One Direction – Perfect

“OOF, hidden message alert.”

Tim: First release since they announced the upcoming split, so it had better be a good one.

Tom: Why is Niall playing golf? Why does the director love dolly pulls so much? Why do they have a shared apartment with butlers? Why does Harry have a tie like Colonel Sanders? Mysteries all.

It’s worth flagging up, though: this video shows the separate directions (no pun intended) that they’re all heading in. A producer; a songwriter; a performer; and the other one.

Tim: Yes, you could be be right there. Poor old Niall. Still, looking at the present, I’d wager that this is their best since Best Song Ever. Why? Well, aside from their songs in between not being as great as we’d like – sure, FOUR was a good album, but there was no massively rousing pop on there, most of Midnight Memories was just a racket, and Drag Me Down was a tad dull – we’re back to the excellent power pop, and we’ve even got the occasional synth thrown in on top.

Tom: Well, we have, but I reckon there’s a reason for that. Listen to those lyrics in the middle eight:

and if you like cameras flashing every time we go out / and if you’re looking for someone to write your break-up songs about

Sung by Harry. Who used to date Taylor Swift. Who’s known for writing break-up songs about past boyfriends.

Tim: OOF, hidden message alert.

Tom: And here’s the clincher: this is in the style of Style. Listen to that chorus: it’s almost the same chorus. Or better just listen to both of them mashed up together. (Skip to 2:42.)

Tim: Okay, you’ve got a point. Still, if it worked with her, it’ll probably work for these guys, and who needs more that what we’ve got? No one, really, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped there – along with the melody, the voices are as on point as ever, and while the “sure, I’m not technically a great boyfriend but basically I am” variant isn’t particularly original, what lyrical narrative is?

Tom: Yep: my theorising aside, this is still a really good track.

Tim: Basically, they are back well on top of their game, which means that everybody will be just that keen for them to get back together three years from now. Job’s a good’un.

Sia – Alive

“That voice is so powerful.”

Tim: New one off Sia, first off her upcoming second album, and there’s something she’d like you to know.

Tim: So apparently she’s alive. And it’s nice that’s she’s told us quite so vigorously because otherwise I wouldn’t be sure.

Tom: I was going to do a bit of sarcastic shtick here about “oh, really, I hadn’t noticed”, but frankly that voice is so powerful I can’t bring myself to do it.

Tim: Right, and it’s an interesting technique, that one of singing with such strength that your voice starts breaking, and with some singers very risky.

Tom: Particularly when you’re going to be called on to blast that song out, in that style, on every late-night show there is. It’s something she’s pulled off before, and it astonishes me.

Tim: She does it well, especially here where it works so very, very well, because it really serves to impress quite how alive and breathing she is, however much you may have taken it off, whatever it may be. It’s a very powerful song, this; to be honest I’m not sure we’ve had anything like it since Fight Song, and in terms of pure power it might even have come out on top.

Tom: But it is actually a decent song? I find myself not really wanting to reply it: I can’t deny the power and skill in the voice, but I’m not sure the composition actually backs that up. The middle eight is utterly brilliant, but then the chorus comes back and… hmm. I’m not convinced.

Tim: Oh, I disagree – for me at least, the power of the voice counts for everything, and almost forces you to ignore any defects the song may otherwise have. I’m saying, fine work all round.

Tom: I’ll tell you what though: this would have been a better Bond theme than Sam Smith’s.

Tim: Yes, but then Twinkle Twinkle Little Star would have been a better Bond theme than Sam Smith’s.

Ben Haenow feat. Kelly Clarkson – Second Hand Heart

“That’s a number one right there.”

Tim: OH HI BEN HAENOW.

Tom: Blimey. He got Kelly Clarkson. That shows rather a lot of faith in him from his record company: they’re rolling out the big stars.

Tim: Singers, yes, but how are the writers doing?

Tom: And that’s a number one right there, I reckon. I don’t often make bold predictions like that, but it’s close to a perfect country-pop song.

Tim: It really really is, and he’s also looking very manly in that video which is excellent news.

Tom: Both of their vocals are flawless. The harmonies are incredible. The composition’s great, the lyrics are singable and memorable, and the production is top-notch.

Tim: And better still, those flawless vocals fit together very well indeed – it sounds like a natural fit.

Tom: Never mind that the two singers never actually met — that’s blatantly a body double in the final shot — it’s a good pairing, and could serve to introduce him to the US as well. Update: apparently they did meet! Well why the heck didn’t they use that shot, then?!

Tim: Not only that, the ending to the video is exactly what it should be when you’ve got two people singing at each other how great they are, unlike Fältzkog & Barlow’s tragic tale.

