CHARLI XCX - CLOUD AURA (video)

This isn't my favorite Charli XCX song, but it might contain my favorite Charli XCX chorus and this is definitely my favorite video of hers so far.  I liked it throughout, but the clip of Quinn Fabray crying at the end sealed it for me.  Unfortunately, I'm just not that crazy about Brooke Candy.  I don't hate her or anything, but I don't think she fits in the song very well.  I liked her a lot more when she was just strutting around being a weirdo in that Grimes video.

Anyway, enjoy the tears!

ELI & FUR - TONIGHT (video)

Eli & Fur is one of the most promising acts of the moody and a bit scary subset of pop.  And by scary, I don't mean Fever Ray scary.  I mean music that just makes you go, "Ooh, dark!... but pretty!"  I think some people have settled on the name noir pop, but I can't keep up with genre names.  The duo have only graced us with a couple of songs so far (unless I'm wrong which is entirely possible), the really rather brilliant "Sea of Stars" from earlier this year and the possibly even more amazing "Tonight" from not so earlier this year.

They've also just plonked the video for "Tonight" online.  It's an old-fashioned smoke and flashing lights affair, but the simple concept works very well in this case and suits the tone of the song perfectly.  And you can clearly see that the girls play their own instruments which earns them at least ten points on the authenticity scale, if that sort of thing is important to you (It shouldn't be).

So, to sum it all up, Eli & Fur is incredible and will probably be even more incredible next year.  And the video is good.  Well done, everyone involved.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - WARRIOR (video)

I've already talked about how brilliant this song is right here.  And now there's a video to go along with it.  Now you can take a break from looking at Tumblr while listening to music.  The video features the Queen looking perfect and amazing in lots of different great outfits.  That shirt with the forest on it is really good, right?

Oh, and Popjustice made a joke about Skyfall being the movie she is standing in front of.  That got me thinking that Queen of Hearts should definitely do the next Bond theme.  Unless Daniel Craig and decent directors are done with Bond after this one and the movies go back to being terrible.  Although Madonna did a song for one of the terrible ones and the song was still really good so maybe it doesn't matter.

Anyway, here's the video.  Enjoy!  Or else.

GIRLS ALOUD - SOMETHING NEW (video!) + tons of other amazingness!

Today was the most glorious day of the year.  Perfection held a press conference in the form of five women.  That's right, the greatest band in the universe, Girls Aloud, is back.

I'll give you some time to stop shaking and crying.

The girls already graced us mere mortals with the presence of their brilliant comeback single, "Something New" earlier this week.  And today in London, they celebrated the announcement of their upcoming greatest hits collection and new "turr" by answering some questions from journalists and fans.  The questions basically amounted to nothing but, "OMG, WE LOVE YOU, WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A DEITY?"  Which is all well and good, but why didn't they select me to ask them whether or not they're ever going to work with Xenomania in their solo careers?  ANSWER ME THAT.  I would die of happiness if there was ever a Cheryl Cole solo album as earthshatteringly amazing as "Crazy Fool".  Or a full album of Slaydine Coyle Xeno-bangers.

But anyway!  They announced their new greatest hits album which is called Ten.  And it includes FOUR NEW SONGS.  You are not prepared.  There are one and two-disc options but really what you want is the deluxe limited edition box set, which includes both CDs, a 2-DVD set of The Passions of Girls Aloud (witness the origin of Push 10!), six beautiful art prints, and the possibility of a golden ticket to win one of ten prizes that will probably give your life new meaning.

• triple platinum personalised Out Of Control presentation disc
• A pair of shoes worn by one of the girls in the Something New video
• A signed, personalised art print of the album sleeve for Ten
• A phone call from one of the girls
• @GirlsAloud will follow you on Twitter (LOL!!!!)
• Tickets plus a meet and greet with the girls at a forthcoming tour date of your choice
• A piece of clothing from the Girls Aloud archive
• The complete Girls Aloud back catalogue, signed
• A signed, personalised and framed photo of the girls
• A triple platinum personalised Sound Of The Underground presentation disc

Those Nadine shoes are mine, you bastards.

The most important question that was asked was actually the first one.  I don't remember the exact wording because I was still freaking out, but it was something along the lines of, "Are you going to destroy our world again by abandoning us after the tour is over?" and Queen Nadine spoke right up and said something like, "Bless you, sweet child, we haven't made up our brilliant minds yet."  ARGH!!!!!

Oh, and speaking of that "turr", I don't even want to think about it because they aren't coming to America and my whole life is ruined and I'm never eating again, etc.

You can watch each monumental moment of Girls Aloud perfection right here.



And if all that wasn't enough, they also premiered the video for "Something New"!  And it's basically the best thing that's ever happened.  For instance, this happened and I "AWWWWWWWW'ed" until my head fell off.

But you don't have to take my word for it.  You can have your very own heart attack by watching the whole thing yourself!



To sum up the day, this happened:

And I was like:

*Credit for me knowing these gifs exist goes to oneofthosefaces and MuuMuse.  Thanks, guys!

QUEEN OF HEARTS - WARRIOR

Behold! It's the latest popstorm of brilliance from Queen of Hearts! "Warrior" sees her reunited with previous collaborator, Diamond Cut, who produced the stunning, "Where Are You Now?" from last year's The Arrival EP.  Diamond Cut opens the track with the literal sounds of heaven and then some AMAZING afro-funkish percussion drops and then the Queen's voice comes in and you think, "Oh, do you know what?  This is actually better than heaven.  I think I'll drop dead now."  It's an incredibly powerful tune and like all of her songs, worthy of aproximately one million repeat plays.

It's actually mind boggling to me how great this artist is.  I don't even imagine her making these tracks in a studio.   That's too domestic.  Being the enchantress that she is, she's probably reciting some sort of spells from an ancient tome while sprinkling some magic dust into an open flame.  And then voila!  Pop masterpiece!

