Nicola Roberts - Beat of My Drum
This is the debut single from Nicola Roberts, one of five members of Girls Aloud (other members are: Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Sarah Harding & Nadine Coyle). I have supported Nicola ever since I was young, and first saw her on Popstars: The Rivals. I remember sitting in front of the TV, hoping she would get into the band, and I was happy when she did. She is the youngest band member in "Girls Aloud", at just 16 she became part of the band, and the other girls sort of protected her (according to Kimberley Walsh), which kind of explains why she was more of a background person, within the group. However over the past few years she has proven herself that she belongs in the band, after many critics saying she is hardly there. She managed to sing some of the verses in the recently released Girls Aloud singles, and the critics have taken back what they initially said. Now she is hitting it big style, and attempting to fit her electro-pop music into our chart, and it's making the perfect impact she wants.
The song was written by Nicola Roberts, along with a few other people who would have helped her craft what she wanted, into lyrics. The use of "Baby in the corner" can link in with two things, one thing is that she was the youngest member of Girls Aloud, but also it links in with "Dirty Dancing" as it's one of the most commonly used well-known lines from the film, and people can't help but say that specific line in an attempt to copy Patrick Swayze's voice. I also like how she hits back at all the critics who said she doesn't deserve to be in Girls Aloud "Leader of the pack get on that track, swing your back and don't look back" which tells them that she's making the music she wants and it's making an impact on the chart, it also shows that she has come a long way from where she first was in Girls Aloud. And she is no longer the baby in the corner.
There is a lot of ways the lyrics could be moulded into an amazing video, however a lot of the lyrics come from very different sides. You could, supposedly, follow the dirty dancing theme that appears in the first verse, however the second verse is different singing about a "captain attending" and "I put on my marchin' boots". It shows she's grown up a lot and she is confident now because she loves the way her music has turned her into the person she always wanted to be. So instead of trying to create a narrative, they decide to do a typical electro-pop music video that is so good you can't help but watch it over and over again.
At he start you have two freestyle-dancers who dance to the beats of the song, which totally engages us right from the start, and you are aware that this song is definitely good. We then see Nicola up on a stage singing her song at quite a quick tempo, with speakers piled up behind her, this represents her and shows that she is a good singer. We see the letters "D-R-U-M" flash quickly by on the screen which gives the music video a different feel to it, as if there is more to it than meets the eye.
I like how in the second verse, when she sings "I put on my marchin' boots" she is walking a certain path, and she "marches" to an extent. And I like the showing of the drums, it also reflects in with the "marchin'" as it's a marching band. I think this is a clever idea and works really well with the song.
When we come near the end of the music video, Nicola has her hair up, I sometimes I have to do a double take just to make sure it's actually her. I also like the use of the cheerleader's pom-poms to make the letters of "L-O-V-E" and the use of Nicola as part of each letter is a great idea.
Overall, even though it is simplistic and doesn't look like it took a lot to make, there are a lot of intricate detail that you probably miss the first time around and some bits must have been really difficult to film, and although it doesn't follow the lyrics really well (which would've been difficult to do in the first place), it is a really good video, so I hope you all agree that my rating is fair.
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