Author: tom

Chloe Adams – Young Forever

“We go firmly into ‘BLOODY HELL’ territory.”

Tim: Our reader, Rob, sends this in rather favourably; last time we featured Chloe eighteen months ago, you said “blimey, that’s good”.

Tom: And now I can’t remember it at all! Although, listening back, yeah, I agree with what earlier-me said.

Tim: Care to see if it’s two for two?

Tom: Well done to the video designer for bothering to animate (what I assume are) the correct piano keys.

Tim: So, I’m going to describe that as ‘pretty good’, until about the halfway point. Because come then, we go firmly into “BLOODY HELL” territory.

Tom: That stripped-down early chorus is really good; but then the whole track decides to go all Kings of Leon and it’s just, well: I think you’re right, it’s two-for-two.

Tim: The song is good enough already, but BLIMEY that middle eight sounds incredible; I’ve played it six or seven times now and it’s not getting old, and nor is the drumbeat out of that into the final section, or indeed the bit right towards the end with the repeated “we’ll be young forever”, which has somehow ended up underneath the underlying chanting, which is an achievement in itself really.

Tom: The production is top-notch on this: balancing all these different elements, all of which want to be at the front, is a really, really difficult task.

Tim: As for the lyrics, Chloe’s made a video about it explaining that she doesn’t literally think she’s going to be physically young forever, which you’d think wouldn’t need explaining but maybe it does. Instead it’s keeping the mind young, and the outlook, and doing things your parents always say they wished they’d done. So there you go. Do the things.

Tom: It’s even got a message I can get behind. And after one listen, I could hum the chorus. Well done, Tim: you’ve sent me a song I actually like.

Saara Aalto – Let It Go

“Only five years too late. Wait, five years? Huh. Five years.”

Tim: She was one of the lead voices in the Finnish version of Frozen, she’s on YouTube singing the song in fifteen languages, she did it when she was on The X Factor and last night she sung it whilst skating.

Tom: Normally at this point, I gripe that someone’s reused a name from a massively popular track, but no, apparently not.

Tim: Finally, the time has come for her to properly release a cover of it.

Tom: Only five years too late. Wait, five years? Huh. Five years.

Tim: I had a listen to Saara’s album the other day, and pleasingly it’s really, really good. It goes in strong on the ‘mostly pop but with good dance backing’ that we hear for the majority of this, and it sounds entirely great, there and here. Sure, you’ve got your first opening verse being standard to lure the punters in, but then BOOM the second verse hits, you turn it sideways and put your stamp on it, and from then on it’s a great cover of an already fantastic song.

Tom: That second verse took me by surprise, but like you say: that’s probably the point. The voice is strong, and she’s definitely qualified to sing it: I think one of the things missing here, though, is the sheer force of emotion that Idina Menzel somehow managed to also cram into the original.

Tim: There are presumably hundreds of covers of the song lying around the music industry; right now, this is my favourite.

Rasmussen – Go Beyond

“Stylistically it’s similar but PUMPED UP”

Tim: You may remember Rasumussen from the fairly impressive slightly Viking-y Higher Ground at Eurovision last year; here’s his somewhat belated follow up.

Tim: And I LOVE that.

Tom: And I’m indifferent! Business as usual, then. Why do you like it so much?

Tim: Stylistically it’s similar but PUMPED UP, and I don’t think that ever fails to improve a pop song (Time To Say Goodbye doesn’t count, wasn’t a pop song in the first place). We’ve similar millennium old instruments, even if they are almost entirely synthetic this time round, and they always work well for me.

Tom: So that does all make sense: but imagine if you hadn’t thought much of Higher Ground? Then PUMPING IT UP would just seem… well, still not that impressive. Admittedly I can remember the chorus after listing, which is usually a good sign, but this time I just don’t want to.

Tim: Higher Ground was one of my Eurovision favourites last year, and this just builds on that.

Galantis feat. Sophia Carson – San Francisco

“It’s good! I like it! That’s unusual! “

Tim: This slipped me by when it came out last month because it was the Friday before Christmas, but here it is – Galantis’s latest, featuring the same singer who was on Alan Walker’s latest track as well. Coincidence? Very probably.

Tom: That’s the best introduction and first verse I’ve heard in a while. Full marks for having the confidence to use just a vocoded acapella: with a bad melody that would have completely killed the track. But it’s good! I like it! That’s unusual!

