Do you have a license to drive that piano, love?

While listening to Cheryl Cole's below-average new album, 'Messy Little Raindrops', over the weekend....

....I came across this pretty average song called, 'Waiting'....

....in which she has sampled a remarkably above-average song.

Vanessa Carlton's 'A Thousand Miles' has probably been long forgotten about by a lot of you which is a real shame because it is definitely one of the top two hundred songs of the Noughties. Unfortunately for Vanessa she was never able to capitalise on her first single and, unless she makes an epic comeback with an equally amazing song to her first, she will forever be categorised in the one-hit wonder section of our pop memories.

Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy Vanessa and her travelling piano play one of the greatest piano riffs ever to feature on a pop record. Ever.

Have you ever heard of Matt Costa?

The song I've  chosen to featured today is by an American chap called, Matt Costa.

Matt has released quite a few albums over the last few years but has never properly had a "breakthrough". Which is a shame considering, as far as solo male popstars go, Matt should be ranked pretty high.

His album, 'Unfamiliar Faces', is still in my CD collection and when I first got it back in 2008, it stayed in my CD player for approximately two weeks, which is actually quite a long time.

The track you're about to listen to is called, 'Mr. Pitiful' an it's one of those tunes that can kinda make you either feel happy or sad depending on your mood.

Above all else it's just a nice song and, although it verges into what some may consider easy-listening territory, it should have been a lot more successful then it turned out to be.

Single of the Week, 'Take Over Control'

It's the New Music Monday Single Of The Week!

Today I'm gonna look at a song that isn't old but is in fact new. 

Technically the song I've chosen isn't really that new. It's been a major hit "in da clubz" in Ibiza over the last year and has only reached our shores lately. But thank God it's finally got here.

It is called, 'Take Over Control' and is by a DJ man by the name of Afrojack.

It's one of those "ultimate Summer songs" that make you feel happy, so releasing it in November is brilliant because, let's face it, in the cold dreary Winter months an "ultimate Summer song" is sometimes exactly what you need.

The singer featured on the track is the Rihanna/Willow Smith-esque, Eva Simons. When I say Rihanna/Willow Smith-esque, I am of course referring to the fact she is black, has hair that defies gravity and sings extremely good pop songs.

The song itself is about Eva asking us to, "Take Over Control", not "Take A Birth Control" as my cousin incorrectly suggested.

She also utters the immortal words, "Plug It In And Turn Me On". I can only assume she is ironically referring to herself as some sort of electronic device. Otherwise, I have no other explanation for that lyric.

The best bit in the whole track happens between 1:00 and 1:16.

I urge you to listen to this every day for the next week. Your life will be better for it.

9/10

The pros and cons of the new Black Eyed Peas' single

It's New Music Monday. The day God made for us all to listen to new music. Hurrah.

The new Black Eyed Peas single is out sooner than any of you could have ever imagined. 
Here are the pros (good things) and the cons (bad things) about the track.


CON: It's called, 'The Time'.


PRO: The lyrics have nothing to do with watches, clocks or time-telling in general.

CON: DJs across the nation may get confused when you go up to their DJ boxes and ask, "Have you got 'The Time'?"

PRO: It samples the Dirty Dancing, end-of-the-night, classic, '(I've Had) The Time Of My Life'.

CON: They don't sound like they've taken much of a departure from their last album.

PRO: They don't sound like they've taken much of a departure from their last album. (I realise I'm repeating myself but lets face it their last album was pretty ruddy good.)

CON: It's odd to me, to have such a well known sample as their lead single from the album.

PRO: At least you already know the words to it.

CON: It's not as catchy as 'I Gotta Feeling' or 'Boom Boom Pow'.

PRO: At least the X Factor contestants won't be miming it in a group performance.

CON: Worst bit is when Apl D does a Ke$ha and rhymes 'swagger' with 'Mick Jagger'.

PRO: Best bit is when will.i.am says, "Dirty Bit" and the beat properly kicks in. Which can be heard around the 1:00 and 2:40 minute mark.

