Continuing my Collaboration Special, Pharrell collaborates with Pitbull. Pharrell, real name Pharrell Williams, keeps out of the limelight a lot which is quite different as artists tend to try and be well-known, however he is one who stays back and although he is well-known it takes a while for people to recognise the name. He was also a member of the band N.E.R.D. in which they have had a lot of high charting singles. Pitbull, on the other hand, is the total opposite, a lot of people know who he is and he is definitely going to attempt to keep his celebrity lifestyle. His real name is Armando Pérez, he came up with Pitbull because his life has been difficult and a constant fight, much like a pitbull dog's life.
"Blanco" is a song written for the Fast & Furious soundtrack. It was written by Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Armando Pérez, Valentino Khan and Maxine Ashley. Pharrell and Chad are also known as the duo "The Neptunes" who have produced and co-written a lot of well-known songs. However personally I think this song isn't quite right at all, it doesn't stick in my head, and it's over the top for Fast & Furious. Not only that but they keep the song in Spanish, making it difficult for us to work out the lyrics until we translate them and get a shocked surprise.
This music video is not a performance piece, it is not a narrative piece, and there are very little scenes from Fast & Furious so I wouldn't even call it a soundtrack piece. If this was for the film Cloverfield I could understand the use of the camera, or the more recent film Chronicle, but the use of the camera is just absurd and doesn't link in with anything at all.
I don't like this video, I don't exactly know how to word this, but why does it show half-naked girls? I don't quite know why they decided to do it, I don't see the link in with Fast & Furious and it's not boiling hot otherwise others would have done the same, personally there's no need for it, and this video could've been amazing with the use of a narrative storyline to fit in with the cut-scenes from Fast & Furious. This seems rushed, out of control and not that great to watch.
Overall I dislike the song, and I really don't like the translated verses. It's accompanying music video does link in with the song, but that is all it does, it fails to link in with the film that this is a soundtrack to, and it also fails to interest the people watching, furthermore there is no need for the use of the camera as it has nothing to do with the film or the song.
Swedish House Mafia is becoming quite frequent on my blog, I bet it will die down soon enough. They are a band consisting of 3 DJs called Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, they have recently announced that they will split up fairly soon and that they are on their last tour, but I very much doubt this is the last we'll hear of them, they tend to collaborate a lot with one another on their own songs so this is definitely not the end. The vocals are provided by Pharrell, real name Pharrell Williams, people might know him from the band N.E.R.D. but his own name might ring a few bells as he has released a lot of songs and have charted quite high with a lot of them. He is one of these artists you hear of every now and again, he pops up here, there and everywhere, but he isn't instantly recognisable, if that makes sense. He's not right in the spotlight, which is quite admiring to be honest.
"One (Your Name)" was originally just called "One" which was released in Sweden, but Swedish House Mafia decided to link Pharrell's vocals to this song. Pharrell wrote the lyrics of the song, where the members of Swedish House Mafia wrote the song. The vocals were initially for a totally different song, and so Pharrell had already provided the vocals, but I don't think they worked as well as they first thought, and after a few changes they realised it fit better with this song, and it sure does as you can't help but sing-a-long.
This music video is weird, that's the only word I can come up with. I have to admit I've skipped over it on the music channels so many times. I've seen the start and thought it wasn't something I'd be into. I never realised that video was for this song, as you never quite expect the start to mount into this catchy song. I like the references in this video, along with the use of an instrument I've never heard of let alone seen before.
The instrument is an OP-1 created by Teenage Engineering and combines a synthesizer, a sampler and a controller, it was created in Sweden. It kind of reminds me of a very small version of a DJ deck. And they've used it in a similar way, giving the song to a party. I like the eye and how the words of the lyrics appear in it; it kind of reminds me of the Big Brother eye.
There are loads of things going on in the video, and this what you kind of expect, except you don't expect the start at all. I like the ending when someone steals the OP-1... People have said that it resembles David Guetta as apparently his song "50 degrees" has a similar sound. And yeah I agree they do sound very similar, but if you look at music generally every song will sound similar to another song, it's just bound to happen, and this is exactly why law suits appear.
Overall this song is embedded into my head to day, I can't stop typing to the sound and singing the song. The video is different and interesting, there's no performance but there isn't really a narrative, however it's good to watch, it resembles house music, and is much more than what you expect, especially at the very start. If I see it again on the music channels, I will definitely be watching rather than skipping.
Okay so continuing on with my collaboration special, this is the next song, it combines Laidback Luke with Swedish House Mafia. Laidback Luke, real name Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, has collaborated a lot with the members of Swedish House Mafia and I'm sure there will be more in the future. This is the third music video I have reviewed from Swedish House Mafia, the first being "Save The World" and the second being "Antidote". The band features 3 DJs who are called Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello, they are all from Sweden and have been getting a number of chart hits across the world. However they are about to split up and go their own separate ways, however they are known to collaborate with one another, so their may be future singles they will release together; these are 3 DJs we are never going to get rid of. Deborah Cox provides the vocals for this track, she has released a number of songs getting quite high chart numbers in the USA, however she hasn't impact the UK that well, although people are aware of her name. Will we be seeing more of her? It's doubtful, but we'll have to wait and see.