It seems like only two months ago I was writing about the last amazing Queen of Hearts song.  Oh, it was only two months ago.  It has become quite clear that this woman can do no wrong and goes around doing no wrong quite often.  I think I'm going to have to put a limit on how many times the same artist can be on my year-end list because otherwise, it's just going to be a bunch of Queen of Hearts tracks with a few other people scattered throughout.  Dear Liz, what's it like to make one of the best songs of the year every time you make a song?

The only Queen that matters is gracing us mere mortals in America with her presence starting this week.  She is playing her first show on American soil this Friday at DC9 in Washington DC and is doing another gig in New York on October 16th at Santos Party House.  And as British people apparently love to say (according to X Factor), I am absolutely "gutted" that I'm missing the show in DC.  So, if you're in the area, make up for my absence by swooning like a teenage girl in the front row. 

Warrior will be released on December 2nd via NightMoves.

BRITT LOVE - MUSIC MAKES YOU LOSE CONTROL

I'm personally devastated that Britt Love didn't make it through to the live shows of this year's X Factor.  She was literally the only contestant I was looking forward to.  Not that all of the contestants are bad, but none of them hit the spot with me yet.  Honestly, I think Britt should have just gone out on stage with a boombox, played Mini Viva's "Left My Heart in Tokyo" or "I Wish", and then said, "See, I'm amazing."  Oh well.

But all is not lost because we now have this brilliant new Britt Love song that will be better than the X Factor winner's single, anyway.  It's another example of how incredible Britt's voice really is.  Perhaps not in the over the top diva way that the talent shows require, but she sounds like no one else.  And the song itself is a properly amazing dancefloor anthem.  And I don't even think there's one mention of "the club".  It's a lot more full on Euro dance pop than a lot of what's in the charts these days, but that's totally fine with me.

I really hope something positive comes from her stint on X Factor.  Whether it's just more fans, or some attention from a good label, or perhaps a collaboration with one of the current superstar producers.  Come on, Calvin Harris, you don't only have to work with the Rihannas and Ellie Gouldings of the world, you know?

SAINT LOU LOU - MAYBE YOU

"Maybe You" by Saint Lou Lou is one of my favorite songs of the year, but I first heard it when I was just starting my blog and I guess it got lost in the shuffle because I never wrote about it.  But now they have a lovely video for it so I can make up for that.

Saint Lou Lou is an amazing twin sister duo from Sweden/Australia.  They've only treated us to one song so far (as far as I know anyway), but on the strength of that one song, I already feel like they're one of my favorite current bands.  "Maybe You" is proof that when a ballad is done the right way, I am an absolute sucker for them.  For me, a ballad is not about an over the top "emotional" performance.  It's about staring out a window or lying on your bed looking at your ceiling and feeling like you might weep because of how stunning the whole thing is.  And that's exactly what this song is.  Weep-worthy beauty.  It's also one of those songs that mercilessly ends before you really want it to, which has the effect of making you play it over and over and over again.  So, it's all okay.

The video reminds me of an extended ad for fancy underwear, or perfume, or something else I can't afford.  Which basically means it's sexy and gorgeous and in slow motion.  Oh, and filmed in black and white, of course.  It's pretty much amazing.  But the male model guy is a bit too male modely in at least one scene.  But I don't care.  I still love this song and this video and these girls.

The song is out now on Kitsune.

CATCALL - ON MY OWN (ORIGINAL EXTENDED MIX)

Have you heard Catcall's album, The Warmest Place?  If you have not, you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not change that as soon as possible.  It's one of my favorite albums of this weird year.  One of the highlights of her album is the brilliant "On My Own".  And apparently a version of it made an appearance on little known indie TV drama 90210.  Catcall has made this extended mix of the song available to download for free (so nice!).  It's basically brilliance squared.  Giving the song more room to breathe places it a little closer to the Glass Candy or Chromatics side of the pop spectrum.  But it still sounds like it's more focused on being a proper pop song instead of the soundtrack to an alternate universe 80s movie.  What I'm really trying to say is it's really good and you should download it and be pleased that you have made an excellent decision.

TAYLOR SWIFT - WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER

If you don't like this song, you can go straight to hell.

CADY GROVES - LOVE ACTUALLY

There's lots of people in the world who moan about country music being too poppy these days.  Actually, people have probably been moaning about that since the 80s.  But if you are one of the rare and beautiful breed (like me) that hears certain country songs and thinks, "This country song sure is great, but it doesn't have enough pop in it!", then Cady Groves is the girl for you.  She basically just makes straight up proper pop songs, but her voice is twangy enough and her attitude "fuck you" enough to appeal to modern country fans and pop fans alike.

Her latest single, "Love Actually", is one of those songs where I literally don't know why it hasn't sold a bajillion copies.  Sometimes you say something like that just because you like a song so much, but deep down you realize it wouldn't be a big hit even with the right kind of exposure.  But this song.  This song should be up there kicking the ass of every other song on the charts.  It is an absolute MONSTER of a pop anthem.  With it being the catchiest thing you have heard in forever and its lyrics detailing a messy romance, it's perfect for singing at the top of your lungs while punching the shit out of your steering wheel (I hope I'm not the only person that does that).  Or shouting along while getting drunk with your friends.  And I'm just assuming on that one because all of my friends are too straight to like a song as amazing as this.

Her debut full-length is one of my top ten most looked forward to releases right now.  So, hopefully we don't have to wait too much longer on that one.

Thanks, Cady Groves, for being brilliant.

JOHN ROWLEY - GUILT TRIP

John Rowley is a nice, young chap from Sydney, Australia who sent me a press release a couple of weeks ago.  I had planned on writing about him then, but I was ravaged by a merciless cold.  But I've listened to his song "Guilt Trip" a bunch since then so it's time to sit down and bang this thing out.

