- 5 Songs You Need To Hear This Weekend - 2 August, 2013
- 5 Songs You Need To Hear This Weekend - 26 July, 2013
- 5 Songs You Need To Hear This Weekend - 19 July, 2013
FIVE SONGS YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT.
1 – Kate Nash – OMYGOD!
Former chart topper, Kate Nash returned last week with her third album, GIRL TALK which has sadly only entered the album chart at a lowly #85. This is possibly due to the confusion with the sounds she’s going for on this release, which switches between angry RIOTGIRL style screaming and the dainty cute ditties her fans have come to love across all her releases. For me, this track is the strongest of the 15 piece set, because it’s simple and cute and does what Kate does best, singing about a real life relationship away from the Romeo & Juliet style clichés we’re often fed in pop music.
2 – Shystie ft. Azealia Banks – Control It
This one has been causing much controversy this week, due to a highly publicised twitter war between the girls. Yes, another by Azealia, who in the same week adds Rita Ora and even The Stone Roses to her ever growing list of enemies. UK rapper Shystie had New York’s Banks appear on this track from her forthcoming mixtape in return for another track she’d done on her own release. All was going so well until Azealia’s record label ordered the video be taken down from YouTube as she wasn’t happy with it, causing much anger by label-less Shystie’s team as they’d personally funded it. This has sadly all drawn away from the fact that this song is an absolute killer with an insane baseline and fiery vocals from both the girls. Besides, regardless of Azealia’s feelings towards it, I think it’s one of the hottest videos of the year.
3 – Lady – Get Ready
The theme with my picks this week appears to be Brits and Americans joining forces (see Shystie/Azealia and Saturdays/Sean Paul). Lady is a hybrid of US singer and former protégé of Missy Elliott, Nicole Ray, who first came about in the late 90s, and UK former Mercury Music Prize nominee, Terri Walker, a former vocalist with Garage Duo Shanks & Bigfoot around the same time. Since then the girls have had varying success commercially but are gathering some attention on this track for it’s doo-wop Motown feel and classic brassy production, it sounds like the girls have been singing together for years.
4 – The Saturdays – What About Us
I’ve been toying with this track for a few weeks now, but perhaps it’s not quite as generic sounding as I originally thought. The Saturdays originally offered a younger, fresher incarnation of Girls Aloud when they first came about in 2008, but since then they hardly seem to have moved on from their original material. Despite a reality TV show, I still feel 5 years down the line, that I know very little about them personally. However, with ‘What About Us’, it feels like they’ve turned a corner. The verses to the track are almost Calypso influenced (helped with a feature by Sean Paul on some versions) and by the time the chorus kicks in they’ve demanded your attention. I think they could do some serious damage with this track.
5 – Nause – Hungry Hearts
Finally this week I leave you with Swedish electro duo Nause, who have topped their own national charts with this shouty typical Scandinavian sounding monster with a baseline which flicks straight between the mid 00’s electro sounds of ‘Put Your Hands Up (For Detroit)’ through to the more melodic current trends by Avicii.
