Single Selection: Brendan Maclean ~ Winner

I think it's fair to say that, after a long period of getting all my best dance moves from Steps videos, I've now moved that mirroring to Sir Brendan of the Macleans. It's easy to see why - his brilliant pop tune Stupid (see review here) had some of the most dazzling, free yourself, just-let-yourself-be dance moves this side of the Harlem Shake. He's followed up Stupid with a brand new song called Winner (easily the best song called Winner since Pet Shop Boys :P) and what you get is a stunning slice of indie-pop that will invade your senses & infuse your spirits until you're singing along at the top of your lungs, frankly not caring what Doris and Ernest next door think. Despite the misleading title, Winner is actually about all those down moments that you experience that you probably don't share with the world as freely as you do when you rush to update twitter about your £3 win on the lottery. More specifically, it's an ode to a highly competitive music industry where everyone feels they have to be better than their perceived competitors whilst feeling like their competitors are actually better than them. This should actually be the theme to every episode of X Factor ever (and a duet version with Dannii Minogue wouldn't go a miss)... Brendan has a knack for brilliant, biting lyricism and that continues here (“I’ll try to follow it up / I’ll never get it / And I won’t be a winner”) alongside his ability to produce a vibrant instrumental accompaniment that feels part Abba, part Queen, part The Killers and - thanks to those gloriously invasive synths - part Human League. There are several really clever things about the song - not least how young Mr Maclean wears his influences on his sleeve yet makes the music indelibly his own; the euphoric, fist pumping, stadium vibe of the track that makes it feel utterly glorious from start to finish (& a nice juxtaposition to the lyrics); Brendan's engaging rock tinged vocals that make a nice change from all the autotune/vocoder dominating the charts right now - giving the song real emotion & pathos; and of course the FUCKING GENIUS video that accompanies it all which sees Brendan run a race in reverse, don a gold lame jacket and finishes/starts in a parade of pom poms, glitter and ticker tape. It must have been a bitch to get right, but get it right he did and the song deserves to soar because of it. There's no doubt that all involved in the video (including the directors Brian Fairbairn and Karl Eccleston) coalesced with perfection to make this visual magic happen. As I say, it can't have been an easy task so everyone should be jolly proud :) I'm gagged at the ingenuity of it all :) More please, oh god, much much more...

(Buy the track here)