Mariann Rosa premieres video for energetic single ‘Frikkin” Fantastic’
In Norway, Mariann Rosa doesn’t really need an introduction anymore. The singer, songwriter, DJ and style icon gained fame and success as the front woman of the pop and rock band Surferosa. She became a judge on the Norwegian Idol panel and now she is pursuing a solo career. This week Mariann actually launched her debut album called HYPE in her home country. To promote and celebrate this special occasion, she recorded a video for the second single ‘Frikkin’ Fantastic’, which premieres today on A Bit of Pop Music!
Troye Sivan premieres final part of Blue Neighbourhood trilogy
For the people who don’t know him yet: Troye Sivan is a singer, songwriter, actor and vlogger from Australia, but born in South Africa. He is rapidly turning into the next big thing with the release of the so called Blue Neighbourhood trilogy. This string of three music videos accompanying his singles gained a lot of buzz all over the internet, which is the perfect build up to the release of his debut full length album with the same title, which will be released in December. Seriously, if you have 12 minutes of your precious time spare, it is definitely worth it to watch this short movie.
Little Mix go to prom in video for ‘Love Me Like You’
The girls of Little Mix recently released their brand new single ‘Love Me Lik You’, the second track taken from upcoming third album Get Weird. Perrie, Jade, Leigh-Anne and Jesy won the British X Factor in 2011 and have been going strong ever since. After hits like ‘Wings’, ‘DNA’, ‘Move’ and more recently ‘Black Magic’, they are ready for the next big one with the all kinds of brilliant ‘Love Me Like You’. It’s retro, undeniably catchy, contains an earth shattering pop chorus and even in the case you don’t want to like it (why wouldn’t you, but just imagine) it’s too damn irresistible.
Sharon Doorson is back with uplifting new single
Sharon Doorson revived her music career when she participated in The Voice of Holland in 2012. Although she did not reach the finals, she signed a contract and released successful singles like ‘Fail In Love’ and ‘High On Your Love’. With her dance pop, she filled a gap in the Dutch music market at the right time. Now, Sharon is ready to move on with a new sound that is less dancy, but more orientated towards pop and R&B. The first single of her new project is the uplifting ‘Electrify’.
Say Lou Lou invite fans into their dream worlds in short film
The Swedish-Australian twin sister pop duo Say Lou Lou has released a video for their latest single ‘Nothing But A Heartbeat’. The girls have been teasing us with a lot of photos and short fragments of this project they are very excited about. They premiered the short film about lucid dreaming (a dream in which the dreamer realizes the events are not real) on the internet earlier today and I have to say I am impressed by this moving work.
Ruth Lorenzo releases inner pop diva for ‘Gigantes’ video
Ruth Lorenzo had quite a successful year so far. She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for Spain with the beautiful ballad ‘Dancing In The Rain’. Thanks to a beautiful staging and outstanding vocal performance, she finished in top 10 for her home country. Before Eurovision Ruth had been releasing songs mainly in English, but because of her growing popularity in Spain, she decided to record an album in her mother language. The new single ‘Gigantes’ is the first song to be released of the record and Lorenzo premiered the video today on Youtube.
In the next few days I will publish some end-of-year lists to show you what my favourites were in pop music this year. I will start with the best 15 pop music videos that were released in 2013. There were quite some great videos to see the light of day this year, here is my pick:
15. Antti Tuisku – Rakkaus On.
Finnish pop star Antti Tuisku made a comeback this year with the single ‘Rakkaus On.’. The video for the song features Tuisku in various gorgeous landscapes with beautiful colours that symbolize the four elements. The parts where he is partly buried in sand are gorgeous and Antti standing on a mountain with his clothes flowing in the wind is a tad dramatic, but pretty great to look at. Visually, this is one of the most beautiful videos I have seen this year.
14. Chlöe Howl – Paper Heart
Chlöe Howl is a newcomer in the British music scene, but she will probably be one of the biggest new acts next year. The video for her single ‘Paper Heart’ has a simple concept, but is very effectively executed. We follow Chlöe when she gives a show in a park to break up with her boyfriend. The video plays nicely with the words of the song and this could definitely be called an epic way to break up with some douche bag. Well done Chlöe, we’ll hear more from you next year!
13. Gabrielle Aplin – Salvation
2013 was a big year for Gabrielle Aplin, as she released her successful debut album. She released ‘Salvation’ as the last single this year, with a gorgeous and fitting video, directed by Zaiba Jabbar. The story of needing someone to get through a tough period in life is perfectly depicted in the choreographed video. The movements, setting and atmosphere of the video all complement the song and Gabrielle herself looks stunning throughout the whole thing.
