Posts tagged Cher Lloyd
The BBC Sound Of longlist was released yesterday and it’s the usual mix of obvious up and coming stars, will-they / won’t they make it acts and people you’ve never heard of. Thing is, rarely are these nominees the actual Sound Of an entire year - I mean, in 2011 we couldn’t move for Pitbull & Ne-Yo or LMFAO and they didn’t make any Sound Of lists. We’ve decided to predict the REAL Sound Of 2012, based on what will probably be unavoidable in shops, on the radio and come the first Friday of every month at Club Love Machine.
For part one, we’re looking at acts already on our radar who will be blowing up our speakers January to December. From returning old favourites to X Factor alumni, they’re going to be EVERYWHERE next year.
COMEBACK KIDS
MADONNA
Madonna’s first single for 3 years has already leaked in demo form onto the internet and honestly doesn’t sound anything like ‘Beat Of My Drum’ by Head Ginge In Charge Nicola Roberts no matter who tells you different. ‘Give Me All Your Love’ is a Martin Solveig production and it sounds very much like a Martin Solveig production - ie. light, bouncing and lots of fun. Madonna has been confirmed as half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl in February where she will be joined by M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj for the very first live performance of ‘Give Me All Your Love’. Beyond that, another studio album will follow quite soon afterwards with William Orbit also on production duties. Madonna albums are always a huge event and we can’t wait to hear it.
NO DOUBT
The long awaited No Doubt album which by rights we should already have by now, is looking more likely to be with us in the first half of next year. From what the band have revealed in interviews and judging from their tweets, the creative process has been a bit of a strain this time around, with a perfectionist attitude delaying the output. We of course don’t begrudge No Doubt for wanting everything to be just so, but we do wish they’d bloody hurry up with it. And if it could be a bit like ‘Hella Good’ mashed with all the most awesome parts from Gwen’s L.A.M.B. album that would be top notch.
CHERYL COLE
It’s been a tricky year for Ms. Cole. After being unceremoniously dumped from The X Factor USA she’s kept a fairly low profile, only emerging to put her face to charitable and fashion causes (Help The Heroes and her new shoe collection for Stylist Pick, for example). We know a new Cheryl album is coming though, because she’s now pon de Twitter and has been tweeting about it. We also know that she’s been working with people like Taio Cruz, Alex da Kid, Jim Beanz and of course, her manager, mentor and bff will.i.am. Will she improve on the 80% r&b-lite garbage she’s given us so far and deliver ‘Promise This’ x12? We fucking hope so.
STEPS
Now this is a true comeback in every sense of the word. Steps split acrimoniously back in 2001 and now, after ten years, they’ve returned to exorcise their demons and go back on the road for a truly unprecedented nationwide arena tour. Having initially sneered at the idea of a Steps reunion being successful, we had to humbly eat our words after becoming hooked on their Sky Living documentary and buying ourselves tickets to see the band next year. Whether this comeback will yield any new material from Steps, other than their cover of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ we don’t know, but we’re definitely onboard for whatever comes next.
X FACTOR FINALISTS
LITTLE MIX
Favourites to win the competition on Sunday night, Little Mix have the potential to finally go all the way and fill that gaping girlband chasm left by the implosion of the Sugababes, the hibernation of Girls Aloud and the failure of The Saturdays to step up and take the throne. What we’d like to see with Little Mix is a killer pop/r&b single that allows them to absolutely own every other artist out there. Like their redefining performance of ‘Don’t Let Go (Love)’ by En Vogue. But an original song.
MISHA B
The Cher Lloyd of X Factor 2011, she never did manage to bounce back from those bullying allegations, but it was clearly obvious from week 1 that Misha B was already a fully-fledged popstar and X Factor wasn’t going to do much for her other than get her recognised. A solid urban-pop album from Misha B would slot very nicely into our iTunes somewhere alongside Missy Elliott and Jennifer Hudson. Rumour has it that she’s already lined up to work with Fazer from N-Dubz. We’d like to request Labrinth and Fraser T Smith too, thanks.
ALEXANDRA BURKE
Everything Alexandra Burke is confusing at the moment. We know absolutely nothing for certain about her next album campaign other than the fact that we know absolutely nothing for certain. Alexandra had some of the best singles of 2009 and 2010 though and so we have every confidence that 2012 will bring us more of the same. Okay.com. Thank you.
CHER LLOYD
Obnoxious teen-brat Cher Lloyd actually managed to pull it out of the bag in the album department and she hasn’t performed too badly on the singles front either. We expect next year to bring a lot more brash, balls out swagger-pop from the girl that puts dub on the track. BRING IT ON.
