This Year's Christmas Playlist

I've been as lazy has hell compared to my other blogger friends when it comes to Christmas-themed posts so I guess I'll just sum everything up into one convenient post with 10 songs. Sound good? Let's start.


Let's set the record straight on what Christmas songs are though before I start.

There are the carols - the songs everyone knows and everyone covers but few get right. Then there are the pop songs written for Christmas - the melodies are built around carols and sometimes even the arrangements are but most of the time they're given pop arrangements. Pop Christmas songs are not pop songs with Christmas-themed lyrics. I repeat, POP CHRISTMAS SONGS ARE NOT POP SONGS WITH CHRISTMAS-THEMED LYRICS. I hate it when that happens, the songs have to SOUND like Christmas whether it be the melody or the arrangement.

When it comes to my Christmas songs I'm very, VERY picky - I like my carols with classic arrangements and I like my festive pop festive, none of that experimental crap. However if the experimenting is done well, I don't have a problem - I just really hate it when people start murdering Christmas songs. And which is why I draw a line between pop and not pop if Christmas songs are the matter because I hate it when the two get improperly mixed together.

So here are 10 (commercial) Christmas songs that one, really sound like Christmas to me and two, are just brilliant songs/versions/arrangements.

1. Carrie Underwood - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
I like the song itself as a carol but I like this arrangement in particular - it's got to be one of my personal favorite arrangements of Hark!. The gorgeous piano part and the REAL drums really make a difference. And one of the main reasons why I chose this arrangement is because Carrie doesn't murder the song (unlike a certain Mariah Carey who murdered Oh Holy Night) and her vocals are just gorgeous. Heck, it sounds like Christmas through and through! Hands-down one of the best arrangements of the classic.

2. Britt Nicole - Last Christmas
I know you guys will kill me for saying this but I have to - Last Christmas is one of the cheesiest, corniest festive songs EVER, I can't stand it. So why include it at all? Because Britt Nicole has managed to find/make an arrangement that actually makes it sound somewhere near good. I like her vocals (always have), I like how they changed up the arrangement and made it a little more tasteful and it's got all the elements of a standard pop Christmas song so it passes.

3. DBSK - The First Noel
You must be saying "WHAT? DBSK has a CHRISTMAS album?" because I was too when I first found out. But before we get to their version, let's talk about the song first. The First Noel is personally one of my favorite carols EVER, beside a few other staples, so I won't just settle for a run-of-the-mill version with a super pop-y arrangement (I'm talking to you, *NSYNC.) - I want a damn good one. Then there's the fact that I like boybands doing Christmas songs. I do, a lot. I like the a capella lines and I like everything about them doing Christmas songs.

This arrangement of The First Noel has a gorgeous instrumental - the violins, the bells, everything is just beautiful. Although the Carrie Underwood arrangement is a close second, I'd have to go with the DBSK one. Then the vocals are spot-on, there's little screaming and the harmonies sound great if you listen to them as a whole but even better individually (although, I like the *NSYNC harmonies better, it's just that the arrangement is bleh). Gorgeous.

4. Varsity Fanclub - It's Christmas Again
I'd rather all these bands do what Varsity Fanclub has done than bastardize all these beautiful carols with crap-ly-executed pop arrangements and excessive vocals. There's a certain kind of song you can do that to but NOT and I repeat NOT to carols. Not only have they done that, they've managed to make it sound like Christmas - the bells and the melody are the main reasons. But I actually like the bells on this song in particular - they're especially Christmas-y. And the way they made it like a pop song without losing that festive thing is just brilliant. You can't listen to this any other time.

5. BoA - 12월 27일
Although on songs like this BoA's vocals tend to be annoying and she's not particularly my favorite singer, this song has sort of become my anthem this year. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous waltz (3/4 time signature - waltz.) with a string section and all but I love how it sounds like a Christmas song but doesn't sound like a Christmas song. There are times when the string section sounds like every other pop Christmas song but then suddenly out of nowhere it turns into something straight off The Corrs' repertoire - that's when I go like WHOA. The melody is a giveaway that it's Christmas and the lyrics (at least the ones I can understand) are even more obvious but I like how it's not in-your-face Christmas.

6. *NSYNC - O Holy Night
You can't have a Christmas post and leave out this song, you simply can't. This a capella arrangement has been used by a ton of other boybands after *NSYNC (including my beloved DBSK when they debuted) and so I think this version deserves a mention. A lot of their other Christmas arrangements are too pop-ized for my taste - this is probably the one that sounds the most festive of them all. The harmonies are beautiful and I mean STUNNING, if there's one thing these guys know how to do it's make the best harmonies. Throughout the song the harmonies are not only gorgeous but really well-executed - they're very tight and it sounds brilliant.

7. SM Town 2006 - Snow Dream
There was a time earlier this month when I couldn't get enough of this song - it's catchy, it's pop and heck, it sounds like Christmas. It may be in Korean and it may sound like an American pop Christmas song but isn't that the point? The bells, the arrangement and the vocals - they threw all the best SM vocalists into one gigantic pot, mixed it together and gave the crap singers like 5 seconds singing time. My ears are in heaven.

And this kinda also reflects what kpop is - you can't not have a rap part, it's criminal. LOL. But really, this is what the genre is and has been for quite a while now so to put it in a Christmas song is pretty ingenious.

8. Libera - O Come All Ye Faithful
Choral music is MY turf, my grandmother formed one of the most influential children's choirs in the country, so when it comes to choirs I know my stuff - sometimes even better than I know pop. But that also means that my standards are much, MUCH higher. O Come All Ye Faithful also happens to be probably by favorite carol - I love how epic the song can get but only if you want it to be.

Libera are to a certain extent commercial but they're to a certain extent not commercial - they're pretty good either way. I've heard better choirs than them but they're a little more well-known so why not.