"Guilt Trip" is a lovely, downtempo tune about dealing with condescension and superiority in one's friends and oneself.  WHOA, slow down, John!  Where's the lyrics about loving someone or dancing with someone or dancing with someone you love?  There wasn't even one mention of being sexy or thinking someone else is sexy.  But no, all jokes aside, it's actually very refreshing to see someone making a pop song about something different (not that making songs about the same thing over and over again can't be amazing, too).  John has also accomplished the difficult task of being a male pop artist I am actually interested in.  So, bravo, John Rowley!

His youtube channel is also very much worth checking out.  He's done a bunch of cover/mashup thingamabobs.  Some of them even include him singing in a lovably awkward way in front of the camera!  Yay!  So, here is his channel.  Go nuts!

And here is Guilt Trip.  You can download it for free on his Bandcamp page or be nice and pay for it.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - ONLY LOVE

My blog needs some sort of function that automatically posts a glowing review every time Queen of Hearts releases a new song since that's obviously what's going to happen anyway.  She has done a cover of Ben Howard's "Only Love".  I had no idea who this man was, but after some wikipedia-ing and youtubing, I discovered that he is a guitar-wielder.  And makes folk music, or something.

What's interesting about this is that it's sort of the reverse of the usual "authenticizing" of pop music by men with guitars.  It's been done to "...Baby One More Time", "Beautiful", and even Ben Howard and co. are responsible for a cover of "Call Me Maybe" while they were on Radio 1's Live Lounge.  I had actually seen that video before, but I had forgotten who Ben Howard was by the time of this review.  In the comments section, there is a comment that reads, "Only Ben Howard could turn such a crap, generic pop song into something as beautiful as this."  I wonder how she would feel about Queen of Hearts covering "Only Love".

I also wonder what it is, in general, about synthesized instruments that seems to drive some "real music" fans up a wall.  They used to be accused of sounding cold and emotionless, but come on, that was the early 90s.  When I listen to this song, the first descriptor that comes to mind is 'warm'.  Followed by 'sensual', 'gorgeous', and 'absolutely fucking brilliant'.  It's the sort of ridiculously beautiful song that makes you dance around with your eyes closed making you look like a moron.  Thanks, Queenie!

It's important to remember that I'm not criticizing Ben Howard or folk music or indie rock.  Only the idea that it's any more real than something as stunning as this.  Or even something as brilliantly catchy as "...Baby One More Time" or "Call Me Maybe".

Now that that rant is over and done with, let's all rejoice in the news that Queen of Hearts has another new EP coming out in September!  Huzzah!

LANA DEL REY - PUT THE RADIO ON

Lana Del Rey continues her campaign of being perfect all the time with a new song, "Put the Radio On".  If you loved Born to Die, you'll love this.  If you hated Born to Die, you'll hate this.  So, really, unless you haven't ever heard Lana before, I'm sure you knew exactly how you would feel about this song before you ever started playing it.  Seeing as how I'm one of the ones who is head over heels in love with her album, this is right up my alley.  I especially love the line, " I like you lots, polka dots", which of course means nothing, but it sounds great.  In fact, the whole song is filled with lyrics that will make Lana fans smile and make her haters feel justified.  BUT WHATEVER, YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND HER LIKE WE DO RAWR RAWR RAWR STAN RAGE.

I'm assuming this is one of the new songs that will be featured on the upcoming Born to Die: Paradise Edition.  I was already excited for that.  Now I'm more excited.

Here's a lyric video that I don't think is official.



Oh, and here's the video for "Summertime Sadness" that I never posted because I'm a dummy. It's gorgeous and sad and makes me want to be Lana Del Rey's girlfriend, no matter how tragic the results may be.



And here's another picture just 'cause.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF ANNE LILIA BERGE STRAND FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN SHE IS LOVELY

See?

PARADE - LIGHT ME UP

"Light Me Up" is the best girlband song of the year.  It is one of the top five girlband songs since Girls Aloud went on hiatus.  I'm pretty sure it will even stand up well among the Girls Aloud reunion material and Mutya Keisha Siobhan's.  It is properly amazing.  And like all truly amazing songs, it's one that you want to play again as soon as it's over.

Perfect production, perfect hooks, perfect lyrics, perfect voices.  I would go into further detail, but to be honest, I have a ridiculous cold and I just feel like listening to the song again. So, to make a short story short, Parade is amazing.

Oh, and you can download it for free!  What nice girls!  Go here.

CHERYL - UNDER THE SUN (video)

Being an American fan of British pop music is like fighting a constant battle.  Your favorite artist releases a new video.  You get really excited.  BUT NOPE.  Can't play it in your country.  But one without the region blocking usually shows up eventually and here's one for Cheryl Cole's new video for "Under the Sun".  It's basically Cheryl walking around town looking amazing and not giving a fuck about anything.  Which is what most pop videos should be.  There is one weird bit where it gets scary for a couple of seconds.  But then she just goes back to dancing with a bunch of dudes.

LITTLE MIX - WINGS (video)

I finally found an upload of the Little Mix video that actually plays in the US.  So, here it is!  It's pretty good.  It's pretty much exactly what you want a girlband video to be.  You can read what I had to say about the song here.

CINNAMON GIRL - DEVIL IN ME

Not content to have just one great song, Cinnamon Girl smartly decided she would be amazing a second time around.  This time the song is "Devil in Me" and it is fantastic.

And even though I'm not one to slag on artists for not writing or producing their own material, it does actually make it quite impressive when just one person is responsible for all of the joy-inducing sounds on a track like this. The song is obviously very influenced by 80s new wave, but not so much that it sounds like she's just aping a style.  It sounds like it should exist in 2012 and it's a sound that very much belongs to Cinnamon Girl. 

If the rest of her followup songs are as good as this and her earlier single, "Friends", then we are going to have one serious corker of a pop album on our hands.

The video was premiered on the Guardian website and you can download the song for free right here.

Oh, also, I like the video.  It features Cinnamon Girl doing all of the amazing things she did to make this song amazing.

NO DOUBT - SETTLE DOWN

Good news, everyone!  No Doubt is still great!

