Lopez Blogs

Kimberley Locke, in a nutshell, is very brilliant indeed. She was my standout contestant from the last proper American Idol season I watched (year 2) and hasn't disappointed me since. So I was delighted to learn that she would be putting some feisty new music out preceeding a no doubt magnificent album from her. Strobelight is a glittering, thrilling disco extravaganza drenched in retro rhythms, a percolating beat and a super chorus that dances like the sunlight on a rippling river. It takes you back to a time when satin shorts and roller skates were the norm at the disco rink - in fact it may be the most 70s infused track since the glorious Step Back In Time by Kylie of Minogue. While to me it sounds completely heavenly in it's original radio mix, you may like something a bit more up to date, and for those people there are a whole plethora of rocking remixes available on iTunes. Kimberley's done well in the past with dance remixes of her songs, so concentrating on the uptempo is no doubt a wise career move - yet when done in such an engaging manner, it doesn't feel like a career move at all. Just lovely aural popcorn...

Best of the past:

• 8th World Wonder (from One Love) ~ one of the most uplifting pop songs ever to come from an idol alumni. Totally sterling from start to finish, it set out Kimberley's stall as an artist who wanted classic pop tunes rather than bowing to current trends or fads...
• Fall (from Based On A True Story) ~ not only a stirring, emotive, deliciously heartbreakingly delivered ballad, but in it's rather good Bimbo Jones mix, a thumping dance anthem as well! Peter Cox of Go West fame has just recorded this for his latest solo album, fact fans...
• We Need A Little Christmas (from Christmas) ~ Everything about Kimberley's Christmas project was so timeless and classic that it was perfect listening for just about every holiday season since it's release. This track from Mame was the icing on the christmas cake, the angel on the top of the tree :)

Back at the weekend with a mammoth wrap up!

Ooo, this month's fizzypop chronicles is a weird one. On the one hand, it has lots of brilliant songs on it. On the other hand it doesn't seem to flow quite right for some reason. So I'm not entirely happy with it, though I emphasise I think the song choices are - once again - flawless. They are here, presented in no particular order, except the first one and last one tend to be favourites so the playlist begins and ends on the most euphoric of highs with more euphoria on each song in between. Glad that's cleared up then, innit?