In choral music less instruments is more - vocals have to take center stage. To a certain extent that's good because then you don't have to worry about the instrumentals not sounding like Christmas, just use a simple piano arrangement and it'll sound great. That is if the choirs is good. I like their harmonies at the end and I like how the vocals are very light - usually if a choir's to sing this song they'll just explode and keep pushing at the end. Solid effort.

9. Aly & AJ - Greatest Time of the Year
There are your usual pop festive songs and then there are Disney festive songs - about 60% of the Disney festive songs scream CHRISTMAS and this is one of them. How this can sound like both a festive song and an advertisement is beyond me. But then again a lot of festive ad campaigns have unmistakably Christmas-y songs so they work.

The instrumental complements the melody and the bells very well, surprisingly. And it's not like other supposedly pop/rock Christmas songs that sound more pop/rock - it is what it is and it's a Christmas song. It ends great though - the middle 8, the break-down and the explosion at the last chorus is brilliant.

10. Girls Aloud - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Girls Aloud do Christmas. Yay. The now classic Christmas EP boasts of some really great pop masterpieces and some of them really do sound apt for the season but this one on particular gets me every time. It's truly Girls Aloud do Christmas - it sounds like Girls Aloud and it sounds like Christmas. I think the vocals are a little iff-y and lack emotion (don't clobber me!), could be better, but the instrumental is brilliant - it's exactly how I imagined a GA song mixed with a carol to be like.

Girls Aloud vs. The Saturdays. Vocally.

You've read my intro, watched the videos, now it's time to read my thoughts. Let the showdown of the British girl groups begin!

10 girls, 10 different voices but each girl in both groups has a certain persona - they all give both groups the dimension and talent to make them worthy of their success. There's no one in the groups who's boring and each voice complements the rest, without any one of them neither GA nor The Sats will be who they are.

Please be advised, this is in no particular order!

The BIG voice

The girls who get the most lines, 90% of the ad-libs at the end and are what they call the 'lead singers' in Korea. It's unsaid but I really think these are the 'lead singers'.

Girls Aloud: Nadine Coyle

This girl has the big, show-stopping voice - she's known for her predominantly rich and deep timbre. Nadine, like Jonghyun SHINee, gives the group another dimension because you have got to put her only slightly auto-tuned vocals to contrast the rest of the group's heavily processed ones on songs like Untouchable and you need her intensity to balance off the other fours' subtlety on songs like The Loving Kind. In short, Nadine has a gorgeous voice and although it may not personally be my favorite in the band, you need her in Girls Aloud - without her GA is not GA.

The Saturdays: Vanessa White

The only similarity Vanessa has with Nadine vocally is the fact that they both have the big voices in their respective bands. Vanessa has a much smoother voice and this all boils down to personal taste now - I prefer hers over Nadine's but that's purely my opinion. Her voice is a lot more fitting for the stuff The Sats are doing and may I just say, this girl knows how to sing her head off - properly. Unlike a lot of other singers we know.

The SMOOTH voice

The description is enough - these girls are the mediators, the ones who balance off the rest of their band member's colorful and sometimes even outrageous voices. Even if they don't get as much attention as some, you can't go without these girls, you really can't.

Girls Aloud: Kimberly Walsh

The first thing that pops into my head when I hear Kimberly's vocals is that she enunciates really well. ANYWAY. Her vocals are smooth, very smooth. They're so smooth that if you auto-tune them it still kinda sounds similar to when you just use the 'regular' amount of auto-tune. But really, she has a beautiful voice that gets overlooked by Nadine's gigantic one and Sarah's screaming - I wish she got a heck of a lot more solo lines! No really, you listen to GA songs and I think the problem with her is that her voice is so smooth that producers don't want it and think it's a little too boring for the material, which it's not. HOWEVER, that broadway thing she did for Passions was jaw-dropping for me.

The Saturdays: Frankie Sandford

Frankie, Frankie, Frankie. This girl's voice has always been smooth - since she was in S Club 8 she got the most solo lines because their songs needed smooth voices, it was dance-y for crap's sake! Hahah. I first noticed exactly how damn smooth her voice was and still is when I heard Just Can't Get Enough - her first line really made the entire song for me vocally. On Forever Is Over she sounds a little whine-y during her solos but over-all she pretty much just sounds older - her voice is STILL smooth.

The predominantly PRETTY FACE

These two girls can sing, they really can but they're not as good as their other band mates. For me personally, they're the ones who bring the MOST 'attitude' or anything not directly related to actually singing. But they can sing, why else are they in the bands?

Girls Aloud: Cheryl Cole

Compared to the other members, Cheryl's probably the least vocally capable. She's better than a lot of other singers, which is why she's in Girls Aloud and she sings those R&B numbers very well but after you hear Nadine and Nicola, she just pales in comparison. There are times when I think her voice gets a little to whine-y but there are also times when I think her voice is jut gorgeous - it's just that she's inconsistent. Fight For This Love is pretty good vocally (NOT musically and you guys know that) but I believe that once Nicola hopefully gets some solo stuff out, Cheryl will be blown completely out of the water.

The Saturdays: Mollie King

Mollie isn't JUST a pretty face either, but if you don't take how she matches The Saturdays' songs into context and just take her as a singer, I wouldn't be too impressed. HOWEVER if you listen to her vocals on Work (I believe she gets the most airtime on that - the entire first verse), they match the song very well. It once again boils down to the fact that she can only sing a few types of songs and not everything you throw at her BUT she does what she can pretty damn well.

The ROCK CHIK

Rockers - they do their fair share of screaming (Sarah mainly) and the name pretty much says it all.