To be totally honest this doesn't really count as a music video, but it's the closest we're ever going to get to one for this song. The reason being is that there is a lot of talking in this video, making it seem more like a documentary or a interview than anything else. There is various footage shown, possibly from Swedish House Mafia's world wide tours. I used to think it was weird how some people can wear not much during the night time, but since I've been to Turkey I can now relate and totally understand that in various countries around the world, you can have hot nights.
Surprisingly that is all I have to say about this, there's not a lot going on, and there are a few links with the songs such as how they zoomed out of the world, which was quite impressive, giving the effect that they were leaving the world behind. This is a typical House music video, I would've been very surprised if there was a full on narrative. So giving this the benefit of the doubt, this is definitely the rating it deserves.
This is the second music video on my Collaboration Special. Example, real name Elliot Gleave, provides the vocals for this song. It also appears on his album "Playing In The Shadows" therefore making this song his, but why is a Vs. used instead of a Featured? This is one question I am unsure of, but the only thing I can come up with is that Laidback Luke provides the music, therefore he has mixed the track himself. Laidback Luke, real name Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, has released a lot of singles most of which are collaborations with various artists. He has released one album thus far, but I bet a second is on it's way soon. This is definitely one artist we are going to hear more and more from.
"Natural Disaster" was written by Example, Laidback Luke and Dipesh Parmar. Again it was expected that the song was written by these two as they are great at what they do. The song charted here, there and everywhere, and it's completely understandable as it is extremely catchy. But it didn't chart that high, which could have been down to the lack of promotion.
It's music video, on the other hand, is amazing. I could watch it again and again. Previously when I was watching the music channels I would skip over this music video purely because I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but how wrong was I? It's both a narrative and a performance piece and takes place in a club, therefore showing what type of music it is.
I like the narrative, the teenager/young adult is played by Josh Dickinson, and he plays the character perfectly. I like how they show that music is like a drug, and that especially Laidback Luke's music is extremely addicting. I do feel sorry for him having parents like that, I don't think it's fair, but then again they know he has a "drug" problem but are unsure of how to handle it, especially since at the end all he needs to do is walk into a club and find the "drug" there. I also like how Example is in the audience, it's common in a lot of music videos but it is usually only a scene, whereas this is a main part of the music video and makes this video stand out from the crowd.
Overall, the song is very catchy, but it's accompanying music video is definitely one of the best, I don't think I have seen anything like it, and unusual videos tends to get the highest ratings. I haven't got a bad thing to say about this music video, I could definitely watch it again and again, so it's definitely worthy of this rating.
Calvin Harris is a rare sight on my blog, but so is Example to be honest. However this song has gripped me, and after hearing it a couple of times, I just had to use it for New Release, which has sparked off an idea for a whole new special. Calvin Harris, real name Adam Wiles, has been creating demos since 1999, but came into fame in 2007 with his first album. He came to my attention when "Acceptable In The 80s" started climbing the charts. I have only mentioned him once on this blog, where he collaborated with Rihanna for "We Found Love", I hope there will be more music videos from Calvin Harris hitting my blog soon. Example features on this song, his real name is Elliot Gleave, this is his second time on my blog, but has also been mentioned as co-writer of The Wanted's "Chasing The Sun". I like how most artists are connected one way or another and they tend to go around in circles.
"We'll Be Coming Back" was written by Calvin Harris and Example, which is to be expected since they know what they're doing, and you can kind of tell that they've wrote it themselves. It is currently number 2 on the iTunes chart, and it will definitely chart high this Sunday, but could it inched in front of Wiley featuring Ms D's "Heatwave"? We'll have to wait and see.
This music video is interesting, I don't quite know how else to describe it, I had to watch it twice and then read about the video to finally understand what is going on. This is clearly narrative based which is surprisingly unexpected from these two artists. They are both robbers and they hide their treasure, but a cop has been on their trail since and have found what they've buried, leaving her badge behind.
I feel that there is more emphasis on what cars their driving and their speed racing rather than the story overall, therefore people don't quite see that there is a narrative. This would be usually not so good, but they have used great footage such as showing another car coming up to them in their sunglasses (right at the start), and seeing the cop behind perfectly. A lot of different camera shots are used to display the races and the chasing, which makes this video a little more interesting.
Overall the song is definitely one that grows on people, and before you know it, it's stuck in your head, but the accompanying music video is lacking to some respect. However the main focus of the video is to make Calvin Harris and Example look "cool" (their words not mine), and that is exactly what they manage to do, but there is various ways they could have made this better, especially by showing the story a little bit more.
