out
Notes: YES, ALESHA DIXON’S VIDEO WAS AWFUL. In fact, all three of these vids accompany songs that are actually quite strong. Pixie’s in particular is a fantastic song, but all three were hindered somewhat by horrendous videos. Note how ‘Paparazzi’ is the second-best AND the second-worst video of the year. Make up your minds, people.

Most Disappointing Musical Release of 2009
1st: Cheryl Cole – 3 Words
2nd: La Roux – La Roux
3rd: Rihanna – Rated R
Notes: A few people specified dislike for ’3 Words’ as a single and some for it as an album, and seeing as the majority didn’t specify either way we just grouped them all together. Yes, Cheryl’s album was a bit naff next to the best of Girls Aloud’s back catalogue, but it wasn’t a bad album by any means. La Roux’s was hilariously disappointing, and we can’t say we’ve even heard Rihanna’s :/

Best Lyric of Any Song from 2009
Obviously there were so many different combos for this cateogory, but the majority came from Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’. A few were recieved for “A good beat never hurt no-one” from Pixie Lott’s ‘Boys and Girls’, and other recipients included Lily Allen’s ‘Not Fair’, Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party In The USA’, Britney Spears’ ’3′, Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ (quelle surprise) and Girls Aloud’s ‘Untouchable’. Beautiful robots dancing alone indeed.

Thanks for all the votes :)

Against our better judgement…

January 4, 2010 in US TV with 0 Comments

… we are actually getting pretty excited about the latest American import for E4, the musical-comedy series Glee, which kicks off properly next Monday (11th January).

The pilot episode aired as a one-off recently, and after nabbing it off iTunes we can say that, although not quite perfect, this has the makings of a potentially highly enjoyable series.

The show centres around the Glee Club (basically a musical theatre club) at a standard US high school. They are at the bottom of the social ladder and there are only a handful of members. All unpopular, except for one dude who was forced to join in the pilot episode and then (standard) ended up actually quite liking it, they are also facing opposition from the teacher at the helm of the cheerleading squad, the Cheerios, played by the absoloutley fantastic Jane Lynch, who alone makes the show worth a try given her hilarity in ‘The 40 Year-Old Virgin’ and ‘Best In Show’.

The only other recognisable face in the cast is Jayma Mays, who popped up as Henry’s girlfriend Charlie in ‘Ugly Betty’, a lead in the disasterous ’Epic Movie’, and the likeable receptionist Cynthia in Rachel McAdams thriller ‘Red Eye’. She is actually, along with Lynch, probably the most interesting to watch after the pilot. She clearly has feelings for fellow teacher and Glee club leader Will (Matthew Morrison) which will make for some interesting viewing, and despite a comical phobia of germs she is actually one of the most “human” and 3-dimensional characters at the moment.

Musical set-pieces will please the young/musical-loving/outright-camp/guilty-pleasure demographic; the Pilot episode in particular included the club doing a rendition of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ and a rival club doing a fantastic performance of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’, so this is definitley one for the ‘Mamma Mia!’/'High School Musical’ adoring areas of the population. Plus it might actually be seriously funny. Future songs to look forward to when the series properly kicks off are Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’, Rihanna’s ‘Take A Bow’, Jordin Sparks’ ‘No Air’ and ‘Wicked’ favourite ‘Defying Gravity’.

Some of the characters need defining, some of the plotlines need to shake off their predictability, and the weird recurring sound effect of weird “oohs” and “aahs” between scenes needs to be dropped immediatley and forgotten for all eternity; but other than that, this could end up being your new guilty pleasure.

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Celebrity Big Brother isn’t going quietly, then

January 3, 2010 in TV with 0 Comments

The last ever series of Celebrity Big Brother is go, then, and it’s definitley not subtle. Remember last summer when the tenth series of the main show was the first in YEARS to be as good as the glory days? And it would have been cool if the same could be said for the Celebrity edition? Yeah, forget that.

The sound effects were in full force for the live launch show, the limo system was ditched so the housemates could enter a stage in the style of ’X Factor’-style opening doors, one of the contestants PERFORMED, and Davina McCall’s script was probably written by a cast-off from the Daily Star. Still, the calibre of celebrities is a notch higher than previous years (OK, half a notch).