Girls Aloud: Sarah Harding

Sarah's voice is a little shrill for me, enough said. But the girl can sing and she has a high voice but it doesn't have a deep timbre like Nadine or a very, very smooth one with equally smooth delivery like Kimberly - Sarah just can't help but let loose. There are times when that can be an especially good thing but there are also times for me when it can get a little annoying. However she has her own niche in the group and kudos to her for sticking to it!

The Saturdays: Una Healey

What I like about Una is the fact that she isn't just a rocker - she can do the ballads and the dance stuff, it's just that the timbre of her voice fits the rock stuff more than it does the other girls'. I first heard her sing a good, solid solo part when I saw a live performance of Chasing Lights - her part is just insanely brilliant. By the time I heard her solo on Forever is Over, I was convinced she was made to sing these kinds of songs - she has the technique and the timbre to pull it off and that middle 8 of hers pretty much made the entire song.

The quiet one who sings DAMN GOOD

The label kind of applies to Nicola more than it does to Rochelle but let's just stick with it, OK?

Girls Aloud: Nicola Roberts

I'll say this now so you know what to expect - Nicola is my favorite voice in Girls Aloud. She's my favorite because her voice is so different that she actually pulls it off very well! Voices like hers that are shrill at times but thin and smooth, if not delivered and thought of well can be very annoying and ugly but Nicola's is beautiful - it's not too much but it's not held back or boring, it's just right. Her voice matches the GA aesthetic the best - she embodies everything GA has and the music they're making.

The Saturdays: Rochelle Wiseman

Rochelle. I first noticed her voice when I saw the video for Issues - I was surprised to hear that voice coming out her her mouth! She sings the part of the verse before Vanessa and when I heard the striking contrast between their voices I was baffled not by Vanessa's but by Rochelle's. Rochelle sounds like a deeper, more predominantly smooth and less excessive version of Vanessa and I personally like those kinds of voices a lot better, as you guys may have noticed over the past few vocal commentaries. Therefore, my favorite voice in The Saturdays is Rochelle.

The INTRO: Girls Aloud vs. The Saturdays.

I know what you might be thinking - FINALLY! Hahah. Time for me to talk about my line of expertise, British pop. K-pop may be great but it's not my forte, this is purely what I blog about best. Hahah.
Girls Aloud and The Saturdays - the two biggest 5-member girl groups in Britain. Vocally these girls know how to jump through hoops and fire but it was only until my K-pop addiction that I learned to appreciate the fact that all 10 of these girls can sing. Yes, there are a lot of Koreans who can sing damn good and a lot of British who just suck but it’d been a while since I first sauntered into the realm to British pop - all the crappy voices I’d already gotten rid of years ago. Now that I just got addicted to K-pop 3 - 4 months ago, I’ve spent that time scouring the good and the bad - in seeing the bad I began to appreciate the good even more.

On to the girls. The reason why I chose to combine the two groups in one post (apart from convenience which I know isn’t valid) is because whether we like it or not, the two will ALWAYS be compared in one way, shape or form - it’s a fact. They’re Britain’s top girl groups, they’ve got five members and they make pop songs, what’s more to ask?

I don't know if anyone has noticed this but I never talk about Girls Aloud's vocals seriously. Yes, I say that I'd love some solo stuff from Nicola and Cheryl's my least favorite singer in the band but apart from that you don't really hear me ranting about the girls, maybe because I don't have anything bad to say about them or I just never thought about commenting on their voices.

It's a given that everyone in Girls Aloud can sing. They went through an American Idol-like (Popstars the Rivals, to the exact) selection process and emerged victorious over their supposed male equivalent - One True Voice. Over the years their vocals have grown along with their musical style but who we heard on Sound of the Underground are the same girls we heard in Untouchable - their voices didn't change, they just grew.

I got all nostalgic when I had to listen back to Sound of the Underground, The Show, Love Machine, Biology, Whole Lotta History, Call the Shots and all their other old stuff that I hadn't listened to in ages - I got all tingly remembering the time when this was all I used to listen to.

The Saturdays' roots trace back to the ill-fated S Club 8 - Frankie and Rochelle (was that her or was that another girl?) were what I assume the 'lead singers', it wasn't directly said (it never is in Britain) but they, Calvin Goldspink and another guy got the most singing parts and the most airtime. After the band dissolved in the wake of I Dream, their failed yet somewhat musically brilliant TV show, they disappeared and suddenly returned to pop in the form of The Sats.

If vocal ability says anything about them assuming the place of Girls Aloud in British music, the Saturdays are the best candidate for it. Yes, even Mollie can sing - at least the material they're doing right now. We don't have a lot of material to work with yet when it comes to The Saturdays but I can at least trace Frankie and Rochelle's vocal growth.

Here are a few videos from each band - these are the ones I really based my commentaries on.

Girls Aloud:

The Saturdays:

I used the recorded version of this but you can't embed that from YouTube.

You have the 2 WHOLE DAYS to watch and soak up on all 10 girls' voices - on Wednesday MY commentary's up! Hahah.

New Music!

Quite a number of new stuff. Some not as new but I haven't blogged about them yet so that's new! hahah.

