Category: Mainstream

Shura – What’s It Gonna Be?

“Strong narrative, and equally as strong music”

Tim: Strong narrative here in this video from Shura, and equally as strong music to go with it. Have a listen, see if you agree.

Tim: Heartwarming, isn’t it? (I ask, despite knowing exactly what answer you’ll give to that question.)

Tom: Well YOU GUESSED WRONG because it actually worked for me.

Tim: Really? Oh, I’m so glad.

Tom: Maybe I was tired. I was expecting the plot to be a cliché “the nerdy two hook up”, and then I was hoping it to be “you’re just fine as you are, don’t pine over people”, so when it actually took a different and interesting direction: yes. I liked that.

Tim: The song is, according to the blurb, about “having a massive crush on someone, so it made sense to go back where to school, where it all began,” and “thinking you’re in love but then realising that’s maybe just because you feel you should be (and ending up with someone totally unexpected),” and that all works out fine for me.

Tom: It reminds me rather a lot of Miike Snow’s Ghenghis Khan: retro-styled video, unexpected gay romance, that same synth-led, 80s style with very little low-end percussion. I suspect it is, again, a video that’s convinced me the song’s much better than it is, but I can’t really complain about that.

Tim: Music on top is, as I said earlier, equally strong – lovely bit of electropop, pretty sounds, nice lyrics – so all in all, a great product. Album’s out July 8th, nice one.

RedOne feat. Enrique Iglesias, R. City, Serayah & Shaggy – Don’t You Need Somebody

“A full basketball team”

Tom: Wait, what? He’s got first billing, not just out a shoutout?

Tim: Indeed – despite being quite possibly second only to Max Martin in terms of people who are Big In Pop but mostly staying behind the scenes, he has for this track stuck himself right on the front, along with quite the supporting cast, and…well, have a listen.

Tim: So let’s start with the obligatory introductions, which I particularly like as we meet RedOne, Enrique, R. City and Seraya by name or initials, and Shaggy as “Mister Lover”.

Tom: Which, oddly, probably makes him the most famous in there. Enrique, despite his worldwide following, still needs both names. Shaggy doesn’t even need his one.

Tim: We’ve got lyrics that immediately go start talking about you-know-what, and then we’ve got a line about “mouth to mouth without speaking” which is fine, because obviously it refers to vigorous kissing, but it’s hardly as though medical mouth to mouth typically involves in depth conversation.

Tom: Trying to talk while you’re making out with someone is basically a recipe for disaster anyway. Or for breaking into laughter, depending on the relationship.

Tim: But anyway: lyrics are all about doing it, and let’s be honest that’s hardly surprising. What is surprising, though, given the line up, is that’s it’s actually a fairly decent and listenable song. I think it’s the sheer variety creating by having a full basketball team in it – bit like Band Aid really, in that if one act ever gets a bit annoying, you know it won’t be long until they’re binned off in favour of someone else.

Tom: It looks like RedOne got the credit because it really is his song: he assembled the group and produced it. This is a song with just featured artists, and that’s fine.

Tim: Yep, and so unlikely as I may have thought originally: I like this.

Adele – Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

“Blatantly an Ed Sheeran track”

Tom: Our reader, lempamo, sends this one in with the comment “good song, though it’s not what I expected from an Adele track.”

Tom: That’s because this is blatantly an Ed Sheeran track in the verses, at least based on that guitar work, and a… hmm. Who’s the chorus?

Tim: I don’t know, and to be honest: that’s not so much because I can’t place it, but more because I’m not fussed enough to try. This…this really doesn’t do it for me. It’s a shame, maybe, because obviously being a British pop music fan I’m obliged to love Adele, but here I’m happy to pass this aside.

Tom: I said yesterday that I had two tests for a Really Good Pop Song, and this passes one of the two. Yes, after one play, I can remember part of it — that chorus. But do I want to hit replay? No. No, sadly I don’t.

Tim: And today, I very much agree with you.

Måns Zelmerlöw – Fire In The Rain

Tim: This’ll presumably be played to the world at Eurovision – it’s his new track, and, despite being guitar pop, it’s fairly listenable.

Tim: There’s whistling there which is nice, there’s a lovely chorus, and a verse which weirdly sounds a fine start, but then slightly dull when it comes back for the second round.

Tom: I’ll be honest, I did think it was a bit longer than three minutes. It seems a bit slow, despite having all the ingredients for a good pop track — and also some whistling.