When I first listened to this song earlier today, I immediately liked it, but I didn't expect to be coming back to the song/video so many times throughout the day.  But that is exactly what I did.  Because it is amazing.  It basically sounds exactly like what you want a No Doubt single to sound like in 2012 unless you are crazy.  It probably won't gain them that many new fans except for maybe some of the ones that are too young to really remember No Doubt in their heyday.  It feels weird that there are 16-year-olds out there who weren't even alive when Tragic Kingdom came out.

Anyway, No Doubt is still brilliant and this was produced by Spike Stent who has worked with about a billion other mega famous popstars.  I actually like that it's not a big in-your-face comeback single.  It's just a great song.  It's not desperate at all and actually makes you feel more like No Doubt never really went away.  It is basically a warm hug from an old friend.  Also, I quite like the video, too.  It features the members of the band driving some huge disco trucks until they arrive at an amazing party.  And Gwen Stefani is still one of the most attractive humans on the planet.  So, that's nice as well.

Oh, and I also actually like how ugly the single's artwork is.

AMELIA LILY - YOU BRING ME JOY

As much as I liked "Wings" by Little Mix and "Home Run" by Misha B, Amelia Lily's "You Bring Me Joy" is definitely my favorite debut single from the 2011 class of X Factor.  It's incredibly satisfying to hear a brilliant Xenomania-produced single in 2012.  Not that it hasn't always been, but now that Girls Aloud isn't around, (and no one's sure how long they'll stick around after their comeback this year) you just savor each morsel we're given that much more.  Brian Higgins is a master of crafting slightly melancholic dance pop songs.  Songs that other people might have said, "You know what?  Let's make a ballad with this one."  But no!  Brian Higgins knows there is nothing better than sad dancing.

This song has so much class and confidence.  It's not shouting about how brilliant it is.  It's just simply going about it's business being brilliant.  I don't know much about Amelia Lily yet, but I do know that if the rest of her album is this gobsmackingly amazing, then it will be one of the best things to happen to this year.

And there is reportedly a full minute of this song I haven't even heard yet.  (!!!)

UPDATE: I've added the even more brilliant full version below the radio rip.
UPDATE 2: The other videos got deleted.  Here's the real one.

LITTLE MIX - WINGS

I've been watching old episodes of X Factor lately (started with series 5 because I love Diana Vickers), but I haven't gotten to the one with Little Mix yet so I didn't really know whether or not to be excited about them.  All I had heard was their cover of "Cannonball" and I thought it was nice enough, but I wasn't wowed, or anything.  But that's probably mostly down to me not being a Damien Rice fan.

But it turns out I definitely should have been excited because "Wings" is crazy good.  It's such an amazing debut single.  It's one of those songs where literally every single ingredient exists in order to get you out of your chair and dancing and air punching and singing along.  I didn't actually do any of those things when I first heard it, but that's only because it's 4 in the morning while I'm writing this.  All debut singles by girlbands should be this much fun.  Speaking of fun, I hope there's no more than two full-on ballads on their debut album.

2012 seems like it might be the year of the girlband.  Girls Aloud and the original Sugababes are both working on new music, The Saturdays had a good single and a good b-side, and Parade have been making some supposedly amazing music.

I wish every year was the year of the girlband.  :(

Anyway, here's this amazing Little Mix song.

LANA DEL REY - NATIONAL ANTHEM (video)

Lana Del Rey is incredible and this video is incredible.  In fact, it's easily my favorite video of the year so far and I can't imagine it not being my favorite at the end of the year.  It's a perfect representation of her aesthetic and the juxtaposition of the early 60s home movies and hip hop video is done with such finesse that you can almost imagine that this is what JFK and Jackie O were actually like.  It takes what could potentially be very hokey and makes it gorgeous.  Honestly, that might be the best way to sum up Lana Del Rey.

FLORRIE - SHOT YOU DOWN (video)

Florrie has released the video for the best song from her latest EP.  It's a quite simple yet effective video where one Florrie with pants plays drums and another Florrie with shorts sings the song and they both look lovely and pull some intense, seriousfaces.

Florrie is currently recording her major label super duper megastar debut album so things are all very exciting around the Florrie camp.

If you missed my review of her EP, you can find it here.  And here's the video.

JESSIE WARE - WILDEST MOMENTS

I haven't featured any Jessie Ware songs on my blog yet and I can't remember if it's because they came out before I started it or if I'm just stupid.  Because she is amazing.  She has had such an incredibly strong run of singles for a debut.  Each one is brilliant and surprising.  I have no doubt in my mind that Devotion will be one of the top five albums of 2012.

Her new single, "Wildest Moments", is gorgeous.  She continues on her path of making incredible pop/soul songs that don't just sound like they are aping the style of every pop/soul song that came out in the 70s.  There's a definite modernness to them without giving you that feeling that it sounds "so 2012".  They are timeless.  And her voice is just... perfect.  Jessie really seems like the type of artist that is going to have a really long, really satisfying career.  I truly believe that people will still be talking about her (positively) 20 years from now.  Unless the world ends this year.

VENDELA - PUNK ROCK SONG

This song by Swedish songstress, Vendela, is relatively ancient by music blog standards (the video appeared online sometime last year), but ever since I randomly stumbled upon it by searching for something else on Popjustice a couple of weeks ago, I've been listening to it so much that I just had to write something about it.  Plus, it's never been an official single so I feel like enough people probably haven't heard it that it warrants mentioning again.

One of my favorite things about "Punk Rock Song" is that it's not a punk song.  It's not even a pop punk song.  It's not just dropping names and putting up a front pretending it's something it's not.  This is a proper pop song through and through, and it knows that.  It's not even really about punk rock.  It's about love like most amazing songs are.  It's about a sweet, gorgeous girl who is feeling something primal for her love interest.  This lucky individual has got her so worked up that she feels her own voice isn't even adequate to express what she is feeling.  She wants to growl, she wants to shout.  But when she sings this song, all that comes out is this brilliant, infectious, bursting-with-joy pop song.  The song's lyrics are ingenious, but that wouldn't mean anything without the exuberant production and Vendela's unique, bubbly voice (You can hear the smile in every word).  She is quite literally incredible.

