Adam Lambert may be ‘just’ the runner-up of one of the world’s most talked about talent shows, American Idol, but he is far from a second grade pop star. In his latest offering, Trespassing, he delivers one of the best male pop albums of all time, full of exciting dance tracks and a display of some show stopping vocal technique. Adam is not just a man who knows how to put a song together – he can actually sing too! No need for auto tune here. Continue reading
Cheryl's first promotional shot for her lead single
Today is a great day for lovers of the pop world, especially those in the UK! Cheryl Cole, the nation’s sweetheart has released the date of her brand new single ‘Call My Name’, which will get its first radio play this Friday from 8.10am across all British radio stations and will be officially released June 10. Not only this, but the name for her third studio album was revealed to be ‘A Million Lights’ which will officially be released just 8 days later on June 18.
Survivor is back, and five episodes in, there has been a major reaction to this season’s villain, Mr. Colton Cumbie.
Some have deemed his comments to be racist, classist, and downright rude. Whilst the latter may be true, this season would be completely boring without him. Continue reading
Whitney Houston was and always will be one of the most talented people to have graced this planet. Her unique melodious tones and great acting ability will definitely be things that are missed by millions across the world. Today, we have to say goodbye to this wonderful lady after she was found dead at the mere age of 48 in her hotel room, but she will forever live on in our hearts.
Whitney was no saint, as anyone who knows anything about her will know, but who in life doesn’t make mistakes? In May 2011, Whitney had enrolled into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center - she knew she needed help and she was trying to get it.
More recently, Whitney had just wrapped filming of her latest film ‘Sparkle’, and was due to attend the 2012 Grammy Awards Show tonight. There are also reports that she had been planning talks to enter the role of judge in The X Factor USA, replacing either Nicole Scherzinger or Paula Abdul.
Things were looking on the up for the troubled star, and it is truly a tragedy to lose someone so special and loved in the musical world.
Rest in peace, Whitney Houston.
In the past, my GaGa video reviews and interpretations have been elaborate and extremely well developed (at least, in my eyes). This video touched me like no other video ever has. I think it’d be better therefore that I simply write a few points that sum up what the video, in my mind, is portraying.
The end of the video really touched me. I think it was in homage to the beginning of the Born This Way video. After working so hard to become the woman she wanted to be, she finally did it and was reborn into the star we all know and love today.
Lady GaGa is nothing short of a genius, and I am so happy that she has all the success she now does, because she truly, truly deserves it. A real modern day piece of art. Enjoy it; it’s going to go down in history.
Today, Rihanna’s video for her latest single ‘We Found Love‘ was released, and with it comes a hell of a lot more outrage and controversy.
Whilst the video was positively accepted by hundreds of thousands of Rihanna’s ‘Navy’ with some calling it her best video yet, critics were quick to jump on the video for its flagrant drug abuse and raunchy scenes. Continue reading
Amy Jade Winehouse was today found dead in her London flat, unable to be saved by the London Ambulance Service who found her at 3:54PM. Her death is currently being treated by police as unexplained. It is however hard not to guess that substance abuse would have led to her untimely demise.
Amy had such a gift and unique voice, that her death at just 27 years-old is a terrible loss to the music industry. Amy had recently been recording with the likes of Tony Bennett for new material that is yet to be released, and was seen with her god-daughter Dionne Bromfield earlier this week at the iTunes festival.
Amy will forever be in my heart, and her music will always hold a place in my iTunes library.
Winehouse will be the latest member of the infamous ‘27 club‘, which includes rock-stars such as Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, who all died at the age of 27.
Harry Potter is a franchise that has now lived on for fourteen years, and is one that is poised to live forever. Today the premiere of the final Harry Potter film, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II’ aired to millions of fans worldwide, who watched through blurred, teary vision as they waved goodbye to some of the greats who helped bring the magical world of Hogwarts, and the wonderful characters of Harry, Hermione, Ron and the like to life, and the big screen.
It’s strange to think that at some point in the future, this fantastic piece of literature and motion picture will most likely be studied nationwide in schools, colleges and universities. Over 400 million copies of the series of books have been sold worldwide, with the figure still steadily creeping up. It is down to the wonderful and extraordinary writing talent of J.K.Rowling that this series has been such a successful one, and she will forever remain my Queen of Literature.
Potter fans have been told not to worry, however. It seems that the final installment of the film will not be the final building block for this gigantic creation, as the website Pottermore will be launched in October, with a select few being able to access the site early from the 31st July. An announcement was made by Rowling, hoping to provide some insight into what the site would actually be about, but it seemed to cause even more confusion than answer any questions.