Tim: To be honest, much as I’d often dismiss whistling as a bit twee and annoying, here it really helps the track, lifting it up above bog standard guitar pop. Would I like more in the final chorus? Perhaps – I’d certainly like that top vocal to be there from right out of the middle eight to give it a bit of oomph. It’s no Heroes – of course it’s no Heroes – or a Cara Mia, but it’s decent enough.

Tom: That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, though, is it?

Tim: And while ‘decent enough’ isn’t really something I want to be writing about someone twelve months after a Eurovision victory, here it’s about right. Oh well.

Busted – Coming Home

“Question on everyone’s mind: is it any good?”

Tim: The first new Busted track in over a decade (!) is finally here, after Charlie realised how much cash the other two were making off the back of McBusted and decided he wanted in as well.

Tom: For legal reasons, I should clarify that Tim is entirely speculating there.

Tim: Question on everyone’s mind: is it any good?

Tim: YES, it actually is! Which is fantastic news! A somewhat different sound, as is to be expected with the aforementioned “over a decade” part, but it’s largely a good one – the pop rock they were known for is all still there, now with added electronic stuff.

Tom: Which sounds a bit like MGMT’s Time to Pretend to me: not that they’re using an exact patch or anything like that, but it’s the same style.

Tim: I’ve got to confess my ears did twitch slightly in distress when I first heard that somewhat harsh and ever-present synth line, but jumping about in the chorus it’s alright, and the synths towards the end of the middle eight just sound absolutely lovely.

Tom: It is a bit much sometimes, and I’m really not sure about that odd twinge on Taj Mahal: the whole line’s a bit strange, really. But if I’m picking out things like that, I guess I don’t have any bigger complaints about the track.

Tim: Lyrically, it’s a good one for a comeback track, with the whole “I miss my family” line that I can kind of imagine Charlie yelling out as he frantically bangs on the door of McBusted’s tour bus, realising how much cash he was missing out on. Video’s odd – particularly the censoring of the naughty words, because presumably if people don’t want to be offended they’re meant to put it on mute. All in all: good starter track, let’s hear the rest of them.

Benjamin Wallfisch & Disa – New World Coming

“It is quite Tim Burton-y.”

Tim: Tim Burton’s got a new film coming out in a few months, apparently; here’s this from the soundtrack, composed by Benjamin and sung by the Icelandic Disa. Before you push play: it is quite Tim Burton-y.

Tom: Takes a while to get going, but yes, you’re absolutely right, it’s Tim Burton-y,

Tim: Isn’t it? It’s a cover of a 1970 track by Mama Cass, and it couldn’t really sound more different. That is upbeat and jaunty, giving the impression that the new world will be happy and wonderful and, well, full of peace, joy and love. This keeps those lyrics, but you can’t quite help thinking that there’s a little more to it than that – much the same way that I Think We’re Alone Now goes from being a sexy banger to a really disturbing creepy number when you cut it down to half speed.

Tom: It also reminds me of Lorde’s absolutely spectacular cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World. In fact, I think it suffers from that comparison: because I don’t know the original, and because it doesn’t have quite as much… well, “oomph” to it, I think I’m slightly set against it. There’s nothing actually wrong with it, it just sounds like a regular movie soundtrack song.

Tim: In any case, I think this is a wonderful interpretation – just her lovely but eerie vocal for the first minute, and then some magnificent backing instrumentation underneath following that. A middle eight that is decidedly unorthodox, but then bringing back the main line, slightly faster, for the closing part. It’s not one I’d put on regular rotation, because of the whole creepy factor, but it’s a lovely piece of work.

Bebe Rexha feat. Nicki Minaj – No Broken Hearts

Tom: A name I haven’t seen before, but she’s got Nicki Minaj as a featured artist — and a decent songwriting career. Okay, I’m intrigued.

Tim: Ah, I see we’ve gone back to 2009.

Tom: Harsh, but not entirely unfair. That is an astonishingly good introduction, leading into an amazing hook. And note that they went straight into the hook — no first verse here. It’s a weird combination of upbeat lyrics and melody with downbeat tempo and percussion, and, for me at least, it really, really works.

Tim: Ehhhhh…I quite want to like this, because you’re right, that is a good hook. But the rest of it? It’s just terrible, mate. The verses are tedious, Nicki Minaj’s bit is, well, exactly what I expected, but most of all, that autotune – it sounds like something movie kidnappers use to disguise their voice, it’s been laid on so thick.

Tom: The verses: they’ll do well enough, and as for Nicki Minaj’s bit: well, that was never going to be a good match for either of our tastes, was it? But then we’re definitely not the target audience.

