Representing the USA: Jordin Sparks – S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)
At last we get to see ‘girl next door’ Jordin being glittery and fabulous and she transforms into a disco diva for the video to S.O.S. She doesn’t quite carry it off like a Minogue sister would, but since Jordin’s main purpose in life is to be a role model to impressionable young Christian girls, releasing a disco-pop song is a great opportunity for her to demonstrate that you can be sweet and nice and still have fun. Every time an Idol or Disney artist releases a song like this it goes a little way to undoing the horrendous damage that acts like the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus have done to the musical tastes of America’s youth.
Representing the UK: Jay Sean – Down
I always thought Jay Sean was a bit underrated when he was originally releasing stuff in the UK a few years ago, so I’m really pleased to see that he’s had a top 10 hit in America! It’s always nice to see a Brit doing well internationally (unless it’s someone evil like Joss Stone), and especially as he is of Sikh Punjabi descent and there aren’t many Asian R&B stars in the USA or UK. Jay’s US success does seem to have come out of nowhere, since I didn’t even know he had a US deal, but the single has Lil Wayne on it so I suppose that’s the explanation. Down is very unoriginal, but it’s quite RedOne-ish so I like it anyway, although I still prefer Stolen.
Representing Sweden: Adiam Dymott – Pizza
You’re probably all aware by now that I’m a big fan of Adiam, and although I still think Memory Loss (a track that was on her MySpace but not her album) should have been her second single, Pizza is a great follow-up to Miss You. In contrast to the simplicity of the Miss You video, Adiam has gone for a very busy and complex mixture of clips to accompany Pizza, although none actually feature pizza (much like the song itself). I’ve compared Adiam’s sound before to The Donnas and I’d say that’s true here too, but the difference for me is that The Donnas have only a few good songs, while I like everything I’ve heard from Adiam. Listen to her singles, then buy the album and watch while she becomes a superstar.