CON: Upon first listen you may be left feeling slightly underwhelmed.

PRO: It is, as they say, a "grower".

6.5/10

EMAmazing

The 2010 Europe Music Awards, or the EMA's if you're a fan of acronyms, take place tonight in Madrid and can be watched live on MTV at 9pm (AKA just after the X-Factor results: Amazing).

With performances from the current-UK-number-one-single-holding Rihanna, who is celebrating the one week anniversary of her monumental food fight performance on X-Factor. As well as the still-trying-to-be-a-popstar-despite-not-making-very-good-pop-music, Miley Cyrus and B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams performing their terribly-underplayed-oh-wait-I'm-being-sarcastic-track, 'Airplanes'. With all this, and the ridiculously-doable Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria-Parker hosting, it'll surely be something to keep our eyes and ears entertained on this miserable Sunday night.

In this blog, if you don't mind, I'll take a look at the most important of the EMA categories (some categories I don't understand, eg. 'Best Push Act') that will be handed out tonight, and give my humble opinion on who should be the victors.

BEST MALE

• Eminem
• Enrique Iglesias
• Justin Bieber
• Kanye West
• Usher

Eminem has by far had the best year sales-wise, and in general music-making-wise, so I think it'd be a real shame if he didn't pick up this award, although I wouldn't be surprised if Usher nabbed it. Kanye is an odd nominee in this category as he hasn't actually released his new album yet. Justin is too young and Enrique is just a filler.

Who SHOULD win: Eminem.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Eminem.

BEST FEMALE

• Katy Perry
• Lady Gaga
• Miley Cyrus
• Rihanna
• Shakira

Over all, Lady Gaga, is the best female artist possibly of all time. But as this nomination comes off the back of her 2009 album(s), and due to the fact she isn't actually attending the ceremony, my money is on Katy, RiRi or Miley.

All three have had reasonably good years, but if I'm pressed for an answer I'd go with the California Gurl and two-time former EMA host. P.S. Thanks for coming, Shakira.

Who SHOULD win: Lady Gaga.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Katy Perry.

BEST NEW ACT

• B.o.B.
• Jason DeRulo
• Justin Bieber
• Ke$ha
• Plan B

2010 has been a great year for new music. We've seen so many new artists emerge, that this category could have been the most hotly contested. I say could because there is of course that untold rule that everyone knows which takes place at award ceremonies: "If you don't turn up, you probably haven't got a chance of winning". So on those grounds we can pretty much rule out, my two favourites, Jason and Ke$ha. :(

The awards are public voted so it's quite likely that a lot of pre-pubescent teens suffering from a condition known as Bieber-fever may get their way.

Who SHOULD win: Ke$ha.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Justin Bieber.

BEST POP

• Katy Perry
• Lady Gaga
• Miley Cyrus
• Rihanna
• Usher

Some of these are debatable 'Pop' nominees. Again Gaga isn't there so I can't see them giving her more than one award she can't physically get a hold of. For me it's between the other three ladies, and since I have Katy down for Best Female, I think the EMA Lords may bestow this honour on a certain Disney whore princess.

Who SHOULD win: Lady Gaga.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Miley Cyrus.

BEST ALTERNATIVE

• Arcade Fire
• Gorillaz
• The Gossip
• Paramore
• Vampire Weekend

Does anyone really care who wins this award? Probably not. Generally considered the 'cool music' award by dickheads, Best Alternative, features some of the adequate best pop-rock artists of the year.

As she is performing with B.o.B. and, as far as I'm aware is the only nominee in this category who is actually atteneding, Paramore's Hayley Williams will more than likely be taking this one home for her team. Probably, deservingly so.

Who SHOULD win: Paramore.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Paramore.

BEST SONG

• Eminem feat. Rihanna, 'Love The Way You Lie'.
• Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, 'California Gurls'.
• Lady Gaga, 'Bad Romance'.
• Rihanna, 'Rude Boy'.
• Usher feat. will.i.am, 'OMG'.