To sum it all up, this song is absolutely amazing.  I love it so much that I would actually like to sing like Patti Smith for everyone involved in the making of this song (Tony Nilsson and Sharon Vaughn wrote it; not sure who produced it).  I really hope that it is re-released as a proper single at some point this year.  With a new video and some good promotion behind it, it could be huge.  Or at least if this world decides to make any sense at all.  And if the other songs on Vendela's debut album are anywhere near as great as this one, it will be a stone cold pop CLASSIC.

Here is the video of this bonafide pop supernova.

A SNIPPET OF A NEW ANNIE SONG

The trailer for the new short film, The Night Within, directed by Hildegunn Waerness has arrived.  And with it, a bit of a new Annie song called, "The Night Within Us".  There aren't many musicians who can get me excited with a clip of a song, but brilliant song-maker Annie Strand is one of the few.  In fact, for the most part I usually just ignore song/music video teasers, but I've already watched this trailer like five times just to hear the song again and again.

It sounds SO GOOD.  Which was to be expected, of course.  There literally isn't a single Annie song that I don't like.  Can't wait to hear the full track.

Here's the trailer:

LANA DEL REY - THREE UNRELEASED SONGS

These three new unreleased tracks by Lana Del Rey are really lovely.  "Puppy Love" and "Paris" especially are pleasant surprises.  Not because "Children of the Bad Revolution" is any worse of a song, but just because the sound of the other two is actually literally surprising.  They represent a softer side of Lana than what we're used to.  And while her image (and sometimes lyrical content) is retro glam, "Paris" actually goes for more of a 60s sound than anything on Born to Die.  If they were recorded during the Born to Die sessions, it's easy to see why they were left off, but they are quite nice.

It's weird.  Her album just came out this year, but I already feel like it's time for her to release another one.  I guess because we'd already spent so much time talking about her before it came out.  Anyway, enjoy!

FLORRIE - LATE EP

It's finally here!  Florrie fans have been waiting quite a while for her third EP to arrive.  I think the original estimated release date was November of last year.  But with her recent announcement that she will be signing to a major label soon, the delays are understandable as it's obvious that the young woman has been a bit busy.  But it's here now and we can put all those Florrieless nights of torment behind us.

So, was it worth the wait?



Yes.

Honestly, even if the entire EP had just consisted of the first track, "Shot You Down", I would not have been disappointed at all.  It's the first time Florrie has sounded a bit menacing and it is a very, very good sound for her.  It immediately stands out as one of her best songs yet, right up there with "I Took a Little Something" (her best song, don't argue with me) from her previous EP, Experiments.  In fact, it's a highlight of the year so far.  Also, it's obviously a song about how our sweet, innocent Florrie has actually murdered someone.  (I don't believe in metaphors.)

The other three songs on the EP aren't quite as good, but only because the first one is so great.  It's above average pop all around.  Of the remaining three, I especially like "To the End".

But even while this EP is incredibly enjoyable, you can't help but wonder what she's holding back.  If all goes according to plan, this will be her last independent release and over the past several months, she has mentioned recording a lot of material.  I know at some point she said she had 18 new songs and I'm sure she's recorded more since then.  Obviously she intends for a lot of those songs to go on her debut full length.  In her announcement about signing to a label, she even mentioned that she has two songs in particular with which she will be launching her big ol' popstar career.  So, while none of this is meant as an insult to the songs on the EP, it just seems like maybe we are on the cusp of something even bigger and better from our dear Florrie.  This isn't a complaint.  There is nothing bad about getting a great EP now and then hopefully an even more amazing full length album sometime further down the road.

Also, in her transition from "our popstar" to everyone's popstar, I'm sure she'll be collaborating with lots of producers she hasn't worked with previously.  And I am completely fine with that (I don't expect Florrie to start making any LOLpop anytime soon), but I really hope Xenomania and Fred Falke stay involved in her future.  I don't even know to what extent they were involved on this one, but those are incredibly good friends to have around.  And speaking of Fred, when can we expect the inevitable fantastic remix of at least one of these songs?

Late is out now on iTunes and probably several other digital retailers.  And you can also stream the whole thing on her website here.

THE SOUND OF ARROWS - CONQUEST

I think it's pretty obvious from the things I've posted on this blog so far that I generally prefer female vocalists in pop music.  I don't know whether I'm just really picky when it comes to male vocalists or if the ladies are actually just generally more interesting.  But I love The Sound of Arrows.  And not just in a "they're pretty good for guys" sort of way (Does anyone actually say things like that?).  They are genuinely up their with my favorites.  Their album, Voyage, would have to be somewhere in my top ten favorite albums of last year.  I never actually took the time to make a list last year, but when I say they're in the top ten, it certainly doesn't feel wrong.

Anyway, here's their video for new single, "Conquest".  The song is amazing.  The video is gorgeous.  But there are some naked (painted) lady breasts on display.  So, don't watch around the breast-sensitive.



Was this article a bit  sexist?  I literally do not know.

KYLIE - TIMEBOMB (VIDEO)

Oh, my pop god.  I don't really understand the "plot" of this video, but I DON'T CARE.  It starts off with Kylie being very rude to a couple of people and then she walks into a club and then I think the rest of the video is about her being the most amazing person on the planet.  She also reveals that under her clothes she is wearing a ridiculous not really a dress dress.

So, to sum it all up... PERFECT PERSON.

KYLIE - TIMEBOMB

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!


KYLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


*Deep breath*

Okay.  The new Kylie single is online!  It's pretty great!  On the first five listens, it's not one the greatest Kylie songs ever.  But that's nothing to be disappointed about.  When your discography includes songs like "I Believe in You" and "Love at First Sight", you can't be expected to reach those heights every time.  But what it is is an incredibly fun, summery electro jam courtesy of the princess of pop.  And that is a truly amazing thing to be listening to in the summer of 2012.  The only bad thing about the song is that I want more.  I don't want this to just be a K25 single.  I want a proper new Kylie album.  It's hard not to be greedy when you love someone so much.