• Everyone's gushing about the new Booty Luv single(which is still set for release later this year..) but I personally don't get it. I don't know if it's because it reminds me too much of something Lady GaGa could and would sing or if I just don't like it to start with. 
• I'm still addicted to Rain. I'm serious - if you haven't heard his 2008 album you're missing a heck of a lot. He puts Justin Timberlake to shame, if you were to ask me.
• Michael Johns' single Heart On Your Sleeve is impressive - but not my cup of tea. His voice is gorgeous and all but it reminds me of a 2006 single I can't quite pinpoint yet. All I know is that it reminds me of 2006 when I got addicted to MTV and the local music channel. Will do my research.
• Mitchel Musso's new single is even more impressive - I actually adore it. He reminds me of a more juvenile Teddy Geiger and that's a good thing(I think I've professed my love for him a few times already..). The melody's gorgeous and if he works a little more on the slightly wimpy voice and stick with an acoustic/piano thing, this song will work. Not a big fan of the very rock parts with heavy guitars and drums - I much prefer the start and the rather short middle-8.
• There's a new NLT song floating around called Magnetic and it reminds me waaaay too much of a Day26 song. Creepy.
• I think I've talked about Esmee Denters before in passing but I just got the HQ version of her single(late, I know. Forgive me.) and the song got even better. Definitely the new Gia Farrell although she better get an album release - the US lacks a big female pop star who makes brilliant pop songs.
• It's Your Dynamite, the b-side to GA's Untouchable is out. The verdict? Not so good. For now, at least. There's nothing special about the song or the melody - it's just a plain old recycled melody put on top of a loop stuck with a strange chorus. I might like it if I listen to it a bit more(ala-The Show) but for now, things aren't looking that good.
• It's all over the place but I should write something about Agnes' acoustic version of Release Me. I first heard it a few months ago(not sure exactly when..) when I was just announced as the second single and I thought it was brilliant. Now we have the studio mixed and 'sweetened' version and it's even betterrrrrrr! This seriously puts all those American pop stars who can't sing a note in tune live on their below-average songs they call 'pop'. hahah.
• One of my recent discoveries is Korean pop star/TV star Lee Hyori. Apparently she's gigantic in Korea and is constantly being linked to Rain(hmmmm.). She doesn't have the most gorgeous voice in the world but the song will stick in your head and refuse to leave, whether it's good or bad. Oh, and even if you can't understand 95% of the song, it's got a great melody.. Her album isn't that bad either - there are some cool R&B staples on it.

New Music!

I can't help myself, there are quite a few things out. I'm almost done studying anyway! hmm.

• THE CRAIG DAVID CONCERT WAS SPECTACULAR. I promise to review the whole thing once all my requirements are done.. You had to be there to feel the brilliance.
• I've become a HUGE The Script fan. When I first heard them I thought they were this crappy Coldplay wannabe but then I turned the volume up and heard my dad's production in it. He didn't produce it, obviously, but all the qualities of something he'd produce were there and it made me tear up for some strange reason.
• Ronan Keating's cover album is out at it's number one in the UK. Not a big fan of the covers(Carrickfergus was better when Charlotte Church did it.), but hey - he's got four number one albums so you gotta hand it to him.
• Two new Mandy Moore songs are out. They're OK, but I Could Break Your Heart.... is still the best new song so far. Will be waiting for the album!
• Esmee Denters has a new song out - AND IT'S BRILLIANT. Just when I thought Gia Farrell would never come back, here's someone who sounds a lot like her! yay! hahah.
• Well, Kian Egan and Louis Walsh's STILL unnamed girl band had an Irish TV appearance the other day, singing a Dixie Chicks cover. They apparently have competition now, the new girl group with a girl who didn't get a place in the other band are rumored to record the new Grey's Anatomy theme song. This is WAR.
• Last year's Swedish Idol winner has an album out. There are some gorgeous songs on it but once again, there's no cohesion. They're nice songs to listen to though. I might review it after exams.
• Savannah Outen has a new song for this charity out and she sounds a lot like Jordan Pruitt at the start and though I will forever love Jordan Pruitt(and her utter brilliance), Savannah can be jaw-dropping at times.
• Pixie Lott got her first play Radio 2 some time back! Congrats!!!!!!
• I got re-addicted to Guy Sebastian some time back. I might do a few reviews as well... yay!
• Taylor Swift's song for the Hannah Montana movie has a video out already and may I say, it's the only good part of the whole soundtrack.
• Hold on, I thought the video for Moments That Matter was out already? Apparently not, here's a new one.
• Girls Aloud's new video is out. The album version was amazing, and I love the fact that Nicola sings first but something in the single mix and the video makes me uneasy about the whole thing. I'd love Revolution in the Head as a single though! haha.
  
  
  I guess that's it! Back to studying. Asian economics, systems of quadratic equations, uniform accelerated motion, Newton's laws of motion, Filipino short stories(which are like 10 pages each..), adverbial clauses of concession, congruence postulates, and everything else! UGH.

New Music!

Things have been slow with me lately, so apologies for the lack of updates.. haha. And I know some of these points are older but nothing's been happening! garr.

• Extremely late but pop band RBD are over - their last album was released a little more than week ago. They were sort of a GA for me, didn't like them at first but I kept on seeing them everywhere so I listened again and got hooked. Garr. I do love the last album, good, solid pop songs.
• Well, Untouchable is officially GA's third single from Out Of Control. Loved the song when I first heard it, still love it and I honestly hope to God that it does heaps better than TLK for the girls' sake. I agree with everyone else when I say that the single mix doesn't do any justice to the original version but oh well.
• Oh, and Been Waiting is Jessica Mauboy's third official single! yay! Was listening to it a lot over the past few days and I love the groove of the song, how you just want to bop your head to the beat - it's infectious. THIS is what I call brilliance, I didn't like Burn that much.
• New Elliott Yamin song - not a big fan of it but it's good. What I'm worried of though is that he might give us an album full of standard R&B songs - he better not.
• Idol related news - two of the now top 11 have solo albums/songs circulating the internet. A few songs from Kris Allen's pre-Idol are out and both of Matt Giraud's albums are out. I'm so-so with Kris Allen's stuff, he sounds like an older/quirky-er Teddy Geiger and so far I've heard one song from Matt's album - I don't like it.
• Ruben Studdard has a new song out and it's pure brilliance. I only have three Ruben songs in my library - one from each stage of his career and his atrocious version of FWW aside, Together is the song I personally like the most from him. Brilliant melody and it's a refreshing change, compared to this Change Me is far too 'heavy'.
• Megan Joy has possibly got to be my best bet to win Idol or even just get to the top 3. Yeah, she sounds a bit like Duffy but that's what the US scene is lacking, plus the fact that she's likable and can actually sing. If she keeps on choosing good songs I think she'll go far. Oh, and Adam Lambert can burn in that horrid 'ring of fire' for all I care - I hate him.

