I can't work out whether my regular candor about the elements of my life on this blog (and to an extent, my friends too - i regularly get conversations preceeded by "you can't put this on your blog!") are what gets people coming back or whether that is the stuff they skip over to see what my opinion is on the latest Same Difference track! Whatever, I think I miss writing more about the elements of my life, so that is probably going to come to the forefront more over the coming weeks. Whether that is part of this website, or whether I zip up my boots and head back to my roots has still to be decided! In the meantime, as a follow up to this week's post about all the new songs hitting right now, here are some more tunes to look forward to...
UPCOMING MUSIC:
Fizzypop fave: I have become increasingly enamoured with Preston over the past couple of weeks. I've made my own little Ordinary Boys greatest hits (the pop elements of his tunes were definitely there in tracks like Boys Will Be Boys, Life Will Be The Death of Me, Lonely At The Top and 9to5) and probably overdosed a little on his ace tune Dressed To Kill. So for no other reason than I cannot wait for a poptastic debut album from him and that he seems more accessible to me that the slightly wacky Frankmusik, I'm posting his quite intruiging video. As all the blogs are now saying "that is all" :P
Lovely XO had a post about the long awaited return of Dangerous Muse (aka the only act to take longer than Frankmusik to deservedly hit the big time) which you can read here. The song sounds quite delicious but what's with all the bondage in pop lately? First off, Lady GG channels her inner madonna circa Sex era to try and shock by wearing a gimp mask (how 1992), and now the DM boys channel, er, DM (Depeche Mode) circa Master and Servant by getting chained up and whipped - and seemingly loving every second of it in their new tune I Want It All. I'm certainly not complaining about the latter, just bring on the album already though :)
By all accounts poor Mika took a bit of a hammering from bloggers with the low-key release of his pre-album EP Songs For Sorrow. I'm hoping people will eat their words when they hear the glorious pop majesty of his ebullient comeback single proper We Are Golden. By all accounts it's as boombastic say me fantastic as his Love Today and Big Girls singles, utilising every lesson that pop has ever taught the world with a chorus as large as all outdoors. Bodes well for what will hopefully be an astonishingly hit laden second album (please). The single is doing the rounds under tightly guarded promos right now, but should hit radio on the 21st July.
Also causing bloggers to be clamouring all over themselves to be first to post about it on 21st July will be the new single from delicious American Idol runner up, Blake Lewis. And hurrah. Already you can preview his new tune Sad Song by clicking here. Like many popular tunes out there right now, it's chorus seems to be rooted in the 80s yet has an almost trancetastic rave quality to it that will sound great blasting out loud on a balmy summer's eve. Blake's voice sounds great and it seems like this track will be one of my faves of the summer. Another album I can't wait for then.
Fast forward a week from the 21st, and the internet will go into meltdown as everyone rushes to give their opinion on the new Madonna single Celebrate. I'm quite excited to be honest. What i am furious about is the decision to call her album Celebration instead of Iconography. The latter just works much better for me. And let's be honest. Anything that Warner Bros puts out is likely to be a bit of a disappointment. So I am busy making my own 5 cd box set (literally) and will post some photos when it is all done :)
Finally, Robbie Williams who I have loved and adored since 1992 is coming back with a rather well titled album Reality Killed The Video Star. Whether he returns as one of the biggest solo stars in the UK is irrelevant to me, I am just glad he is finally releasing music again. But October seems so far away :(
TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:
A couple of brillo MJ Man In The Mirror tributes floating around this week. The one above is a rather classy nod to the man from the composer of the song Seidah Garrett. If you want a rather lovely note by note cover you could do worse than to check out a free download from Mr Casey Stratton (thanks DanUSA)... The funeral was weird to me. Felt like I was intruding on what should have been a private family time. The whole spectacle around his death seems just distasteful to me :/
21 ~ Mr Hudson, Supernova
20 ~ Whitney Houston, I Didn't Know My Own Strength (NE)
19 ~ Marina & The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot
18 ~ BWO, Right Here Right Now
17 ~ Sugababes, Get Sexy (NE)
16 ~ Le Kid, Mercy Mercy
15 ~ Freemasons ft SEB, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
14 ~ Lily Allen, 22
13 ~ Erik Hassle, Don't Bring Flowers
12 ~ Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
11 ~ Dan Black, Symphonies
10 ~ Little Boots, Remedy
09 ~ Dolly Rockers, Je Suis Un Dolly
08 ~ Jason Mraz, Try Try Try
07 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Home
06 ~ Elouise, One Night Only
05 ~ "Abba", Second Best To None
04 ~ JLS, Beat Again
03 ~ Preston, Dressed To Kill
02 ~ Michael Jackson, Man In The Mirror (VID)
01 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart (5 weeks)
Read the latest pop panel at Poptrashaddicts, including my opinion on this week's number 20 song!!