I'll post the video tomorrow morning and probably freak out all over again.

FAYE - WATER AGAINST THE ROCKS

Good lord, I love Sweden.  And I have a few theories about why they churn out so much amazing pop music year after year.

1.  A team of Swedish scientists spent many years studying pop and finally developed and put popbots into production.  Now there is a secret popbot factory hidden somewhere in Sweden and incredible popstars like Faye come out on an assembly line.

2.  Swedes grow up being trained to become brilliant popstars.  As babies, their parents put them in their cribs and then place headphones on their ears and they listen to Swedish heroes, ABBA, as they slumber.  As they grow a bit older, they are sent off to pop boarding school where they take several intense courses on how to be amazing.  And if they are caught listening to anything terrible, they are quickly and severely punished.  Harsh, but it gets results.

3.  The final and most likely theory is that they are the direct descendants of the Pop Gods themselves so it is literally in their blood.

Faye is a former member of the girlband, Play.  I vaguely remember them from when I was in high school, but I can't speak for their quality (I will be doing some youtube searching later).  But one thing is for sure and that is that this song, one of two songs launching her solo career, is remarkable.  It is a delicious slice of electronic pop pie.  And I don't even like pie that much.  But I will make an exception for this. It was produced by Stockholm duo Montauk who are doing more (all?) of the production work on Faye's upcoming album. The digital single is coming to iTunes on June 25th and there is a 7" with these two songs coming out in July.



And here is the previous single, or promotional piece, or whatever.  And predictably, it is also incredible.  And the video is quite nice, too.


And here are Faye's online presences:
Twitter
Facebook

KELLY CLARKSON - DARK SIDE

THIS IS A REALLY GOOD SONG.

That's really all I have to say about it. 

But speaking of Kelly Clarkson, I'm going to be watching Duets tonight.  Pretty much just for her.  And I have a confession to make.  I have never watched an episode of one of these singing competition shows all the way through.  I don't really know why.  But I am trying to turn over a new leaf.  And I am starting with Duets.  I'm really not convinced it'll be the best one to start with, but it does have Kelly in it so it won't be all bad.  And of course, I'm excited about Britney being on X Factor USA this year and if I lived in the UK, I would be properly excited about seeing Geri Halliwell on that one.  Shmanyway, maybe I will report how I feel about the show and MAYBE I WON'T.  Can you handle the suspense?  Do you care? (No, you don't)

Oh, and back to the reason I started this post in the first place, the video for "Dark Side".  It is appropriately one of those inspirational sort of deals, which is nice if you like that sort of thing.  Enjoy. (I command you.)

JENNIFER LOPEZ - DANCE AGAIN (solo version)

I think rap songs with pop choruses work way more often than pop songs with guest rap verses.  Usually it seems like the guest rapper is just thrown into the studio with little to no idea what the actual song is about so you end up with this break from the song's natural progression in order to accompany someone who is just rapping about being awesome.  And so the song slows down and loses focus for no reason other than, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had two popular people on this song instead of just one?"  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying it never works.  For instance, I really like "Oh" by Ciara and Ludacris.  And sometimes even when it does work well, it's not really necessary.  Would "Crazy in Love" or "Umbrella" be any less incredible without Jay-Z?  The answer to that question is, "No," in case you were wondering.  And as much as I love rap music, more often than not, I just find these pairings detrimental to the song.  Feel free to prove me wrong by offering other wonderful examples, though.  If being proven wrong means being introduced to or reminded of amazing songs, I'm all for it.

But in this case, I am extremely happy to have a solo version of "Dance Again".  Now it's finally allowed to be the song it should have been all along; a song about dancing and loving and dancing again all the way through.  And it's brilliant.  It's totally one of those hands-in-the-air, "OH MY GOD I LOVE MY LIFE SO MUCH RIGHT NOW," songs.  And what more could you want from a dance song?




P.S. Sorry for the lack of updates recently. My internet hasn't been very dependable lately. Sometimes it's normal and sometimes it's so ridiculously slow that I can't even watch YouTube videos (Life without Girls Aloud videos is very cold, indeed) or listen to Soundclouds. Hopefully it'll be back to normal soon.

CHERYL - TELESCOPE

Two b-sides to "Call My Name" have surfaced online.  This one, "Telescope", is really lovely.  I was not expecting one of the b-sides to be a ballad.  And being really picky when it comes to ballads, I also was not expecting to like it so much.  Especially since it's not an electro-pop ballad, but a proper piano & strings ballad.  Perhaps it's the handclaps that do it for me.  It is short and sweet and not overwrought.  And because Cheryl doesn't have the strongest voice (that's not an insult), there's no ridiculous, unnecessary vocal acrobatics to bring it all over the top.  Thank you, subtlety.  Thank you, Cheryl.

SOMETHING AMAZING.

Here are the 1989 Miss USA contestants singing Kylie's "I Should Be So Lucky". BRILLIANT.


The credit for finding this incredible piece of American/Australian history goes to Lucy Holmes (Kylie impersonator extraordinaire) who tweeted Steve Anderson. Thank you for finding it!

DONNA SUMMER 1948-2012

HAIM - FOREVER EP

Well, this was a surprise.  I was on Twitter earlier today scanning through the hundreds of tweets that all of the UK people had posted because they'd already been awake for most of the day (admittedly, I didn't wake up til around noon) and I saw one from songwriter extraordinaire, Hannah Robinson.  It was a YouTube video of a song by a band called Haim she said she'd been listening to.  And when Hannah Robinson says she's been listening to something, you listen to it, too.  So, I favorited it because Twitter doesn't have a "save for later" option.

