Lopez Blogs

Oh please oh please can someone extend this gem of a day even further? I was up at the crack of dawn to travel to a useless meeting and had a horrible journey back (people on trains really should be forced to take breath mints at a regular klaxon sound). The only thing that perked it up was catching up on some very decent new singles from some of my fave artists. And the news that the new Robbie single debuts in a week. Woo and I am definitely, yup I'm going for a big hoo after making woo. PS, before I get started I've had a lot of requests to interview people this week. Like people actually asking me. I gave up on this sort of shenanighan a while ago because I don't think I'm very good at it (that's not self deprecating, just honest). Would anyone be interested in a weeks worth of interviews while I'm on holiday in ten days time? I won't be offended if the answer is no!!

Maroon 5 ~ Give A Little More:

It's a crazy, mile a minute world isn't it? Barely has Misery had a chance to pervade the charts and already the "five" are onto single number two from their forthcoming Hands All Over album. Still I'll take new M5 where I can get it, and this is a more sensual funk groove than the straight up pleasing pop of this summer's essential tune, Misery. It's an insistent, percussive groove and Adam's vocals are more sultry and sensual in this setting. By second/third listen, it's typically Maroon 5 in that the chorus is firmly embedded in your brain, the middle 8 rocks a bit harder than the rest of the tune and if you are a fan you will love it. It's a solid second single and if the next single could have a bit more Mutt Lange vava voom then I will be very pleased indeed. As it is, i'll be playing this non stop - the more I hear it the more I adore it! Oh - and I so want the super deluxe box set of the album, but I can't really justify the $199 price tag! (Note - the shot above is from the forthcoming video for this track and I think it's just lovely)...

Sophie Ellis Bextor ~ Not Giving Up On Love:

It's been discussed recently on the mighty Vinny Vero blog (and XOLondon) about how heartbreaking it really is that Sophie seems to be suffering from the curse of diminishing returns with each single (which seems to mean perpetual postponement of the fourth album). Let's lay it out plain - it's essentially a bit of a crime that The Saturdays make top three with less than brilliant pop moments like Forever Is Over/Missing You while amazing pop like Heartbreak... and Bittersweet languish significantly lower. Heavy sad sigh. Still, at least (for now) we have another exquisitely gorgeous new track from Sophie that (as XO points out) has uplifting lyrics that are saturated with sadness in their delivery. And that is what makes this track such a strong late summer single. It's a setting sun on the memories of what has passed while remaining optimistic about what will be as the nights turn colder. Absolutely heavenly. Oh and the video (above) is just delicious (for added fragility, check out the acoustic version here)...

Kelly Rowland ~Forever & A Day:

On the one hand, I'm a bit perturbed that Kelly seems to have 4-5 different tracks floating around from her forthcoming album. Does she have a solid plan for it's release? On the other hand, Commander was a corking dance single and Shake Them Haters Off continues to exude a sophisticated charm that I can't seem to escape. Her new UK single seems to be this track and once again is in the vein of her previous David Guetta collaborations. It's quite nice, a bit too ravey for me to be totally in love with it - a more subdued dance tune (as Sophie demonstrates above) can be all sorts of successful. I still look forward to whatever her album finally brings though...

Tomorrow: An X Factor alumni video breakdown extravaganza; Sunday ~ Mcfly!!