Those colourful Danish wags, Alphabeat, are back with yet another piece of pop brilliance.

Of the many versions that are available, there’s a remix that places Boyfriend straight back into the 80’s.

Alphabeat aren’t one of those bands you listen to looking if you’re…say looking for the meaning of life. Or anything deep like that. What you’re more likely to get is pure bubblegum pop, and Boyfriend hits the spot on so many levels.

Far better than 10,000 Nights, this latest single provides hints that Alphabeat are an unstoppable pop machine. Here’s a song that’s purely dedicated to warning other women off her man - in the nicest possible way!

Of course, with our normal cynical attitude to the record buying public, we wonder how well Alphabeat’s upbeat pop patter will last when the second album comes around.

Until that time, check out the superior Pete Hammond remix version.

Boyfriend is the third single from their debut album, This Is Alphabeat.

Otherwise known as ‘the drummer and guitarist from Queen hooking up with the vocalist from Free’.

There’s good news and bad news with this new single from Queen (+ Paul Rodgers). The good news is that it’s got some heavy riff-laden brilliance attached to it.

Brian May’s guitar work shows that he’s still got the chops (not the lamb chops - the guitar ones), and Paul Rodgers brings a powerful, bluesy voice to proceedings. OK, he’s never going to throw on a canary yellow jacket and give us Freddie MK2.

On the other hand, this new Queen is bloody preachy. First they were banging on about some Third World issue, now they’re wagging their fingers at celebrity culture - a bit rich for two guys who exhumed the corpse of Queen for what? Fame and fortune. May and Taylor aren’t in this for the good of their health, are they?

Long time Queen fans were probably thirsting for a good rocker. The riff delivers, but the chorus leaves you flat. And repeats a bit too much.

So, OK. The point will be driven home that this isn’t Queen as we know them and love them. But we will hold them to the same high standards. And C-lebrity doesn’t even compare to classic Queen. It’s far too patchy to be part of that rich legacy of music.

What we will say about C-lebrity is that it shows a lot of promise for this new lineup. Just keep the preachy lyrics out and give us some fist-pumping choruses. And a special note to Brian May - sack the stylist, man. Sack the stylist now.

When we first heard about the new Pussycat Dolls single, it was tempting to gloat about Nicole Scherzinger coming back with her tail between her legs.

OK, it’s fair to say that Nicole’s solo stuff didn’t set the charts on fire, despite some high profile collaborations. But secretly we’re glad she’s back where she belongs. Aren’t you?

The song is a fairly standard riff on every kids dream of being famous.

Now, When I Grow Up isn’t quite up to the same standard as Don’t Cha, but it isn’t a bad start. Interestingly, the Armored Stereo blog says that it sounds like Scherzinger is still peddling her solo material, but recognises that she’s got a great voice all the same…

For our part, it’s nothing like a vehicle for Scherzinger. Her solo stuff was mostly too-smooth R&B material. Pussycat Dolls do loud, ballsy pop with infectious choruses. Their image is younger, scrappier and more fun than anything Nicole did alone.

It’s still debatable whether this will be the high-impact single the Dolls need to secure their return to pop. However, it’s a good enough start, and the video’s a pretty hot reminder of why we liked the Pussycat Dolls in the first place.

When I Grow Up is due for release in the UK on 8 September 2008.

Nas has chosen Hero as the lead single from his new album, Untitled. And for the ride, he’s bringing along Timbaland’s chum, Keri Hilson.

Initially hollering like Busta Rhymes with a sore throat, Nas immediately slips into a smooth but bland verse. Sounds a lot like old-fashioned homie posturing rather than any real conviction that he’s the ‘hero’ of the title.

Keri Hilson is criminally underused in this song. For a lady of her talents, both vocal and otherwise ;), to be reduced to backing vocals on the chorus is a bit of an insult really.

OK, so rappers aren’t known for their ability to avoid cliches, but Hero is so out of touch, it seems Nas needs a little reality check.

Steve McQueen is the latest single from The Automatic, and man is it on heavy rotation on the radio right now.

File this one under Anthems…

Because that’s what this is, a raucous rock anthem, with a banging, irrepressible chorus. If this is the lead single from their forthcoming album, then we’re in for a treat.

Younger music fans will be wondering exactly who the hell Steve McQueen is. Yeah, we don’t know either. Some actor or something like that.

One thing’s for sure, for a band that we barely noticed before, this single has made us suddenly sit up and take notice. We’re looking forward to some more quality rock tunes from these guys.

Gigwise have an interview with the band here. The Steve McQueen single is due for release on August 18th and the album, This Is A Fix will follow on August 25th.

We here at Unreality Music don’t need much of an excuse to cast off our clothes. So, imagine our delight when the virtually unknown Ida Maria started getting airplay with this absolutely epic tune.

What with Katy Perry trying the bi-curious angles this summer, and this thumping rock anthem dedicated to getting yer kit off, we like to think that the charts are temporarily a much hornier place…

OK, so someone whose personal esteem depends on another person being starkers might not be in perfect mental balance, but hey-ho. When a tune this brilliant is the result, we can’t really complain.