Exam week for me is nearing so I'll have even less time to post but don't worry - I'm off for two months after my exams!!! Which means I'll be posting like every day. Oh, and I know I said that the next special would be Soulshock and Karlin but that'll be pushed back because in preparation for the Craig David concert I'm OFFICIALLY going to - it's the Craig David special!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay!

New Music!

Sorry for not posting in ages, have been busy with school and nothing extremely exciting has been happening so I waited for all the new stuff to flow in..

• I know I've said that by the few songs that've been circulating from the Hannah Montana movie, I wasn't so impressed with the soundtrack. One new song off it though has done all the right things. Always Find Your Way Back Home is standard Disney/Hannah Montana, catchy melodies and lyrics about dreams and home and friends but this song has the most gorgeous melody. Haha.
• There's a new BoA song out, I Did It For Love and aside from the strange laughing, it's not that bad. There are parts that just explode but I'm still a bit uncomfortable about her singing in English and I can't seem to forget how bad Eat You Up was but oh well, this is a bit better.
• The Veronicas did a stripped version of Burnin' Up and may I say, it's not that bad. I wouldn't listen to it for no reason but I wouldn't take it out of my library either!
• I FINALLY got The Saturdays' Comic Relief single in HQ and I've been listening to it heaps. I kind of like the Wideboys Radio Edit, it's not that different from the original track..
• I know I'm a year and something late but I'm slowly getting addicted to Adele. I've heard the first three tracks on the album and I love them all! Will listen to the rest later..
• There're three new Jordin Sparks clips, Let It Rain is amazing, Walking On Snow is even more amazing but Papercut is BRILLIANT!
• It's official, following their first ever BRIT, it was announced that Untouchable will be the next single off Out of Control! haha. I love the song..
• Speaking of the BRITs, Duffy was the big winner that night, she won three out of her four nominations but the Ting Tings' performance with Estelle was the best part of the night for me, WHY DIDN'T THEY WIN???????!!!!! Garrr.

hmm.. more coming this week, watch out!

New Music!

Apologies for the lack of posting yesterday, I was recording a song! haha. Then I had to splice everything and *gasp* double track some of my friends' vocals(I know I diss it and all but it does sound a lot better! haha.) but anyway, here's what I've been listening to for the past few days..

• I still haven't whipped up my review of the Kelly Clarkson single! I'm banging it into my friends' heads already but I STILL haven't written anything about it. I better do soon, before I hear it everywhere here and I start hating it. tsk. tsk.
• My dad got me re-addicted to Paula Cole. I'm listening to Amen right now, and I'm loving it! Very adult contemporary, like a heavier and less pop Sara Bareilles(I LOVE her as well, don't get me wrong!) but amazing as well!
• After seeing it all over the place last year but not actually listening to it, I finally got my hands on Christina Milian's Us Against The World and it's absolute brilliance! I'm kicking myself over and over again for not bothering to listen to this sooner. WHY? I love the chorus, it's heavy but not.
• There's a new Michael Johns and Brooke White song, and I love it! One because we haven't heard any new material from either of them and two because the song is actually quite cool. It fits both of them but I'd like to see Michael do something reminiscent of his We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions performance. Still, the song fits both of them well, more so Brooke.
• We finally have Natalie Bassingthwaighte's new single in HQ! For weeks I've been having to put up with a YouTube rip but yay for the HQ! I'm re-loving the song as well, I got a bit sick of it a few weeks ago but the HQ just changed everything! Definitely somewhere near a hit. haha.
• Speaking of HQ versions, there's this Facebook group going around to petition releasing GA's Memory of You in HQ and not on vinyl so if you're on Facebook, hunt it down and join! I so want to hear it in HQ that it's killing me just listening to the vinyl rip!
• Am still addicted to the White Tie Affair. I'm soaking all of it in before they get big here and I start absolutely despising them because they're actually very, very, very, very good. Duh. haha.
• Well Kerli has a cute new video out for Creepshow. I love the animation and the song's OK, nothing special and not as good as Love Is Dead or Walking On Air.

Ugh. That's it? I'm so annoyed with the lack of new music. Where're all the amazing albums and new songs we've been promised this year? They better come up with a good excuse for not releasing them now! haha.

New Music!

I interrupt the boyband special for some of my new addictions! A quick one today, I'm leaving in an hour.

• I'm now, officially addicted to The White Tie Affair. Think Panic! At the Disco + Metro Station, amazing melodies, cool instrumentals.
• My dad is now officially addicted to the Ting Tings. I like to think I had a hand in getting him addicted : ). Remember, annoyingly brilliant! haha. As I'm writing this, he's playing That's Not My Name on the stereo at max. YES!
• Never in a million years did I expect to like Peter Andre. I'm liking Insania, cool song, great melody but so-so vocals. He's done pretty well in music, apparently. haha.
• I'm liking Another Level's Freak Me as well. Amazing melody and the rest of their debut album is just brilliant.
• The GA b-sides are awesome! I'm loving the megamix more than Memory Of You but they're both amazing! Plus the fact that it's apparently on 7" vinyl. Heck, I don't even know what that is!(Ok, I know it's one of those big black round thingies but that's it.)
• A still addicted to the Lady GaGa acoustic thing, it's so different from the original one! Speaking of her, Just Dance is number one in the UK this week! James Morrison is number two as well, yay!
• Northern Line ARE AMAZING. Check out the boyband post tomorrow: 5 Boybands that Demand Your Attention for more on probably the most amazing boyband in that post! haha.
• Craig David + Monrose? Coolness! I don't like Walking Away to start with but the idea of him doing a duet with different people in different continents reminds me of the BoA/Christian Castro thing Westlife did for FWW on their GH1. haha.