12. Jenni Vartiainen – Junat Ja Naiset
2013 has been a good year when it comes to videos by Finnish pop stars. Just like Antti Tuisku, Jenni Vartiainen made a gorgeous music video in breathtaking landscapes. In comparison to Tuisku, Vartiainen’s ‘Junat Ja Naiset’ is depicted way darker and more mysterious. The video is intriguing with all its metaphors and dark costumes. Almost every shot is beautiful and leaves you wanting to see the video again and again.
11. Diana Vickers – Cinderella
Sometimes, all a good music video needs is a cute love story. Diana Vickers must have known this when she filmed the video for her single ‘Cinderella’. The video is basically a modern take on the fairytale in which Vickers escapes from a party with a cute looking guy she just met. The two steal some drinks and end up in a pool. Nothing complicated, but just a beautifully depicted little love story of a cute and gorgeous couple.
10. Tom Odell – Another Love
This beautiful song by Tom Odell has two different videos which are both worthy of a place in this top 15. The first one was released in November 2012 and features Tom Odell in a room stoically singing the song to the camera while his girlfriend is putting op a fight with him. This was quite a hypnotic and impressive visual. In the second one, we see Odell spreading pictures of a missing girl through the city while he does not recognize her when he meets her. It is a beautiful story that goes well with the touching song. Two great videos for one song, impressive stuff!
09. Lily Allen – Hard Out Here
This, ladies and gentlemen, was the big comeback of the enfant terrible in pop music, Lily Allen. She came back in style with a funny and cheeky video that caused some controversy. The video criticized Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ with some satire, including the line ‘Lily Allen has a baggy pussy’. The video, directed by Christopher Sweeney, in which the judgement on women in the music industry is criticized, sparked some controversy, because people thought Allen was objectifying black women. To all those people, Allen can only say: ‘If you can’t detect the sarcasm you’ve misunderstood’.
08. Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
This was the year of the comeback of Justin Timberlake as well. He released some music after quite some years of focusing on his acting career. ‘Mirrors’ was his most successful single and by far his best video. The video, directed by Floria Sigismondi, depicts the love of two people throughout their lives. We see different phases of getting to know each other, a first pregnancy and the death of one of them. It is al beautifully acted and shot and in the finale, we see a beautiful scene with Timberlake surrounded by mirrors. This video was definitely the best part of his comeback.
07. Veronica Maggio – Sergels Torg
Veronica Maggio is one of Sweden’s most popular artists and she made one of the most touching and heartbreaking videos of the year for her gorgeous single ‘Sergels Torg’. The video, directed by Mans Nyman, is shot in sunny territory, which contrasts with the feelings the song and video are about. Maggio, preparing for a party on her own in an apartment with a swimming pool, is beautiful to watch and her frustration and loneliness are intense in the climax of the song. We literally see her fall apart and this never looked so beautiful before.
06. Britney Spears – Work Bitch!
And then there was a not so impressive new single by Britney Spears. The video, directed by Ben Mor, however, was quite spectacular, when compared to her visual output in recent years. She showed us some attitude and the settings in the desert, at the pool with the sharks and some of the dance scenes were all very pleasant to look at. Britney looks better than she did in years and the whole vibe of the video comes across like she had a lot of fun at the shoot. Shame about the song, but that video was pretty great!
05. Katy Perry – Unconditionally
Actually, the same goes for Katy Perry. ‘Unconditionally’ might be her weakest single so far, but that video, directed by Brent Bonacorso, is just undeniably beautiful. Perry looks gorgeous, the sets are breathtaking and the slow motion/fast forwarding editing is completely in line with the melody and beat of the song. Great dancing scenes, beautiful owls and that car crash scene, all completely gorgeous. The ‘Roar’ video was fun, but this is absolutely impressive. One of her best videos so far!
04. Anouk – Birds
Anouk, the Dutch pride at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, not only did a great performance at the show, but recorded a beautiful video for her song ‘Birds’ as well. She worked together with director Dana Nechushtan and gave the song a whole new meaning. The music video kind of feels like a short film and breathes a similar atmosphere to Black Swan. Anouk herself only plays a small part as ballet teacher. The story about suicide is not what most people had in mind with the song at first and therefore gives the song a new dimension. That is quite something to achieve with a video!