So, after eating lunch and doing some work around the house, I came back to my computer to play the video.  But I didn't really look at it (it's just a still photo anyway) and didn't read any info under the video.  I was wandering around my bedroom doing whatever while the song was playing, but pretty soon after it started, I was paying less attention to what I was doing and focusing more on dancing all over the place and singing along (I never let not knowing the words stop me).  And I was thinking to myself, "Why have I never heard of this incredible 80s pop band called Haim?!"  So, after the song was over, I looked them up on Wikipedia and only found lists of people with Haim as a surname or given name.  "Huh,"  I thought, "Must not have been that popular."  So, I looked them up on Discogs and couldn't find them there either.  So, I finally decided to actually look at the video.

Turned out it was actually uploaded by the band in February of this year.  And there was a link to download the EP for free (which is very nice of them).  And yep, they are a new (or at least newish) band from Los Angeles, but I literally thought I was listening to an actual pop band from the 1980s for a full eight minutes, at least.  And I know for some people, that's going to be a turn off.  But seriously, if you are going to deny yourself the pleasure of a ridiculously amazing pop song just because it sounds like something that came from a decade that is not this one, then you are a masochist.  And that's a fact.  You cannot argue with me on this one.

Here is the song that blew my mind today.



And you can download the Forever EP here.  It has two more really great songs on it.  "Go Slow" is really quite beautiful. 

Thank you, HAIM.  And thank you, Hannah Robinson.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON / TEARS IN THE RAIN OUT TODAY

There's a lot of artists out there actively trying to sound just like the classic Italo disco/Italo house bands of the late 70s and 80s.  Some of them are great and some of them not so great.  But most of them don't really give me the same feeling as listening to masterpieces of the era like Valerie Dore's "The Night".  Maybe they're not trying hard enough or maybe they're trying too hard.  Or maybe they just don't get what made the genre so great in the first place.

Queen of Hearts gets it.  She is the second coming of Valerie Dore.  And not knowing what her influences are, I'm not even sure if it's something she was aiming for.  She's certainly not as focused on emulating the style as some others.  But it's the spirit of her songs.  The feelings they inspire.  The sheer heavenliness of her voice and every other sound you hear on each of her songs.

The Neon/Tears in the Rain double a-side single is out today.  You've already seen me rambling about how much I love the two a-sides, but if you buy the digital version you get the bonus tracks, "Forgive Me" (produced by Ercola) and "No More" (produced by John Myers).  And they are both incredible.  This thing could have been a quadruple a-side.

I'm going to make a bold statement.  For my particular tastes, no one will make better music in 2012 than Queen of Hearts.  Her music is so good that it makes my writing about ten times sappier.

You can buy the 7" here at ATG
and the digital version (with the bonus tracks) on iTunes or 7digital

GIRLS ALOUD IN THE STUDIO WITH XENOMANIA

Nadine Coyle tweeted yesterday about being back in the studio with Brian Higgins and Xenomania.  But she didn't say whether or not it was for new solo material or for the Girls Aloud reunion.  Well, now the speculation can come to a close because Xenomania has tweeted that they have been in the studio with Nicola, Kimberley, and Sarah over the last week.  (!!!)  And they are prepping to go into the studio with Nadine for GA sessions.  This is THE BEST DAY EVER.  Until the new single/album/whatever actually comes out.  Please, pop gods, let it be a full album.  Let's celebrate by watching this.

GRIMES - NIGHTMUSIC (video, NSFW)

Visions is one of the best albums of 2012 so far thanks to Grimes' unique brand of helium-pop.  At first you may be struck by its weirdness, but once you sit with it for a while and become familiar, its charms become more immediate.  Underneath the hazy, otherworldly atmosphere is really just a load of lovely pop tunes.  And now Grimes has released this video for "Nightmusic".  Which is very nice indeed because "Nightmusic" was a highlight of the album.

If you were planning on watching this video at your place of employment,  BEWARE!  For it is unsafe!  It features a few butts and at least one instance of a female nipple... eek!  Although, I've always wondered; if you have a job where it is okay to watch music videos, would it really be that big of  a problem to watch one like this?  Anywhoodle, aside from from a few naked folks, I'm pretty sure Claire Boucher is portraying a fairy/wood nymph, or something.

I'm really hoping "Vowels = Space and Time" or "Be a Body" are the next single (is it still called a single if there is just a music video and no physical or digital product?).

So, yeah, to sum it up, good song, good video, good job. THANKS, GRIMES.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON (video)

I hope there's not a long amount of time between the release of "Neon/Tears in the Rain" and whatever she has planned for after that.  It would be kind of depressing not to have a reason to talk about her all the time on this blog.

Anyway, this video is her best one yet.  "Neon/Tears in the Rain" comes out via ATG Records as a 7" and digitally with bonus tracks on May 14th.  Buy it, buy it, buy it!

HANDS - WAKE UP

Got an e-mail (My first one for this blog. Yay!) about this pop duo from Norway (land of the pop gods) the other day, but didn't see it until about an hour ago.  They are called HandS and the band consists of two attractive people named Hakon and Sofie.  And from what I can tell so far, they're also pretty great.

Their debut single, "Wake Up", is a very smart r&b/electropop hybrid that brings to mind The Weeknd, Robyn, and Rihanna without being really blatant about any of those influences.  It gets better with each listen.  It grew on me more and more each time I listened to it, which is quite a nice thing for a song to do.  Thank you, song.  Hakon and Sofie's voices sound perfect together, the chorus is a stunner and the production is top-notch.  I don't know what record labels/bands have to do to make songs go from being an amazing song some people are talking about on the internet to being an amazing song everyone has heard.  But they should do that.  So simple, right?

The song is out now on Elsker, which is an imprint of Tellé Records.  I'm not sure whether or not it was released in a physical form, but you can find it on iTunes.  The band is currently working on its debut album and I'm really looking forward to it.