Other than that, there's nothing really new or groundbreaking. Remember, the Varsity Fanclub album comes out TOMORROW!(at least that's that I saw on a few blogs and sites..) Yay! Something to review! Yipeeeeee!

New Music!

Well, well, the first new music post of the year! What's been constantly playing on my iPod and iTunes? haha.
A bit short today, nothing much from my side..

• I first heard of KSM during one of my random chats with BeE from Pop Nation. Turns out, they weren't a girl group, they were literally a girl rock band! haha. I'm not quite myself today, so excuse the strange and rather stiff writing. And I loved Hero In You as well! Amazing song, amazing melody, very Disney. I can imagine it in a Disney chick-flick.
• I watched the Royal Variety Performance a few weeks ago and I saw this cool A capella group called Naturally 7. I did my research but I couldn't find any of their albums online or in the stores so I let it go. Yesterday though, I finally found their current album! yay for me! I gave it a listen and they're amazing! Not just because the album is completely a capella but because the songs are brilliant. I'm not loving the lead single though.
• I'm still addicted to the Pixie Lott song. If you haven't heard The Fall yet, you're missing out on a lot!!!!!
• I've heard part of the GA concert audio and it's OK, nothing special for me. Maybe I don't adore them enough to download every single performance of theirs(ahem.. Westlife ahem...) but still, it's not bad.
• I just heard a song by this girl called Melanie Fiona and I like it! Think Melinda Doolittle or someone like her singing Duffy's Mercy. I love it! haha.

# 2: Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind

Read my review of Out Of Control here.

They can't sing this song live, that's my only complaint.

The Loving Kind came very close to becoming my favorite song of the year, it was between this one and the one I chose. So it's technically my second favorite song of the year.

I find it ironic that I keep humming it but the girls can't seem to be able to sing it live. Still, I don't hum songs a lot(mainly because I always have my iPod stuck to my ears..) but if I do, that means the song has got something really special for me and it does.

This has got an amazing, gorgeous, beautiful, stunning melody, something that's obviously very important for me. It's got an amazing melody but it's not just an idea of an amazing melody, the execution of it is just sheer brilliance.

So what's my favorite song of the year then? Find out tomorrow, I assure you, it's an amazing one.

My Christmas Playlist!

I can't believe Christmas is in TWELVE days! To help you get into the festive season even more, here are some of my favorite pop-ified Christmas songs!

• Carrie Underwood's Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is an amazing song, and it reminds me of Christmas Eve, when we go to church with the whole family and eat and eat and eat! I don't know why, though.
• Blue's Gift is exactly how I imaged a Blue Christmas song to be, R&B. I don't know if it's really a Christmas song, but it sure seems like it! Melodically it's amazing, though it doesn't really feel as Christmassy as the others.
• I've always found Last Christmas to be really cheesy and all, but Britt Nicole's version completely changes that. It's rock-y in her usual style but for some strange reason, it still feels even a bit like Christmas to me. That plus the fact that her vocals are on top condition here!
• Boybands are known for their acapella work(Westlife and Boyz II Men especially..), so it's no surprise that *NSYNC would have an acapella Christmas song. Their version of O Holy Night really, REALLY feels Christmassy, I LOVE it!
• The first time I heard Merry Christmas Everybody sang was during the Popworld Christmas special with Westlife. A few weeks later, I heard the Girls Aloud version, and it caught my ear. It sounds like something that would be playing in a mall, and it gets me nostalgic, since malls are packed during December and I'm frantically looking for gifts.
• I keep on hearing 98°'s This Gift in malls and stores this year for some strange reason. The song's beautiful though, the melody and what seems to be a harmony during the chorus just feels like Christmas to me.
• Yes, Westlife did a version of White Christmas. Don't blame them, they'd just finished their rat-pack album and it seems like it rubbed off on them. Correct me if I'm wrong but this was the b-side to When You Tell Me That You Love Me. Actually, I don't think Westlife's the correct artist for this, it's got to be Shane Filan. Seriously, he's the only one singing! Still, this has got to be the song that feels like Christmas the most, if I was to choose(biases aside.)
• Last year, Josh Groban's Christmas album Noel was a gigantic hit and with that, I found probably the best original(within the 2000's) pop Christmas song, Thankful. The melody's gorgeous, and his voice is in top shape.
• Keke Palmer has a gorgeous voice for what she usually sings, but I never knew she'd have a gorgeous voice for Christmas songs as well! Home For The Holidays was on Disney Channel Holiday, and the way the R&B-ness of Keke was mixed with the holiday elements was pure genius. It's catchy yet it showcases her voice. Brilliant!
• Lastly, a song from Jordan Pruitt. Also from Disney Channel Holiday, Santa Don't Stop is a very fun song that's consistent with Jordan's musical direction yet it's clearly a Christmas song.

As a sort of 'gift' to you guys(corny, much?), I've put up a download link to the playlist! It'll be up for 2 DAYS only. Enjoy!

My Christmas Playlist!

New Music!

