Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a fan of ZAYN, although I really do like his collaboration with Taylor Swift, titled "I Don't Wanna Live Forever". This is another new collaboration that has only been out for a couple of weeks and he's already made it into the UK Top 10, whether he'll stay inside, who knows. I'm not so keen on this song either, but it's time for my Chart Mondays review and Sam Smith is still at number one with "Too Good At Goodbyes" and I actually think this won't be in the Top 10 for very long; it's just not that catchy. Watch ZAYN and Jemima Kirke team up to steal a case from a gang and the police, in this music video for "Dusk Till Dawn" which features Sia.
ZAYN, full name Zayn Malik, is best known for being one-fifth of boy group One Direction; well he is mainly known for being the first to leave the group and head off on a solo career. All the boys from the group are doing amazingly well as soloists on charts all over the world. This song seems to be the second single from his to-be-released second studio album, the first being "Still Got Time" which features PartyNextDoor. This one has had much more success, probably with the help of Sia fans, since Sia features on this song. Sia, full name Sia Furler, is a phenomenal singer/songwriter who has a tonne of hits to her name. She totally brings it for her songs, so it's no surprise that this has done well. The song was written by Zayn Malik, Sia Furler, and Greg Kurstin.
As for the music video, that was directed by Marc Webb. ZAYN stars alongside Jemima Kirke; again, there is no Sia in this video whatsoever, although that is definitely something we're getting used to. It's quite a dramatic video but one that isn't easy to follow.
Drawing inspiration from movies such as Casinos and Goodfellas, this music video is completely in-depth; yet, it's difficult to follow due to them trying to pack too much into a five-minute and a half clip. Actually, I think they could've focused more on the narrative than the performance piece to allow viewers to fully understand what is going on.
The opening ten seconds of the song sees flash clips of the entire video, we pretty much know what to expect before it happens - waste of ten seconds in my book. ZAYN looks inside a briefcase before shutting it up and watching Jemima Kirke outside his window. He then goes out on the street with his briefcase, where men in suits are seen to be looking for him.
ZAYN avoids them by heading down a Chinese celebratory street, where he spots Jemima Kirke; they have a longing stare at one another, before the police show up, taking ZAYN. The police take him to a warehouse, where they intimidate him before realising there are only clothes in the briefcase.
As for Jemima Kirke, it turns out she and ZAYN swapped briefcases at one point - did we all miss it? - and now she's packing and ready to escape with ZAYN when he returns. The final scene sees them deceiving both the guys in the gang and the police, leading the police straight to the gang. Yet, we never do find out what's in that briefcase.
Overall, this music video is trying to condense a film-long action-packed sequence of events into just five minutes. It seems like a tall task, yet they waste so much time such as the ten seconds at the start and the police-with-ZAYN scene that it just leaves the viewers confused about the storyline. It really isn't that easy to follow. I'm also pretty sure the song doesn't relate to the video either, so I'm really not sure what to make of it. Regardless, ZAYN deserves to go into the acting business after this music video, it certainly suits him.
Rumoured to be about the Orlando Shooting, this music video really does hit home for many people. It's so theatrical with amazing dancing and choreography which we totally expect from Maddie Zieger now. This whole music video is shockingly great, and Sia's lyrics is definitely just as good. Inspiring the whole world not to give up, Sia's song is pretty catchy, but it's the video with Maddie Zieger that really makes this "The Greatest", especially when it's supposedly about the Orlando Shooting.
Sia, full name Sia Furler, has really come into her own in the last few years. Now she's one of the most talked-about female singers as well as one of the most popular. Her songs have always cut deep and has always been superb. Now she's back with this new song which will be the lead single from her eighth studio album, which will do amazingly worldwide. This song originally features a rap from Kendrick Lamar, however. the rap verse has been taken out for this music video. The song was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin.
Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, with the choreography done by Ryan Heffington. This video is full of emotion, and even though the dance sequences are crazy, as always whenever Maddie Zieger dances, it's so full of emotion just like the song.
I love the start and the end, how Maddie Zieger paints rainbows on her cheeks using her hands, and she's clearly upset. The song suggests to keep your head up, and so Maddie Zieger shows that in her performance.
All the kids perform amazingly, of course, Maddie Zieger stands out the most, and her wacky faces make this serious music video wacky and hilarious at the same time, yet as we journey through dance, we get to the powerful ending where they're dancing together as a group, as one, before falling to the ground and holes can be seen through the walls, suggesting bullet holes.