Tom: I’m strugging for anything negative to say about this, really. Maybe it’s bit similar to Bonfire Heart? No, not even enough I can complain about that. They’ve pulled out the big guns for Ben Haenow, and I think he’s going to do very well from it.

Tim: Let’s hope so, and also for more excellent videos.

Will Young – Brave Man

“Everything we’d expect a Will Young track to sound like.”

Tim: Will Young: reliably topping the album charts but entirely failing to bother the singles chart.

Tom: Or to use a less technical term, “appealing to the mums”.

Tim: Well, something like that. Less than a month after his last single, Joy, arrived, Will’s bringing his next track out.

Tim: So that there is a video which at first appears just as a fairly literal demonstration of the lyrics, but with the final reveal becomes incredibly creepy.

Tom: There was definitely more nudity in that video than I was expecting.

Tim: But never mind, because let’s do the music, which I’m enjoying.

Tom: He’s one of the pop singers with a recognisable, signature voice: that’s a strong brand to have, and I suspect that’s one of the reasons his albums are doing very well.

Tim: It is strong, it is powerful, it is, in fact, everything we’d expect a Will Young track to sound like.

Tom: Not quite sure about that clipped, distorted vocal, and I’m not sure about that middle eight either. Might be a bit too quiet, although I suppose the return of the strings afterwards makes up for it a bit. You’re right, though: it is definitely a Will Young track.

Tim: And that’s fine by me – it may be pop for grown ups, but it can still appeal to the rest of us. I like it a lot.

Alexander Vasiliou – Children of Tomorrow

Tim: Alexander: part Greek, part Swedish, former child TV person, former Sweden’s Got Talent contestant, current music singer. Got all that? Here’s a tune that’s part dance, part straight pop and part…well, have a listen.

Tim: And I love most of that very, very much.

Tom: Agreed: when the first verse makes me sit up and pay attention, it bodes well for the song. Bit confused by the chorus not kicking in until much later than it “should”, but the eventual drop made up for it. But then…

Tim: But, that, thing, in there as a post-chorus is just plain unpleasant, compared to everything else – particularly when it’s followed immediately by that gorgeous second verse. It’s unusual for a verse to be my favourite part in the song, but with its introducing those fantastic strings it sounds just wonderful. The chorus on its own is decent enough, but then comes that bit again.

Tom: Five years ago, I’d have complained about a dubstep drop there, complaining it sounded just as discordant and odd. Now, is this a new trend that’s just starting, or is it just a producer making a bizarre decision to drop in a weird guitar riff?

Tim: I’d be more inclined to give it a pass if it was only after the first chorus and for middle eight, but then it closes off the song, and leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. I don’t know, maybe it’d be like the dubstep bit in Amazing and would get okay with repeated listening…but I don’t want to listen to it repeatedly. Massive shame, I think.

Tom: It is: because the rest of this is wonderful.

Saturday Flashback: Justice feat. Uffie – TThhEe PPaARRtTYY

“The musical equivalent of Vogon poetry.”

Tom: I should hate this song. I should absolutely despise it. Folks I know skip this track on the album, they say it’s the weak one: the vocal’s irritating, the rest of the track’s too slow. And yet. And yet. I must have hit play on this about twenty times today.

Tim: Hmm. Slightly selling it to me there, so I’ll bite.

Tim: Oh, man, I shouldn’t have bitten. Why do you like it?

Tom: I can’t explain why! Because the vocal is irritating. The rest of the track is too slow, particularly given all the other bangers that are on †. And it’s not even catchy: it doesn’t stay in my head after it’s stopped playing.

Tim: Well, it vaguely becomes listenable when the drums kick in and it’s not just a dull synth and an irritating voice, but…well, I don’t know if it’s the eighties-sounding synths that put the phrase in my head, but it struck me as the musical equivalent of Vogon poetry, and the more I hear the less unfair I think that is.

Tom: But I just keep hitting play.

Giorgio Moroder feat. Britney Spears – Tom’s Diner

“What?”

Tom: I was looking through the list of upcoming singles, spotted this, and let out an audible “what?”.

Tim: Erm, yeah. What’s going on?

Tom: Because Tom’s Diner is one of the canonical capital-T Tracks. It’s where that sample came from. You know the one. It’s an acapella that was used to tweak the original MP3 algorithm, for crying out loud. And suddenly it’s being covered by one of the greats of electronic music, featuring one of the greats of pop on vocals.

Tom: And the result is… well, it could be worse, it’s no Madonna’s American Pie. It ticks every box that you could want for: Moroder’s production is pretty much flawless, Britney’s vocals, filtered through all the robotic synths, seem similarly perfect.

Tim: They do – as an electropop cover of that track, it’s great. You’ve still got the melody from the vocals, fleshed out very well indeed by the production. Like you say, pretty much flawless.