Tim: So, Galantis haven’t had a proper hit since Love On Me, the brilliant track that came out…a little over two years ago. I would argue that’s a shame, but then I think back and much as I typically very much enjoy their output – it’s not exactly memorable, is it? I think this kind of demonstrates why.

Tom: That’s harsh but not entirely untrue. I really did enjoy this track, almost as much as I still enjoy Satisfied. But I think it’s fair to say that given both tracks are about two and a half minutes, Galantis knows exactly how long people will want to listen to their tracks for. That repetition of “San Francisco” got old on a second listen. But hey, at least I gave it a second listen.

Tim: It’s okay, it’s standard as Galantis fare seems to go nowadays…but it’s not anything really special. I miss that, really, I do.

Kevin Walker – Send Me A Card

“Boy is it jaunty.”

Tim: Kevin’s still jumping back and forth being being a singer and professional footballer; here’s his first track since his 2015 Christmas one, and boy is it jaunty.

Tom: Here’s a complaint I’ve never, ever made before here: I despise the rhyme scheme of this song. I don’t know why, but that “all / wall / tall” just grated in the first verse and I could never let it go after that. This is a really petty complaint, I know, because like you say, the rest of this is pleasantly jaunty.

Tim: Okay, Tom: you often mention your Good Pop Song tests – do you immediately want to press play again, can you remember the chorus afterwards – and they’ve kind of buried their way into my head as well now. And with this one, I was ‘yes, but no’.

Tom: The exact opposite for me: I didn’t want to press play again, but I could remember that damn chorus.

Tim: Except, half an hour later, i had a tune going round in my head, and I couldn’t place it, until I realised it was this one. So does that count? Because I do absolutely want to keep pressing play here – the melody is great, decent enough lyrics, and all in all it just makes me feel good. Happy, in fact.

I think that’s because there are a lot of familiar components in there – nothing copied, but things like the layered vocals, the call and return in the middle eight – going together to make a song that’s basically just reassuringly enjoyable.

Tom: I’ll grant you that my heart did soften a bit for that final chorus. He needs to go to a harmony line (or perhaps even just up an octave) on that last note, though.

jens – Any Other Way

“One of the strongest closing sections I’ve heard in ages.”

Tom: What, he couldn’t afford a capital letter?

Tim: ‘jens’ is off Norway, bringing us this, with a promising start, dipping occasionally, but with one of the strongest closing sections I’ve heard in ages.

Tim: Am I wrong?

Tom: Thanks to a particular cadence and chord in that first verse, I kept singing “I Can’t Go For That” over this for a while. But, you’re right: that’s a really strong recovery out of the middle eight, and it almost saves the rest of the track.

Tim: The less enjoyable parts for me come at the start of each chorus, with the iffy vocoding; on the other hand, from 1:45 onwards it barely puts a note wrong. There’s almost a slight genre shift, really – from brooding electropop to regular upbeat pop, and I love that. The backing vocals that come along thirty seconds before the end? Marvellous.

Tom: And at three minutes long, I can deal with the slower parts. Sure, it’s not going on my regular playlist any time soon, but it gets a solid “Sure, That’ll Do” from me, which is practically an endorsement by my standards.

MÖWE feat. Emy Perez – Down By The River

“Advance warning, if you need it: the first thing you’ll hear is jaunty whistling.”

Tim: Happy new year Tom! Officially, it’s still Christmas until Sunday; unofficially, anyone still listening to Christmas music is clearly in some sort of denial, so let’s move on. In fact, let’s move all the way to Austria for SUMMER. (Advance warning, if you need it: the first thing you’ll hear is jaunty whistling.)

Tim: Now, as I write this, I am in a sickeningly good mood (after a enormous amount of effort, finally got my New Year’s Eve costume sorted), so I don’t know if that’s affecting my view, but I really really like this track.

Tom: So usually at this point, I’ll say something like “it’s a good two-minute track, it’s just a pity that it’s four minutes long”. But this actually is about two minutes long, which is good, because damn if it wasn’t starting to drag by the end.

I think that your mood is affecting your review, though. It’s not offensive, but what stands out for you?

Tim: The chanting reminds me pleasantly of Alan Walker’s Darkside (sidebar: that guy puts on a flipping brilliant gig, albeit with slightly weird staging setup, and also his album’s pretty good as well), the verses never get annoyingly quiet, the “let the river flow” line sounds great, as does the repetitive bit at the end, and I even find the whistling enjoyable, as it has a lovely melody.