One thing is for certain. Harry Potter has left it’s own lightning bolt scar on the world of today, and the future to come. Long live the boy who lived.
Is anybody else clapping like a proud mother? Sure, it’s probably true that the two tracks that’d do best as a single have already been released from the album, but what a strong album it is, aside from the obvious “UGH!” track that is ‘Big Fat Bass’. Britney has returned to form, and I see fans screaming “Blackout who!?” I can’t take it-take it no more… let’s get down to the review. (Well, this is more like heavy opinion, but they slot perfectly together, correct?)
Till The World Ends – As soon as I heard this song, I wanted to run down the nearest club and request it on a loop. I AM GONNA GRIND TO THIS SONG ON THE NEXT TOUR. I’m glad there’s no Ke$ha duet, as rumoured, but props to her for writing a great song. 5/5
Hold It Against Me – Another dance track! After seeing the video, I just wanna whip on a pair of heels and kick the shit out of some personal issues. “Little HAZAY” – WHAT A LYRIC. My favourite lyric from the whole album. The attitude shown in Brit Brit’s voice. YES. Just yes. 4/5
Inside Out – SO COME ON! I love the little reference with the lyric “Hit me one more time”. It made me smile, like that stupid little emoticon with the D mouth. This song is great also. My head just sways from side to side with a little aggressive FLICK each time. 4/5
I Wanna Go – My favourite when I listened to the snippets, although, that’s now changed. Shame, on me… Anyhow, the little whistles in the background get me going every time. The stutter has been branded as a tad annoying by some, but I think it’s kinda what makes the song. & guess what… it’s another track you can shake your thing to! 5/5
How I Roll – Who does that manly voice belong to? He should speak to me 24/7 with auto-tune correcting his voice, obviously. Yum. When I listened to the album as a whole for the first time, this was my favourite track (which has now changed, again). It’s so CHILL. Until Britney says ‘fuck’. I was in shock. She sounds high, to be honest. Not that I’m implying she is, it actually makes the song all the better. 5/5
(Drop Dead) Beautiful (feat. Sabi) – Oh hi Sabi. Not seen you round these parts before. Can’t for the life of me imagine why… In my opinion, this is about as high as Sabi’s career will reach. Good on her though, featuring on a Britney album is probably one of the biggest honours for a previously relatively unknown artist. The song, as a whole, is quite cute. The double entendre meaning shown in the track title is clever, which makes me respect the song a lot more than I probably would have if, say, the song was just called Beautiful. Sabi’s verse comes… and leaves… and we’re back to Britney and all is right again. 3/5
Seal It With A Kiss - I expected more, I’m not gonna lie to you. The song just seems all too dreary, and the introduction sounds familiar. (The oo-ooo-oo-oo, I just can’t place it). Once again, though, Brit claws my attention with the catchy chorus, which was then stuck in my head all night. Girl knows what she’s doing. 2.5/5
Big Fat Bass (feat. will.i.am) - No. NO! GET OFF MY PERFECT ALBUM. STOP RUINING IT. WHY did Brit’s team allow this shambles onto the album, and at such a long LENGTH. Almost five minutes of repetitive shit, how annoying. Will’s vocals are annoying, they make me wanna *head-desk*. It’s becoming apparent that Britney should just not duet *at all*. (Unless it’s with Beyo, GaGa or Ri). The only thing this song has going for it is the clever use of innuendo. Bass is getting bigger etc. Other than that, I just wanna throw it aside. 1/5
Trouble For Me – My CURRENT favourite. Great vocals from Britney, and nice arrangements! I really hope this makes it as a single. “You got something that I like, but I might regret it”. This song should totally be the prequel to Rihanna’s California King Bed. ADORE IT. 5/5
Trip To Your Heart – Annoying as hell intro, but cutest song on the album. I like the lyrics a lot, but the way they’re sang doesn’t really fit for me. I think this song’s a grower, I’ll probably be throwing it praises in a few weeks, but for now, not the best. (As I’m listening to it now, I’m totally loving the chorus. IT’S ALREADY WORKING). 2.5/5
Gasoline – FEISTY. Attitude, which I love. This is what really *should* be the next single, it’d probably sell the most records, and would sound great on radio. The chorus really is a treat, and catchy as hell. WORK IT BRITNEY. 5/5
Criminal – Does anyone else wanna grab a flute and play along? Whilst dressed in Tudor outfits? Just me…? I’ve seen a few negative comments about the use of the flute in this track, but I absolutely LOVE it! This song is sad! I just wanna go up to Brit and save her from her terrible love for this nasty guy. DON’T DO IT BRIT, STICK TO NICE GUYS. Kinda reminds me of a Western song? Little bit shoot out? If this makes it to a single (which I doubt very much, but you never know), I want Brit in a cowboy hat, and boots to match. Lovely way to end the album. 4/5
All in all, I’m so very impressed. The album has longevity, I can’t see myself or other big Britney fans getting bored any time soon, and now all that’s left to do is wait for the Till The World Ends video, and WORLD tour! Exciting times! Well done Britney!