Coming Weds ~ a Harry Potter post!! (but not a review of the movie, as I'm seeing a special over 18s showing of that on Friday. The Half Blood Prince is no place for kids :P)
And yes Torchwood: Children of Earth is brilliant. More on that when it has aired in America. Try not to spaffle over the hot doc in episode one gays and girls :P Seriously, a stunning tense brillo bit of sci-fi political thriller!
ReplyDeleteLove the Preston song. It is so Duran Duran. A perfect song for right now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reposting that Casey song - I'm sure he'll appreciate the exposure!
ReplyDeleteRe: personal vs. non-personal and what keeps people coming back. I struggle with this too. When I write too many personal posts in a row, I feel the need to immediately neutralize them with something lighthearted or nonsensical. I have had people complain that I don't write enough personal stuff, and I want to write more along those lines, but I just don't think I'm ready for that kind of exposure, even with my teeny tiny readership.
In my view, I'm always more interested in the personal stuff than the stuff you can find on any number of blogs. But what's even better is when people figure out how to marry the two - that's when something truly original (and really, uncopyable except in form) is created.
My 2 cents...
BLAKE LEWIS. His first album defined my high school freshman year. I'm sadly one of those bloggers who will fight to be the first to post about the guy's album. Ho hum.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jordin Sparks, of course. The new song that leaked is insanely brilliant.
David - it's rather good isn't it? I'm really enjoying it. I hope it's properly massive and that the debut album holds up to such early promise...
ReplyDeleteDan - love the Casey song. Ditto to his rather dramatic reading of Poker Face! I too like the personal stuff more on other people's blogs - i find it far more interesting. I'll see how it goes :)
Nikki - BL debut was excellent, should have been released in the UK where i sense he would have had much more success. Oh and by the way, when i said everyone would rush to post it, I meant more those people that just post the download of the single with no or very little text, not those who put the effort in to review it :)
Hehe - I'm a huge fan of your "life rants", It's a nice balance to the music and I hope you keep it here...;)
ReplyDeleteMika's new tune sounds promising, though I'm yet to hear it - I'd like to hear him go in a slightly more (to me at least) accessible way by embracing a little more of dance/electro stuff...I can't wait to hear Blake's newie either!
I'm totally with you - Iconography would have been a nicer title, but I can't wait to see the album's tracklisting. I could only do it in 4 discs....Without the new songs..And I could have easily done another disc - I hope somebody at Warner saw my tracklisting and are making a special edition as we speak!
Paul, I would say continue to write about whatever you want. Your non-pop posts have often made me think about a subject and other times some of your turn of phrases have made me laugh out loud here in Dublin,
ReplyDeleteyou always believe in the pop you love and that's a great quality,
Dx
i like having a peek into your personal life - it's like the diary of bridget jones from a male perspective and all jolly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to all the music you mention, though i haven't really paid much attention to Dangerous Muse... i shall now. I am highly amused by how you are excited about them getting whipped and seeing them enjoying it :P
Benny still number one?! The album version is delightful.
I wonder when "Celebrate" will leak? Has to be soon! And it's a freakin' tragedy that the album is not called Iconography.
ReplyDeleteYuri - it IS such a shame about the album title. Still i never have much faith in record companies when it comes to greatest hits (i hear Britney is now releasing another one? So soon?! You say i'm crazy, i got you crazy!) so i'm usually quite happy with my own. Well if you read the far too many words in the post (:P) you would have seen it's likely to get spun at radio on July 28th :)
ReplyDeleteBen - yes the other Benny in my life is still number one. And still quite enchanting. I'm loving it so much still. Though Preston may be nipping at it's heels this week :)
David - yay, i'm so glad even if it's a few people that like the rants and observations. They are usually quite random but they make sense in my head!!
Aaron - ditto what i just said to David. And i think Mika's and Blake's albums will hopefully be highlights of my year.
OMG - I loved the Preston song from the off, so jealous of it, and now the video is ace! How damn hot does he look?? Proper popstardom should beckon, whether it does or not who knows.. Its like Sophie Ellis-Bexter all over again, from a hyped but not overly successful indie band to pop diva-dom. Go Preston!
ReplyDelete