Holy fuck! Two weeks in a row?! You bet your ass! Welcome to another, apparently fully revived, edition of the five song Friday, kids!! I have some slow stuff, some boy band stuff, and some dance stuff for you today, so we are going a bit all over the place today, if you’re up for it. I am glad that I was able to find a way to share the music again, because I love talking about music that I believe is worth praising; especially when most people wouldn’t hear about it otherwise. Here’s hoping you enjoy this week’s selection! Now, on to the fun…
Greg Laswell – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
I love a great cover, and this one is fantastic. We saw Greg Laswell (finally!) live last week when he opened up for Sara Bareilles, and he played this little gem; which I had never heard, but apparently, has been on like 5 soundtracks. He performed this song amazingly live, and I immediately downloaded it when I got home from the show. I love how playful, and endearing it is; especially when you consider the Cyndi Lauper original, which I would have thought was almost impossible to improve upon. Well, Greg, you’ve done more than improved upon it, you’ve turned it into something delightful, and completely beautiful all on its own. I’m glad he played it at the show; otherwise, I might not have known it even existed. Listen to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun here.
Jeremy Messersmith – A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard
I have to say, I am a sucker for shows that use songs like this during some pivotal scene. I think this one came from the Vampire Diaries (totally guilty pleasure show), and I love that I could find it using that Shazam app on my phone. This song is beautiful, and whoever the music director is for that show, you are a genius (I’ve found so many great ones from you!). This song complimented the touching scene it was used in, AND got me to run out and buy this track soon after the episode aired. The song reminds me a lot of acoustic artists like Joshua Radin, but the vocal has an oldness to it, almost like a Simon and Garfunkel feel. Definitely a beautiful song, and one I’m glad to have been able to find! Listen to A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard here.
The Wanted – All Time Low
For as long as I can remember, I have been a sucker for boy bands. From New Kids on the Block back in the day, up through the Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, and my overarching, undying love and devotion for Westlife, it’s no surprise that I keep my eye out for new boy-band driven pop. A lot of the time, the stuff that comes out is, well, less than stellar, but occasionally, a pure pop gem comes around; and that is what we have here folks. Will these guys be more than their predecessors? That is pretty doubtful, seeing as boy bands are still pretty much a thing of the past these days, but if they can give us some fun pop songs to enjoy along the way, I will be more than happy. This song is perfect for the radio… that is, UK/European radio; this will never be on US airways, which sucks (but at least we get to hear about it thanks to the internet, right?). Overall, I have been playing this song on repeat for a few weeks now after discovering it on the top 20 UK tracks, and I have been loving it ever since. I noticed that they have a full-length debut coming up very soon, and I can only hope that there are more great pop songs like this one on it. I’ve heard another promising single (Heart Vacancy), so fingers crossed that the rest of the album is great as well! Listen to All Time Low here.
Jes – Closer
I had no idea at the time, but the first time I heard of Jes, was when I heard the amazing collaboration between her and Gabriel and Dresden called Motorcycle, back in 2003, with one of the best songs of that entire year, As The Rush Comes. After that, Jes popped back on my radar in early 2008, with the 5SF-featured, Around You (JukiBe Remix). Most recently, Jes is back on my radar screen with this fantastic little dance-pop number, which I saw the video for, and immediately wanted to hear more and more. I love the edge that it has, and her throaty and raspy vocal delivery is a great compliment to something so hard hitting. Overall, this is a great song for her, and I hope she gets some dance-radio airplay; it’s a great down-tempo dance song! Listen to Closer here.
Rihanna – Only Girl (In the World)
I will be the first to admit that I am abnormally hard on Rihanna. I have been a major critic of her work, and honestly feel she is studio produced for the most part (not that it’s a bad thing, but don’t try to sing live if you can’t pull it off completely; do the right thing and lip sync for your life!), and tends to copy trends set forth by artists that were more indie or more creative, and did it quite a bit before her (and then rockets it to the radio without throwing them a bone). That being said, I have to give credit where credit is due; this song is brilliant. It has infectious beats, club-filling synth licks, and a great amalgamation of some of her best hits (S.O.S and Please Don’t Stop The Music, most notably) all rolled into one. It is a song that I heard once and was thought I wouldn’t like it, because again, I’m hard on this chick, but I ended up loving it, and have been playing it more and more since it was released. It may not be anything terribly new, but it’s Rihanna, and it’s a fun track. She may have some flaws, but clearly, she has some good points as well. Listen to Only Girl (In The World) here.
What did you think? As always, leave me some comments to let me know what you thought, and suggest some stuff that you are in love with as well!
Hear me out. I will admit that I was never that big of a New Kids fan. I thought Hanging Tough was a bit silly, but I had the tape. Cut to earlier this summer when we heard the news that the New Kids were releasing a new CD. Okay… what can we expect? After hearing the first single Summertime, I was sure that we shouldn’t expect too much; it isn’t very good. Yet, being the lover of all things pop that I am, I couldn’t ignore the whole record because of one dud lead off single. So, I downloaded it, and I saw that Ms. Lady GaGa, diva of all things pop, was on the song Big Girl Now. Needless to say, I was happy to see her name, and I knew that she could bring the pop to the New Kids… and she DOES. This song is catchy and fun… and it has Lady GaGa, who you may or may not know that I have a slight infatuation with… I may have mentioned her once or twice on the blog here before (Jesus release her CD already!!!!). Regardless if the rest of the record is a dud or not (currently, I don’t know, I haven’t really given it a proper listen yet), this song is undeniably HOT.
Another Sugababes record, in just a year?!?! YES PLEASE!!! Their previous record was one of their best to date, and after hearing this horny song (no not that kind of horny!), I am tapping my feet and bobbing my head; all the while, even more excited about a new Sugababes record!! This song didn’t initially hit me, however, so I suggest that you give it a few listens… it is a grower, and it really is a great single. I have to say, though, that I have one major issue with this song… are they saying “here comes the girls?”, because that is what it sounds like. I doubt that is the case, it is probably one of those things that you hear incorrectly in songs (like “when I grow up, I wanna have boobies”), so I will just let that one go with nothing more than a mention. Either way, the Sugababes are back with more fantastic pop… and I am even more excited about the record now!
I read that this song was used on Scrubs, because Zach Braff is such a fan of Radin’s music, but I will admit that I only first heard this song last week. Remember the clip of Ellen and Portia’s wedding that I posted about? Well, this is the AMAZINGLY beautiful song that is playing in the background. How beautiful!!! I love that he performed it at their wedding as well… how perfect. Seriously, though, there is nothing bad that I can say about this song; other than it stays in my head, and begs to be played on repeat. It is an extremely beautiful track, and I love it so very, very much. What a wonderful, albeit unexpected discovery. I love finding amazing music like this!!! Thanks Ellen!