Kesha is not slowing down anytime soon with the release of the second single ‘Woman’ taken from upcoming album Rainbow. Continue reading
Single Review: Kesha – Woman
Tag Archives: single
Single Review: Justin Bieber – Sorry
Check A Bit of Pop Music’s review on Justin’s album Purpose here!
Justin Bieber strikes again with new single ‘Sorry’
Justin Bieber recently managed to turn the public perception about him around in quite a short amount of time. His collaboration with Jack Ü called ‘Where Are U Now’ marked a change where he was taken more seriously as a pop star and he outdid himself on ‘What Do You Mean’, the first single from his upcoming album Purpose, which reached number 1 almost everywhere in the world and is by far the biggest international hit of his career. It is always hard to follow up such a huge success, but it seems he found a suitable successor in ‘Sorry’. Bieber just premiered the ‘dance version’ of the music video and it sounds delicious!
Single Review: Ella Eyre – Good Times
Ella Eyre releases another top 10 worthy single
Most people who have any interest in the UK charts and music industry are familiar with the distinctive and powerful voice of Ella Eyre. The singer featured on number 1 hit ‘Waiting All Night’ by Rudimental and top 5 song ‘Gravity’ by DJ Fresh. Surprisingly enough, she has released quite a few singles on her own now, but none of them have made it to the top 10 in the UK. Her next single from the still to be released debut album Feline is called ‘Good Times’. Could this be her first big solo hit?
Song of the Day: Foxes – Body Talk
Review:
After her literally Glorious debut to the pop scene, all sorts of ‘oh my, there is good pop music coming our way’ alerts go off in my head when British singer-songwriter and pop starlet Foxes announces a new single. Just over a year after her first album full of perfect pop tracks like ‘Let Go For Tonight’ and ‘Youth’, she premiered the first track of her still to be titled sophomore album, ‘Body Talk’, on BBC Radio 1. I didn’t think it was possible after that hooks driven debut full of monumental choruses, but she went in an even more pure pop direction!
Song of the Day: The Common Linnets – We Don’t Make The Wind Blow
The Common Linnets back with soundtrack for Wayward Pines
A year after their impressive second place at the Eurovision Song Contest last year, The Common Linnets are back with a new single with international potential. After the success of ‘Calm After The Storm’ they released an album that gained success all over Europe and now they are even crossing over to the United States as they recorded their new single ‘We Don’t Make The Wind Blow’ as the soundtrack of the brand new Fox series Wayward pines.
Single Review: Florence + the Machine – St. Jude
Florence explores new sounds on upcoming third record
Florence + the Machine are in the midst of the promotion of their upcoming third album called How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. In February, Florence Welch and her band launched their immense comeback single ‘What Kind Of Man’ with loud vocals and a whirlwind of a chorus. The second track to be taken from the new album, ‘St. Jude’, is kind of the opposite and seems to function as the calm after the storm.
Single Review: Brandon Flowers – Can’t Deny My Love
Brandon Flowers back with second solo project
Did you ever imagine what it would sound like if you mix the sound of the HAIM sisters with eighties synths and gorgeous male vocals? No? Well, you don’t need to imagine it anymore, because you can just play Brandon Flowers’ new single. The lead singer of the band The Killers is back with a brand new song called ‘Can’t Deny My Love’, the first track to be released from his second solo album called The Desired Effect, which will launch on 18 May.
Single Review: Sia – Big Girls Cry
Sia continues promotion for new album with promo single ‘Big Girls Cry’
Sia is busy promoting the upcoming release of her new studio album 1000 Forms Of Fear. The singer, who focused a bit more on composing for and collaborating with other artists recently, is ready to take over the world again as a pop star herself. A few months ago she launched the single ‘Chandelier’, which is absolutely one of the best songs of the year so far. The track is still generating buzz and growing when it comes to airplay and sales in the US, with the help of a few eye catching tv performances. Now that the release of the album is only a week away, she decided to put the track ‘Big Girls Cry’ online, and once again it is pretty amazing.
