Author: Tim

Ryan Dolan – Start Again

“He’s got the voice to pull off a Big Song like this, and he does it bloody well.”

Tim: Remember Ryan Dolan?

Tom: No?

Tim: Yes you do, Ryan Dolan.

Tom: Still no. Despite watching Eurovision, that one slipped past me. Maybe I nipped out during that song?

Tim: Here’s his new track, which is decidedly not an upbeat dance number like that. Prepare yourself for sadness, and you might want to keep a couple of nice cat GIFs on the side for afterwards.

Tom: Well, call me a cold-hearted jerk, but the video came across as mawkish rather than actually sad.

Tim: Seriously?

Tom: The message is good, I suppose, but they could have eased off on the melodrama a bit.

Tim: Maybe it does escalate a bit quickly, but bear in mind you’ve about two and a half minutes to tell that story; you can’t exactly take it slowly.

Tom: Well, Pink managed it.

Tim: Yes, and back then you said anyone else doing it would probably annoy you; guess you were right. Any other criticisms to pile on top of what I maintain is a spot-on video?

Tom: They could also have proof-read that message at the end.

Tim: Oh, fine. Anyone with a heart who’s still paying attention: feel free to cheer yourself up with this.

Tom: That’s probably fake as well. Would spraypaint really show up like that, front-lit at night?

Tim: Oh, for heaven’s sake, I don’t know. If we could move on to the song now, Ryan came out as gay a few weeks back, and also talked about his teenage depression due to that, so especially with the message at the end it’s clear this is an incredibly personal song, and what wonderful one it is. The emotion in the voice is enormous, and the way the strings, piano and drums build up for the big choruses at the end is just wonderful.

Tom: So, setting aside my thoughts about the video: yep, that’s a pretty good song, and there’s a hell of a lot of emotion in there. He’s got the voice to pull off a Big Song like this, and he does it bloody well.

Tim: One notable thing about this is the “didn’t even know if I could make it or not”, which is lifted straight for Bon Jovi; first I thought it was weird, or annoying, but then I realised what came next – obviously, it’s “we’ve got each other”, except here, when it’s “’cause everyday is harder on your own”, which turns it into an incredibly clever piece of songwriting. This is a fantastic track, and I don’t know if it’ll get around enough to spread awareness and stuff, but it’s a damn good effort.

Saturday Reject: Jorge González – Aunque Se Acabe El Mundo

“Pretty damn Spanish while still being modern.”

Tim: Last Saturday, I got somewhat tipsy while watching four Eurovision selections simultaneously; one of them was Spain. Former UK X Factor contestant Ruth Lorenzo won, with a song that didn’t quite match up to her potential, but never mind. What didn’t win was this.

Tim: Now, I wanted this to win for three reasons: first, he’s very good looking (yes, I’m shallow, but no more than Eurovision’s primary voters).

Tom: To be fair, even I’d agree with that.

Tim: Second, he’s got a name that’s about as Spanish as you can get.

Tom: And a sound that’s pretty damn Spanish while still being modern.

Tim: And that’s my third point: it’s a damn good song. The title translates as ‘Even If The World Ends’, and according to a popular online translation system it’s all about keeping on trying and never giving up. And man, that’s a good message, with no crappy rubbish about love and all that, and one that’s well represented in the song.

Tom: Agreed: it’s a good sign for me if, on the first listen, I find myself tapping my feet along. This managed exactly that.

Tim: It is clearly a Spanish sound (good), and it also has the necessary ‘keep trying’ effort and energy going and going and going and after a while it becomes difficult not to rhyme going with boing, but anyway.

Tom: Are you still drunk, by any chance?

Tim: I’d say no; the empty bottle of port on my desk may discredit that though. That doesn’t change the fact that this is a brilliant track, and if it wasn’t destined to end up buried as a failed Eurovision attempt it could probably do very well remixed on the club circuit. Maybe someone can sort that out?

Bright Light Bright Light feat. Elton John – I Wish We Were Leaving

“Drum-and-bass & dreamlike instrumentation”

Tim: Following on from last weeks current and old collaboration, have another.

Tom: “Feat. Elton John” is a pretty good credit to have.

Tim: Elton, allegedly, phoned up Mr Light Bright Light to inform him that he was a bit of a fan; inspiration struck Rod, and he rewrote this track as duet, called Elton and asked him to sing. Nice, isn’t it?

Tom: It is: it’s unusual to hear what sounds almost like drum-and-bass underneath dreamlike instrumentation, but it works well.

Tim: Apparently, Elton taking lead vocals on the second verse is “a reminder that every relationship has two sides and two voices”, which if you think about it is slightly unfair and denigrating of couples in which one person is mute, but never mind.

Tom: I think you can have a “voice” without actually having a voice. But leaving your pedantry aside: wow, Elton’s got a voice.

Tim: It’s a lovely track, and the voices complement each other well, though that may have something to do with Elton’s singing being toned down somewhat for this genre: “I had to sing in a completely different way which I really enjoyed.”

Tom: That chorus does remind me a bit of the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, mind.