Taking a break from the countdown, let's look back on all the great music that's come out in the past few days(before I fall asleep! I'm on anti-histamine and painkillers.. so I'll make it short)

• I've FINALLY heard the Same Difference b-side Like A Miracle, and I'm loving what I'm hearing. Why the crap wasn't this on the album? It's genius!
• I've heard a part of the new Mya album. I LOVE IT! I love how the songs flow from one to the other and the theme of them so far. I'll finish listening to it sometime this weekend!
• Also, I've finally watched the new Westlife documentary. I got goosebumps during 'the walk'. Seriously!
• I still can't believe that Agnes' second single from Dance Love Pop is Release Me. Seriously, I'm still in shock!
• Been listening over to the Same Difference album a lot these past few days. It's slowly going to amazing to brilliant to mind-blowing. Amazing stuff! Is it number one yet? haha..
• And, the news that made my day, the new GA video premiered!!!! I was literally screaming my head off when I saw it on YouTube this morning.. If you haven't watched it yet, YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON SHEER BRILLIANCE! Seriously, it's probably the best GA video, ever. EVER. The best video plus one of the most mind-blowing songs on the earth, what can go wrong? NOTHING!

New Music..

Let's take a break from the countdown, shall we? Just a quick one though, there are still heaps and heaps of songs to write about and my brain, eyes and fingers are getting tired(I wrote like six reviews last night and another seven a while ago after I came from doing some experimental make-up on my classmates..)!

• Darin's new album is out, and I'm loving some of the tracks. I'll get to writing that review sometime in the next few days, I've got too much to do at the moment!
• Believe it or not, Orlando Brown(That's So Raven?) has an album. Gui over at Pop Music Zone posted it, and I'm surprised. He can sing! But the songs all sound the same and I haven't listened to the whole thing yet.
• The new Same Difference album is out tomorrow so if you liked my review, go out and BUY IT! You know you want to...
• I just posted it a while ago, but let me say it again, I CAN'T BELIEVE AGNES CARLSSON'S SECOND SINGLE IS RELEASE ME!! Haha.. freak out mode, sorry.
• Speaking of singles, The Saturdays' third single is Issues, a gorgeous song. The Sugababes are releasing No Can Do and Girls Aloud are releasing none other than The Loving Kind. Amazing stuff, can't wait for the second part of the battle of the girl groups!
• Leona Lewis' new video for Run is out. Nothing special, I don't really like the song to start with and she's getting too popular and compared to Mariah and Whitney too much for me.
• The Westlife DVD is number one in Ireland, HURRAH! And Sony BMG Pilipinas better bring it here now, or else face the wrath of a whole mob of angry Westlife fans who demand for their beloved DVD, me included!
• I've already written about my favorite song of 2008, and I can assure you, it's gonna be amazing. Haha..

The battle of the post-album singles!

OK, so all three girl groups have announced or premiered videos or started promoting their post-album singles, so I think it's time to start the battle! Haha..

1. Sugababes - No Can Do

No Can Do for me was one of the less prominent songs on the album, but I thought it was strong. By the live performances, I'm slowly starting to adore the song, so let's wait and see!

2. The Saturdays - Issues

I thought Issues was a gorgeous song when I first heard the album, and I stand by that. The way the song flows is just brilliant. The video's a bit different from their previous ones that were jam packed with color and processing. This one has significantly less, and the only appearance of 'their colors' is with the umbrellas, which are cool! I kind of reminds me of the Call The Shots video though. I don't know if it'll be a number one single, but it might be!

3. Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind

No video yet, but I heard somewhere that it'll be out sometime next week! Brilliant song, and I said that it had become my favorite Girls Aloud song, and it still is! Amazing stuff, fingers crossed for another number one! No video, so just listen to a medium quality version..

My ratings will come when all singles have been released, which is most likely January next year!

The Battle comes to an end..

Yes people, the battle of the girl groups has now come to a close in my books, as the last of the albums has been reviewed. To recap on my thoughts about the albums, check out these reviews in the order they were released:

Sugababes - Catfights and Spotlights

The Saturdays - Chasing Lights Pre-Review

The Saturdays - Chashing Lights

Girls Aloud - Out Of Control

Notes on each album:

• Catfights and Spotlights is a very consistent album from The Sugababes, and it's possibly their most mature album yet. Side Chick may indicate them trying to break the US, but we won't know until it's officially announced. For now, Catfights and Spotlights is an amazing album from the girls.
• Chasing Lights is a strong debut from The Saturdays, but there's a lot of work to be done on the girls' part. Although it's not the stellar album I was expecting, it's turned out to have some very strong songs, enough to make it a hit.
• Out Of Control has got to be my favorite album of the year so far(I won't make my decision on my favorite until the year ends and all 2008 albums have been released..). With every song amazing, but a select few absolutely brilliant, the album is certainly mind-blowing. Mind-blowing enough to be iconic for years to come.

Now, here are some pictures and the final result of the score sheet I put up for download a few days ago. To download and fill it up for yourself, click here. To view bigger versions, click here.

AND THE WINNER IS.........

Now, because GA won the battle and I really can't stand the album cover, I decided to make one myself. How does it look?

I'd love it if you guys send in pictures of your score sheets! To do so, just sent those pictures to samanthaparkington@gmail.com and if there are enough pictures, I might post them here! haha.. fun, fun, fun!

Girls Aloud - Out Of Control, some post-review notes..

So I listened to the album today while I was out of the house and I've noticed some things that I didn't when I wrote my review. Here are some notes and random thoughts about the album.

• The verses of Love Is Pain are amazing! I'm slowly getting hooked to the whole song. The chorus right now is OK, but since the verses are amazing, I might grow to adore the song!
• The album reminds me a bit of What Will The Neighbors Say? for some strange reason. I can't quite point out what makes it sound like WWTNS but it does remind me a lot of it.
• The songs all take a few listens to set in, but when they finally do, they just outright blow your mind.
• The amazingness(is that even a word?) of The Loving Kind was there during the first few listens but now, it's probably the most brilliant song they've done.
• Untouchable is proving to be one of the stronger songs(out of the strong ones...) on the album, it's unmistakably Girls Aloud.