Tim: Understatement of the decade, there.

Tom: I can’t explain why I like this. It’s not even because of the near-nudity in the music video, I had it in a background tab. It’s just the hook: it’s that good.

Tim: As was yesterday’s chorus. But similarly, it’s nowhere near good enough to rescue the rest of it.

Bob Sinclar – Someone Who Needs Me

“There is literally not a single moment to get excited about.”

Tom: Occasionally, you get a remix that massively improves on the original, or at least rewrites it into something that’s different and still good. And sometimes, you get… well, you get this. Heads up: this is from a mix podcast, so it’s got some DJ announcements over the top of it. However, I don’t think they’ll massively change your opinion.

Tim: No. No, it doesn’t change my opinion at all.

Tom: He’s just repeating one line over his own instrumentation. It’s not even particularly good instrumentation. Is that all he could license? Was he just lazy? Or did he think that was enough to make a three minute record with? The original is so good, and this… this is just a bit dull.

Tim: There are just no big moments at all – you’ve got that quiet bit, building up to something, and you’ve got that build later on, but each time it just leads to…nothing. Nothing more, nothing less than exactly what was there before. You’re right – it’s dull, as there is literally not a single moment to get excited about.

Tom: And before you think I’m just being staid because I’m a fan of the original: this type of track can absolutely be done well — look at Kygo’s Take On Me, for example, or Sigala’s Easy Love. Both brilliant. Both feel like they’ve had effort put into them. This doesn’t.

Tim: It’s an eight-bar loop with a similar length vocal line. There is basically nothing here at all.

Rick Astley – Keep Singing

“Almost sounds like the vocal part from an Avicii track.”

Tom: Our reader, Jeff, sends this in. Not quite our usual music, but it seems apt to cover it. And I’ll save his comment for later on: you’ll see why.

Tim: Decent enough Rick Astley song, there.

Tom: Good, calm soul song. Sounds almost like Hozier — and that incredible voice is still there. In fact, it almost sounds like the vocal part from an Avicii track. (Did you know he’s retired, by the way?)

Tim: I did, yes – part of me thinks it’s a shame; on the other hand, it can safely be argued that he peaked a while ago and is getting out just before he stops getting top 10 tracks.

Tom: So this is where I bring in Jeff’s comment: “speed it up by 1.25x”. Click the gear icon at the bottom of the YouTube video, there’s an option to do that.

Tim: Ooh. Oh, that’s interesting, and a whole lot more enjoyable – takes it from slightly dull soul to almost proper pop.

Tom: And now it’s just an Avicii track without the beats. And given that this is Rick Astley, and this is on the internet, I guarantee you that someone will have EDM’d this up by the time this post goes live.

Tim: You mean like this?

Try – Patrick Brasca & Jay Chou

“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are now.”

Tim: I’ve never understood people who get up and leave cinemas the instant the main film ends. First off, you’re almost always missing out on nicely designed main credits scenes; secondly, there’s a chance there’s extra scenes coming up; thirdly, and most importantly, you won’t hear potentially great music, like this.

Tom: I was all set to agree with you (because, after all, Owl City’s song from Wreck-It Ralph was amazing), but…

Tim: Well, now, wait Tom, because you may well have your fingers already poised to type things like “oh god” and “I want to shoot the person who came up with these lyrics”, but first: at least give me the fact that this is the first song we’ve ever featured to contain a Chinese rap section, so there’s at least that to appreciate.

Tom: I mean, that’s fair, but the rest is rather… generic to say the least.

Tim: I’ll pick you up on that in a bit, but for that rap: while it’s hardly surprising that Google doesn’t handle Chinese-English translations brilliantly, it does provide a phonetic guide so you can rap along, or in any case TRY (see what I did there) to do it. You may find it nearly impossible, but (as Master Shifu says in the film), “If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are now.”

Tom: I believe you tweeted that with “#deep”, which I think sums up my feelings on it.

Tim: Oh, but it just so is. Anyway, I could go on about inspirational messages (or, depending upon your point of view, patronising and condescending bullshit), but since we’re unlikely to agree I’ll move on and just say that this is the first song in a while that’s got me leaving the cinema with it stuck in my head and wanting to look it up when I got home. And I think that’s a mark of decent pop music, really, and particularly the try/fly/high repetitions in the chorus. But if you’re not happy with that, maybe The Vamps attempting kung fu and stuffing James’s mouth with dumplings will entertain you instead.

Tom: Daz did it better.

Tim: Hmm. A debate for another day, perhaps.