Tom: The trouble is: removed from that original, acapella production, the lyrics and melody just sound trite. They always were, but they were in such a folk-song context, decades old now, that it seemed okay. And now: there’s something a little bit Fast Food Rockers about it. Which is a shame.

Tim: Hmm…I disagree somewhat – you’re right about them sounding trite, but the production is good enough that that’s not so much of a problem. It’s certainly no worse than the original, and I reckon it’s not as bad as it seems you think the Fast Food Rockers were. I’m enjoying it. For a bit, before it gets too repetitive, anyway.

Raise – Find U

“For the third time in a row, we have a cameo from a cow.”

Tim: His mum knows him as Rasmuss Bjornson, his target audience as Raise, a Swedish house producer who’s fairly new on the scene; here’s his second track.

Tim: And that’s quite lovely, isn’t it? Right from the off with the pleasant (albeit slightly disconcerting, at least initially) tone of whatever that is – it seems to vary between sounding like a saxophone and a stained vocal – it’s a very enjoyable piece of music to hear.

Tom: I was unconvinced for the first minute or so, until that build started — that’s where it started to come together. Although you’re right, I can’t quite worth out what that synth is either.

Tim: The chorus isn’t one that’ll get a dancefloor pounding – there’s not enough of a MASSIVE DRUMBEAT for that – but nonetheless (or perhaps it’s because of that) it makes lovely listening.

Tom: Agreed. I really wasn’t expecting to like this, but the instrumentation is pleasantly weird. And for the third time in a row, we have a cameo from a cow to take us into the chorus.

Tim: Yeah, what’s going on with those? Anyway, the rest of the vocal on there can confidently be described as sublime, so we can forgive it. Ideal scene for this, I reckon: getting ready to go out to. Not too loud, but more than enough of a beat to get you in the mood. Perfect.

Adam Lambert – Another Lonely Night

“That’s the best new song I’ve heard this month.”

Tim: Somehow, despite seemingly being around for ever, Adam Lambert’s only on his third album; here’s the second cut from it, with strong language on occasion and, somehow, some more cows – are they in fashion right now?

Tom: Oh my word. That’s an incredible song. That’s the best new song I’ve heard this month.

Tim: Good, isn’t it? Message from the video: don’t be a stripper. Or, combined with the music, don’t be a stripper if you’ve just split up with someone and can’t let go. Alternatively you could form a troupe, Magic Mike style – that could be fun. But I digress.

Tom: It’s a heck of a video, that. Sometimes we get emotional videos like this and I complain they’re too trite, too over-the-top, but no: this gets its point across well, and highlights Adam Lambert as well. It helps that it’s a gorgeously shot slice of Americana too; that’ll always sell me on it.

Tim: Nice music too, and weird as they may be, the farm animals do provide a nice “pay attention, here comes the chorus” in case you’re not paying attention, because that chorus is quite something.

Tom: It’s an odd choice, that distorted “yeah” — I can see why it’s there, but I’m not convinced it’s a positive. But the chorus that follows is so good that I can’t really complain: and Adam Lambert’s got the voice to pull something like that off.

Tim: Certainly a departure from the verses, yet both are worth listening to (though I wouldn’t mind the piano in the verses hitting the volume of that in the middle eight), and all in all we’ve got a catchy tune that I’ve no problems listening to. Super.

Rebecca & Fiona – Sayonara

“Sod it, it’s not gonna work, let’s ditch it now”

Tim: With strong language from the start, the new one off Rebecca & Fiona has a decidedly downbeat message, so buckle up, we’re going in.

Tom: Oh, full marks for whoever did the design for that lyric video. That’s really, really well done, and that’s coming from someone who makes this sort of thing.

Tim: For those unaware, as I was, ‘sayonara’ is a Japanese word meaning a very final goodbye (and also Spanish for flip-flop, though that’s probably not what they’re going for).

Tom: Wait, how have you made it this far through life without knowing that? I thought that was common knowledge. Huh. Yes, that’s what it means.

Tim: Well used here, with a song that’s basically “sod it, it’s not gonna work, let’s ditch it now”, and to be honest that makes me very glad they work in a recording studio and not my local A&E. There’s not even any indication there’s anything wrong with the relationship – just “probably not gonna happen, bye!” What a very bleak outlook on life they must have.

Tom: I don’t know, I think it’s quite a pragmatic outlook myself. Nothing lasts forever, enjoy it while it’s here, accept that people move on. There’s a bit of Lee Marvin about that.

Tim: Hmm, perhaps. At least the music’s good – catchy, beat-heavy and weirdly feeling rather upbeat, so despite giving me some depressing going round in my head, that’s reason enough for me to hang around. Maybe at some point I’ll work out what the video’s meant to be all about.