The Saturdays – “30 Days”
Published March 30th 2012
Filed under News,Reviews
The Saturdays’ new single 30 Days premiered this morning on BBC Radio One. The track is written and produced by Steve Mac and Autumn Rowe.
30 Days sounds like a track from On Your Radar. It’s a dance pop track similar to All Fired Up but not as catchy. The first thing that came into my head when the song started playing was how much it sounds like Inna’s Hot. But the most surprising thing of all was that I heard Mollie’s voice open the first verse. The song really suits her voice and she also sings again on the second verse.
The problem with 30 Days is, it doesn’t have a strong, catchy melody. It just goes along and while there’s nice production and it’s interesting at times, it’s not really enough. I can’t see this being a success for them. When I mentioned it sounds like a track from On Your Radar, I meant it sounds like a good album track from On Your Radar. It’s not the kind of song that should be released as a single, never mind the lead single from a damage control re-release album.
The damage control is on a low budget which is apparent from the use of the On Your Radar photoshoot for the single cover as seen above and the tracklisting for the single which includes Turn Myself In, a track recorded sometime in 2010 that the girls performed on their Headlines tour. Usual Saturdays releases always include a specially recorded b-side.
Overall, 30 Days is a good song but nothing amazing and not what The Saturdays need right now to help them recover from a flop album. They needed a Higher, Ego, Faster, Up kind of song that would’ve guaranteed them a big hit.
You can watch the lyric video for 30 Days below:
30 Days is out May 13th through Polydor Records.
Justin Bieber – “Boyfriend”
Published March 26th 2012
Filed under Reviews
My hate for Justin Bieber might be about to change. His new single Boyfriend, produced by Mike Posner, was released today and it’s surprisingly good. My iTunes now consists of two Justin Bieber songs, the other being Baby.
The sound of Boyfriend is really similar to a typical Justin Timberlake song except Justin Bieber can’t pull off the talking bits too well. The talking bits are probably the only thing I don’t like about Boyfriend. The production is a bit reminiscent of Timbaland’s work with Justin Timberlake which isn’t a bad thing. Bieber’s got a big hit on his hands because after the first listen, it’s ridiculously catchy and memorable.
If the rest of Justin’s upcoming album is anywhere near as good as Boyfriend, I’ll be interested to hear it, which is something I never thought I’d want to hear.
Boyfriend is out now on the US iTunes.
Maroon 5 Announce 4th Studio Album “Overexposed”
Published March 26th 2012
Filed under News
Maroon 5 have announced their fourth studio album, Overexposed, will be released this June 26th. The new album is said to be their most “pop” album yet. Like Moves Like Jagger, the band decided to collaborate with the writing process which is something they don’t usually do.
Overexposed is executively produced by Max Martin but also features tracks produced by Ryan Tedder and Benny Blanco.
The band announced the new album via their website. Adam Levine said:
Overexposed is definitely our most diverse and poppiest albums yet. We had a great time recording it. I can’t wait for our fans to hear the record, as well as hitting the road to play it live for everyone later this year.
James Valentine added:
Moves Like Jagger was the first time we ever worked with an outside writer, so we decided to try it some more on this record. At this point in our career I think it was a good thing to completely mix up our process and it yielded good results, as well as a more collaborative spirit within the band. We wanted to make something that sounded contemporary with the elements of a lot of early eras of pop music. This is our most “pop” record ever and we weren’t shy about really going for it.
Some of the tracks included on the album include Payphone featuring Wiz Khalifa, One More Night and Beautiful Goodbye.
I can’t imagine what Maroon 5 will sound like with songs by Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and Benny Blanco, but I’m excited to hear what they’ve come up with.
Alphabeat – “Vacation” Live at The X Factor Final
Published March 24th 2012
Filed under Videos
After initially not being too impressed with Alphabeat’s new single Vacation, over time it has grown on me. Last night Alphabeat performed a mash-up of Vacation and The Spell at the final of the Danish X Factor along with finalist Line.
Seeing Vacation live with a big production really made the song click with me fully.
You can watch the performance below:
Vacation is available now from iTunes worldwide.
Tulisa – “We Are Young”
Published March 23rd 2012
Filed under Reviews,Videos
Tulisa’s debut single We Are Young premiered today along with its music video. It sounds a bit like a mix between Rihanna’s We Found Love and Alexandra Burke’s Elephant.
We Are Young is a good song but nothing amazing. I expected more from Tulisa for a debut single but then again she’s signed to AATW Records so it’s not surprising that it’s not the greatest debut single. Hopefully better tracks will be on her album which is rumoured to be released in November this year.
You can watch the video for We Are Young below:
We Are Young is out May 7th through AATW/Island Records.