Tag: Becky Hill

Becky Hill, Sigala – Heaven On My Mind

“I expect a Sigala track to have an element of joy in there”

Tom: I briefly thought Sigala was going to cover a song from Jesus Christ, Superstar. That’s “Heaven On Their Minds”. This is, obviously now, different.

Tim: Yes, yes it is.

Tom: Anyway, Becky Hill’s off the first season of The Voice UK.

Tim: Oh yeah, forgot that about her. Nice how it hasn’t stood in her way, mind.

Tom: And I can’t help feeling this needs a bit more Sigala. To me, he’s always associated with Big Happy Summer Tracks, and this doesn’t quite hit that mark for me.

Tim: Hmm, that’s fair – recently he’s betting getting a bit Galantis-y in his style, and you’re right that this isn’t quite as upbeat as you’d expect from that.

Tom: There’s nothing actually wrong with this; it’s a more-than-competent dance track, and I don’t think it’d empty the floor in a club. But it feels like it’s missing something: I expect a Sigala track to have an element of joy in there, and this just seems like… a regular song. Any ideas why?

Tim: No, actually. And particularly once you’ve got the titular heaven in the lyrics, maybe you’d be right in expecting something higher pitched, with less dark intensity to it. As it is…yeah, doesn’t quite feel right.

Tiësto & Becky Hill – Nothing Really Matters

“Now I think about it, I’m not really sure what the purpose of music videos in general is.”

Tom: We were talking about lockdown music videos yesterday, and, uh, well, I bet this video seemed like a much better idea a few months ago.

Tom: Expensive, time-consuming lyric videos do seem to be the norm now — which kind of defeats the original purpose of them, really — but at least they’re not, I don’t know, spinning some unfortunate mythos about a virus destroying humanity. Has Alan Walker done that yet? I’ve forgotten how all his mythos works.

Tim: Well, his most recent one was from a meteor strike; before that we had a solar flare, I think? And maybe it’s just that lyric videos are taking over from regular videos entirely. Now I think about it, I’m not really sure what the purpose of music videos in general is, though if they’re there to give us something to watch and pay attention to the music, lyric videos are arguably batter than Alan’s world-ending cults.

Tom: As for the music, well, it’s generic Tiësto, isn’t it?

Tim: See, you say it’s generic Tiësto, and sure, it is, but it also comes across to me as just generic dance. I don’t know if it’s because Tiësto doesn’t have a unique sound, but to me this just sounds like a Becky Hill track. Not a bad thing – but a bit less than what I’d expect from a name as big as Tiësto.

Tom: I think it’s notable that, for both today and yesterday, we’re talking a lot more about the video than the music. Is that because we’ve picked dull tracks, or is it because there’s just less interesting stuff coming out? And I wonder how much production on new pop has been paused, and how much is continuing in home studios?

Tim: I was wondering that the other day, and to be honest I’d imagine it’s much less affected than film and TV – writing tracks can just about be done over video chat, and while it’d be hard for proper instruments to be recorded at home, vocals shouldn’t present too much of a problem, that can then be sent to be cleaned up by a producer and then placed on top of fake drums and guitars, or just your standard synth beats. If you want a good example of what can be done, I recommend Radio 1’s Stay Home Live Lounge from yesterday, all recorded at artists’ homes and sounding amazing.

Sigala, Becky Hill – Wish You Well

“BREAK OUT THE PINEAPPLES.”

Tim: Remember 2016’s theme of Tropical Fridays? Well, it’s obviously too early to suggest they might be making a comeback, but for now, let’s BREAK OUT THE PINEAPPLES.

Tim: It’d be a good start, no?

Tom: It’s not bad! That “loyalities, insecurities and priorities” line stands out as being a really well crafted lyric: I don’t know the rhythm terms to explain what’s going on there, but it’s certainly catchy. As is most of the song, unexpectedly.

Tim: Admittedly I’ll always have a slightly rose-tinted view of Sigala, partly because he’s from Norwich, much like me, and also because his name is Bruce, which is an astounding name for a 27 year old Brit to have. Even so, I think this is a very good track to come out with.

Tom: You’re not wrong there. I am properly surprised by this: I expected this to be another regression-to-the-mean standard dance track, but there’s something in there that really stands out.

Tim: It’s his first new track since he put out his album last year, and that post-chorus breakdown, whilst being entirely devoid of coconuts, is astonishingly good. It is, in fact, entirely reminiscent of early ’00s dance tracks, and I absolutely love that.

Perhaps it’s a little lazy to immediately assign a ‘yes please’ to a track just because it brings back good feelings of times gone past, but I don’t care. Those are memories of music I loved, and never stopped loving, and it’s fantastic to hear it all over again. Especially when it sounds this damn good.

Matoma feat. Becky Hill – False Alarm

“We still have tropical house to keep us sane.”

Tim: Second half of 2016, and despite all that might be going bonkers politically, we still have tropical house to keep us sane.

Tom: I’m not entirely sure that’s valid, but sure, let’s go with it.

Tim: Matoma’s Norwegian, Becky’s from London, and that’s about all you need to know. So grab yourself a 🍍, and use it to whack the play button.

Tim: And that is…perfectly plausible for a middle of the set, the middle of the compilation disc.

Tom: See, I was about to agree with you there, but I can’t actually find anything wrong with it to say why it seems “plausible, middle of the set” rather than anything better. Maybe the verse is a bit slow, maybe it seems a bit long? Either way, every individual part seems good.

Tim: It’s pretty good throughout, but of particular note is her vocal which is just great, and especially notable as such when it’s just on its own like at the start or after the first instrumental chorus. And as for that instrumental chorus: also very good. All in all, I’m very happy with this. Nice one.

Watermät, Becky Hill & TAI – All My Love

“It ticks all the boxes required of a track like this.”

Tim: It is SUMMER, Tom. SUMMER.

Tom: I’ll avoid the cliché British complaining.

Tim: Watermät is a French DJ, Becky Hill was a semi-finalist on The Voice UK (first contestant to score a number 1, as it happens) —

Tom: Wait, anyone scored a Number 1 after being on The Voice?

Tim: Well, a semi-finalist did – no winners have made it yet. TAI, meanwhile is an English/German DJ; nice bit of variety for you, so what do you think of the emergent product?

Tom: It ticks all the boxes required of a track like this, but I can’t say there’s much beyond that.

Tim: I was quite surprised, given the intro, how far back that initial summery/beachy vibe was pushed – this starts out as something unusual, straight out to beach clubbers, then ditches that entirely becoming becoming a fairly standard house track.

Tom: And only 2:40 for the radio edit, which is about all I think I could take of it before wanting it to get crossfaded into something else. You’re right: it’s fairly standard.

Tim: Not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s a very good standard house track, but I can’t help thinking that if it hadn’t had that initial intro I wouldn’t have bothered sticking with it. Quite glad I did stick with it, though, but I wouldn’t have minded more of that intro style.