NEW-ISH KIDS ON THE BLOCK
LABRINTH
Famed for being the sound-whizz behind Tinie Tempah’s biggest hits, Labrinth released his first solo single ‘Let The Sun Shine’ in 2010 and then disappeared for a bit. No one could have known he would return in the last few months of 2011 with a monster tune like ‘Earthquake’ which is sonically incredible. His debut album is coming soon, and we fully expect it to be the next ‘21’. Except maybe not quite that successful.
EMELI SANDE
Emeli Sandé did an excellent job of establishing herself as hard-hitter in the last half of 2011 and if anything on her album is as good as ‘Heaven’, that reign will continue into 2012. Bet on it. She’s also been writing for Susan Boyle and Leona Lewis, extending her musical reach to the kind of people who listen to music by Susan Boyle and Leona Lewis… supermarket shoppers.
COVER DRIVE
‘Lick Ya Down’ was a top 10 hit for this Caribbean pop band that sound a bit like a Rihanna you can take home to meet your parents and we genuinely love their vibrant, tropical sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be on every T4 and Capital line up possible throughout 2012.
Part 2 tomorrow…
BONG!
- Labrinth doesn’t want to work with Cheryl Cole [via MTV]
BONG!
- Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera to perform at the AMAs [via Digital Spy]
BONG!
- Jennifer Lopez cries on stage [via 3am]
BONG!
- Tinie Tempah asks Chris Martin to collaborate on his second album [via NME]
BONG!
- Q Awards winners list [via Gigwise]
BONG!
- Go behind-the-scenes of Cher Lloyd’s latest video [via maximum POP!]
Slow release week this week - there’s only three tracks really worthy of mention and probably only one of them actually deserves a purchase!
Of course the POLARISING and CONTROVERSIAL Cher Lloyd is already sitting pretty at the top of the iTunes chart with ‘Swagger Jagger’, a song we admit grew on us to the point where we find ourselves shouting “GET ON THE FLOOOORRRRR” at random intervals far more often than is sane. It will be interesting to see if Cher maintains her position throughout the week - the video for ‘Swagger Jagger’ currently has double the dislikes than likes on YouTube. Still, it’s obvious people can’t stop clicking on her, tweeting about her, writing pop blogs about her etc etc etc.
Dev, who is no stranger to the high end of the UK charts having had two top 10 hits, and a #1 this week with the JLS boys, releases ‘In The Dark’. There’s confusion in our minds as to whether this is a decent track - it starts off promising a dark, filthy club beat then suddenly takes a sharp turn down Alexandra Stan Street and begins to sound like a Mr. Saxobeat homage. It’s not as good as ‘Bass Down Low’, is what we’re saying here.
Finally, Talay Riley (of Chipmunk collaboration ‘Look For Me’ fame) debuts his first non-buzz single - a fresh, sexy R&B number called ‘Make You Mine’. The boys really seem to have the summer on lock this year - all our favourite tracks for the season have been by male artists, and ‘Make You Mine’ is no exception. This is the track that deserves your 99p. Stick it on your summer playlist and blast it out in the garden, the car, the park or wherever the sun is shining.
BONG!
- R Kelly remixes Britney’s ‘Till The World Ends’ [via YouTube]
BONG!
BONG!
- Cher Lloyd amasses double dislikes over likes on her ‘Swagger Jagger’ video [via Digital Spy]
BONG!
- One Direction taking a pop/rock route for debut album? [via Sugarscape]
BONG!
- New X Factor judge Tulisa from N-Dubz looks to pursue solo projects [via Music-News]
BONG!
- Ex-Sugababe Keisha Buchanan working with Cathy Dennis on album [via Twitpic]
If you haven’t heard ‘Swagger Jagger’ yet, Mr. Paparazzi is currently streaming it on their website, much to the chagrin of Cher herself (WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH THIS YEAR) and Cher’s “brats” (like Gaga’s Monsters but buzzed on White Lightning).
What is there to say about it? The track “swagger jaggs” the chorus to that well-known nursery rhyme ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ and is simultaneously the catchiest and most annoying part of the song. The twangy dance beat on the verses is on-trend however, and quite brilliant really. Indeed the reason this song absolutely falls down and makes you cringe is the content - Cher’s unpalatable whining that “everyone is a hater” and “the world is out to get me” grew tired on week 2 of the X Factor. Why is this 17-year-old so aggro? To borrow another cliched phrase: take a chill pill, kid.
It’s hard to predict where Cher’s career is heading, but we suspect this single at least will fare quite well in the charts. Sadly, what happens next is unlikely to depend on the quality of her music, but the public reaction to her attitude.
