Beyonce is creating lots of debate with her new song Run The World (Girls). Everyone is a critic nowadays so it's bound to be torn apart. She could never come back with something that sounds like Lady Gaga, Rhianna or most of the female singers in the chart. She could of course be Adele but I think she's keeping that phase for the Vegas years in twenty years time. Beyonce's music has been going in a certain direction for the past few years now so it's no big surprise she samples something like Major Lazer. I had never heard of them until this week so at least it's puts a cult music artist producer more into the mainstream. It's the kind of song I might like in a club but not stuck in a lift with. I think what fans don't like about Run The World (Girls) is that it samples so much of the original source and with a mega-star like Beyonce so much more originality is expected. The lyric 'Who Runs This Mother' is inspired though.
There weren't many songs that stood out for me last week but this week I'm liking the new songs by Beyonce and George Michael so they will show up on next Monday's song list. I'm not liking Gaga's Judas at all. It's just a mess of a song. The most recent single by Robyn is Call your Girlfriend which isn't as strong as Dancing on my Own which is now one of her all time best songs. I also love the photo above, she has such a great look.
Strike Curious Poses Chart 18-4-2011
1(1): This Is Not The End - Clare Maguire 2(2): Shield and Sword - Clare Maguire 3(5): All Of The Lights - Kanye west 4(3): Hush Hush - Alexis Jordan 5(4): Homeboy - Eric Church 6(9): Don't Hold your Breathe - Nicole Scherzinger 7(6): Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minaj featuring Drake 8(8): I Remember Me - Jennifer Hudson 9(-): Unorthodox - Wretch 32 featuring Example 10(11): Starlight - Sophie Ellis Bextor
11(13): Happiest Pretenders - Clare Maguire 12(12): Coming Home - Gwyneth Paltrow 13(7): Runaway Love - Alice Gold 14(-): Call your Girlfriend - Robyn 15(10): Family Man - Craig Campbell 16(14): Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri 17(15): Shout Shout - Alexis Jordan 18(23): Girls Fall Like Dominoes - Nicki Minaj 19(17): I Wrote The Book - Beth Ditto 20(24): Illuminated - Hurts
21(-): Guilt - Nero 22(22): Give In To Me - Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester 23(18): Till the World Ends - Britney Spears 24(21): you'll Be Mine - The Pierces 25(19): Sunday - Hurts 26(20): where you At - Jennifer Hudson 27(25): Good Girl (Freemasons Remix) - Alexis Jordan 28(16): The Last Dance - Clare Maguire 29(25): Someone Like you - Adele 30(27): Goodbye Girl - Rumer
Clare Maguire played her first solo concert here in Dublin's Sugar club recently. It's a tiny venue with rows of seats and tables like you would see in a comedy club or cocktail bar. My former work colleagues Rike and Fran had played in the same venue last year so it was nice to be back there. Clare Maguire's debut album Light After Dark is one of the strongest new albums that I've heard in a good while, well that and Hurts debut album. When Clare Maguire last performed in Dublin she supported Hurts in an equally small venue. They are both in my opinion new music artists who deserve to do much better in the charts than they are doing so far. I think the reason that their singles aren't going top ten is because they fall somewhere in the middle, perhaps viewed as too young for some music fans and too old a sound for the younger music fans. The audience on the night were 20's and much older than me. There is a real mix of songs on Light After Dark and her vocal sounds different on more than one song especially when heard in concert. The album is full of potential singles. The Shield and The Sword is her newest single which she sang second on the night.
Her first song in the concert was the single Ain't Nobody and an artist who performs her singles right away definitely has confidence in the album as a whole. Even though she gave every song her all the song that stood out for me on the night the most was This Is Not The End which she dedicated to her grandparents who were Irish. When an artist dedicates a song in a very heartfelt manner and tells the audience what a country means to them, in this case Ireland, it can go well or dreadful but in this case there was almost complete silence when she sang the song which was v impressive in an Irish bar atmosphere. It was actually one of the best performances of an individual song I've heard in my many years of concert going. She went a bit mental during the last few songs, flying around the audience, running into the narrow rows, dragging people up to dance until there were dozens of people on the stage. The Facebook generation were out in full force. She signed autographs and posed for pictures on phones for a good hour afterwards. I so want her to be a big star but the point where she will have to have some distance between herself and the audience will have to come at some point. For now she's loving every bit of stardom that she has been bestowed with.