It's kind of a travesty that Lady Gaga may not win this award as 'Bad Romance' is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best pop record ever recorded.

If she is indeed robbed, I think that they'll give it to one of the two Rihanna-nominated songs, considering she is of course attending.

'Love The Way You Lie' is probably a better overall song, but it might be a rude to give her an award that is basically Eminem's. Failing that, Perry might nick this one, although I think 'Teenage Dream' would have been a better contender.

Who SHOULD win: Lady Gaga, 'Bad Romance'.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Rihanna, 'Rude Boy'.

BEST VIDEO

• 30 Secons To Mars, 'Kings And Queens'.
• Eminem feat. Rihanna, 'Love The Way You Lie'.
• Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, 'California Gurls'.
• Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé, 'Telephone'.
• Plan B, 'Prayin''.

I don't think they can ignore Lady Gaga the whole night so I think if they're gonna five her any award it may just be this one. As I'm sure you are all aware 'Telephone' is a visual treat and is probably one the best videos of all time, plus it has Beyoncé, what more could we ask for?

Eminem and Rihanna's video has Megan Fox and the bloke out of 'Lost' in it but, while being very good video, it isn't as good as 'Telephone'.

Katy looks delicious in her candy-inspired video and has had a brilliant year but, again, 'California Gurls' isn't as good as 'Telephone'.

I've never seen Plan B's or Jared Leto's band's videos but I can categorically say they are not better than 'Telephone'.

Who SHOULD win: Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé, 'Telephone'.

Who PROBABLY WILL win: Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé, 'Telephone'.

So there you have it, there is my predictions for tonight's proceedings. Hopefully I'm right so I can gloat later on.

I know all of you have opinions too and, although they may not be as correct as mine, I encourage you to share. So post below who you think is gonna win each category and who you're looking forward to seeing perform.

Until then, let's sit back and enjoy the best video of the year, all 9 minutes and thirty-two seconds of it.

Do you remumba?

There was once a time when Samantha Mumba was kind of a big deal. Why? Well without sounding terribly politically incorrect, she was black and she was Irish.

You see Ireland wasn't, and still isn't, as racially diverse as the UK or US. That's not to say we we're all horribly racist over here; it's just our black, Asian and foreign national communities have only significantly risen in the last ten years or so. 

So when our top, and arguably only, pop princess of the time was a black girl, it showed us that Ireland was changing; and we felt proud, very proud indeed.

Colour aside, I don't think Samantha Mumba is given enough credit for the pretty epic pop music she provided us with during her short musical career.

Six singles in two years. But they also happened to be six little gems.

My personal favourite was the raunchy, 'Body II Body', where Mumba proved you could sample the legend that is David Bowie, and make it sound catchy and contemporary.

But the song we're always gonna best remember Sam for is her debut, 'Gotta Tell You'.

This tune showed us Sam wasn't your average popstar. And during a time when pop music was becoming overcrowded with blonde American clones called 'Britney' and 'Christina', or even worse, 'Jessica' and 'Mandy'. Samantha was a breath of fresh air, but more importantly, a breath of fresh IRISH air.

Sometime in 2002, Samantha fucked off to the States to play some sort of creature in a film called, 'The Time Machine'. We were lead to believe that she was en route to becoming a Hollywood superstar. But, alas, we were lied to.

More recently she returned to the UK to appear in the critically acclaimed reality television masterpiece, 'Dancing On Ice'. Unfortunately, she didn't prove too popular with viewers, and with reports that her diva-like behaviour was wearing thin with producers as well, she was voted off the show in Week 3.

Apparently Sam has an album coming out this year. My source for this is Wikipedia so it may not be entirely credible, and what with it being November already the chances are slim, but if it is true, I for one will listen and hope that Ireland's most talented black musician (aside from Phil Lynnot*) is going to make a welcome return to the business we call 'show'.