The last scene is Maddie Zieger crying, this is so powerful and so emotional and does hit home for a lot of people. This will always be raw for a lot of people in the LGBT+ community and it affected everyone around the whole world. This is what makes this music video special.
Two music videos were released for this song, so I shall review both of them, although they feel pretty similar. This happened with Rihanna's single "Work", where two videos got a surprise release.
The reason why there's two for this single is that the first music video was apparently shot on just a 50 bucks budget. When this single became popular and hit the UK chart at number ten, they had the money to fund a more higher budgeted music video.
Sia, full name Sia Furler, started off her career in acid-jazz band, Crisp and provided vocals for their two albums. Crisp later disbanded, and Sia moved to London, she then worked with Zero 7. In 2000 she got a recording contract with Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool and released this as her first ever single. It's nice to look back on old songs on my Thursday Revisits. This is a complete change to who we know Sia as. "Cheap Thrills" and "Chandelier" are totally different to this song, but this is definitely just as catchy. The song heavily samples Sergei Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets", which not only gets repetitive but doesn't make the song any more appealing. It was written by Sia Furler and produced by Nigel Corsbie. Sia is out in the open in both these videos, no hiding behind a wig. True to herself, her voice is soulful, but with no performance vibes, both videos fall flat. The song reminds me of P!nk's early work.
This is the first video, directed by Matthew Bate on a 50 bucks budget, apparently, it is slightly more appealing and interesting than the second one. Low budget music videos rarely interest me, as they haven't got enough money to capture the audience enough. The narrative isn't played out fully because of this.
However it is a nice idea, and some scenes are exact replicas of the lyrics of the song, relating exactly. There's an intricate scene in which ghostly Sia sings to the Sia crashed on the bed. I love this idea, although it isn't played out enough. This should've been the main narrative.
This video shows that some low-budget videos attempt to include too much, which leaves the audience, not only wanting more, but deprived of visual entertainment.
This is the second music video that was released. Directed by Fatima Robinson and edited by Angus Giorgi. This one is much more visually friendly, because of the much higher budget.
Sia is a vision of beauty, although not so keen on the style of the bedroom scene, she looks poor and lonely which is the whole intention, but compared with the other two characters it feels totally out of place.
Sia proves that even different people can feel the exact same emotions. They deal with them differently too, which she undoubtedly displays for the music video.
Unfortunately, Sia fails to manage to capture us in this performance based video. It plods along with very little excitement or even an understanding of what is unfolding. There's a little ode to the previous music video, a scene which doesn't make sense no matter which video you view.
Overall, visually more appealing, but much more tedious and bland.
Breaking my own rules once again, this song looks like it's going to be in the chart for sometime and it doesn't have an official music video, but this 'Performance Edit' is probably the closest we're ever going to get to one. Currently her highest charting solo single, Sia has been on quite a journey, now she's one of the top female singers in the world. Sia hides in the corner of this performance edit video, as Maddie Ziegler once again takes centre stage in an incredible dancing performance proving how professional she really is.
Sia, full name Sia Furler, has had hit after hit, she's the one to watch, the one everyone keeps their eyes on because we all know that whatever she releases will not only be current, but completely change pop music entirely. Yet she only has one number one overall in the UK, and that was the collaboration with David Guetta on the song "Titanium". Her songwriting credits are substantial with many well-known songs by popular artists. Sia will always be the one to watch and look out for. This song is currently sitting at number two on the UK charts, just behind Drake's "One Dance". It was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin. The song was originally intended for Rihanna, who rejected it, it was then passed on to Icona Pop, who also didn't fancy the song. Guess these things happen for a reason, since this is Sia's biggest solo single, in the UK, so far.
this was directed by Sia & Daniel Askill with Ryan Heffington as creative director and choreographer.
There's not a lot to this video, since it is a performance edit video and not an official one. Maddie Ziegler is an outstanding performer and dancer, to which we already know.
She is backed up by two male dancers, who's names were released by Sia's manager David Russell. They are Nick Lanzisera and Wyatt Rocker. It is doubtful whether these two will appear in any of Sia's future videos, however, this is Sia we are talking about, and just look at her continued relation with Maddie Ziegler, who has appeared in a total of four of Sia's music videos: "Chandelier", "Elastic Heart", "Big Girls Cry" and this one (although this is not an official video).
The choreography is nailed to perfection, which is unsurprising since all three dancers are clearly professional. They perform totally in-sync, there's not a line out of place. This is beyond perfect, there's just not a better word out there. This is near to impossible not to get wrong yet all three dancers are flawless.
