Good to have you back Lily – missed ya!
If anybody else out there was keeping score between Lily and Amy Winehouse, Lily is the winner in finally getting some new music out. The Fear is Lily’s first single from the new album, It’s Not Me, It’s You.
They say the second album is always a difficult prospect. You’ve got to keep the fans you gained with the first record, but you’ve got to offer something new at the same time.
Oasis are releasing the second single from their Dig Out Your Soul album – I’m Outta Time – on 1 December.
Throughout their career, Oasis have been criticised for sounding like a lot of other bands. If I’m Outta Time sounds like anyone else, it’s Urban Hymns-era The Verve.
This isn’t a criticism, merely an observation. It’s fully possible that this is one of the most beautiful songs Oasis have committed to tape.
Human is the first single from The Killers’ third album, Day & Age.
Critic types are claiming this is a return to form for the band. The band’s lead singer Brandon Flowers describes it as a “cross between Johnny Cash and the Pet Shop Boys”.
With a description like that, said single could conceivably be a train wreck. However, on first listen the synth sounds like it’s the intro to a dance track, but morphs into this sublime experience. I get the PSB comparisons, but while I can’t listen to the Pet Shop Boys without wanting to shoot Neil Tennant, this I think is genius.
Nicole and her sexy chums are back with a new single – I Hate This Part – and here’s a shocker: the barely-clad raunchy look is replaced with a pretty, feminine styling that I love.
In a rare ballad opportunity for the ‘Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger really gets to show off her voice. Coupled with sensitive lyrics “I hate this part right here/I just can’t take your tears”, this is a side of the Pussycat Dolls that we rarely see amid the gyrations.
Is it weird that, as a guy, I prefer this non-gyrating version of the ‘Dolls?
I find it funny that in Katy’s last video, she was playing the bi-curious angle, but in Hot N Cold one she’s standing at the altar, ready to get hitched.
It seems that you can’t avoid Katy Perry at the moment, coming off the back of a massive hit single and presenting the MTV Europe Music Awards among countless TV appearances.
If you ask me, Perry’s bolshy pop-rock stylings put her in the same league as Pink. Except far more attractive.
Razorlight are a band I fell in love with from the first chord of the first song on their Up All Night album.
So, I can imagine a ton of Razorlight fans out there nodding their heads in agreement when I say this single is very highly anticipated. And while part of me was hoping for a rocker of a single, Wire To Wire is simply too stunning piece of work to be disappointed with.
Be The One is the latest single from the Ting Tings, and while it has that unmistakeable Ting Tings sound, it’s also a fully, more audibly satisfying track.
Gone are the sharp staccato vocals of That’s Not My Name, replaced by lead singer Katie White singing in quite a sweet voice. The song is driven by a luscious, thick bassline and chiming keyboards from the guy who plays the Chris Howe role in the band.
If I Were A Boy is not a song about penis-envy. As an independent woman, apparently Beyoncé doesn’t suffer from that affliction.
Wise-cracks aside, this single will blow you away. It is not what you’d expect from Beyoncé Knowles. Gone (for the moment?) are the tired R&B routines I was complaining about when I reviewed Green Light a year ago. Instead, I would say that If I Were A Boy is the most conventional song she’s ever released.
What’s the song about, I hear you ask. Well, it’s about a girl imagining how she would behave toward women if she ‘were a boy’. Get it? Lyrically, it’s a tad sanctimonious, because Beyoncé clearly doesn’t understand the male psyche, assuming that she’d still behave like a a girl while encumbered with man-parts. She just doesn’t understand our struggle, fellas!
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…
So, Gabriella Cilmi is the latest in a long line of female artists seemingly exploiting the old jazz/blues/soul genres. Sweet About Me is reminiscent of Norah Jones and Katie Melua at their absolute best, cool and subtly flirtatious (well, Melua in that respect).
PopJustice wittily remarked that Sweet About me could become #1 by Christmas, noting that the single has had a slow burn effect, gradually climbing into the top ten after initially entering the charts at a very low position.