03. Beyoncé – Pretty Hurts
One of the hardest tasks in making this top 15, was choosing just one Beyoncé video from her visual album. Quite a lot of videos on this album would be good enough for this list, but I wanted to pick only one per artist. The most meaningful and impressive video on BEYONCÉ was for ‘Pretty Hurts’, directed by Melina Matsoukas. We see Beyoncé participating in a beauty pageant and the peek behind the curtain shows she is not that happy with her life. The scene halfway through where the host asks her what her aspiration in life is, which seems like an eye-opener for her, is beautifully depicted. It tells the story of the song perfectly and this is definitely one of the best videos in her career.
02. Hozier – Take Me To Church
This is the video that surprised me the most out of all the things I have seen in 2013. I was absolutely moved and impressed by it. The video, directed by Brendan Canty, shines a whole new light on the meaning of the song and it is definitely a very powerful message of love and acceptance. It is obvious that this video is saying something about the new laws in Russia that make it harder for LGBT people to live their own life and easier for hateful people to discriminate them. It is a brave step for new Irish artist Hozier to record such a video and song and I will definitely look forward to new material next year!
01. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
Most of all, 2013 was the year of Miley Cyrus. Hit after hit, controversy after controversy. Her video for the single ‘Wrecking Ball’, directed by Terry Richardson, truly delivered some iconic visuals of her naked, swinging on a wrecking ball. These images will still be remembered in a few years time in pop culture. The video is daring, but Miley at the same time acts out the vulnerability that is described in the lyrics of the song. I am not a huge fan of the hammer licking, but other than that, everything in the video perfectly complements the song. Not only did this video have a lot of impact, it is executed very well and deserves it to be crowned as best video of the year!
Last but not least, some honourable mentions: Lana Del Rey’s stunning short film Tropico, did not qualify as a music video, Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’, Beyoncé’s ‘Mine’ and ‘Haunted’ and Miley Cyrus’ ‘We Can’t Stop’ did not make it, because other videos by the same artist did and Ellie Goulding’s ‘Burn’ just missed out in 16th place.
Beyoncé puts a lot of effort in stunning ‘visual album’
Beyoncé put out her self titled fifth studio album (my review on the album here) last Friday and the unexpected release was not the only notable thing about BEYONCÉ. The singer found an innovative way of releasing an album, as she already recorded videos for all the tracks on it. She called it a ‘visual album’ and described how all the songs were accompanied by strong visuals in her head. She decided to record those already and put them out simultaneously with the songs. The singer spent the last few months shooting seventeen music videos all around the world. ‘Yoncé’ and ‘Ghost’ both have a separate video (on the album they are part of the songs ‘Partition’ and ‘Haunted’) and she recorded an extra video for ‘Grown Woman’, which is not part of the regular album. The result is a collection of worthy and often stunning videos. One thing is for sure: A for effort.
When hearing about a project like this, one would expect that most videos would be simple and even low-budget, but this is not the case with Beyoncé’s videos. It becomes apparent that literally every video is well thought out and the singer and her team put a lot of effort in this project to make sure all songs received a fitting and worthy video accompaniment. For example, the video for ‘Pretty Hurts’, directed by Melina Matsoukas, could not tell the story of the song better than it does now. We see Beyoncé participating in a beauty pageant and the depressing glimpse behind the curtain fits with the lyrics where she states that “perfection is the disease of a nation” and “you can’t fix what you can’t see, it’s the soul that needs the surgery”. Especially the part in the middle where she realizes she is not happy with what she is doing in life, which is visualised with images of her falling in water with her pageant dress still on, is gorgeously pictured with a perfect timing.
Where the video for ‘Pretty Hurts’ excels at depicting the story of the song, ‘Haunted’, directed by Jonas Akerlund, functions mainly to create a suitable atmosphere for the song. The haunting atmosphere in the song is recreated with a creepy video in which Beyoncé, stylish as always, walks into a big mansion and sees all kinds of freak shows in all the rooms she passes. Her stoic and icy delivery of the song works very well in combination with all the creepy elements shown. The video for ‘XO’ also does an outstanding job at creating the perfect vibe to go with the song. The enthusiasm that is shown when Beyoncé and her crew hang out in an amusement park fits the uplifting nature of the video. In ‘Jealous’, Beyoncé shows her acting skills as that video revolves around her feelings of frustration, doubt, love and of course jealousy that are expressed in the song.
