Yes, it’s that time again – time to pit this week’s releases against each other as their fans battle it out on the Dirrrty Pop dancefloor. But first, let’s look at how last week’s singles did. The winner of Single Of The Week was the ace Jentina with 57% of the votes, followed by the Streets in 2nd place with 17%. The Streets was the only one to reach the real top 10, with a chart placing of no.10 exactly. Jentina just scraped the top 20 and even more disappointing was Beverley Knight entering the charts at a mere no.31! So let’s hope this weeks singles are a little more successful. First up to explain his love for Marilyn Manson’s new track is the highly ace Scandipop:
Marilyn Manson – Personal Jesus
Who needs guitars anyway? Well they can be quite useful at times actually. Especially when they sound like this – loud and with goodness knows how many volts of electricity thumping through the beats behind them. I think even Alice Deejay would agree with that.
Personal Jesus is Marilyn’s first single in a while. And it appears that with each release, he’s getting ever closer to coming out as an H&M wearing, Hilary Duff buying, Ace Of Base reminiscing, Annie downloading pop fan of the highest order. At this rate, his next single will be produced by Xenomania. But for now let’s enjoy the semi-goth rock while he still has elements of it his releases. Personal Jesus is oh so catchy, the vocals are delicious and the melody of the backing music is addictive. Just listen to those guitar key changes. There’s so much competition this week, but Personal Jesus is definitely a strong contender for single of the week. It certainly makes the loudest claim.
I’ll be very surprised if this isn’t a big hit next Sunday. Almost as confused as the cashier of Music Zone when I walked up to him last week to purchase Marilyn Manson’s Best Of album along with the Cheeky Girls’s new single.
Next up is the soon to be famous Jon:
Estelle – Free
Estelle’s Free, with its rousing chorus and poignant, Iraq-referencing lyrics, is like a Things Can Only Get Better for Generation Ringtone. Not only in gesture, but because like the D:Ream classic, it’s set to enter outside the Top 20 this Sunday, yet we know it should be #1, and blatantly warrants re-releasing in a year’s time to ensure its deserved position (I mean its not justifiable, is it? – in a world where “Baby Cakes” tops the charts). Unlike D:Ream, however, a) Free is a little too offbeat for Labour to use in an election campaign (not to mention that I doubt Estelle would want them to use it either) and b) it won’t grate horribly on your eardrums after six or seven listens.
Free’s gentle late-summer sing-along grooves along innocuously enough the first time, yet like subliminal party political broadcasting, Estelle guarantees you’ll be humming it under your breath in no time, and it’s hard to resist the aceness of turning it just that little bit too loud as you cruise through a residential area in a car you picture to be more “hip hop” than it actually is (nevermind, eh?). Forget Blair, fuck the Tories, make sure you Vote Estelle at the next election, and tell all your friends. Hopefully in a year’s time you’ll be preaching to the converted.
Next is the return of last week’s Beverley Knight fan, Mike, this time supporting another r’n’b diva, Brandy:
Brandy – Afrodisiac
OK, so she lied about being married, looks like she lives entirely on seeds and can’t dance for toffee – but who cares? This is produced by the ever-brilliant Timbaland, already responsible for many ace tracks by Aaliyah, Justin Timberlake and Missy Elliott among others. It’s another cracker – an uptempo, squelchy R&B number with saucy lyrics.
Interestingly, Brandy turned down the chance to feature a rain machine in her TOTP performance because it would make her hair go funny. If you buy this single, and it gets to number one, maybe we’ll still get to see that. What more reason do you need? BUY IT!
And finally it is my turn to show my support for my favourite single of the week and I am going for Lucie Silvas:
Lucie Silvas – What You’re Made Of
This is one of those weird songs that did nothing for me on first listen, but suddenly something clicked and by the end of my second listen I was unexplicably obsessed with it. Lucie has a lovely voice and although she could be accused of ripping off Delta Goodrem, I’m not complaining cos it’s far more interesting than the Dido-wannabe I had expected, and apparently the rest of her songs are far more upbeat and proper pop. She also has a lovely name, which always helps!
Now: VOTE!
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