What about us, What about love, What about saying that we'll never give up?
This is all Gary Barlow's fault. Well, not really--John's voice works for this song (or at least doesn't hurt it at all), so at least some of the credit has to go to him, too. The big dramatic swoops of the chorus, though, are classic modern Barlow. If I'm going to fall in love with a ballad, chances are it's one that demands I sing along to a giant chorus, and "What About Us" does demand that, preferably complete with clenched fists of desperation and over-the-top facial expressions. Sometimes you just can't resist a melody--and when it's as good as this one, why would you want to?
With credit to PubliSpain, Naked, the debut album of Dutch singer Nikki, whose Kelly Clarkson-ish song "Bring Me Down" is really shaping up to be one of my favorite singles of the year, can be listened to in its entirety here. Good news: another version of "Brief & Beautiful" (though it plays as track 8, not track 9 as labeled)! Just what the world needed.
Surely Markoolio can't be imitating Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" in his new song ("The Markoolio Anthem")? I mean, the turnaround time given when "Poker Face" started taking off in Sweden...they just couldn't have done it quickly enough...could they? But what other (modern, unless we think he's going Boney M.) reason would there be for that very distinctive "ma ma ma ma" after the chorus (not the one near the chorus's beginning)? It's a heck of a coincidence otherwise.
I am beyond thrilled that finally, finally I was able to buy John Barrowman's "What About Us." My love of that song (an ultimate sing-along-in-your-car, clenched-fists sort of melodic power ballad) still remains at unhealthy levels--I'm blaming you, Gary Barlow.
Speaking of Popjustice-featured songs, I also love Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson's debut single, "Get Up On The Dance Floor." Yes, he won for being a dancer, not any sort of musician, but that hasn't stopped me from playing this song (via its video), basically a mash-up of a bunch of famous dance tracks, multiple times. I will absolutely not back down on my love of this.
Also on the front of tracks that will probably be marketed towards British kids but that I adore, we've also got Same Difference's "We R One." Paul already analyzed the video, so instead I'll just leave it at this: fantastic song and fantastic dance routine for the chorus, especially during the whole "together, together, we're coming undone" second half of the chorus. Just as he did when writing for Marie Serneholt's solo album, Jörgen Elofsson's done a great job of making a song that harks back to '90's pure pop but that's still enjoyable for today. I wish he'd make songs like this--as opposed to the ballads he seems to mainly produce now--more often.
I'm in a particularly good mood today since I finally found a Finnish digital music store that I can buy from (well, and ZShare is letting me upload songs, though I think that's because I'm somewhere besides where I usually am). I've been eager to hear today's song in full since February or March, but was reluctant to buy the whole album when it came out because, beyond that song and maybe one other, it didn't sound very good.
So, what's the song in question?
Tuulee
Yes, it's in Finnish, and I know that will be a turnoff for some people (there are languages I'm still accustoming myself to listening to), but if you think there's even a remote chance you'd love a boy band power ballad in another language, give this one a listen.
"Boy band" might be a bit of a deceptive term, in the same way that it is for Take That, New Kids on the Block, or Boyzone.XL5 were a Finnish boy band from the '90's who broke up when the boy band wave peaked, reunited recently, and released"Tuulee" as their comeback single this year, and it's really far better than it has any right to be. I mean, how is it possible that the members of the band wrote a song this great? Given that I've heard absolutely nothing else from them of this quality? Lightning in a bottle, I guess.
Actually, Take That or the Backstreet Boys would be a more accurate comparison than a group like the New Kids. "Tuulee" mines a similar guitar-and-piano-using power ballad comeback single territory as the one Take That used for "Patience" and the Boys went for with "Incomplete," complete with a chorus that feels perfect for those big clenched fist hand gestures. If anything, though, I think the chorus is even more dramatic than that of "Incomplete"; the vocal melody itself is bigger in sound (it doesn't have the strings punctuating it and adding extra drama, though). If I'd managed to hear the whole song in the first half of the year, I think I'd have said it was the best actual boy band ballad of the year so far and, do you know, it just might--might--still be. It's the sort of song that makes paying attention to all those non-English language charts worth it.
While we're on the topic of Take That and strong boy band (or boy band-like) ballads, I'm sort of madly in love with the Gary Barlow-penned "What About Us," the lead single from John Barrowman's upcoming album Music Music Music (see also: PopJustice's and Paul's posts about it).
Did I mention I love this song? Head-over-heels in love? The chorus is unfightably lodged in my head.
Next up: possibly sweet boy pop from Sweden, pop-rock from the Netherlands, or dance-pop from Japan.
This is all Gary Barlow's fault. Well, not really--John's voice works for this song (or at least doesn't hurt it at all), so at least some of the credit has to go to him, too. The big dramatic swoops of the chorus, though, are classic modern Barlow. If I'm going to fall in love with a ballad, chances are it's one that demands I sing along to a giant chorus, and "What About Us" does demand that, preferably complete with clenched fists of desperation and over-the-top facial expressions. Sometimes you just can't resist a melody--and when it's as good as this one, why would you want to?