In the powerful video for ‘Superpower’, we see Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams and Pharrell Williams making an appearance and her little sister Solange joins her for the video for ‘Blow’, which features a visually stunning scene with roller skates and fluorescent make-up. Beyoncé once again shows herself to be a charismatic and endearing performer on screen. She is able to pull of a song and video full of attitude like ‘***Flawless’, but at the same time convinces when delivering the emotional messages of ‘Heaven’ and ‘Blue’. Also, her daring and sexual behaviour on ‘Rocket’ and ‘Partition’ is quite explicit, but she knows how to keep things sexy and not too trashy. The visual highlight of the album however, is the brilliant and stunning video for ‘Mine (feat. Drake)’, directed by Pierre Debusschere. It features creative images of choreographies in sand, women painted in white, dancers and actors with their head hidden behind clothes and robes waving in the wind. All these different visuals are edited perfectly along with the tempo changes in the song. It perfectly summarizes ‘Mine’ and the whole album for that matter: daring, creative, innovative, a tad complicated, but above all impressive and simply beautiful.
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Video recensie: BEYONCÉ video’s
Kosten nog moeite worden gespaard voor Beyoncé’s visuele album
Beyoncé bracht afgelopen vrijdag haar naar zichzelf vernoemde vijfde studioalbum uit en de onverwachte release was niet het enige opvallende aan BEYONCÉ. De zangeres bedacht namelijk een innovatieve manier om een album op de markt te brengen, compleet met video’s voor elke track. Ze noemt dit een ‘visueel album’ and legde uit hoe alle songs gepaard gingen met sterke beelden in haar hoofd. Ze besloot daarom alle video’s al op te nemen en deze gelijk met het album te lanceren. Beyoncé nam de afgelopen maanden ruim de tijd om maar liefst zeventien videoclips op te nemen. ‘Yoncé’ en ‘Ghost’ kregen een eigen video (op het album zijn ze onderdeel van de songs ‘Partition’ en ‘Haunted’) en ze nam nog een extraatje op in de vorm van een video voor ‘Grown Woman’, wat het reguliere album niet haalde. Het resultaat is een collectie van waardige en vaak beeldschone video’s. Één ding is duidelijk: Beyoncé heeft kosten nog moeite gespaard voor dit project.
Bij het horen over een project als dit, gaat men er al snel vanuit dat de meeste video’s simpel en low-budget zullen zijn, maar niets is minder waar als het gaat om Beyoncé’s clipjes. Het wordt snel duidelijk dat over letterlijk elke video goed is nagedacht en er is veel moeite gedaan om elk lied passende en waardige beelden te geven. Zo vertelt de video voor ‘Pretty Hurts’, geregisseerd door Melina Matsoukas, het verhaal van het lied op sublieme wijze. We zien Beyoncé meedoen aan een beauty contest en de deprimerende kijk achter de schermen past goed bij songteksten als “perfection is the disease of a nation” en “you can’t fix what you can’t see, it’s the soul that needs the surgery”. Vooral de scène halverwege waar Beyoncé realiseert dat ze niet gelukkig is met deze invulling van haar leven, wat is verbeeld met shots waarin ze in haar mooie jurk onder water terecht komt, is prachtig en perfect getimed.
Waar de video voor ‘Pretty Hurts’ uitblinkt in het verbeelden van het verhaal van de song, weet ‘Haunted’, geregisseerd door Jonas Akerlund, juist perfect een sfeer te creëren die bij het lied past. De ‘haunting’ vibe in de song wordt op een creepy manier verbeeld als Beyoncé, stijlvol als altijd, een grote villa bezoekt en in elke kamer allerlei freakshows ziet gebeuren. Haar stoïcijnse en ijzige performance zijn de kers op de taart naast alle bizarre taferelen die zich in het huis afspelen. De video voor ‘XO’ doet ook uitstekend dienst als het gaat om het creëren van de perfecte vibe bij de muziek. Het enthousiasme waarmee Beyoncé en haar crew een dag doorbrengen in een groot pretpark, vult de warme en vrolijke song perfect aan. Beyoncé laat haar acteertalent zien in de video voor ‘Jealous’, die gebouwd is rond gevoelens als frustratie, twijfel, liefde en natuurlijk jaloezie, die ook de revue passeren in het lied.