It was like a tacky low-budget ‘X Factor’ mixed with ‘Hell’s Kitchen’. The set was awash with fire, topless men were standing on the stage wielding pitchforks, and hilarious sound effects of hell-like things accompanied the contestants’ entrance. The show’s been killed off by Channel 4 but one look at the set and it looks as if it’s being cremated already, for crying out loud. Tonight’s show did at least make previous series’ look classy. No mean feat, there.

Actor Stephen Baldwin, Page 3 model Nicola T, ‘Dynasty’ actress Stephanie Beacham, Katie Price’s tabloid-regular boyfriend Alex Reid, Katie Price’s tabloid-regular ex-boyfriend and singer Dane Bowers, grime star Lady Sovereign, ex-prostitute to the stars Heidi Fleiss, singer Sisquo, godawful dance star Basshunter, famous-for-her-ex-boyfriend Ekaterina Ivanova, and doesn’t-need-an-introduction Vinnie Jones are this years starting eleven.

Jones is undoubtedly the big coup for the producers, who apparently were negotiated hard to pay up £500k for the star to appear. Sisquo performed ‘Thong Song’ to the cheering crowd before entering (because the show wasn’t ridiculous enough already, of course) and Basshunter appeared to be quite nice, which is odd considering how much of a, ahem, “playa” he reportedly is.

Dane Bowers had a bruised face but both he and Reid denied reports that they had a brawl on New Year’s Eve (hmm), but that was only one instance of the godawful material either given to or conjoured up by the usually brilliant Davina McCall. We’re huge fans of the Marmite-like presenter but tonight she was asking some really tabloid-fodder-licious questions to people like Fleiss and Ivanova, even asking Bowers “SO! WILL THERE BE A FIGHT?!”

Also, we have to just point out, ‘Strictly’ and ‘BB’ probably have completely different audiences, but someone’s bound to notice that this is Stephanie Beacham’s second reality attempt after being voted out first on the BBC dance show last year… Bit of a step down, no?

‘Celebrity Big Brother’ has always been a hell of a lot trashier and desperate than the main summer series, and unfortunatley it doesn’t look like the seventh and final series will be any different. It’s much more interesting watching unknowns’ relationships develop over an extended period than watching desperate “famous” faces seeing even more of their already fragile dignity being flushed away.

Anyway, all slating aside, it could prove to be interesting. Despite the horrendousness of this evening. AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN TOUCHED ON THEM ALL HAVING TO GET INTO A MINI.

Stephanie Beacham will be hilarious, hopefully. It’ll be interesting to see if Lady Sovereign can turn her boos into cheers; she certainly could if she proves to be both genuine and entertaining over the coming month. Sisquo seems like a nice guy (and worryingly so does Basshunter), Vinne Jones will hopefully be comedy value, Nicola T could well be doomed, and Heidi Fleiss is our best prediction for most likely to walk out. Reid and Bowers will garner some tabloid attention but genuinley couldn’t be less appealing to watch, Baldwin isn’t significant enough to get away with being bland, and Ivanova… is also in there.

We’ll see.

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Anyone for another chart-topping Facebook campaign?

January 3, 2010 in Music with 1 Comment

Three weeks on from the whole Rage Against The Machine episode and there’s a real possibility that we could have another Facebook-based No1 a week today.

“Campaigners” want Florence and the Machine‘s cover of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ to be the first No1 of the decade next week (an ill-timed plan considering the first chart of the decade is actually announced today) and, stupid as it may sound, at time of writing the track is No1 on iTunes. There’s also coincidentally a campaign emerging to get Girls Aloud’s ‘Untouchable’ into the Top 10 at some point, because it is the only single in the band’s repertoire to stall just outside at No11.

You can attack the RATM vs. Joe McElderry thing from various angles, but ultimatley it made for an interesting Christmas chart battle. Clearly however we’re now going to have a few months of people trying to imitate it. The chart could, for a little while at least, become something that completely defeats the object of what it should be. It should be a depiction of the most popular songs in the UK – a system already disrupted by things like illegal downloading, Spotify and so on – and if a track like Florence’s reaches No1 on the back of an orchestrated “EVERYONE DOWLOAD IT NOW JUST COS WE SAID SO” arrangement then what’s the achievement in that? The track hasn’t worked its way up to the top off the back of people connecting with the track or falling in love with it, it’s worked its way up because of a pointless bandwagon. It’s not even to prove a point.

