It’s a slow week for new releases - we’re not particularly enamoured with anything due to hit the charts on Sunday, and besides, Rihanna will probably be #1 again anyway.
With that said, if you’ve got 99p there are worse songs you could spend it on than The X Factor Finalists 2011 (featuring JLS & One Direction) and their cover of ‘Wishing On A Star’ - a song that proves to be so brilliant, not even that motley crew could balls it up. True, the JLS & One Direction “feature” (all of the last 20 seconds of it) is just a cynical way to get more teenage girls to cough up their cash, but in an odd way we kinda like the “JLS! 1D!” cry that heralds their appearance. Most importantly, all proceeds will go to the children’s charity Together For Short Lives. If you caught the VT before the performance of this on Sunday night’s show, you’ll agree that this is a very worthy cause.
In less heart-rending corners, Emeli Sandé releases her second solo single, and her first since bagging a #1 with Professor Green on ‘Read All About It’. There’s a stark franticness to ‘Daddy’ feat. Naughty Boy, but it’s not even close to the epicness of ‘Heaven’. Still, Emeli has an incredibly listenable voice which makes the non-event chorus far more eventful than it should be.
StooShe drop ‘Betty Woz Gone’ in their attempt to become the girl band that sticks. With The Saturdays making a dismal showing on both the album and singles chart, the Girls Aloud reunion allegedly being delayed and the skeletons of the careers of RD, the Sugababes, Soundgirl and Parade being picked apart by pop vulture fanatics along the roadside, the time has never been more ripe for a girl group to make a massive splash. This gutsy, profanity-riddled effort that sounds as if it was lifted from the soundtrack of a streetwise West End musical and even nods to the theme tune from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air probably won’t make more than a ripple, which is a shame. On the other hand, when Little Mix win the X Factor in a couple of weeks, we won’t be mourning these lesser girl groups so much.
Finally, Lady Gaga’s ‘A Very Gaga Holiday’ EP hit UK iTunes towards the end of last week and as you might be able to tell from our Pick of the Day, we’re a tiny bit in love with it. Gaga’s voice is completely breathtaking throughout, and superfans will appreciate the opportunity to own a legitimate copy of her gorgeous cover of ‘Orange Coloured Sky’.