In de krachtige clip voor ‘Superpower’, verschijnen Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams en Pharrell Williams even ten tonele en haar zusje Solange is te zien in ‘Blow’, overigens een video met een fantastische scène met rolschaatsen en fluorescerende make-up heeft. Beyoncé laat maar weer eens zien dat ze een charismatische en geloofwaardige performer is. Ze weet met veel overtuiging een lied en video vol ‘attitude’ als ‘***Flawless’ te brengen, maar tegelijkertijd ook te emotioneren met gevoelige boodschappen als in ‘Heaven’ en ‘Blue’. Daarnaast zijn haar uitdagende en seksuele uitspattingen in ‘Rocket’ en ‘Partition’ behoorlijk expliciet, maar toch blijft het sexy en wordt het nergens echt ordinair. Het visuele hoogtepunt is de briljante en beeldschone video voor ‘Mine (feat. Drake)’, geregisseerd door Pierre Debusschere. We zien creatieve beelden en choreografieën in het zand, in het wit geschilderde vrouwen, dansers en acteurs met hun hoofd bedekt onder kledingstukken en wapperende gewaden. Al deze verschillende beelden zijn perfect geëdit op de tempowisselingen in de track. Deze video weet ‘Mine’ en eigenlijk het hele album perfect samen te vatten: uitdagend, creatief, vernieuwend, enigszins ingewikkeld, maar boven alles indrukwekkend en simpelweg prachtig.
Lana Del Rey ends Born To Die era with epic short film
It is already two years ago that Lana Del Rey broke through with her worldwide hit ‘Video Games’. The singer rose to fame when she posted the video to that song on her YouTube account. A few months later she released the commercially very successful album Born To Die. Last year, she re-released the record as Born To Die: The Paradise Edition, with eight new tracks. Three of these tracks, ‘Body Electric’, ‘Gods And Monsters’ and ‘Bel Air’ now feature in the short film Tropico, an epic finale to Lana Del Rey’s incredible Born To Die era.
The lengthy campaign for her debut album is officially over with the release of Tropico and Lana and her team can look back at a very successful period with huge sales for the album, sold out tours and hit singles like ‘Video Games’, ‘Summertime Sadness’, ‘Ride’ and ‘Young & Beautiful’, the soundtrack for the movie The Great Gatsby. The visuals in Lana Del Rey’s work have been an important part in the campaign. She released some of the greatest music video’s in recent years like ‘Born To Die’, the lengthy video for ‘Ride’ and of course the gorgeous ‘National Anthem’, in which she plays the role of Jackie Kennedy.
Tropico is a short film of 25 minutes long, directed by Anthony Mandler (with whom she worked on ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Ride’ as well), which is divided in three parts that are all built around one of the songs. Of course, Del Rey plays the biggest part in the movie, together with albino model Shaun Ross, who is casted as her love interest. The film starts out with John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Jesus in the garden of Eden. This is of course a reference to the lyrics of ‘Body Electric’, where Lana sings “Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn’s my mother, Jesus is my bestest friend”. Lana herself plays Eve in the seductive environment of Eden and ‘Body Electric’ is the perfect soundtrack to this sequence. The visuals are stunning and the movements of Lana and her Adam go along perfectly with the song. The transition from the Eden part, completed with thunder and lightning, happens when Eve and Adam both taste the apple, which is linked to the next part where Del Rey is a stripper and her boyfriend a gang member.
This part is set in modern day Los Angeles and of course the song ‘Gods And Monsters’, absolutely one of the best things Lana has done so far, is used in this environment. While Del Rey works as a stripper, her boyfriend plans to rob a group of business men who just invited a group of naked female dancers to their party. Once again, the editing is brilliant when gunshots are completely synchronised with the beats of the music. Just like the video’s for ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Ride’, the transition from the second to the last part in ‘Tropico’, features a monologue by Del Rey. Although it is always a pleasure to listen to her lovely speaking voice, the monologues in her earlier video’s were sharper and more moving, where the Tropico speaking bits are a bit lengthy and vague at times. The last part sees Del Rey and Ross leave their sinful life and Los Angeles to go to a silent and peaceful landscape full of golden hills. On their way, they leave all their costly possessions behind them and change their clothes from black to white. In white, they dance and hug their way through the hills which delivers some stunning shots. It is absolutely the perfect visual to accompany the atmospheric and romantic sound of ‘Bel Air’.
I am not meaning to give an explanation for all that happens in Tropico, as I believe everybody could have an own interpretation for this piece that is rich in metaphors and symbolism. What I would like to add is that Del Rey is absolutely the only pop star that I could think of that has been so effectively creating great visuals to accompany her atmospheric and filmic music. She has had such a clear vision of what she wanted to tell with everything that had to do with this Born To Die chapter in her career, which is absolutely impressive. In my eyes, everything from the music to the videos and her cover art and other photo shoots, have been perfection. It is a great relief to hear that she is no longer planning to retire after Tropico, but announced she is working on her second album Ultraviolence. I am already beyond excited to see what she will come up with next.