We’ll see if this particular campaign is strong enough to keep sales momentum going throughout the week, and it has to its advantage a relatively weak release schedule to contend with. First midweek figures will be published on Tuesday.

Do you reckon anything else with ‘Machine’ in its name will get the treatment…?

UPDATE: Three hours later, Florence is now at No3 on iTunes, behind the average-but-pleasant ‘Replay’ by Iyaz and the ABSOLUTE TUNE that is ‘Riverside’ by Sidney Samson.

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Film Review: Nine

January 2, 2010 in Film, Reviews with 0 Comments

Well, the ‘Mamma Mia!’ crowd will be a bit surprised. Rob Marshall returns to musicals after bagging a Best Picture Oscar for ‘Chicago’, and the lesser-known Nine is certainly one to prove that there’s more to the genre than Meryl Streep bursting into song on a clifftop and Zac Efron prancing around a high school gym.

Daniel Day-Lewis plays a hugely famous film director Guito about to start work on his ninth movie. The first few were runaway successes (everyone is a fan, from the hotel assistant to the somewhat unorthodox Pope) but the latter couple, in his own words, “were flops”. Wrapped up with stress, exhaustion, and cheating on his once-famous wife, the script fails to materialise and the project is looking less and less like the picture to save his reputation.

Admittedly it’s the source material that lets the movie down. Clever as it may be, the storyline keeps things pretty much on one fairly low level throughout. ‘Nine’ is neither jubilant nor uplifting; and whilst it would be an all-out catastrophe for it to be camped up to ‘Hairspray’ proportions, it definitley could do with a bit more of variation in mood to make it as engaging as ‘Chicago’. The score itself is, unfortunatley, somewhat lacking in memorable tunes - Black Eyed Pea Fergie with ‘Be Italian’ and Kate Hudson with ‘Cinema Italiano’ provide the only real upbeat songs, but the rest are a little samey and/or lacking in punch.

It’s the cast that make ‘Nine’ worth the admission price. Each and every one of them is outstanding. Day-Lewis is, obviously, brilliant; Penelope Cruz is excellent as Guido’s adorable (yet ever so slightly slutty) bit on the side; and Judi Dench gets to have a bit of a song and dance, and is surprisingly good at it. After falling into a bit of a rom-com rut, Hudson also is a delightful surprise as a feisty Vogue journalist, and Fergie makes the most of her little screen-time by navigating her tune with ease. That said, awesome as they all are, they are mere mortals when lined up next to the flawless Marion Cottilard. She won an Oscar for her role in French drama ‘La Vie En Rose’ and it really wouldn’t be surprising if she earnt herself at least another nomination for her performance here. As Day-Lewis’ long-suffering wife she is perfect, both in her acting and in her musical credibility – she is one of only two characters to be allowed two songs, and she’s great at both. If anyone it’s Nicole Kidman who becomes slightly forgettable. She isn’t really prominent until the final half-hour, by which time her emotional teary-eyed ballad is unfortunatley a little difficult to care about.

Ultimatley everything is great about ‘Nine’ as a film, apart from its source material. The music is lacking in ‘wow’ and the narrative is missing more of an arc, but director and cast are amazing with what they have. Marshall’s set-pieces are consistently impressive and his artistic flair is stuck in fifth gear throughout, whilst his cast prove their worth on Hollywood’s A-List with some world class performances. Perhaps it isn’t as “dazzling” as the trailers claim it to be, but for its beautiful cinematography and standout performances it’s definitley worth a few quid to see.

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Singles of 2009: 5-1

December 30, 2009 in Music with 4 Comments

We’ve been here for almost a whole week counting through the best singles of 2009, and with 45 all done and dusted all that’s left is to unveil our Top 5. If you have some catching up to do, here’s Numbers 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11 and 10-6.

Tomorrow we’ll round off our 2009 retrospective with some of the memorable bits (and of course albums) of the year, some of the musical highlights of the decade (!), and the results of our reader’s poll.