Overall, this would never work as an official video, but as a promotional performance edit video it is faultless. The choreography is crazily amazing, performed superbly. I love the addition of Sia in the background with her wig on, and yet she takes the spotlight's shadow during a short scene of the video. Amazing, beautiful, perfect, exquisite. Although not appealing, it completely works. I've dropped a star, purely because it's not an official music video, however it wouldn't work as an official video. Broke my rules again, just like I did for Justin Bieber and his "Purpose" album's promotional videos: "The Movement". But so worth it.
David Guetta, real name Pierre David Guetta, is a name that is on everyone's lips and will be until the end of time, he has made such an impact on the music industry, that it's difficult for him to disappear, and for him to get better, that's just as impossible. But if anyone can do it, it's him. This song is his second to most recent, the latest being "Just One Last Time" featuring Taped Rai. So where is he now? My guess is that he's touring in some place or another, or he is working on a new album, maybe he is doing both... This song features singer Sia, full name Sia Furler, who's been working on her career for quite some time, however she is finally scoring the success she is definitely entitled to. Will she continue to be the next big thing, or has she already soared past that, and will disappear once again? I am hoping it's the former and not the latter.
"She Wolf (Fall To Pieces)" was written by David Guetta, Chris Braide, Sia Furler and Giorgio Tuinfort. It's not one of those instantly catchy songs, and it fails to meet my standards, it's more of an album tack (in my eyes) than a single, however each to their own right? The song managed to get to number eight in the UK, which is pretty good considering.
The music video is narrative, reminding me of similarities with "Titanium", in which both artists previously collaborated on. It is yet again part of the supernatural, involving Werewolves, this time, hence the title 'She Wolf'.
Hands up I don't like this video, however I can appreciate what it is. They have made the storyline more life like and surprising. The thought that cavemen used to go out and hunt wolves is surprising, but it even happens nowadays and yet we pretend it isn't.
The thing that sets this out as something for me to dislike is the editing, and the use of the Werewolf's supernatural powers, everything goes pixelated, so much so that it becomes obsessively so, and turns me off. However this can totally been seen a different way and people actually like this sort of thing.
Overall a song that isn't that amazing, along with a video that coincides with the song in it's amazingness. It's just not my thing, on the other hand it's other people's thing, and taking that into account compared to the bad music videos I have reviewed in the past, they are far worse. And so this rating is based on an overall concept and not my personal feelings.
Okay, so some of you might have thought I lied to you, unfortunately I did not make a full return last week, due to an illness that drained the life of me. Just a simple cold, but it knocked me for ten. I am now back, no sign of any cold whatsoever, so I have no excuses. So I shall start this week with one amazing artist!
Rita Ora. She appeared out of no where and here she is again. Most known as having 3 consecutive number one singles in the UK which are "Hot Right Now", "R.I.P." and "How We Do (Party)". And a number one album. We all thought this girl would be unstoppable. Unfortunately "Shine Ya Light" stalled at number 10 and it looks like this single is also going to fall short of that all important number one.
"Radioactive" was written by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin. The former is well known for collaborating with David Guetta on "Titanium". So I'm surprised this song hasn't done as well as the others, and it's making me question whether it's got anything to do with the fact that the album is released and that people have been buying the song from the album, therefore splitting potential sales between the album and the single. However I don't think that is the only problem, I think it may also be down to the music video.
I struggled deciding which new release I should choose, it was between this song and Avicii Ft. Nicky Romero's "I Could Be The One". So I decided to choose the one that is currently the lowest on the UK iTunes chart. I thought I might be able to help Rita Ora, but I can't help but say this music video is not at all what I expected.
Rita Ora should be bringing in a lot of money from all those number ones, but why are we left with a music video that looks like it's low-budget? After more viewing, you realise the budget may have been spent on the theatrical backgrounds and features. Leaving you wondering if they may have had a short amount of time to cut this. As this wasn't what I was expecting at all.
I wanted something similar to Ke$ha's "Die Young". A complete narrative and a perfect choreography, since this song allows you to do such a thing. But no signs of it, leaving me thinking a lot of green screen was used to make this and that Rita Ora wasn't given much to do, especially since we only see her back through the first minute or so.
Overall a song that should be performing better on the iTunes chart. But a music video which falls short of anything I imagined. There's nothing to grip you, nothing to keep me entertained. And if I were flipping through the music channels and this video came on I would flip over it looking for something better, and there probably would be something more interesting on another music channel. I hope her next music video is a lot more entertaining than this one.
