Ashley Tisdale – It’s Alright, It’s OK (Listen)
For the lead single from her second album, Ashley is giving us quite a treat: a song produced by Ten, the team behind great songs by Erik Hassle and (more relevant in this case) Amy Diamond! Sadly it doesn’t sound as much like Amy as If U Seek Amy (which I like to believe was meant for Amy when she turned 18) does, but I could imagine our favourite Swedish teenager singing it. The song is about getting back on your feet after a break-up, and the video will star Ty Collins from 90210 as Ashley’s ex-boyfriend. It’s Alright, It’s OK is pure pop with bags of attitude, energy and personality. It’s by far the best thing that Ashley’s done so far, and now I am looking forward to hearing the rest of her new album. The only thing that’s putting me off is its title, Guilty Pleasure, because I don’t believe that we should feel guilty about anything that pleases us.
95% Poptastic!
Michael Johns – Heart on My Sleeve (Listen)
Another day, another song by an American Idol contestant. The most interesting thing about Michael is that he’s Australian – no relation to Natalie Imbruglia’s ex Daniel Johns, though, as far as I know. Otherwise, he’s a typical Idol bloke, handsome and a confident performer with a strong voice, but not a very distinctive one. I was expecting his output post-Idol to be as boring as post-Idol outputs tend to be, but this song is actually quite good. Maybe not something I’d buy a CD of, but it definitely stands up to other similar songs in the charts at the moment. His voice is far more pleasant to listen to on a studio recording than David Cook’s. The song would fit in well on an album by Take That or even lovely Norwegian Erik Faber, and that’s a big compliment from me.
71% Poptastic!