But for now, here we go with our favourite five singles of the last twelve months:

5. Girls Aloud – ‘The Loving Kind’
January, Peak #10
Be as it may from a 2008 album, ‘The Loving Kind’ was released in January to a flurry of panic from hardcore fans that it would be the band’s first to miss out on the Top 10. Thanks to some (arguably unfair and against the point) mass-purchasing from some die-hards it did scrape up to No10 eventually; but chart story aside this was one of the girls’ best ever singles. Penned by the Pet Shop Boys and the girls’ usual producers Xenomania, it was almost a blood relative to 2007′s ‘Call The Shots’ and a heartstring-pulling plea for The One to see you as the titular sort. Brief yet amazing vocal input from Nicola Roberts was perhaps the highlight, and Cheryl’s very red hairband in the video was, uhm, not. This is also a noteable single as it housed our favourite B-Side of the year (click to listen), even though it was only available, for some random reason, on the limited edition picture-disc format.

4. Black Eyed Peas – ‘I Gotta Feeling’
August, Peak #1
Number 1 in the States FOREVER and at the summit over here on two seperate occasions, ‘I Gotta Feeling’ was the summer anthem for many people, and its ongoing success makes it one of the year’s overall best-sellers as well. Based on a sample by David Guetta, this slow-burning anthem was a feel-good classic for nights out (and getting ready for nights out) and featured some of the year’s best lyrics that 99% of the popular-music-listening population know by heart. “FILL UP MY CUP!” etc indeed.

3. Kelly Clarkson – ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’
February, Peak #1
2007′s ‘My December’ wasn’t that bad, but this year’s ‘All I Ever Wanted’ album was a relentless radio-friendly barrage of pop-rock from the lady who does it best. The lyrics of ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’ may seem a bit of a step back from the intimate and honest content of ‘My December’, but Clarkson could sing a Biology text book and make it sound interesting. Another stroke of Max Martin genius, ‘Suck’ gave Kelly her first No1 single when it topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and rightly so. Everything was in check – the subtle ‘Since U Been Gone’ style introduction, the ball-busting hands-in-the-air chorus, the “everything falling out” middle-8 and the “everything falling back in” finale. All accompanied of course with some vocals that very few other artists could match.

2. David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland – ‘When Love Takes Over’
June, Peak #1
Initially a victim of pesky pre-release carbon-copy cover versions (and rush-released as a result), ‘When Love Takes Over’ charged to the summit to become the first real summer anthem of 2009. It’s easy to forget how good a vocallist Kelly Rowland is – Beyoncé was given most of the money notes with Destiny’s Child but Rowland is, evidently, not far off her in terms of ability. Her euphoric vocals over Guetta’s perfect instrumentals and throbbing beats made this one of the year’s best singles by a long shot. Inferior in sales to Akon collaboration ‘Sexy Chick’, yet (in our opinion, at least) infinitley better, it is Guetta’s career highlight so far and, while we’re on it, probably a pretty high point for Kelly Rowland as well.

1. Jordin Sparks – ‘Battlefield’
May, Peak #11
Ryan Tedder is officially amazing. Straying from his usual balladry and putting his favourite drum beats and title-repetition-in-the-chorus to good use in a completely different arena, ‘Battlefield’ revived the classic vintage rock sound of yesteryear and hammered on the door of the UK Top 10 on so many separate occasions that it really was a crime it never quite smashed that particular glass ceiling. Perhaps if it wasn’t released so early and was promoted a little more before being made available it would have been a massive chart success; but as it is ‘Battlefield’ is one of the most critically acclaimed singles of the year and easily a career best for Sparks; at least matching the Chris Brown duet ‘No Air’ from last year. She herself is on effortlessly good form here, navigating the lyrics with sincerity and handling the money notes with ease. An average and disappointing video notwithstanding, ‘Battlefield’ was a virtually perfect track, a great one to chant along to (“I GUESS YOU’D BETTER GO GETCHA ARMOUR!”) and the best ongoing war metaphor in popular song we can remember for a long time. The first verse is a ticking time-bomb to a fantastic chorus, and then just when you think it can’t get any more almighty, in sweeps the middle-8 and the explosive finalé just speaks for itself. Absoloutley brilliant.

So, do you agree?

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Singles of 2009: 10-6

December 29, 2009 in Music with 2 Comments

Obviously we’re dragging it out ridiculously! We’ve already named 40 of our Top 50 singles of the year, and today we carry it through to the Top 10. It’s been a great year for pop, and now we’re at the business end as we take it into the Top 10.

Don’t worry, the Top 5 – including the No1 – will be revealed tomorrow.