Until then, lets not remember her for 'The Time Machine' or 'Dancing on Ice' or for wearing a diamond-encrusted spider-web dress to a premiere. 


Let us all remember her for 'Gotta Tell You', one of the most amazing debut singles from a popstar. Ever.

*Debatable.

She also a released a remixed version of 'Gotta Tell You' in 2008, see below, but it's probably better for everyone if we forget about that travesty and just listen to the original.

A Brit of alright..

Yesterday, my first ever comment on my my first ever blog post came from Emily. Emily went and wrote,

"Hi Adam!!
Really loved your first post! It sums up about everything that goes on my mind about pop music and why I can't get tired of it, no matter how many years go by...
My suggestion for your next post: Baby one more time, by Britney Spears!!" 

Thank you Emily, and to all that took time out to read the blog, I'm brand spankin' new to this so it's well good to have readers already, innit.

I decided to go with Emily's idea and do a post on, the princess of pop, Britney Spears. Surely she's next in line to the Queen of Pop throne once Madonna has popped her clogs or at least stepped down, right?

Although Emily's suggestion was great, I feel 'Baby, One More Time' is nearly too obvious of a song to post on this blog. Yes, I agree it's a classic. And, as Britney's debut, will probably go down in history as her best work. But there's so much more in Britney's back catalogue that people have probably, unjustly, forgotten about.

In my opinion, Britney's 2003 album, 'In The Zone' is by far her greatest accomplishment. Hits like 'Toxic', 'Every Time' and the duet with the aforementioned Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, 'Me Against The Music' show a much more grown-up side to the poptart.

'In The Zone' was one of her first steps away from the squeaky clean image she had created for herself with her two albums; which had cheesy, yet respectable, tunes like 'Lucky' and 'Sometimes'. In my opinion, this was a definitely a step in the right direction.


Since then, she's been married twice, had two kids, shaved her head and, by the looks of certain sleazy paparazzi shots of her emerging from limousines, shaved other places too. But all that is irrelevant to me as long as she keeps making properly amazing pop music. And, if rumours are to be believed, Britney's seventh studio album should be with us within the next six months.

The Britney song I've decided to post is not her most well-known, but I think it epitomizes exactly what pop music should be. Fun.

Plus, she doesn't look too shabby in the video either.. :P

It's the second single released from her 2004 Greatest Hits.... 'Do Somethin''

Question of the Day: What's your favourite Britney song, and why?
Comment below.

Now, as it's a Saturday morning I advise you all to get up out of your houses, take Britney's advice and, wait for it, DO SOMETHIN'!*

*I'm genuinely sorry for that 'joke'. Will try harder next time.

We Are Pop, an introduction..

So I've decided to start blogging. A bit late to join the craze, I know..


As a journalism student, I was advised to start blogging in my first year. I am now in my third year and have only got around to it now. Oooops. Oh well, better late than never, right?


So you're supposed to blog about what you know. I'd love to be pretentiously deep and say this blog will be filled with life experiences, genius advice and/or my opinions on the economic climate. Unfortunately I'm as shallow as a puddle, therefore this blog will be all about the topic I like mostest, music: particularly that of the pop variety.


I've always hated how mainstream pop music was never considered 'cool'. In this blog, I will take a daily trip back in time and look at some of the greatest pop songs to have ever graced our eardrums to prove to you all why pop music truly is great.


Some will be new, most will be old, some you will have forgotten, others you may not have ever heard; but all, I can assure you, will be little slices of pop gold in their own right.


So where do I start? What song should I post today to kick start us on our journey through pop music? Well the tune I have chosen is, in my opinion, the personification of pop music. So much so, that the song itself is called, 'Pop'.


*Nsync, although never as a big on this side of the water as they were in the States, were a pop group who produced a string of hits at the start of the noughties.
'Pop' is one of their best and, despite Justin's dodgy beatboxing halfway through, if it came on in a club on Saturday night you know you'd be straight on the dancefloor.

My, the beatboxing really is cringeworthy, isn't it?