I also imagine that with a name like HandS, they might be a little hard to Google so here's a link to their website, which has links to their Facebook and Twitter and stuff:  http://hands-music.tumblr.com/

ICONA POP - I LOVE IT

Icona Pop were already great pop artists in my book by releasing the Nights Like This EP which included four amazing songs.  I especially liked "Manners".  But with this song, they should become superstars.  And the best thing about it is they didn't even change their sound in order to achieve that deserved promotion.  It's just like they came around and said, "Oh, hello, you weren't paying close enough attention earlier, but we are actually even more amazing than you thought."

And actually, I lied.  Them not changing their sound is not the best part.  The actual best part is how infectiously, joyously, defiantly fun the whole thing is.  It's basically an almost three minute long megachorus about being young and ridiculous, but pulls off the magic trick of making you want to be young and ridiculous again.  Unless you still are and then I'm assuming it will just make you feel like you are one of the most awesome people in the world. 

And to everyone else who wants to make the summer anthem of 2012, you better step up your game.

AMAZING UPDATE: I just found out this amazing song was written by the amazing Charli XCX. Amazing.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - TEARS IN THE RAIN

I'm starting to think that I should just turn this blog into a Queen of Hearts fansite.  I had actually wanted to post some reviews of more artists before she released anything else, but I was really busy the past couple of days.  And then this came out.  And I couldn't not review it.

I seriously wonder if Queen of Hearts can even make mistakes.  This song is absolutely gorgeous.  It's at once sad and triumphant.  It's awe-inspiring.  It's flawless.  The "oh oh, oh oh, oh oh" part just absolutely slays me.  I feel crushed under the weight of it and uplifted simultaneously.  It's delicate and invincible.  This track positively soars.  I can't wait to drive around in my car at night listening to this song over and over again.  This isn't hyperbole.  This song is perfect.  I'm on my fifth listen already and I just downloaded it.  She is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists and the day that she comes out with a full length album will be one of the best days of whichever year that happens.  I'm really hoping it's this one.  Following her career promises to be extremely rewarding.

The song was produced by also incredible person, Stefan Storm of Sound of Arrows.  You can download it for free for a limited time from http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2012/05/free-mp3-queen-of-hearts-tears-in-the-rain-exclusive-premiere.html

Thank you, Queen.  You're the best.

CHERYL - CALL MY NAME (video)

So, here's the new Cheryl video.  She walks through a tunnel, she dances with some guys while wearing Hammer pants, and she drives around a bit.  But who am I kidding?  This is Cheryl so even if she was just sitting in a chair the entire time, I would still get excited.  Plus, the dancing seems like it was really good.  (Editor's note: This writer knows nothing about dancing. (Editor's note, pt. II:  The editor is also the writer.))

PLUS, this song is really great.  I'm hoping the rest of the producers on the album can live up to what Calvin Harris has done with this one.  Because as it stands right now, I am really pumped up for A Million Lights.  Third plus, Lana Del Rey collaboration (!).

But really, I just want this album to hurry up and come out and sell a bajillion copies so we can all get on with this Girls Aloud reunion and all can be right with the world again.  Thank you very much.

QUEEN OF HEARTS - NEON

This song has already been making the rounds on the bloggernet for a bit so you may be getting sick of hearing about it.  But I don't see how that's possible considering how absolutely INCREDIBLE it is.

As if The Arrival EP and her guest appearance on Johan Agebjörn's album, Casablanca Nights, wasn't enough to make one profess inordinate amounts of love for this brilliant woman's music, Queen of Hearts had to go and drop this gem on us (Did I just accidentally reference Mobb Deep?).  It is one of those rare songs that is a total banger, but you could probably cry to it if you were in the right (wrong?) mood.  It has huge, fist-pumping, steering wheel pounding moments, but those moments are more visceral than purely physical.

If this song doesn't end up on my best of 2012 list, then it will mean one of two things.  Either the rest of the year was absolutely out of this world incredible or the much more likely scenario being that the Apocalypse has actually occurred and I am too busy trying to survive zombie attacks or something to make music lists.

But the amazingness doesn't stop there.  After two great remixes by Lightwaves and Ghost Beach, legendary electronic musician and producer, Mark Reeder, decided to have a go at the track.  And of course, it's also quite impressive.

Personally, I still prefer the original, but all of them are genuinely worth listening to...a lot.


The Neon/Tears in the Rain double A-side 7" is available for preorder now at http://atgrecords.com/2012/04/atg-records-003-queen-of-hearts-neontears-in-the-rain/

Official website:  http://iamqueenofhearts.com/

INAUGURAL POST

Hello!  Welcome to Positively Pop.  This is my new music blog.  I'll be posting reviews and news and opinions and not news, etc, etc.  And as you can tell from the name, I'll be mostly focusing on pop music.  Dance-pop, synthpop, indie pop, Europop, bubblegum pop, and just plain ol' pop pop.

But that's not to say that I won't sometimes wander outside the warm embrace of pop.  If there's something else I feel is worth telling people about, I will straight up tell you.

My main reason for making this blog is that I have felt for a long while now that there is too much negativity on the internet (and in real life, too).  I understand that negative music reviews serve a purpose, but sometimes it seems like journalists are just having fun eviscerating an artist more than they are actually writing honest criticism.  I feel especially bad for new artists who get bad or even mediocre reviews.  For example, if you are on one of your favorite music sites and they post several reviews a day and you read a review that gives a band you've never heard of a 5 out of 10 score, chances are you're not going to feel the need to check out that band's album (even though they may actually be amazing).  It's just a matter of not having enough time to check everything out.  So, I wanted to create a place free from negativity.  A place where music can feel safe.  If you see me reviewing something, I definitely think it's worth getting or at least investigating further.  If I don't like it, I won't review it.  (Full disclosure:  I may occasionally have mixed feelings about something and mention that)

In the next few days I'll be posting some reviews of songs I've been digging lately.  You've probably seen them posted elsewhere by now, but I'm just trying to play catch up/get into the swing of things.

So, pop fans, hope you enjoy it.  And pop creators, send me your music!  I can't guarantee I'll review it, but I can guarantee you won't see me needlessly bashing your tunes.