10. Paloma Faith – ‘New York’
September, Peak #15
NYC has had a good year music-wise, thanks to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ brilliant ‘Empire State of Mind’ and this gem by 2009 newcomer Paloma Faith. This is the year’s best use of a gospel choir, one of the best middle-8s, and one of the most theatrical singles of the year. True, on Faith’s album she goes a bit too melodramatic with her uber-poetical lyrics and orchestration, but on ‘New York’ she’s wistful, heartbroken, and captivating throughout. The track missed the Top 20 when it was first released, but thanks to a bit of use on the TV and plenty of radioplay it managed to gain a second wind and shoot up to the Top 15, gaining a Top 10 placement for the album ‘Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful’ in the process.

9. Kelly Clarkson – ‘Already Gone’
September, Peak #66
Kelly kicked up such an almighty fuss when ‘Already Gone’ was confirmed as a single that its amazingness was in danger of being overshadowed. Its similarities to Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’ are certainly there, but then doesn’t every Ryan Tedder track have that trademark sound? ‘Already Gone’ recieved a cruel amount of promo in the UK, with an occasional play on a music channel and barely any radioplay whatsoever, and as such limped to a lowly No66 in the charts, despite being a Top 20 hit across the pond. ‘Already Gone’ is brilliant if only because it shows a new side to its vocalist. Clarkson isn’t shattering glass with her almighty belting in this single; instead she’s got the whole “haunting” thing going on, and the result is an endearing and affecting contemporary ballad that deserved alot more attention than it got.

8. Pixie Lott – ‘Boys and Girls’
September, Peak #1
Despite being the lowest-selling chart-topper of the year, Lott’s second single was a step up from ‘Mama Do’ in its nifty sample of a recognisable hook and a light pop sound that could appeal to pretty much anyone of any age. Live performances were something of a struggle due to the multi-harmony chorus, but this track was all over the radio for literally AGES in the run-up to its release, and the video was an effortlessly cool affair showing Our Pix raving it up at a house party. A perfect pop tune to wrap up the summer and the first release by the star to showcase her own songwriting ability. She’s written tracks for Alexandra Burke and Girls Can’t Catch as well as herself, you know.

7. Tinchy Stryder feat. Amelle – ‘Never Leave You’
August, Peak #1
Grime-Pop was a bit of a ‘thing’ in 2009, and the whole charge was pretty much led by Tinchy Stryder. His collaboration with N-Dubz was pretty nifty, and his effort with Sugababe Amelle Berrabah was even better. Bringing the urban and pop worlds together seamlessly, ‘Never Leave You’ had a brilliant chorus and a heart of gold, storming to the top of the charts over the summer. Of course Amelle’s reputation was soon hanging in the balance thanks to the whole Sugababes drama, but at the time of this single she saw her profile go up a heap as well. The song also provided a handy lead-in for Tinchy’s album ‘Catch 22′ which glided to No2 in the album charts in the same month.

6. Cheryl Cole – ‘Fight For This Love’
October, Peak #1
On first impressions this was a bit of a shock to many – definitely not like a Girls Aloud single, and definitely a bit of a grower. ‘Fight For This Love’ was an accessible pop tune with a smattering of light R’n’B and some surprisingly strong vocals from Cole (auto-tuned or not, we may never know). There’s no denying that without ‘The X Factor’ this wouldn’t have been nearly as huge as it was, but in all fairness this did prove over time to be a bit of a guilty pleasure for almost anyone. Its seven-day sales record for 2009 was soon overtaken by Joe McElderry and Rage Against The Machine, but this is officially the single with the highest first-day sale of 2009, the most-played song on British radio this year, and it also sold faster than any of the twenty-one Girls Aloud singles. ‘3 Words’ may have technically been the “cleverer song”, but for a carefree breezy pop gem that sets the dancefloor alight whenever it’s played, ‘FFTL’ is one of the year’s best.

So what’s in our Top 5, and more importantly, what’s our No1? All will be revealed tomorrow!

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Singles of 2009: 20-11

December 28, 2009 in Music with 1 Comment

2009 was the year that Lily Allen returned to music after a couple of years of basically just being gobby in the papers, it was the year that saw Jay-Z make a spectacular comeback with some killer collaborations, and the year that Sugababes basically imploded. And so continues our list of the 50 best singles of the year.

