Natasha Bedingfield – “Touch”

Published May 19th 2010
Filed under Reviews


Natasha Bedingfield’s new single Touch was thrown onto the US iTunes Store yesterday with no announcement of a new album campaign starting so soon. Touch, written by Natasha herself, Steve Kipner and Julian Bunetta, sees Natasha trying out a new sound unlike anything she has done before. It also doesn’t sound like it’s ripping off anything around at the moment. It’s very fresh, uptempo, feel-good, dance-pop.

As a lead single, Touch could be a slight risk. While it shows a clear progression in Natasha’s sound and builds on previous songs such as The One That Got Away and Not Givin’ Up, Touch isn’t a sure-fire hit. A guaranteed hit is something Natasha probably needs, especially in the UK since her previous effort, N.B., flopped but regardless she returned with something surprisingly original, interesting and a bit daring.

Touch opens with a hypnotic, synth-building verse featuring some of Natasha’s best signature storytelling lyrics which made songs such as These Words, Unwritten, We’re All Mad and Backyard so interesting and unique. The story in Touch is told quite cleverly, with the second verse explaining what led to the coffee-spilling incident which happens in the first verse. A lyric in the second verse which demonstrates Natasha’s clever storytelling is:

It seems that spilling coffee was no accident at all

After each verse, the song erupts into a melodic, dance-driven, feel-good chorus which instantly creates the atmosphere of a summer night’s party. If handled correctly, Touch could be a huge summer hit with such a chorus.

Overall, Touch is quite an impressive lead single for Natasha and hopefully it will aid her return to success in the UK after a disappointing sophomore stint.

[audio:touch.mp3]

Touch, taken from the Natasha’s third studio album (second in the UK) and follow-up to 2008’s Pocketful of Sunshine (2007’s N.B. in the UK), has yet to be added to radio or scheduled for release internationally. The upcoming, yet to be titled album also has no tentative released date.

Kylie Minogue – “All The Lovers”

Published May 15th 2010
Filed under Reviews


I was reluctant to write about Kylie Minogue’s new single All The Lovers from her forthcoming album Aphrodite when it premiered yesterday as the song didn’t grab me as fast as a lead single should. After a lot of listening, the song has started to grow on me and I’ve made up my mind about it.

All The Lovers is a mid-tempo, electro-pop ballad and very coherent to Kylie’s sound. While the melody and production are both very good, All The Lovers just doesn’t sound like a lead single. Nice is the only way to describe the song. It sounds more like a third or fourth single from an album campaign because it’s not all the things a lead single should be. It’s not instantly grabbing, it’s not pushing any boundaries and it doesn’t get stuck in your head. Having listened to the song multiple times, if I was asked how the song goes, I would have no idea how to sing it.

The song sounds like it could have been released anywhere between 2005 and now. It’s not a fresh sound but it’s more powerful than most mid-tempo ballads. I wouldn’t describe All The Lovers as anthemic, but it does sound very strong and melancholic. The production, by Kish Mauve, is very polished but it’s almost more crucial to the song than the melody or the vocal.

Lyrically, All The Lovers is nothing new. The most interesting piece of writing is probably in the chorus where Kylie metaphorically talks about her ex-lovers as if they’ve passed away. Elsewhere in the song, she generically talks about dancing and being with the person she loves.

For the middle-eight, the track gets completely stripped back to just Kylie’s vocal and a piano before launching back into quite a hypnotic instrumental, the only experimental and refreshing part of the song, before reaching the final chorus.

All The Lovers is a nice song but that’s about all there is to it. It would make a very strong album track but as a lead single, it doesn’t make much sense. It should have been left to become one of those songs like Speakerphone, a standout album track which the fans can appreciate but nothing more.

Kylie releases All The Lovers on June 28th followed by her eleventh studio album Aphrodite on July 2nd.

Katy Perry – “California Gurls”

Published May 09th 2010
Filed under Reviews


Katy Perry’s lead single California Gurls from her upcoming second album premiered this week via her official website with the statement “Summer starts now!”. California Gurls, produced by Dr. Luke, features rapper Snoop Dogg and sounds like a summer anthem which could rival the success of Katy’s 2008 huge hit I Kissed A Girl.