-applauds-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw
Well, well, well. Another video that seems to have a much deeper meaning than what’s on the surface.
The video starts with an inverted triangle, and the head of a unicorn! Cute, eh? I’ll have more to say about the triangle at the end of my interpretation. GaGa begins by telling us we are on the planet of G.O.A.T, where Mother Monster is continuously giving birth to what I’m guessing is her little monsters! From previous interviews, we are told by GaGa that the video would show the birth of a new race who are “free of prejudice”. It’s pretty much clear now that GaGa was referring to her fans as the new race, accepting everybody for who they are.
HOWEVER! On the same day as the birth of “freedom”, is something more sinister. The “birth of evil”. The look of anguish on the faces of this particular race, along with them being tied and bound is quite shocking, followed by Mother Evil seemingly giving birth to a gigantic gun. Good seems to be prevailing, but Evil is fighting back. (with the gun, taking shots). Lindsey Anderson pointed out in the comments section how church bells can be heard when the gun is being fired. I believe that this could be representative of the growing pressure on churches to allow same-sex marriage. Evil is fighting against this proposition, but Good prevails, allowing the marriages.
“How can I protect something so perfect, without evil”. Could this quote be hinting that evil is needed in order to maintain balance and freedom?
The song begins, everyone is on their knees except for GaGa. My initial thoughts were are they worshipping her? It seems so until GaGa joins them on the floor, showing signs of unity and equality. The first verse and chorus are danced to by this united group, and it seems like good has prevailed! We’re then swiftly moved to a shot of GaGa in skeletal makeup, with one other; a male, wearing the same. Is this Evil? Or possibly the spouses of evil? There was mention of evil splitting into two earlier on in the video. Perhaps these are the representations of those two parts. They’re segregated, alone, but still in existence. (Linking back to the hinting that evil is in fact needed).
The group of Good are all joined, hugging one another, proud. The female Evil (spouse?) seems to be converting, singing and dancing along to the meaningful lyrics. However, male Evil stands, seemingly unwilling to change.
The shelves of heads are representative of the vessels of the unborn, waiting until they’re ready to be born! Mother Monster gave birth to something that looked very similar earlier on in the video (with the kaleidoscope double mirrored type shots). ((These also seem to resemble the heads placed upon the piano during GaGa’s Grammy performance! I love how she dropped us a hint and nobody realised.))
Birth is continuously shown throughout the video, linking back to the statement that the birth is infinite. (Poor Mother Monster, she’s gonna be in a lot of pain!)
I squealed the first time I saw GaGa give the middle finger in this video. It made me smile, SO MUCH. It’s a big “fuck you” to all the people who won’t accept you for who you are. The whole united front, and togetherness shown in this video really makes me beam.
GaGa ends by strutting down her glitter pathway, a tear falling from her eye. Happiness for the new race, or upset that the real world is so far away from the perfection shown throughout the video? The race is complete. Finally, a race who will not be judgemental, a race without prejudice and a race to be proud of. GaGa jumps onto her unicorn, once again shown inside a triangle, however, the triangle is this time the right way up.
I believe that the inverted triangle at the beginning of the video represented the trauma and unbalanced world that once was. Now that the new race has arrived, the world has completely turned around (as has the triangle), becoming a much better place. It’s also known that the pink triangle was slapped onto gay men during the Holocaust.
A rainbow is shown over GaGa and her unicorn, which to me signifies happiness. Female Evil pops gum. All worries are gone.
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I loved the video. I really love to sit and look at what GaGa has come up with now, and try to think of the narrative behind all the dancing and lyrics. Feel free to ask questions in the little comments box below and I will do my damned best to try to come up with an explanation to your question. I don’t hold all the answers, I’ve probably only got 10% of the plotline here, if that at all. I could be completely wrong, but this is what I got from the video, and I’ve come away from it with the biggest smile on my face.
UPDATE – Someone came to me with the idea that GaGa is entering deep into a state of consciousness. The point at which Evil seems to be converting could be an attempt to show how everyone, no matter who, has pure love deep inside themselves. The flowers around Mother Monster could be there to show the transition into consciousness.
Just put your paws up.