Tim: As with so many of his tracks, this has a slight mix of the downbeat and the happiness, with the whole “breaking up but you’ll be fine” thing going on. It’s lovely, and, if either of you are reading, since you both enjoyed it perhaps it could be a regular thing? I wouldn’t be complaining.

5 Seconds of Summer – She Looks So Perfect

“What does a number one mean when no-one’s actually heard it?”

Tim: Yes, I know, another boyband, but this time there’s something INTERESTING. And it sounds slightly different, and it’s got a very fun video.

Tom: So these guys sound a bit like a discount version of the Strokes, instead of a discount version of One Direction. Got it.

Tim: You say discount, but this is a brilliant track. It went straight to number one on iTunes in 38 countries (including the UK and their native Australia) when it became available to pre-order*, and that would have been deservedly so.

* Hate that term. How did society forget that ordering is, by definition, already pre-?

Tom: It’s not a bad track, true: in a regular charts week, it’ll stand out.

Tim: Except – it wasn’t deserved. Because this was available to pre-order before this video was up. And also before the very good lyric video was up. Before, in fact, any member of the public had heard any part of it at all. And that’s odd. Isn’t it?

I suppose it’s nice that their fans have faith in them to produce a good tune, but it raises the question of how charts can stay relevant with this marketing model. It seems sales may be somewhat meaningless, or at least the pre-orders.

Tom: Now, for the official UK charts — unless things have changed very recently — pre-orders counted as purchases in the first week of release, which meant a much higher chart position in that first week. iTunes, of course, just counts them immediately.

Tim: What does a number one mean when no-one’s actually heard it? It could, let’s be honest, just be three and a half minutes of them all throwing up last night’s hangover. A worthy number one? Hell no. But a number one nonetheless.

Tom: There’s a dubstep joke there somewhere.

Tim: Oh, you. Anyway, fortunately it’s not three and a half minutes of them throwing up; it’s instead a great track and indeed worthy.

Emmelie de Forest – Rainmaker

“Oh, they’ve gone for Fake African Chanting!”

Tim: In an apparent attempt to alienate the entirety of the south-west of Britain, the EBU have chosen to make this the official theme to this year’s Song Contest.

Tom: Oh, they’ve gone for Fake African Chanting! It’s like the mid-2000s never went away.

Tim: They certainly didn’t. She’s clearly happy staying true to the sound that won her the competition, or at the that’s the plan that the contest producers have anyway. It makes sense, after all – this is the sound that Europe officially declared their favourite, and it’s here in a song that has a lot of good bits in it.

Tom: Yep, despite my initial cynicism, this is pretty damn good – as you said, it’s a winning sound.

Tim: For a start, it has “join us” in it quite prominently (though it’s probably in the lyrics as #JoinUs), which is good for the branding and all that. It also has that lovely “make a rain” hook (sod the south-west) which has been going round in my head for quite some time now.

Tom: “Sod the South-West” being the original lyrics to NWA’s breakthrough hit, of course.

Tim: I can’t deny that the “weya”s get a bit tedious after a while, but that’s made up for by the rest of it. Well done producers, nice choice.

Satin Circus – Expectations

“Yes, it’s coming, almost there, HERE IT IS.”

Tim: Before we start, know that this is exactly the boyband sound I was complaining about recently.

Tom: The “exactly like One Direction” sound?

Tim: It is not something I will be complaining about today.

Tim: The reason I won’t be complaining is that it’s flipping brilliant.

Tom: Yep. And that’s because it sounds pretty much exactly like One Direction.

Tim: Yes, but almost an idealised One Direction. The lyrics, obviously, are of the standard tedious variety designed purely to appeal to every teenage girl out there, but it’s the music where it stands out. That chorus really is top notch – a fantastic vocal melody that’s remarkably catchy, instrumentation that doesn’t quite hit wall of sound levels but is certainly on the way.

Tom: To be fair, I think some of that is dodgy compression on the audio file: there’s a lot been crushed down there. It’s a cracking chorus either way, though.

Tim: One of my favourite parts is the great lead back into the chorus out of the quiet middle eight – there’s a sense of “yes, it’s coming, almost there, HERE IT IS”. This song has me drumming my fists on the table so much that my knuckles are somewhat sore now, and it takes a good song to do that.

Tom: You… you might want to consider gloves? I guess?

Tim: Wouldn’t get the same feeling. As mentioned previously, they claim to write all their own stuff and are of the “don’t call us a boyband” style of boyband; if they come up with this, though, I’m willing to do them that courtesy, or at the very least put them in the same elevated category of boyband as the likes of McFly – high praise, but much-deserved.

Tom: It’s a pretty good debut. It’s no “5 Colours”, but then that was very a much song from the last decade: this is a pretty damn good start.

Tim: The album’s out now everywhere (one of them’s written a pretty good blog post about the ‘everywhere’ bit and worldwide releases in general) and is full of this stuff, with only one dull ballad. Worth your money.

Sanna Neilsen – Rainbow

“When even the first verse can grab my attention, it’s a good song.”