OH IT’S GETTING VERY VERY TENSE ISN’T IT. (…)

20. Sugababes – ‘About A Girl’
November, Peak #8
“RedOne. Sugababes” announced new member Jade Ewen, and Sugababes Version 4 was officially off to a great start. ‘About A Girl’, like ‘Get Sexy’, sounded a far cry from the likes of ‘Push The Button’ and ‘About You Now’, but with its thumping production and its 90s europop middle-8 it was an absolute tune nonetheless.

19. Pixie Lott – ‘Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)’
June, Peak #1
Perhaps one of the most surprising chart-toppers of the year, ‘Mama Do’ signalled the arrival of Essex girl Pixie Lott, with its catchy pop hook and lyrics relatable to teenage girls the nation over. Not the most dazzling number one single of the year by any means, but certainly a pleasant surprise.

18. Lady Gaga – ‘Bad Romance’
November, Peak #1
Loathed by some, loved by many; Lady Gaga has been the most notorious newcomer of 2009. ‘Bad Romance’ signalled in the deluxe edition of her squillion-selling debut album, with what looks like one of the most expensive videos of the year to accompany it and a typically outrageous performance on ‘The X Factor’.

17. Miley Cyrus – ‘Party In The USA’
October, Peak #11
Let the snobs roll their eyes – Miley hit the bullseye with ‘Party In The USA’, a smooth contemporary pop anthem penned by Dr Luke (Avril’s ‘Girlfriend’, Katy’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’, Britney’s ‘Circus’) that thanks to criminally low promotion just failed to crack the UK Top 10.  It gives shout-outs to Britney and Jay-Z, for crying out loud!

16. The Saturdays – ‘Work’
June, Peak #22
Live performances have sort of exposed The Saturdays as slightly under-par vocally, but on record you can’t deny a few of their tunes are pretty impressive. ‘Work’ remains their best effort to date, despite its relatively poor chart performance, thanks to its buckets of attitude and killer chorus.

15. 30 Seconds To Mars – ‘Kings and Queens’
December, Peak #28
Apparently Fearne Cotton’s favourite track of the year, ‘Kings and Queens’ is only the third UK single for 30 Seconds To Mars, the calling card for new album ‘This Is War’ and a recent regular on the Radio 1 A-List. ‘Kings and Queens’ is anthemic in a way that deserves full-on hands in the air, top of the voice attention, and hopefully there won’t be another billion-year wait before they achieve it again.

14. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – ‘Empire State of Mind’
October, Peak #2
Perhaps the best “love song about a location” of 2009, ‘Empire State of Mind’ was so appealing it charged to the top end of the charts ages before its official release as a single. Thanks to some killer vocal work from Alicia Keys and a great arrangement from Mr Z, this deserved its superb commercial performance and is one of the best singles from the careers of either artist.

13. Alexandra Burke feat. Flo Rida – ‘Bad Boys’
October, Peak #1
From its siren-heavy, Flo Rida-induced introduction it’s clear that Burke will be no Leona. “Alexandra girl” effortlessly makes ‘Bad Boys’ an irresistible pop/R’n’B gem and Flo Rida’s rap, including the declaration that with even the alphabet Alexandra “only sings the crooked letters”, is one of 2009’s most surprising guest appearances. What on Earth is in store for Joe McElderry?!

12. Lily Allen – ‘The Fear’
February, Peak #1
Lily made a spectacular return to pop in 2009 with one of the year’s best albums and this surprisingly successful single. With its dark sound and cynical lyrics, ‘The Fear’ charged to the top of the charts in February and remained there for quite some time, proof that behind the gobby tabloid favourite is a bloody good popstar.

11. Pixie Lott – ‘Cry Me Out’
December, Peak #12
We’ve said many times that Pixie Lott is like a good old fashioned popstar, and in true good old fashioned popstar fashion she followed up two upbeat singles with a sweeping winter ballad. The video for ‘Cry Me Out’ was admittedly horrendous (where was the snow and candles and big winter coat?!) but the song itself is brilliant, and houses that brilliant opening line “I got your emails, you just don’t get females…”.

So what do you reckon has made our Top 10?

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Singles of 2009: 30-21

December 27, 2009 in Music with 1 Comment

Are you keeping up? We’ve already sailed through the first twenty singles in the countdown of our favourite 50 of 2009 (here’s 50-41, here’s 40-31), and today we continue down to the borderline of our Top 20.  If we may plug our reader’s poll again, don’t forget to keep voting for that too to get your own opinions in.