Tom: Yeah, I’m chalking this one up to your mood.

Tim: Top marks, I’m reckoning.

Lisa Ajax – Terribly Good Xmas

“Please, anybody, just come and keep me company”

Tom: Is this another track where I have to ignore the title? Because I feel like I have to ignore the title on this.

Tim: You do. Because I mentioned on Friday how Christmas songs are full of clichés, and songs fitting into various categories: love songs, heartbreak songs, celebratory songs, miserable songs – your basic ones. We don’t get that many songs that are just “please, anybody, just come and keep me company”, though.

Tim: I say that, it’s not actually the first time Lisa’s done a song like this, though her one two years ago was slightly more specific. Here, she’s just hoping for anyone. An unusual look, sure, but I guess it takes a strong person to come right out and be this desperate, so fair play to her for that.

Tom: And you know what? This is actually not a bad song. Even the “terribly good” bit from the title, which I thought was going to be a nightmare, seems to work in context. This is fun! It’s not going on my Christmas playlist any time soon — if I had a Christmas playlist — but it’s not hateful. By my standards, that’s practically a ringing endorsement.

Tim: Lyrics aside (as I’ll accept they do get a bit annoying with the whole “I deserve this” attitude) I reckon it’s a nice song – I like the style, I like the melody, and sure the verses are a bit too quiet for my liking, the chorus hits the right level. So yeah – overall, I’ll take this.

SO, by my count, we now have 7 out of 12 Christmas songs that you’ve said positive things about! So unless I spoil it all tomorrow with a song you absolutely hate, I think we can call this year a success.

Nabiha – Christmas Feels

“I ask you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE to look past that god awful title.”

Tim: Only a few days left, so let’s get back to Christmas with this, from Danish singer Nabiha. Tom, I ask you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE to look past that god awful title, because that word doesn’t appear even once in the song. Think of it as being entirely untitled, why not.

Tom: I’m glad you gave me that warning. What an awful, awful title for a… not bad song? It’s in the old traditions, the singer has a great voice, and I see what they were aiming for.

Tim: Occasionally, Tom, I get where you’re coming from with Christmas songs, because GOD are they full of clichés.

Tom: Yes. The disappointing thing here is the clunky lyrics and, frankly, depressing message.

Tim: Here, we’ve got the standard ‘trying to enjoy myself but I just can’t because I’m not with you’. Except, let’s read far too much into these lyrics. In particular, that outro – “I’m in tears and it’s the same, every damn year on the holiday”. Because…man, that’s upsetting. I don’t know how long it’s been since the break up this song centres on happened, but if we’re saying every then it’s got to be at least three or four years back. And she’s still not over it, and has no indication that it’ll every change?

Oof, that’s just…that’s kind of depressing, and I almost wish I hadn’t noticed it.

Tom: That’s fair, I wish you hadn’t pointed it out to me.

Tim: Fair. In that case, let me cheer you up by pointing out what’s almost the reverse: in your favourite, The Darkness’ Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End), we have Justin Hawkins praying ‘each and every Christmas Day that it won’t end’ – implying it never actually does. And how nice is that?

Mila Nile – Young Hearts

“I got distracted by singing Leona Lewis’ ‘Bleeding Love’ over the first verse.”

Tim: A Swede, here, and while normally I’ve a fairly good idea of whether or not you’ll like a track, here I have absolutely no idea.

Tom: A grand total of 38 views as I write this. I’m surprised it’s a proper release. Then I got distracted by singing Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” over the first verse.

Tim: For me, you see, it was full of ups and downs – the initial ten seconds were slightly off-putting, the verse was alright, and the chorus was then a pleasant surprise (particularly the “I’m cliché but it’s true”, though I’m not entirely sure why). The post-chorus is fab, and it’s also pleasing that the second verse doesn’t dip down for too long before coming right back up again.

Tom: There’s nothing in here I dislike! Sadly, there’s also nothing that particularly makes me want to go ‘oh, I must listen to that again immediately’, but I think that might be why you couldn’t predict my reaction. It’s a good track. It’s solid.

Tim: I’m not entirely sure if I like the odd sound effect leading into the second chorus, but then that middle eight is lovely. Up and down, up and down, but all put together, I’m fairly sure I really like this.