New Pop On The Block

The Ting Tings – Hang It Up (Watch)
The Ting Tings are back… again! When a band’s debut album is as successful as The Ting Tings’ was, you expect there to be a fair bit of interest in the follow-up, however dull it is. Yet The Ting Tings’ second album has been delayed continually after lead single Hands, despite being produced by Calvin Harris and being far from terrible, was a total flop. They’re presumably hoping no-one remembers that as they now make another attempt to launch their second album with a new single called Hang It Up, the video for which has just gone online (despite their Wikipedia saying the next single would be a track called Silence). Hang It Up emphasises the band’s punky side, which could be a cool direction for them if it wasn’t quite so unsubtle. They look like they’re in Sum 41/Avril Lavigne fancy dress and have clearly had the Beastie Boys on repeat for the whole year since their last comeback attempt. While this new sound and style at least makes more of a statement, I don’t think it’s the right one unfortunately. Ting Tings, meet the dumper!
46% Poptastic!

Rebecca Ferguson – Nothing’s Real But Love (Listen)
Rebecca’s debut single is exactly what I expected from her, but I’m still a bit disappointed. She could have emphasised her disco diva side, as demonstrated in her X Factor performances of Show Me Love and Sweet Dreams, or if she has to go down this Duffy route she could at least release a Mercy rather than a track that could have been released at any point in the last fifteen years, and in none of those years would it have been relevant. It’s a perfect fit for regional radio and artists like James Morrison have done well enough releasing songs of this sort album after album. If she gets an X Factor performance and the label spend a lot on TV advertising, she could do pretty well in the Christmas present for mum market. But will anyone remember this song in a year’s time? It may be enough to coast her through a reasonably well-selling debut album, but an artist of this sort needs at least one classic under their belt to keep selling albums and tours off the back of for years to come, and this definitely isn’t going to do that for Rebecca.
51% Poptastic!

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