Check out the full review here.

Girls Aloud - Out Of Control

Yes! It's here! All the fuss over this album is certainly well deserved, I hail this my favorite album of the year so far!

You see, Girls Aloud, like the Sugababes, have managed to add hints and influences of another genre(60's-ish stuff..) but keep their trademark sound. It's that identity thing again, but your heads might be bursting with that so let's move on.

The other thing they've done was baffle all the copycats. Tangled Up was very dance-y, very pop/dance, but this year, they've moved away from the Sexy! No, no, no...'s and moved over to The Loving Kind's, catching all the wannabes unaware. Take the Saturdays, you can see how much they want to be Girls Aloud. Work is an amazing song, but there are elements of a certain GA period in it.

I've got to admit, Girls Aloud is an 'acquired taste', it took me a long time before I actually started adoring them. Maybe it's because their sound is so different from the US stuff and they change so rapidly that no one in the UK scene has time to take influences from them. But still, they're not the biggest girl group in the world for nothing, and this album just confirms the title.

Each and every song on this album sounds very Girls Aloud, each and every song has something different about it, but each and every song is amazing, there are no weak songs on the album. The most outrageous song on the album is probably The Promise, it's the one that sounds least like a Girls Aloud song, but it's a strong start to the album, and an amazing single choice(have you seen the X Factor performance? amazing.)

Rolling Back the Rivers is an amazing song, it starts out with hardly anything, then turns into a Call The Shots-ish song before launching into an amazing(and addictive) chorus. Love Is The Key starts out with this choral thing, then just stars getting very 60's-ish, then becomes something like Fling, when they talk instead of sing. I can sense a pattern here, can you?

And now I see why Popjustice said not to listen to the album clips. They indeed didn't do justice to the album, and didn't give us clips to process. I wasn't that convinced by the clips, to tell you the truth, but the minute I finished listening to this album, I wished I hadn't heard the clips. Anyway.

Turn To Stone is very clubb-ish, the instrumental could be playing in a club or during a fashion show. And as usual, the chorus is just amazing! Nicola's vocals were the perfect choice to start off Untouchable, one of my favorite songs on the album. Plus, it sounds a lot like Call The Shots, again.

Let's take a moment to worship the ground Xenomania walk on, shall we? They've once again created amazing songs that highlight Girls Aloud's voices, and the style they've created for the amazing girl group.

Moving on, the rest of the album is just amazing, I can rattle on all day about how much I adore the songs, but I won't. So let's move on to my ultimate favorite song on the album.

The Loving Kind is the absolute best song on the whole album for me. A few weeks ago, Popjustice streamed a clip of the song and I just adored it! The song is gorgeous, the tempo accents the melody very well, and the melody in turn, accents the vocals amazingly. I just can't get enough of this song, everything about it is just amazing, my ultimate favorite Girls Aloud song, that's for sure! Edit: I can't get the song out of my head! I just keep humming and humming and humming and humming! And then I just keep on listening to it. It's not on gorgeous, it's addictive!

Girls Aloud has once again defied the boundaries of UK pop, and they've done it amazingly. Not some haphazard, scared and confused album, they've made something that will be stashed in record collections for many years to come!(corny?!)

So, to sum up the album:
Best Track: The Loving Kind
Better Tracks: Everything else
Least Favorite Track: none, to tell you the truth.
The whole album in one sentence: The best album of 2008 so far, it's drop-dead gorgeous, brilliant, amazing, mind-blowing and any other positive word I can think of.
THE RATING: 5/5(YES! Perfect!)

Buy it when it comes out in Ireland on October 31 and in the UK on November 3!

OMG.

OUT OF CONTROL HAS ARRIVED!!!!

Watch out for my review tomorrow morning

I'm literally dying with anticipation. I've heard the whole thing already and I'm dying to write about it!

New Music!

This week was full of amazing album leaks and releases, so what better way to celebrate than to look back at all the releases I've written about, and write about some more!

• Some amazing releases from Leon Jackson, The Saturdays and Craig David and the Clique Girlz came out/leaked this week. Check out my reviews!
• On the subject of the Clique Girlz, their album is worth at least one listen for you, but there are songs like So Hard, So Far and Who Wouldn't Wanna that are worth careful consideration, they rock! One issue I have though, is the amount of covers on the album, and the fact that there are two covers from one artist.
• The new Lady GaGa tracks from her US release are goooood! It's a nice shift from her regular album that I kind of got a bit sick of..
• HSM3 hit theaters here yesterday, and I was in one of the big malls. Tons and tons of kids watching! It's a good thing I won't be watching for the next week or so, mainly because there are too many people.
• Clips of the new Girls Aloud album have surfaced. Popjustice said not to listen to them, but when I read it, I had already heard the whole sampler. Still, it's proving to be a strong album, a worthy opponent to The Sugababes and The Saturdays.
• BoA has been planning a US launch, and Eat You Up is proving well with the music blog circuit. Some of the lyrics(yum, yum????!!) are strange, but the melody is good and the dancing is amazing, as usual.
• Britannia High starts Sunday night in the UK, I don't know what to expect, really. Start Of Something is not bad, but it sounds like an attempt to make another I Dream. I adore I Dream, but I don't see the point in another one.
• The new weekly top ten is up, a lot of new entries and a lot of exits, but all of this week's new releases are represented! Last week's number one song, Side Chick slips to number four, behind Leon Jackson's Ordinary Days, which enters at number three Craig David's Insomnia, which retains it's number two position, and The Saturdays' Work, which zooms into the coveted top spot. To see the whole thing, look for the chart on the sidebar!

What to expect this week:

• An X Factor Live Show Recap
• Some Taylor Swift?
• And let's hope we get more new releases!