Streets – Dry Your Eyes
The first thing I thought when I heard this was how massive it could potentially be and with Mike Skinner’s cool factor at the moment and these ‘urban ballad’ types of songs doing so well right now, I’m even more certain. It’s quite different from his other singles as it’s a touching break-up song with a big orchestral backing and proper singing as well as the usual talking (rapping?). I think this will become a bit of a dumpee’s anthem. The video reflects the song well as it is subtle and sad, showing Mike moping around at home, the shops, the cinema and (cleverly with what’s coming up) an empty football stadium.
Nelly Furtado – Forca
This is one of my favourite tracks from the Folklore album so I’m a bit worried it’ll be ruined by being the official Euro 2004 song (Nelly is part Portuguese, in case you hadn’t connected there). The video starts off with a small boy playing with and the losing a football, and as the song builds up, more and more people come to help him get it back by making some kind of human tower. I guess it’s meant to show everyone coming together in football, but surely if everyone loves football so much the owner of the building that the ball is stuck on would have just got it down for him from the window?
Ash – Starcrossed
I’m not a fan of Ash (no big surprise I’m sure) but I am rather liking this one. I liked the video first with it’s buff hottie actor boy and Romeo & Juliet theme, but I’m actually really liking the song now too. The chorus is good to sing along to, even if I seem to be even more out of tune than usual when I do. If Ash songs make me sing out of tune, perhaps that explains Tim’s similar problems!