Rihanna – Disturbia (Listen)
After the total non-event of Take A Bow, Rihanna is definitely making up for it with this ace new dance-pop track. It’s clearly aiming to appeal for fans of Don’t Stop The Music as it’s quite dancey, but also reminds me of Lady Gaga. Hearing the average reggae-pop track that was Pon De Replay, I never would have guessed that Rihanna would go on to be my favourite American act of the moment. Her last album was excellent, and she’s really giving Beyoncé a run for her money in the way that other challengers to her r’n’b princess throne, like Amerie and Ashanti, never managed. Disturbia isn’t quite Umbrella, DSTM or SOS, but I’ll happily put it at no.4 of my favourite Rihanna singles, and with a song like this as only her first best, you know she’s doing pretty well!
94% Poptastic!
Lexington Bridge – Go On and Go (Listen)
I was shocked when I heard about Lexington Bridge for the first time today – they’re a boyband 3/5 British (the other 2 are American and Dutch), and have had some success in the rest of Europe, including a no.1 in Poland! It seems that in exchange for Polish immigrant workers, Poland is getting all of our unwanted boybands. Out of all of their singles, I think the new one is the best. I may actually listen to it again, while the rest were pleasant but forgettable, although Real Man isn’t too bad for a song with Snoop Dogg on it. They’re very much the traditional ‘bad boy’ boyband looks-wise (i.e. more Triple 8 than D-Side), with an r’n’b slant. Interestingly, they haven’t even tried to release music in any of their home countries, despite having three between them.
67% Poptastic!
Jimi Blue – Hey Jimi (Watch)
You may remember young German teenage rapper/actor Jimi’s complicatedly-titled 2007 Eurohit, I’m Lovin´… (L.R.H.P.), and Hey Jimi is his latest single. It is a vague cover of Hey Mickey by Toni Basil, and is very silly, but I have to say it’s much more entertaining than most of the American rap music that floods into our UK charts. It’s annoyingly catchy in the same way as something like Hollaback Girl. Of course it may just sound acceptably good in comparison to other German rap music, which is entirely as bad as its reputation would suggest. I’m not sure if this could become a novelty hit in the UK, but I suppose it’s possible. I’m Lovin’ meanwhile just sounds like a bad boyband song, and rather sleazy too.
45% Poptastic!
Gabriel Antonio – I Wanna Be The One (Listen)
I’m sure it’s not what he intended, but to me this song sounds like a cheesy Eurodance track with a rap over the top. It especially reminds me of Lucas Prata’s And She Said or Hellogoodbye on Here (In Your Arms), both of which are incidentally also American acts sounding like Europop, whether intentional or not. The song starts off rather well actually, but then in comes the rappin and it all goes to pot, never returning to the greatness of that opening section. Oddly, in the rap he terms himself hip hop-country, which is odd because he really isn’t, and also because he says it’s “never been done” – has he never heard of Jason Downs? I reckon this song could get very annoying if it becomes a hit (it’s a bit Akon-ish), but for the moment I’ll just enjoy its good bits and be amused at the rest.
53% Poptastic!