Lopez Blogs

Well slap my ass and call me nancy! While the world and his wife are revelling/reviling the new Kelly Clarkson single (more on that in a mo), thanks to AaronFabtastic and Auspop, I am lusting after and bopping along to a new song by one half of the bodyrockers, Kaz James. Entitled Can't Hold Back, it's a rather scintillating slice of pop-meets-dance-meets-funk-meets-disco that even threatens to revitalise the career of helium voiced has-been Macy Gray. Apparently it's the third single from his debut album, so I'm way behind, but I'm loving it anyway. Any song that has the words "man whore" in there is okie dokie with me. Plus the video is ever so much bonkers and highly entertaining to watch. Plus kaz! Well what a fine slice of a man he is too. I shall be hunting down his debut album very shortly...

• Kelly Clarkson is doing the blog and radio rounds with her feisty new single My Life Would Suck Without You and it's good, but not great. What it does is remind everyone what great pop songs Kelly Clarkson can put out when she's not being all pissy about life. It's got a great chorus, punchy vocals and a decent energy about it. The downside of this is that not only has Kelly done this exact same song before (Since U Been Gone), but more recently Evil Skank Who Must Not Be Named has been hot and cold with a similar track, while Pink has made the sound her own. I like it, but am somewhat disappointed on first impressions...
• Sir Pop of the Justice has already raved about the available-only-on-7" (and no i don't mean what's down my pants) Girls Aloud b-side Memory Of You. It's very wonderful in the extreme. It's quite trance in a drunk in Ibiza sort of way (or if you are common, drunk if Magaluf) and does indeed have a chorus to make your heart soar. I'm really warming to lovely Kimberley too...
• Oh I am very excited about the new Warchild album, which is out on Spectacular day (also known as 16th February 2009). It's lots of famous popstars doing cover versions, which can be a bit cack really, but I am hopeful - Lily Allen is doing Straight To Hell (The Clash) while a newly slimmed down Scissters are attempting to Do The Strand (Roxy Music). Even increasingly annoying Duffy (attempting Live and Let Die) and mouthy Estelle (Superstitious) efforts sound intruiging. Plus! XO - Rufus is doing a cover too. And how divine does Franz Ferdinand doing Call Me sound?!
• Oh my days. I am really falling in love with The Saturdays album. I liked it on first listen, but now I'm becoming a little obsessed with it. Next single Work is fantastic, and I am starting to feel that Up is a far superior single to the nation's current chart topper. I do get there people, it just sometimes takes me a little while :)
• I'm way behind in doing some thoughts on new albums that have come out that i'm currently enjoying including Darin, Danny, Franz Ferdinand and the amazing if slightly (and only ever so slightly) generic Neo. I'm sure I will get around to it at some point, but if I forget, well, they are all very good indeed. I'm also appreciating The Alesha Show and very belatedly am enjoying the XO version of the Coldplay album. See! Still cutting edge :)
• Talking of XO, he did a rather oracular spectacular write up about the nature of blogging. Whether you agree or not, you can always guarantee that XO's Middle 8 is beautifully written, vividly expressive and wonderfully entertaining. I am in constant awe of his levels of genius :)
• William Young and Same Difference have both flipflopped with their choice of singles. While I was hoping William would go for something more upbeat (such as I Won't Give Up) whereas instead he is releasing the admittedly very beautiful Let It Go. It will be his last ever cd single apparently with a limited run of 5000. I'm not sure this will restore his chart fortunes, but it is an enduring and timeless track. Same Difference on the other hand (I can hear people cringing now that I have mentioned these acts in the same paragraph!) have bagged the idea of the Scisster-esque If You Can't Dance for their 80s Kylie meets September version of Turn It Into Love. Me, I'm just happy they haven't been canned yet!
• Finally, i warn you all that while I am very excited about new music from the Pet Shop Boys, St Etienne, Simon Curtis and Lily Allen, I do have a massive post planned to celebrate the release of the new Erasure hits collection. Will i love them forever? Always...