What made ‘Chandelier’ such a brilliant song, is the endless row of great hooks that make up the structure of the song. The lyrics are great and powerful and the vulnerability in Sia’s voice during the vocally challenging parts tops it all off perfectly. She went on to release ‘Eye of the Needle’ as next promo single. This more down tempo and emotionally moving song sounds like a typical Sia track but at the same time showed another side to this album than ‘Chandelier’. ‘Big Girls Cry’ sits comfortably somewhere in between these tracks with a gorgeous and captivating chorus, not as huge and in your face as ‘Chandelier’, but a bit more poppy and instant than ‘Eye of the Needle’.
Sia dit reign it in a bit more vocally this time around which is good in terms of variety. This does not make the chorus any less great and atmospheric. The track is very instant and the transition from the verses towards the chorus where she sings ‘I’m at home, on my own, check my phone, nothing though, act busy, order in, pay TV, it’s agony’, works brilliantly and is an emotional and honest moment lyrically. The standard of the tracks released so far of this album, including the thrilling ‘Elastic Heart’ from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack is so incredibly high, that I am already pretty sure, 1000 Forms Of Fear will be one of my favourite records of this year.
Single Review: Jessie Ware – Tough Love
New Jessie Ware single is sexy summer breeze
Jessie Ware was one of the most exciting new talents in pop when she released her debut album Devotion late 2012. She managed to distinguish herself from everyone else out there with her smooth mix of soulful vocals, electronic productions and some big pop choruses. The record proved to be a grower in terms of success and eventually gave Jessie the opportunity to tour internationally. After a re-release the singer took a break to work on her much anticipated new album, expected to be released later this year. Ware just started promoting the upcoming release of her sophomore effort with the premiere of outstanding new single ‘Tough Love’.
The great thing about this single is that it manages to do, exactly what it should be doing: it still has got Jessie’s signature sound all over it, but at the same time she spices things up by trying new things. Vocally for example, the singer takes a whole different approach on this track. Like she explained in an interview with Pitchfork, she has gained the confidence to show more of herself vocally. Although her debut Devotion is a classy quality record with beautiful vocals, in live shows she showed that she is even capable of much more when it comes to her incredibly strong and versatile voice. On ‘Tough Love’ she proves this by singing the whole track in a quite high register of her voice, which sounds refreshing and surprisingly sexy. This whole sexy vibe is not only in her vocals, but also in the smooth and understated production of the song.
The lyrics of ‘Tough Love’ are actually quite personal and emotional, dealing with missing one another in a long distance relationship. Ware’s choice for a stripped back production with all kinds of subtle sound effects, only adds to the beautiful message of the song. Her repitition of the words ‘That’s called tough love’ and ‘You’ll have me crying out, crying out for more’ is almost magical and provides a great hook to this melodically stunning piece of electronic soul. Let’s just agree that this is the smooth, sensual, sexy and warm summer breeze we were all longing for.
Single Review: Mapei – Change
Mapei releases highly anticipated follow-up single
The American born and Stockholm raised singer Mapei made waves on the internet in October when she released the exquisite single ‘Don’t Wait’. Over the past few months the song kept growing in popularity, and now, more than seven months later, she is ready to release the next single from her forthcoming debut album. On tuesday she launched the song ‘Change’. If you expect a ‘Don’t Wait’ part 2, you might be disappointed. If you expect a great pop track, you are in for a treat.
Mapei used to operate as a rapper in the Swedish underground scene, but received international recognition with the release of ‘Don’t Wait’, which shows the girl can sing as well. Lots of people expected great things from her, including me, as I put her in my list of most promising artists for this year. ‘Change’ is the first new material we hear from her since the release of this successful single and although it is hard to compare the two, she definitely does not disappoint. ‘Change’ is a great pop track with a strong and powerful chorus that show off Mapei’s raspy vocals perfectly.
‘Don’t Wait’ impressed with its laidback vibe, absolutely excellent production and subtle but irrestibly catchy melody and chorus. Although ‘Change’ can not yet match the brilliance of its predecessor, it still is a great track that shows a whole different side to Mapei as an artist. The track and especially the chorus, are a lot more ‘in your face’, which works with her distinctive vocals as well. Once again, the production with the rolling drums is very much on point. While ‘Don’t Wait’ had some influences from R&B, ‘Change’ is more of a straightforward pop record, but still her past in hiphop is recognizable in both tracks. Her personal mark is all over both of the tracks and makes me all the more excited for her debut album Hey Hey, that will be released in September.