Niki N. Phaser

Lily Allen has officially released her third single from It’s Not Me, It’s You on July 13. The track is called… Fuck You, even though it has gone through many name changes before finally getting this one. The lyrics, despite the title are very positive, as they are an attack on racism and homophobia and war and the theory that it’s about George W. Bush could be backed up by the lines “You want to be like your father, It’s approval your after, Well that’s not how you find it”. Still, the lyrics can’t save this song that is ruled by some very outdated irony: the chorus “Fuck you very much” and the piano-driven music that sounds like some Broadway musical (Annie, maybe?). It’s not really that funny anymore. Would have worked as some lame viral, but that’s about it. The video, which looks like Smack My Bitch Up in the daytime, seems to be some sort of commercial for Adobe After Effects. On the other hand, the British singer-songwriter has readied the video for 22, which will be her August single. This one is far better than Fuck You, as it shows some serious maturity. It’s a song about the ageing of beautiful girls, who will wake up one morning and find that they are not the latest version anymore. The video is also a keeper, simple and yet effective, with some decent acting from Allen. This one deserves to be in the charts.

LILY ALLEN – Fuck You VIDEO

No one can accuse The Black Eyed Peas of being trend-followers instead of trend-setters. They’ve always made their own way through the dangerous world of pop, the place where you need so much more than good music in order to survive. Their originality is obvious on all levels and their last album The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) is no exception. There are things on it that sound like what’s pop in pop right now. The electro overdose is something quite in fashion these days, but overall this album is a world and a genre in itself, different even from other Black Eyed Peas offerings. And yet… this is not necessarily a good thing…

In their desire to do something crazy and extreme, The Black Eyed Peas got caught in that trap visited by many artists who were looking for a big change, even though this change was not a natural one. You can force change, but if it doesn’t come as a revelation, it might sound just like that: forced. And many of the tracks from The E.N.D. have this feature.

(continue reading…)

Pink will be releasing her fourth single from her successful album Funhouse. It will be the title track and will be available in the US in July. The video has already premiered and Tony Kanal (No Doubt), who co-wrote the song, makes a special appearance. As most of the songs on her originally named Heartbreak Is a Motherfucker album, Funhouse in a break-up song, but with a playful clowny beat, that contains some 80′s pop influence, with synth brass adding to that feeling. The lyrics are just as playful, as she complains about the state of her house, that is “full of evil clowns”, now that is no longer shared with her motor-husband. Pink has made very good choices when it comes to singles off of Funhouse. So What, the first sigle, was her most successful yet, Sober showed a bit of her more serious side, while the real stand-out track from the album, Please Don’t Leave Me, offered some mid-tempo romance and vulnerability.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE