Tennis Court is the title track from a new E.P. by the New Zealand singer and songwriter Lorde. It has already gotten to number one in the New Zealand singles charts and to date has reached number 35 in the Australian singles charts. The other three tracks on the Tennis Court E.P. are Swingin' Party, Biting Down and Bravado.
Lorde is the stage name of Ella Yelich-O'Connor and Tennis Court is her second E.P. Her first was TheLove Club which was released in March of this year and it's lead single Royals was also a number one hit in the New Zealand singles charts. As always some of today's best pop music today is coming from New Zealand and Australia and Tennis Court is definitely one of the best and most confident songs that I've heard this year.
Lorde's Tennis Court E.P. is due to be released in the U.K. on July 22nd.
Lorde's website is here and follow her on Twitter @LordeMusic
In 2011 I got to see several of my favourite music stars for the first time in concert including George Michael, Janet Jackson, Sade and Erasure and while they were all wonderful one of the best concerts that I went to that year was Clare Maguire's concert in the The Sugar Club here in Dublin. There is a review that I wrote of that concert here.
Clare's cover version of Anthony and the Johnsons Hope There's Someone was one of the songs that I featured on my 100 Cover Versions list of songs last year. You can listen to it here.
While chatting to one of my colleagues in work the other day I found out that Clare has recorded some new songs and here is one of them.
Jessie Ware is one of many new music artists who deserves much more success in the UK singles charts than she has had to date. Her most well known song Wildest Moments got to number 46 in the UK charts and the re-release of If You're Never Gonna Move got to number 41. Devotion is one of my most favourite albums of the past few years, all of the singles released from it have been wonderful. The Gold edition of that album was released this month and her newest single Imagine It Was Us is a perfect and elegant summer pop dance song.
Each week I look at the Irish singles charts to see if there is any song that stands out from other international charts. Over it's history many songs have sometimes done better in Ireland than other countries. One song that stood out on this week's Irish singles chart is Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis which is at number 97 but it is still a song that has been downloaded here in Ireland as a separate song from their The Heist album and that is important. It was a number one song in Australia last year and got to number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
I would call Same Love an ally song as it is about LGBT equal rights and questions religion, language, hip hop and other things in relation to LGBT rights. This week it just made me think how many people in Ireland both LGBT and straight have connected with this song by two international number one best selling music artists.
There has to be more songs like this.
By now in 2013 we are well used to female pop stars such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Cyndi Lauper and P!nk all standing side by side on the issue of equal rights. Out male stars like Holly Johnson, Boy George, George Michael and Andy Bell do this on a daily basis through social media but we don't always hear positive LGBT themed songs or messages by other male stars and bands. There are of course many straight male allies but I do think some of today's singers and stars are gay themselves but go just so far by saying they support equal rights and remain in the closet which for me is irony. Same Love is written from a personal perspective, Macklemore's own sexuality is mapped out early in the song but I love how his uncle was a positive influence on him and how he has become part of the song's story. The verse lyrics are sung by Macklemore but the chorus is sung by Mary Lambert and in doing so the lyrics also acknowledge same sex love between women and that is equally as important.
Here is the music video directed by Ryan Lewis and Jon Jon Augustavo which features many positive images. It has been viewed over 22 million times since October 2012.
Only Love Survives by Ryan Dolan is the official Irish entry for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Ryan both sounds and looks like a pop star and I know he will represent Ireland well in Sweden as he competes in the first semi final on May 14th for a place in the final on the 18th. Ryan is currently doing lots of publicity for the song here in Ireland.
One of my most favourite celebrities here in Ireland is Joanna Ryde. Joanna is based in Waterford where she has shows at Dignity every week. She is also a reporter for the radio station Beat 102-103 and some of her podcasts are here.
Her parody videos of pop songs and other pop culture moments are always so witty and clever. I can never hear the original song again without thinking of Joanna's fab versions.
Joanna's website is here and her Youtube page which features all her parody videos is here.
Here are five of my most favourite of her parody videos.
Pot Noodle: M's Pop Muzik.
Bleeding Crazy - Carly's Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe
Aldi Vodka - Lady Gaga's Alejandro
Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (TGIF)
and one of her most recent parodies Horse Inside - The Rubberbandits Horse Outside
Everybody in the Nite by The Dead Heavys was one of my most favourite songs of 2012. It is one of those songs that was made for radio sounding retro and new at the same time.
I'm delighted to hear that they play their showcase Dublin gig at The Village music venue in Wexford Street, Dublin on Friday 22nd February. Support is by The Casanova Wave and Yachtrock. There is always a great atmosphere at that venue especially with new bands and there is more information on the gig here.
Paradigms are Lee Ditcher and Steve J Beck who are based in Poole & Bournemouth in England. Their four track E.P. is called The Long Way and features the songs On My Mind, Hey Hey, They Said Tomorrow's Gonna be A Sunny Day and the title track The Long Way. I think all four tracks are very strong with The Long Way being my favourite.
Here is another song by New York based music artists Avan Lava. Their song Sisters is absolutely smooth and beautiful dance music. The video is by Dan Gutt and the cinematography is by A Clint Litton and the two lead characters are played by Crystal Gwyn and Jessie Joe Monge Murphy. In just a day Avan Lava have become one of my favourite new music artists. I love TC's vocals and the flow of the production in this track.
All I Need is the new single by Irish dance music artists John Gibbons & Scimon Tist. The vocalist is Rebecca Creighton who featured in X Factor in 2010 when she was a member of the girl group Belle Amie and has since last year been a solo recording artist.
All I Need was released at the end of January here in Ireland and has been a radio hit reaching number one on nightly radio chart updates. There is a great mix of music genres in Ireland these days and it's always great to hear new pop or dance music Irish music artists. I think All I Need is as strong as any dance song in the UK charts at the moment.
All I Need is available to download on ITunes here.