The problem with California Gurls as a lead single and also a comeback single is that the chorus has no stand out lyric to catch onto. Having listened to the song quite a number of times, it’s hard to remember any of the lyrics from the chorus. The only thing that keeps me returning for another listen is the addictive melody present throughout the track.

The production on the track sounds a bit raw and unfinished. On first listen, it sounded like it was an unfinished demo. The vocals are swallowed by the music for most of the song and it’s hard to understand why it was intentionally produced that way. California Gurls also sounds very similar to Dr. Luke’s recent hit with Ke$ha, TiK ToK, to the extent where the chorus of each song could be interchanged between their respective tracks and fit perfectly with the only alteration being the pitch.

Regardless, California Gurls is a strong enough lead single to become a hit despite its similarities to TiK ToK and it’s a solid effort from Katy showing some progression from the sound of her debut album One of The Boys. Even Snoop Dogg’s rap doesn’t sound out of place or forced although the misspelling of “girls” in the title could have been avoided but it’s hardly surprising as it seems to be a Dr. Luke reoccurring trend.

You can listen to California Gurls on Katy Perry’s official website now.

Robyn – Body Talk Pt. 1

Published April 11th 2010
Filed under Reviews

Robyn’s been working on the follow up to her 2005 self-titled album for a while but for some reason it wasn’t an album I was eagerly awaiting. So it wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t notice when Robyn uploaded a new album track, Fembot from her upcoming album Body Talk Pt. 1, to her official site a few weeks ago.

Fembot surprised me on first listen since I didn’t think much of her recent collaborations such as Christian Falk’s Dream On and Röyksopp’s The Girl And The Robot. Fembot sounds like a coherent progression from the sound of Robyn’s previous album, building on the style of tracks such as the updated international versions of Bum Like You and Robotboy. You can take a listen to Fembot below:

[audio:fembot.mp3]

The album artwork for Body Talk Pt. 1, the first of two or possibly three albums which Robyn plans to release this year, also looks really impressive with some interesting song titles.

1. Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do
2. Fembot
3. Dancing On My Own
4. Cry When You Get Older
5. Dance Hall Queen
6. None of Dem (Featuring Röyksopp)
7. Hang With Me (Acoustic)
8. Jag Vet En Dejlig Rosa

Body Talk Pt. 1 will be released through Robyn’s label Konichiwa Records on June 14th following the lead single Dancing On My Own on June 7th.

Diana Vickers Album Sampler Review

Published February 21st 2010
Filed under Reviews


Diana Vickers’ debut album has been much anticipated since she finished The X Factor in 4th place in 2008. This week her album tracklist was released via her official website along with the album title Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree. Today the album sampler for Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree leaked onto the internet two months in advance of the scheduled release date.

The sampler includes the following five tracks:

01. Once – The Cathy Dennis and Eg White penned debut single which puts everything people loved about Diana on The X Factor into its 3 minutes, 12 seconds while also defining her sound as a artist. While Once is a debut single, Diana’s unique quirky vocal makes her recognisable and it seems like you are listening to an established artist rather than a new one.

02. Remake Me And You – A Diana co-write with Brit Award winner Ellie Goulding and Guy Sigsworth which sounds a bit Alphabeat-esque. It’s very repetitive and doesn’t seem to reach where it’s trying to go but instead sounds like it’s going around in circles.

03. The Boy Who Murdered Love – Another Diana co-write with Chris Braide. The verses sound like a good Gwen Stefani ballad while the chorus escalates into another one-word repeating spree similar to Once but with a darker, melancholic melody.

04. My Hip – A Harmony Boucher and Tobias Karlsson track. After a few listens, My Hip is definitely the weakest song on the sampler but it’s still listenable. It just seems to plod along with nothing really interesting about it. The production is nice but the song lacks a stronger melody.

05. Put It Back Together Again – A Nerina Pallot track and the best song on the sampler. It’s very melancholic and atmospheric. It’s by far Diana’s best vocal to date. It builds like a big Snow Patrol ballad. The only thing to fault with this track is the mouthful in the chorus when Diana tries to squeeze “put it back together again” into such a small time frame.

Overall, the album is shaping up to be quite a strong debut and possibly the best debut to come from an ex-X Factor contestant yet. It proves that spending time to develop a sound instead of rush-releasing an album off the back of The X Factor pays off as Diana is demonstrating with this album.

Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree is set for release on April 26th through RCA Records.