Eliza Doolittle makes her lover run 6000 miles in new video
Eliza Doolittle recently released her second album In Your Hands and the singer is promoting this release with a new single. Last summer, she returned to the music scene with her happy and catchy new single ‘Big When I Was Little’ and followed that one up with the strong and poppy ‘Let It Rain’ a few months later. Now it is time to launch the official third single ‘Walking On Water’ with a lovely video accompany the release.
A few weeks ago I already wrote about Eliza’s new album In My Hands, that shows the development of the young singer in recent years. She still has a recognizable style, but she definitely makes a bit more mature pop music these days. Songs like ‘Checkmate’, ‘Back Packing’ and ‘No Man Can’ are all great pop tracks with strong choruses and interesting lyrics. Doolittle decided to release ‘Walking On Water’ as next single. This song is just as upbeat as most of her output, but sounds a bit more electronic. Still, it has got her cheekiness in the lyrics when she sings: “Sometimes I wish I was Jesus, I’d get my Airmax on and run across the sea for you”.
In the cute video for the track however, we do not see Eliza run. The singer indeed puts her airmax on, but she only uses them to dance across the kitchen and her living room. She lets her lover do all the running. He starts more than 6900 miles away from her, but makes his way towards her by running and swimming and even heals a man in a wheelchair on his way, like the real Jesus would do. Meanwhile Eliza is enjoying herself by being extremely pretty, a bit of dancing, playing video games and taking a bath. It is nice to see how the director of the video synchronized the actions of the lovers. When Eliza plays a racing video game, her lover cheats a bit by travelling on a motor bike and when she takes a bath he jumps in the ocean. When he finally makes his way to her front door she is surprised to see him. Happy end! Oh by the way, Eliza, please release that potential big hit ‘Checkmate’ as next single!
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Eliza Doolittle laat geliefde duizenden kilometers lopen in nieuwe video
Eliza Doolittle bracht onlangs haar tweede album In Your Hands uit en de zangeres promoot dit met de release van een nieuwe single. Afgelopen zomer was ze terug met een nieuwe vrolijke en catchy single ‘Big When I Was Little’ die ze enkele maanden later opvolgde met de sterke popplaat ‘Let It Rain’. Nu is het tijd om de officiële derde single ‘Walking On Water’ te lanceren met een gloednieuwe videoclip.
Enkele weken geleden schreef ik al over het nieuwe album In Your Hands, dat een ontwikkeling in de stijl van de jonge zangeres liet zien. Haar nummers hebben nog steeds een herkenbare sound, maar het klinkt allemaal wat volwassener tegenwoordig. ‘Checkmate’, ‘Back Packing’ en ‘No Man Can’ zijn goede popsongs met sterke refreinen en interessante songteksten. Doolittle besloot om ‘Walking On Water’ als nieuwe single uit te brengen. Dit lied heeft dezelfde herkenbare opgewektheid als haar meeste werk, maar ze laat hier een iets meer electronisch geluid horen. Het beetje ondeugendheid wat vaak in haar teksten terugkwam is ook hier niet verdwenen als ze zingt: “Sometimes I wish I was Jesus, I’d get my Airmax on and run across the sea for you”.
In de aandoenlijke video voor het liedje zien we Eliza echter niet rennen. De zangeres doet wel haar airmax aan, maar die gebruikt ze alleen om door de keuken en haar woonkamer te dansen. Het rennen laat ze aan haar geliefde over. Hij begint duizenden kilometers bij haar vandaan, maar komt langzaam maar zeker naar haar toe door te rennen en zwemmen en hij heeft zelfs tijd om onderweg als een echte Jezus een man in een rolstoel te genezen. Ondertussen maakt Eliza zich niet al te druk en is ze vooral bezig met ontzettend mooi zijn. Ze danst een beetje, speelt een video game en gaat rustig even in bad. Het is leuk om te zien hoe de regisseur de handelingen van beide geliefden heeft aangepast aan elkaar. Als Eliza een race spelletje speelt, smokkelt haar vriend een paar kilometer door op een scooter te rijden en wanneer ze kopje onder gaat in bad, springt hij in zee om een stuk te zwemmen. Als hij dan toch eindelijk zijn weg naar haar voordeur heeft gevonden is ze verrast hem te zien. Eind goed, al goed! Oh en Eliza, breng ‘Checkmate’ als volgende single uit, want daarmee heb je een hit in handen!
