New Music!

I hope you guys had a great Christmas Day, so let's get back to the regular stuff! New stuff has come out over the holidays, mostly from my blogger friends, and I have to catch up!

• First off, can I just say, one album I'll be eagerly awaiting next year is Corbin Bleu's. The lead single was announced, it's called Celebrate You and I got a hold of it already. IT'S AMAZING. The start reminds me of Forever, like an ad for something. The song as a whole(more so the lyrics..) reminds me a lot of something that if sung by a girl, could be in a chick-flick like Princess Diaries or The Prince & Me, but it just works for him. If it was sung by a girl, I don't think it would be this marketable but I would've loved it just as much. This guy either has a great production team and lots of money put into him or he really has a better sense of who he is as a singer. ANYWAY, if his album is filled with stuff like this, I can't wait!
• During another one of our long chats, my friend BeE from Pop Nation(check her blog out, it's amazing! haha..) introduced me to this girl, Claudia Cream. Strange name, but the song I heard, Candy(not to be confused with the Many Moore song..), is pure, utter genius. It reminds me a lot of an Ashley Tisdale song I can't quite put my finger on. I know it sounds like an Ashley song, but I can't remember which. It's got a similar hook and the instrumental's very similar. Still, I love the melody and can you believe she's had five albums? I couldn't either when I first found out.. haha.
• I finally got a chance to hear Natalie's debut album thanks to another one of my friends, Gui from Pop Music Zone(another amazing blog, visit it!) over the Holidays and I just have one thing to say. I love the album, but she reminds me A LOT of Cassie, as in everything from the songs to the voice to the somehow drastic image change for the second album. I loved the single, Goin' Crazy when I knew nothing about music(I used to hear it a lot on the local music channel..) but now that and the rest of the album remind me a lot of Cassie. I know she came first, but I heard Cassie's album first. Still, it's kinda strange but I love the album anyway! haha. Me being strange, forgive me.
• Finally, after a lul in releases, Samantha Jade has a new song called All In Your Head. It's sounds very different from what she's done, but I think this matches her voice a lot more than the other songs(though Step Up will forever remain one of my favorite songs..) and since she hasn't released an album yet, I think the experimentation's working! I love the melody for a start, I think it's drop-dead gorgeous.
• Thanks to Mel, I'm now, truly a Soluna fan. I LOVE the album, I adore it and it's never leaving my iTunes library for as long as I live!
• The single mix of Issues, the Saturdays' new single, is definitely more bass-heavy, I don't know if it's more suitable for radio or what but I kinda like this mix, it's got more of a contrast now, but I love it either way, the song itself is just amazing!(oh and my ring tone at the moment is the chorus of Work! haha, love that song!)
• I was a bit too busy with Holidays and the countdown to mention this but I got a hold of an S Club 8 track I'd never heard before, called Here We Go(not to be confused with the GA track..) and I LOVE IT! Just a little lyrics tweak and it could easily be a Christmas song but it's not! At least I don't think it is.. Amazing song though, why hadn't I heard it earlier?
• I'm still kind of baflled at how good NLT are at a capella work, they could easily rival Westlife! But of course, Westlife will win! How can they not with Shane's amazingly smooth, strong voice on lead? haha.
• I thought the TOTP Christmas special wasn't gonna happen? Apparently, it did! Will have to watch it sometime before New Year.

Anything else I missed? I hope not..

S Club 8 - Turn the Lights On

S Club 8, the band formerly known as S Club Juniors. When S Club spilt up, they took up the name and released an album and starred in a TV show before following suit. They existed during the time when UK Pop was at it's best, early 2000's but like most other pop bands of their time, split up within 3 or 4 years.

I seriously think that they're one of the best pop/dance groups ever, even if some people think otherwise. Their songs are catchy, cool and most of all, pop-y. There's no denying that they could've made more albums after 'Sundown'. S Club(7) were great, but their time had passed, their music was somewhat too 90's for the UK public, so they created a spin-off group, and they did them justice.

Their first album was great, but I think the single choices were too cheesy, like 'Automatic High' and 'One Step Closer', I would've liked 'Feel The Beat' and 'Wherever You Are' better. 'New Direction' though, was a great choice and it made way for their sophomore album, which I think to this day, is still a pop band masterpiece. 'Sundown' was disco-y but not over, 'Fool No More' was just great and 'Don't Tell Me You're Sorry' was my favorite from the three singles.

Although I think the singles were great, my favorite track from 'Sundown' though has got to be 'Turn the Lights On'. It's got all the elements of a perfect pop/dance song, the mid-tempo verses, a bridge with a 'minimal' instrumental and a chorus that just sounds perfect, plus the melody is just great, seriously. The only downside to this song is the start of the second verse, it's a little awkward, I would've liked it if all the girls had solos and the boys just sang during the chorus, that would be a nice balance.

Although it wasn't a single, they still performed it around TV shows(like 'Big Fun' which is also a great song) so here's a performance from 2003.

My Rating? 4.7