Best of 2009: February #9 - #7

January's out of the way, what songs made an impact on me during this February?

#9: Andi - Good Morning Sun

(see my first mention of the song)

This is one of the cutest, happiest songs EVER. The vocals aren't outstanding but they're proficient, the instrumental isn't anything near brilliant and the production isn't anything to tell my dad about BUT it's happy, and it's a song you'd just WANT to listen to.

#8: Kat DeLuna - Calling You

Another Just Dance clone that I like better than the 'original one', mainly because earlier this year I got properly hooked on the Shopaholic series where this song was featured (Seriously, I bought all the books in the space of a week, watched the movie and got addicted to the soundtrack) and I like the hook. Hahah.

#7: Lily Allen - I Could Say

(see my review of It's Not Me, It's You)

It's Not Me, It's You was one of those albums I listened to earlier this year because there was literally nothing to review. Thank goodness I did. I adored I Could Say from the very beginning - I like the instrumental, the 'sweet'-ish melody and how the song doesn't really explode when you expect it to. Gorgeous.

Looking ahead...

I said that 2009 would be an amazing year for music and quite a number of new albums have been released now even more new songs are slowly circulating so what's in store for the pop scene over the next few months? Here are some artists who've given us a little taste of what's to come(and a few who haven't.).

• A bonus track off Kelly Clarkson's new album has leaked and although some people are speculating that it's not really her, I do think it's her. It sounds like her and the song is just divine so even if it isn't, I'd like to know who it is! haha. If this is what we're getting(plus some demos by other artists have also surfaced, haven't heard them yet..) in the full-length album then my calendar will have a big, fat red mark on the release date! haha.
• Marie Serneholt's Melodifestivalen song is not bad but as long as I have an I Need A House-esque track on it, I'm happy.
• This year's Comic Relief single(which I'm getting really addicted to.. it's brilliantly catchy!) was secured by The Saturdays and it's everywhere already! Late last year Digital Spy bashed all hopes of getting a re-release of their debut album(I'm too lazy to look for the article but I will). I do think they need a few original albums just to plant their existence firmly into people's minds. Maybe on their third or fourth albums they can do a re-release but now's not the time. I wonder what's in store for them this year, after the Comic Relief thing.
• Fight For Love is the reported first single from Elliot Yamin's second album(rumored to also be called Fight For Love) and along with that a few rumors have come up that he's teaming up with Stargate and even Diane Warren(she can write one heck of a ballad..) for the album. I do like the two songs out now, so will be following the development of this. haha.
• Also rumored are the follow-up singles from Lily Allen's new album. Apparently they're Not Fair and Back To The Start.. hmm.
• Armed with a mind-blowing voice(which sounds a lot like JoJo), a Stargate-produced lead single whose video was directed by the guy who brought us the videos to Rihanna's monster singles Unfaithful, We Ride, Disturbia and Take A Bow, Beyonce's Irreplaceable and heaps more, Bayje better come up with that album soon. It's been at least a year since I've heard of her and the tracks on her Myspace are brilliant so this is definitely one of the albums I'm anticipating the most this year.
• It's been three years since her last album and JoJo hasn't given us anything, nothing, not even a little taste of what her new album's gonna sound like. I'm not angry or anything but I've been waiting three years for an album from the girl who started my music addiction and I'm really, really excited! After a label change, early last year rumors were that the album would be out in time for her 18th birthday but apparently, All I Want Is Everything will be out this year instead. Oh, and her website's being revamped..
• Lady Sovereign's new album is apparently coming out this year. I love her drastic but not change in sound and her new grown up image, it's working! I Got You Dancing was like a Ting Tings song(although not as good..), annoyingly awesome, it was stuck in my head for weeks, it still is! The follow-up single is So Human and although I prefer the first one, it's a nice preview of the album! yay!
• Just when I was thinking of what happened to Keke Palmer, wiki is saying that Sony has apparently signed her and the album is scheduled for a spring release. Hmm(when's spring, btw? don't blame me, we only have two seasons here!), no new singles out yet? tsk. tsk. They better have this really huge PR campaign if they want the album to sell..
• So I'm guessing that because of the Rihanna incident, Chris Brown's career has come to a screeching halt. Radio stations have pulled out his songs from their playlists, his ad campaigns have been suspended and the Sesame Street episode he did won't be shown again, ever. I feel sorry for his career, it's come a long way but he is going to court for beating Rihanna up so it's both their careers down the drain for now(at least.. Rihanna may be able to bounce back faster than him..). I'm also guessing that there won't be any new releases from him(or her..), at least this year if he can get his act together quick enough for people to not loose interest in him and not go crazy or something. Shame, he was starting to get close to Craig David in my books.

There's tons more new stuff to talk about so a part two might follow! haha.

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

It took some time but it's here! haha.
I was very, very young when acts like 5ive, Samantha Mumba and STEPS ruled the UK charts and when I mean young I mean that I was five in 1999 plus the fact that I live halfway across the world from the country in question. So for the past two years, I've been giving myself a crash course in Brit pop from the 90's all the way up to now and it's only this year that I got sort-of up to date with what the hits at the moment sound like. Late 2008 and 2009 introduced me to Gabriella Cilmi, Coldplay, the reformed Take That and countless other pop acts today.

It's true, from what I've seen Brit pop has slowly shifted in several directions. Some people like Leona Lewis went with US trends, R&B and Dance while others like The Ting Tings and Lily Allen herself chose to redefine Brit pop and make it the way it is now, fun, tongue-in-cheek and quirky songs with lots of spunk and that little bit of British obnoxiousness(at least that's what I get from you guys! Don't take it the wrong way! haha...).

I've never listened to a Lily Allen album before this, to be completely honest so I have no idea what her previous album had. Of course I've heard the singles from her first album but for some reason I never bothered to listen to the rest of it. I even listened to the first single from this album and I wasn't that convinced the first time, so I had no intention to listen to this. Still, it was all I saw around the blogs so I thought I'd at least give it a shot, right?

So I did.

The first thing I noticed about this album as a whole is it's irony. The music part is very happy synth-pop and Lily's voice is nice and light and you expect nice, happy lyrics but when you listen to the lyrics themselves, (I don't usually judge the lyrics but this seems right!), they're just plain strange. Actually from what I'm getting if Popjustice made an album themselves the lyrics would sound something like this.

I like the songs themselves, the melodies and the instrumentals and everything else though, they're nice.

Everyone's At It and Not Fair sound similar to me, and they're at the same place in terms of me liking them, haha. The Fear is a cute little synth-pop song with very in-your-face lyrics with death and stuff like that but I actually really like it now. 22 has slightly more percussion and beats in it and I just love the melody, brilliance. I say the same thing for I Could Say as well, I like the fact that she's singing at the start then slowly the drums and the beats come in, it reminds me of a less electro-pop With Every Heartbeat. hmm.

Never Gonna Happen has it's quirks and I like it. Very Gabriella Cilmi/Amy Winehouse-ish with that very pop chorus, cool! haha. F*** You, amidst it's title, is very spunky and it reminds me of something straight out of the 50's/60's, minus the lyrics. Him is another cute song, it's like something you'd hear in a movie about the country, brilliant melody. I like one of the bonus tracks, Fag Hag. It's R&B-ish at the start but then it reminds me of a more subdued Ting Tings song.

So, to sum up the album:
Best Track: I Could Say
Better Tracks: The Fear, 22, Never Gonna Happen, Him, Fag Hag, F*** You
Least Favorite Track: Not a very big fan of He Wasn't Here
THE RATING: 4/5