Jordyn Taylor – Accessory (Watch)
Jordyn is a teenage r’n’b singer from California, and her new single, Accessory, has earned a spot on the soundtrack of Confessions of a Shopaholic. From that fact you can pretty much guess its content. If this song was by a man about a woman, it would be considered terribly sexist, so is it acceptable the other way around? It can be seen as revenge for all the times that men have treated women this way, but it would really be better to just rise above it. Nonetheless, it’s a fun, catchy song and one thing that I think is very important is to never take pop music too seriously. Judging it on musical merit alone, it’s good but not amazing. The lyrical content is all that makes it stand out.
72% Poptastic!
Lights – February Air (Watch)
There was quite a squabble to sign this young lady, so I expected something special, and I was inevitably a bit disappointed. The super-ace video to February Air is the best thing about the project as a whole, but it is ruined by having Lights herself in it. I just hate her face! It’s clear that she is a really annoying person. Her sound is electro-pop, but she comes from a rock background (hence the face), and the music is made to appeal to rock fans, therefore it is nothing like as good as electro-pop made for electro-pop fans. There is loads of this stuff around at the moment, for example the super-samey (although wonderfully named) Owl City and the almost-ace but decisively not Stereo Skyline. Everybody’s trying to get in on the electro-pop trend, and it’s making me bored of synthesisers… eek!!
77% Poptastic!
The Downtown Fiction – Your Voice (Listen)
Now here’s a band who are keeping well away from precious genres such as electro-pop, and are all the better for it. It’s not something I’d listen to obsessively, but it’s always such a shock when a rock band makes something listenable, that they deserve credit for it. If you like poppy rock bands like The Click Five and All American Rejects, without the painful uber-American accents of most rock acts, tnen you should enjoy The Downtown Fiction. It just goes to show that rock music wouldn’t be such an annoying genre if it wasn’t dominated by such twerpy types. The Downtown Fiction look like alright guys from the facial expressions in their promo photos (that’s the best way to tell), and Your Voice is a nice song. I’m not sure how far niceness will get them with the public, but for me it’s a necessity.
80% Poptastic!
Lisa Lavie – Angel (Listen)
This song is quite similar in style to Natasha Bedingfield, but Lisa has a stronger, deeper voice, and the song is catchier than anything Natasha’s done since her first album. The chorus hook is brilliant, and although her voice seems a bit harsh at first, it makes her stand out, and she is a great live singer (as this video demonstrates). The end result is kind of like Anastacia trying to be Natasha, which may send some people running scared, but actually I think it works. I’m not sure if the sound’s a bit too rough to be a radio hit, but a lot of people who listen to radio-friendly music like Natasha and Anastacia would love it. It could be this year’s Love Song if it was a bit lighter and fluffier – or maybe it will be anyway.
87% Poptastic!