It’s easy to imagine the doors of student digs bursting open all across the UK this autumn as drunken freshers re-enact the lyrics with whoever they pulled down the SU that night.

Mixtape Maestro utters a fantastic line…

Who’d-a thunk that witnessing one woman’s uncomfortable detour into skank-ville could be as endlessly entertaining as this?”

This song gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from us, and the warning that with a debut single this good, you’ll be hearing a lot more about this Ida Marie person in the future!

Now just check out a pounding live version of the aforementioned naked track…

Surely this should be more controversial? Kid Rock ripping off Lynyrd Skynyrd and - worse still - singing completely different lyrics over that classic riff?

Maybe you’re a more progressive soul and believe that All Summer Long represents an opportunity to recycle a classic rock song and superimpose his own nostalgic words over the top?

Yep, take all those coming of age tunes like Summer Of ‘69 and - an Unreality Music favourite - Bon Jovi’s Blood On Blood. All Summer Long will transport those of a certain age back to 1989 and the various misadventures we teenagers of the time encountered.

On reflection, Kid’s treatment of Sweet Home Alabama seems more of a tribute than a ripoff, but your opinions are welcomed as usual….

As Bill Lamb on About.com says, it has “effortless appeal to generations of pop music fans”. However, some people are asking “Who the f**k does Kid Rock think he is to come along and cover such a classic song?  Because he’s from the South? “

Well, is it musical blasphemy folks?

The Verve are due to release Love Is Noise as the first single from their new album, Forth on 11 August 2008.

So, after 9 years apart, what should we expect from this band who once ruled the world with their Urban Hymns album?

Well, Love Is Noise turns those assumptions of a sequel to Urban Hymns on their head. The most shocking thing? It’s up-tempo.

Some things remain the same though. The sound is signature Verve, it’s echoed and layered and you do indeed feel as if you’re wrapped in a warm and trippy blanket of noise.

Richard Ashcroft’s voice is pleasingly hoarse and throaty, giving more of a rock vibe than we remember from The Verve of yesteryear. However, the high-pitched, repeating ‘uh-oh’ tends to become an irritation after a while…

All in all, Love Is Noise is an impressive comeback single - fans will love this, and they might gain a few new converts along the way. David Abravanel sounds suitably impressed:

Nick McCabe’s guitar hasn’t been this majestic since the Verve’s debut, while Simon Jones’s descending bass riff and Peter Salisbury’s pounding post-punk drums form a solid bedrock. It’s also nice to see that subtlety is still out the door for the Verve.

However, Cam Lindsay is underwhelmed by the new single:

For me, the Verve were always as much, if not more about hearing what McCabe could come up with on his guitar and pedal board (hence my dissatisfaction with Urban Hymns), but he’s virtually absent throughout the single’s entirety.

Two differing viewpoints there, but what do you think - a stroke of genius or a step in the wrong direction for The Verve?

The Verve’s Official Website.

So…Have you heard all the buzz lately about The Saturdays? You can’t escape it. And they’ve released their first single, If This Is Love, and it’s already gone Top 10.

And since they’ve toured with that veteran pop act, Girls Aloud (veteran in pop terms anyway), you could almost take that as a sign that they’re the ‘approved’ successors once Cheryl or Nadine pull the plug on that group.

As a debut single, If This Is Love doesn’t offer much more than a jolt of pure pop. On one hand, they’ve regressed to a period of pop that pre-dates the Xenomania-infused tunes we’ve seen from Sugababes and Girls Aloud.

Wongie says “so far my reaction is kind of ‘eh’“, and that’s pretty much how we feel too. Angry Ape are similarly lukewarm in their review. The Saturdays are five stunningly good looking girls, and they fit the girl group template extremely well. However, the single itself isn’t groundbreaking enough to stand out.

Fraser over on Chartblog said it best - they’ve released a safe song and they’re going to follow up with a belter. Watch this space? What do you think?

If Katy Perry got criticism for Ur So Gay, she’s redressing the balance on I Kissed A Girl, America’s massive #1 hit single this summer. It’s held the Billboard top spot for around six weeks.

You’ve got to love America’s fascination for a song about a wee bisexual fling. Better still, the lyrics are juicy and overflowing with lustful intent. There’s nothing coy in Perry’s delivery, and you kind of imagine her overpowering the nearest girl for a quick snog.

We love the lyrics in the chorus, like…

I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chapstick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it

That last line’s a stroke of genius - why would he mind? He’s probably uploading the video of it to YouTube right now to share with his friends!

We can’t help wondering if this track will be directly responsible for some bi-curious fumbling among teenagers this summer. Hell, the Emo crowd don’t exactly need any more encouragement, but mark our words…Katy Perry will take it to the masses.

An excellent tune, I Kissed A Girl is winging its way toward a UK release very soon today, actually.