Strike Curious Poses Chart 11-4-2011
1(-): This Is Not The End - Clare Maguire 2(6): The Shield and The Sword - Clare Maguire 3(1): Hush Hush - Alexis Jordan 4(2): Homeboy - Eric Church 5(5): All Of The Lights - Kayne West 6(3): Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minaj featuring Drake 7(8): Runaway Love - Alice Gold 8(9): I Remember Me - Jennifer Hudson 9(17): Don't Hold your Breathe - Nicole Scherzinger 10(12): Family Man - Craig Campbell
11(13): Starlight - Sophie Ellis Bextor 12(4): Coming Home - Gwyneth Paltrow 13(-): Happiest Pretender - Clare Maguire 14(7): Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri 15(24): Shout Shout - Alexis Jordan 16(28): The Last Dance - Clare Maguire 17(15): I Wrote The Book - Beth Ditto 18(11): Till The World Ends - Britney Spears 19(20): Sunday - Hurts 20(16): Where you At - Jennifer Hudson
21(18): you'll Be Mine - The Pierces 22(14): Give In To Me - Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester 23(-): Girls Fall Like Dominoes - Nicki Minaj 24(-): Illuminated - Hurts 25(19): Good girl (Freemasons Remix) - Alexis Jordan 26(22): Someone Like you- Adele 27(21): Goodbye Girl - Rumer 28(27): Going Nowhere - Magnetic Man featuring John Legend 29(10): Verona - Hurts 30(23): Hollywood Tonight - Michael Jackson
Hush Hush is the new single from Alexis Jordan's self titles debut album and should make it 3 hits in a row for her following the UK chart top ten success of Happiness and Good Girl. Her album is pure pop. Some songs such as Laying Around and The Air I Breathe have the worst lyrics I've heard since Beyonce's Video Phone but other possible single releases include High Road, Say That and also Shout Shout which heavily samples Tears For Fears Shout.
Other songs that stood out for me recently were Clare Maguire's new single TheShield and The Sword, Jennifer Hudson's I Remember Me, Nicole Scherzinger's Don't Hold your Breath and Sophie Ellis Bextor's Starlight.
Strike Curious Poses Chart 4-4-2011
1(-): Hush Hush - Alexis Jordan
2(1): Homeboy - Eric Church
3(4): Moment 4 Life - Nicki Minaj featuring Drake
4(2): Coming Home - Gwyneth Paltrow
5(13): All Of the Lights - Kanye West
6(-): The Shield and The Sword - Clare Maguire
7(5): Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri
8(10): Runaway Love - Alice Gold
9(-): I Remember Me - Jennifer Hudson
10(13): Verona - Hurts
11(6): Till The World Ends - Britney Spears
12(19): Family Man - Craig Campbell
13(-): Starlight - Sophie Ellis Bextor
14(3): Give In To Me - Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester
15(8): I Wrote The Book - Beth Ditto
16(7): Where you At - Jennifer Hudson
17(-): Don't Hold your Breathe - Nicole Scherzinger
18(14): you'll Be Mine - The Pierces
19(9): Good Girl (Freemasons Remix) - Alexis Jordan
20(25): Sunday - Hurts
21(17): Goodbye Girl - Rumer
22(20): Someone Like you - Adele
23(12): Hollywood Tonight - Michael Jackson
24(-): Shout Shout - Alexis Jordan
25(23): Dreaming (Sub Urban Dream Mix) - Blondie
26(11): E.T. - Katy Perry featuring Kanye West
27(27): Going Nowhere - Magnetic Man featuring John Legend
28(21): The Last Dance - Clare Maguire
29(22): Hot Mess - Chromeo featuring Elly Jackson
30(16): On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull
Here's Alexis Jordan and her newest single Hush Hush