Tim: Sanna Neilsen has a very good song in Melodifestivalen this year called Undo; in what I’m sure is no coincidence her upcoming EP is also called Undo, and this is one of the tracks from it.

Tom: It took me a second to realise that “Undo” is actually an English word meaning ‘to take back an action’, and not some Swedish word I didn’t know. I might be a bit tired.

Tim: Well, this’ll be fun.

Tim: I’m fairly sure this reminds me of quite a few very good tracks that are around at the moment/in the past couple of years (especially Halo, WHAT A TUNE), but not in any “hey you’ve nicked this” sense but more in a “hey this track is brilliant” sense.

Tom: It has some similarities, yes, but it’s not a ripoff by any means.

Tim: No, and suddenly I see what all the hype was about her Melodifestivalen entry, because it really is up there with the Demis and Kellys and, yes, Beyoncés of proper big pop ballads.

Tom: Agreed: when even the first verse can grab my attention, it’s a good song.

Tim: Right, though, I say ballad, is this a ballad? It sounds sing-y and emote-y enough to definitely be, but if we split power-pop into BALLADS and BANGERS it’s probably right on the dividing line.

Tom: And what a dividing line it is.

Tim: This track is basically incredible, and if you don’t like it you’re wrong. WRONG.

Saturday Reject: Shirley Clamp – Burning Alive

“A brilliantly executed powerful ballad.”

Tim: Her first Melodifestivalen entry since 2011 (when she led the pop group Shirley’s Angels), this came sixth in last week’s very strong heat.

Tim: It’s wonderful Shirley, and a brilliantly executed powerful ballad.

Tom: It’s emotional, certainly, but it sounds more like a bit of a riff on Sia’s “She-Wolf” to me — without David Guetta, I’ll grant you, but that piano riff and voice a just a bit too similar.

Tim: Hmm, you’re possibly right, though I didn’t notice it so I’m not that bothered. Unlike Thursday’s track, this deserves emotion, and she provides it in bucketloads, and then there are the backing singers, not appearing on stage because we can’t possibly distract from Shirley and her “got them so I’ll flaunt them” attitude to her legs.

Tom: I can’t fault her performance, that’s true.

Tim: It’s all complemented perfectly by the key change and the wind machine, which let’s face it would be better described as a storm-force gale machine. Basically, in any other wear this would have deserved a straight-to-final placing; on the other hand, it’s a high quality of song we’re seeing this year, so commiserations, Shirley, but what can you do.

Sam Bailey – Compass

Dull, tedious, and sung with far more emotion that it could possibly warrant,

Tim: A good five months earlier than typical, here’s last year’s X Factor winner with her first proper song.

Tim: Why so early, you may be wondering

Tom: When someone wins the popular vote every single week, the record company’s wanting to make their money so quickly?

Tim: Well, there’s that, but there’s another biggie: she’s never going to appeal to teenagers, however much of a makeover she gets. The next best thing, therefore, is female, mid-30s plus. Of utmost importance, then, is to get something out there for the single most important day of the year: Mother’s Day.

Tom: Oh. Oh, that makes sense.

Tim: Yes – first track out now, you’ll have your album of covers well on the way to being wrapped up at the end of March.

Tom: And promptly there’s a number 1 album on the charts.

Tim: This, a cover of a song originally by Norway’s Didrik Solli-Tangen, of 20th-at-Eurovision-2010 notability, sits perfectly on it.

Tom: I still say he was robbed.

Tim: Absolutely – for a start, at thirty-six seconds I think he’s set the Eurovision record for a steadicam shot.

This, in remarkable contrast, is dull, and tedious, and sung with far more emotion that it could possibly warrant, but it’ll get countless dads looking at it in Asda and thinking “yeah, she’d love it if our son gave that to her”. And that, after all, is what counts.

Tom: That’s entirely cynical and entirely right. To be fair, I don’t think I can call it “dull and tedious”: it’s a by-the-numbers love song and it’ll sit in the background, but with that much big-voice it’s probably going to be the first-dance song at a couple of weddings in a couple of years’ time.

For BDK – What I Must Find

“It’s quite the track, particularly that chorus.”

Tim: Another day, another awkward name but for entirely different reasons. BDK is Body, Drugs and Kicks, and that’s apparently what they’re doing this For. Anyway, we’ve met them before, though not explained the name, so there it is. And here’s the synthpop.

Tim: And this, I think, is a happy story of what happens when two people meet in a bar, as is the case with singer Adele (no) and producer Marcus.

Tom: Wait, what?

Tim: That is, apparently, what happened – met in a bar, got talking, decided to make music together. And what a lovely idea, much better than the typical “meet in a bar, hook up, try to forget about it the next morning” story. Which is very nice.

Tom: Well, that tells me more than I need to know about your time in bars. But yes – it’s quite the track, particularly that chorus.

Tim: The choruses here are frankly stunning. We complained last time that the song overran and that the verses were too long and disappointing to make up for the still very good chorus; here, it’s a sensible length, the verses are much improved (albeit still with room for more) and shorter and the chorus is that much better. All problems sorted, this track is superb.