• Sophie Ellis Bextor-Jones ~ Bittersweet: It's really all sorts of magnificent isn't it? If this song were a person, I'd want to hug it while shaking a groove thang in glitter-infused hot pants. The chorus is an insane belter of a tune, and Sophie sounds as marvelous and gorgeous as ever. I didn't think it was going to be possible to top the ever so wonderful Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer, but good gracious me, she's only gone and done it. If this peaks outside the top ten, my whole world may implode quite heavily...
• Gabriella Cilmi ~ On A Mission: Tip - I was walking my usually deserted early morning route to work whilst this was blaring out in my earphones and I think I was actually quite audibly strutting along singing "I am a woman, on a mission" whenst I came across these old women and we all gave each other quite a start. I mean I didn't literally come across them, because that would be frightful, but I think you get the gist. The song is excellent, by the way. Love the faux bad girl rap. I sound well 'ard when I do it...
• Michaela Wright ~ Never Gonna Give In: There are multiple reasons to adore this heavily addictive song. Michaela seems rather lovely on twitter. It's a Larry Flick show staple. It has some rather amazing dance remixes of the song that send it soaring to the glitter ball and then bounce like little shards of multi-coloured lights around the dance floor. And whatever genre you hear it remixed into, it still has an ace melody and chorus. Bonus - it features the rather handsome Alex Kordek in the video. Yum yum pigs bum.
• Kimberley Locke ~ Strobelight: I worship Kimberley Locke. I still think that the heavenly 8th World Wonder is one of the best pop songs to come from American Idol. Her Christmas album was just a retro dream. And her last album was a corker that was criminally ignored. So I'm all ready for her new single, which is produced by Cutfather - who apparently has worked with Kylie and, er, the Pussycat Dolls so he's half way there. All of this is a very long way of saying, I haven't heard the song yet because the release dates been pushed back but I'm so eager to hear something dancetastic from l'il kim...:P
• Ke$ha ~ Blah Blah Blah: Hmmm, it seems a bit criminal to follow these classy dames with the dubious morality that is Ke$ha. However, I did quite like Tik Tok (did you hear it blended with Kylie's Love At First Sight? Almost as genius as MaDonna Summer!) and while this follow up single isn't nearly as brillo, it does have me blah blah blahing along sometimes. Though everyone knows Marina blahs better in the Girls song she has :)
• The Bang Bang Club ~ Chemistry: Rather brilliantly, I have heard this track described as Erasure on testosterone. Not much has changed since I last wrote about it - it remains a rather charming little 80s pop synth ditty with an excellent chorus, great production, enticing vocals and yummy boys. For a more grown up opinion than that, why not check out Nick Alien Hits, where you can download the track for free as well! Jonas Bonus - it's released on my birthday. Wizard!
• Adam Tyler ~ Schizophrenic: I actually had another Adam Tyler track which is really out of this world, but I don't think I'm allowed to write about it yet, so I'd rather draw everyone's attention to a down and funky Dirty Dasmo remix of this track which has just surfaced on his myspace page. It's a trip down the rabbit hole (for the overstimulated puppy!) as the remix adds mind-bending beats and effects to the slick electro club banging original. As with all Adam songs it's firmly focused on delivering a chorus so pleasing that you end up pinching yourself to check it's real. It is. Amaze and a half.
• Kyle Brylin ~ If They Only Knew: I wrote about this track quite recently, and quite frankly it's a pleasure to write about it again for two reasons. One is that the more you listen to it, the more the insinuating beats hook into your memory and the chorus creates a heady atmosphere of synth and song that is just delicious. Two - Kyle is quite dishy so any excuse to visit his myspace page as he looks quite nice in a shirt and tie. With good popstar cheekbones and hair.
• Sergey Lazarev ~ Alarm: On the one hand I remain intensely disappointed that this song isn't quite as brilliant as it should be. By Sergey standards, it's not one of his finest and actually rather generic sounding. On the other hand (for I have two), it's such a fun tune that fits in with "today's sound" so jolly well that it's hard to be peeved for long because you are having such rollicking good fun singing along to it. So what's the harm? To be fair the video above (ghastly sound) really enhances it with a fun dance routine and energetic performance :) The album better be superb though...
• Quentin Mosimann ~ Gimme A Break: Ah franglais! Quentin follows up his exciting single Toc Toc with a song that has the chorus mostly in English, the verses in French and tests my translation skills to the limit. He's a rather giddy mix of bonkers electro-pop though and utterly contemporary and fab. It's always nice to sing along in French too, even if you don't know what you are saying. And from SUCH a great album. Go check him out now. Bonkers and wonderful, possibly unofficial clip below - but exuding such fun and energy! Go! Tout de suite...
• Magnus Carlsson ~ A Little Respect: Oh my days. If Bang Bang Club are Erasure on testosterone, Magnus' version of A Little Respect is Erasure doused in perfume and poppers and kept in a handbag for a week. It's more festive than me at age 11 when I dressed action man Julian in a barbie evening gown and stuck him on the Christmas tree. It's totally europop, and fairly faithful to the original but with even more glitter and bells added. If that is at all possible. Too much, yet not enough...

Part two coming tomorrow!

So there you are. Standing on the stage, singing your little heart out to an original song (Shayne Ward, Michelle McManus), a Westlife album track (William of Young) or some other idol cast off track (Leon Jackson, Leona Lewis) and trying not to swallow the ridiculous amount of ticker tape flying down into your warbling mouth. You are probably looking quite sexy (if you are Shayne Ward or William of Young), elegant (Leona Lewis), in need of a pie (Michelle McManus), like you are waiting for the "special bus" (Leon Jackson) or like you are waiting to feel up some 17 year old girl at the after party (Steve Brookstein). The whole world is at your feet - yet for some reason the world is not available to you unless you are Leona Lewis. It's not that i begrudge her the success around the globe, but it does grate a little that she is considered the best "idol" that Britain had to offer. Here are two others that should have done spectacularly, along with the American Leona....

