New Pop on the Block

McFly – Shine A Light (Watch)
One of the things I love most about being a pop fan is how unpredictable things are on Planet Pop. I certainly never would have guessed that McFly would have turned poptastic, especially not after years of edging away from their pop roots. I don’t think I’ll ever be totally on board with McFly because I don’t have the personal history with them which bonds their fans to them so strongly, but I have nothing against them and therefore I’m pleased to see them making good music. I’d rather it came from a fresh new band who were truly poptastic to the core, and weren’t just jumping on the electro-pop bandwagon as McFly so clearly and desperately are, but I still remember the days when pop was a dirty word well enough to appreciate every great pop song that comes along. Shine A Light is a little closer to what we expect from McFly than Party Girl was and actually would have made a better first single. It could have been huge, but after Party Girl wasn’t a great success I wonder if that’s set the bar for this whole campaign? It’s a shame if so as this deserves to do very well – mainly because of Taio’s brilliant songwriting of course.
86% Poptastic!

Parade – Louder (Listen)
Since I last mentioned new 5-piece girlband Parade a lot’s happened – they’ve had their first gig (check out a video of one of the songs they performed) and launched their official website, on which you can get a preview of their debut single Louder. It’s still a few months til the single will be released, but I’m already slightly obsessed with the “turn it up louder, louder, louder-ohohoh” bit of the chorus. The style of their music is R&B-pop, perhaps you could say a girlband version of Pixie Lott, but reading through their Q&As on the website, these girls are not 5 bland pop robots. Each girl has an individual look and personality, and they’re cute but not intimidatingly so. It’s a formula I’ve always thought should be used for putting together a girlband if they want other girls to like them, but it rarely is considered. I’m excited to see how it works out.
88% Poptastic!

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