Let’s go…

30. Black Eyed Peas – ‘Boom Boom Pow’
May, Peak #1
Scoring three number ones this year, will.i.am and friends returned to the scene with ‘Boom Boom Pow’, a single that hit No1 on two separate occasions and spent what felt like a decade atop the US charts as well. Pretty much a love/hate song, to some ‘BBP’ was a ridiculous non-sensical mix of assorted synth sounds, and to others it was a shamelessly catchy party necessity.

29. Cheryl Cole feat. will.i.am – ’3 Words’
December, Peak #4
Alot less immediate than ‘Fight For This Love’, ’3 Words’ was a post-’I Gotta Feeling’ darkly throbbing (!) pop tune that admittedly demanded little from its two vocallists, but spawned one of the cleverest pop videos of 2009 and gave Mrs Cole a more “serious edge”.

28. Temper Trap – ‘Sweet Disposition’
August, Peak #6
‘Sweet Disposition’ is one of the most slow-burning classics of 2009. Initially struggling down at the bottom end of the charts, it eventually rose into the Top 10 on the back of huge radio support, use in TV ads, and as the backing track on the traditional ‘Big Brother’ end-of-series montage. Strangely managing to be both subtle and euphoric, the track provided the band with their first breakthrough into the big time.

27. V V Brown – ‘Shark In The Water’
July, Peak #34
Poor V V. She had so much media hype and critical backing, and the best she could achieve commercially was one Top 40 single and an album that scraped into the Top 30. ‘Shark In The Water’ was, however, one of the best summer pop tunes, thanks to its sweeping, breezy chorus. It certainly deserved to do better than it did.

26. Beyoncé – ‘Halo’
April, Peak #4
Ryan Tedder mentioned in several interviews a song beginning with “H” that he had written for Leona Lewis but had instead been recorded by another global superstar. One assumes this is the single he was talking about – a classic Tedder neo-ballad with his trademark bombastic drums, a shout-a-long chorus, and some nifty piano accompaniment.

25. Lady Gaga – ‘Paparazzi’
July, Peak #4
Gaga toned it down a bit for ‘Paparazzi’, a standout track from LP ‘The Fame’ and one which provided a bit of contrast from ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Just Dance’. Any subtlety the track had was completely lost on the video however, which featured the controversial star at her most zany.

24. Girls Aloud – ‘Untouchable’
April, Peak #11
And so with ‘Untouchable’ the girls’ record seven-year run of Top 10 singles finally came to an end. ‘Untouchable’ was a six-minute epic on parent album ‘Out of Control’, and while it admittedly lost some of its oomph in being snipped down to a three minute radio version, it still remained one of the most euphoric and ever-so-slightly-heartbreaking singles in their repertoire. “Beautiful robots dancing alone”, for crying out loud!

23. Katy Perry – ‘Thinking of You’
March, Peak #27
‘Thinking of You’ was a bit of a flop in comparision to the successes of ‘Hot’n'Cold’ and ‘I Kissed A Girl’, which was a shame because it showed a completely different side to the spunky American. Perhaps the best pop-rock-ballad since Avril’s ‘When You’re Gone’, ‘Thinking of You’ was accompanied by a sad video in which Katy’s true love was killed at war. Observe:

22. Little Boots – ‘Remedy’
August, Peak #6
Victoria Hesketh’s career was salvaged by ‘Remedy’, following a disappointing performance from her album ‘Hands’. One of producer RedOne’s finest creations, ‘Remedy’ features one of the best middle-8 sections of the year and one of the most catchy choruses as well.

21. Beyoncé – ‘Sweet Dreams’
August, Peak #5
A fourth smash for Mrs Jay-Z from the ‘I Am… Sasha Fierce’ album, and rightly so. ‘Sweet Dreams’ was her first real foray into electropop and packed as much punch as ‘Single Ladies’ or ‘Crazy In Love’. The highlight of the video was undoubtedly the “MY GUILTY PLEASURE…” breakdown bit.

We’re gliding into the Top 20 tomorrow, with two appearances from one of 2009′s most successful newcomers, one very recent chart-topper, and a single Fearne Cotton recently declared to be her favourite of the year.

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