Apart from the scary black gloves, there is no reason why Shayney should not be a huge star in the US. Sure, his first album was as boring as heck. Apart from Bleeding Love and Better in Time, frankly Leona's ain't that much more adventurous. But each time I dip into his second album I find such a treasure trove of delectable r'n'b tinged pop treats that it is impossible not to think "finally - a great pop star with international appeal has come from the X Factor"... I won't go on about the singles released so far - but I am quite disappointed that the label has decided to wait a whopping 7 months between releasing the second single (Breathless back in Nov 07) and the rumoured U Got Me So in June 08. What was wrong with plugging the gap (oo-er, plugging Shayne's gap :O ) with the broody Damaged, the effortlessly dancey Stand By Your Side or even the sultry groove You Make Me Wish (legal Richie Kidd remix available below!)? The album could easily yield about 7 decent singles and remixes and deserves a wider audience in America (there is a link somewhere where a grumpy Shayne bemoans that actually he is big everywhere else thankyou very much!)...

MP3: Shayne Ward - You Make Me Wish (Richie Kidd Sunshine Remix)

Why oh why William of Young (one of my top five male artists ever) didn't try and break the states is beyond me. One of those mixed together albums with material from his second and third sets would have been a stunning collection to behold. I'm not sure how he would have slotted into the notoriously difficult to crack (Will young - crack :O) american radio genres but I can't help but feel he would have had critical acclaim. Imagine picking up an "ego has landed"/"just my luck" type album filled with Leave Right Now, Your Game (now covered by co-writer Taio Cruz on Departure), Ain't Such A Bad Place To Be, Who Am I, Switch It On, Love The One You're With and probably padded with a couple of his covers - Your Love is King, etc... Sure you can make that yourself with the magic of mp3 players, but that's an album i would want in my sticky little hands as much as Alter Boy. Luckily new Will material is coming later this year and I'm eager to hear what it is....

More people should flock to Kimberley Locke. Her first album was pretty solid all the way through and was preceeded by perhaps one of the best pop songs to come out of the Idol machine - Eighth World Wonder (a song so ace, Deborah Gibson says she wished she wrote it)... Her second album Based On A True Story seems to have been largely ignored - possibly because it lacked that huge lead off single a la Bleeding Love. However, as an overlooked alternative to the Leona promotion trail, it's an incredibly enjoyable piece of work that I have found myself rediscovering big styl-ee this very week. Criminally, the album's weakest song ~ "Supawoman" ~ (hate that spelling) was serviced to radio as the first single and probably caused all sorts of untold damage. Next choice Change was a VAST improvement and proves that Kimberley is best when she serves straight up pop that doesn't veer too far to current trends or ott melodrama. It's just pure enjoyable solid vocals and lovely melodies. Uptempo tracks like Any Which Way represent what I was expecting from the third Kelly Clarkson album, while I Don't Wanna Know is a radio hit waiting to happen if only she could get an appearance on Oprah or get radio to hammer down those prejudices. However, it's her cover of Band of Gold (that quite rightly has been a massive club smash) and gorgeous gorgeous country tinged ballad Fall that serve the album best and provide a welcome respite before I start singing Bleeding Love once again...

LINK: Purchase Based On A True Story here

OTHER IDOLS OF NOTE:

• Kym Marsh (Don't judge but her two singles, Sentimental and Tempted are all great ignored pop classics)
• Michelle McManus (I jest mainly, but i still think Once In A Lifetime and Meaning of Love are great ballads that deserve their day in the sun)
• Darin (Since i bought his first two albums in 2006 he has yet to put a foot wrong. Break out of Sweden and hit the UK charts with Insanity please)