Single Review
"Untouchable" - Girls Aloud

The crown jewel of Out Of Control and clocking in at 6:44, "Untouchable" is the Aloud's "Bohemian Rhapsody", their "Stairway To Heaven", an epic, compelling masterpiece that deserves to be played in its entirety. Unfortunately, to get any radio airplay in this age of microwave gratification, a radio edit was needed. Luckily, all the best parts remain, with Nadine Coyle hoping for the euphoric highs of love singing, "In my dreams it feels like we are never gonna fall, we're safe and sound. We're untouchable." as synthesizers blissfully pulse alongside gentle guitar riffs. This is disco with heart and a brain. The bridge is pure poetry as Coyle continues, "Without any meaning, we’re just skin and bone, like beautiful robots dancing alone". The video clip re imagines the Girls as space sirens crash landing on Earth with what we can only assume is a charge from their home planet to change mankind's notion that "pop" is a dirty word.

Single Review
"Spaceman" - The Killers

"Spaceman" is much more instant than lead single "Human" but, unfortunately, it's sugary sweet coating translates into it losing its shimmer much sooner. Still, this track oozes classic Killers. It's the kind of song you blare with the windows rolled down as you drive through the desert towards Las Vegas. The world needs more songs with yelping "oh oh ooohs" because there's something about singing along with them that is good for your soul. The video displays Brandon Flowers dressed as a power ranger but still sporting his feathers at an intergalatic party.

Single Review

"Diva" - Beyonce

I don't know what it is, but I just can't take "Single Ladies" seriously. The phrase "single ladies put you're hands up" accompanied by an extended rotating hand have become the joke de jour of my friends and I. That's not the response Sasha Fierce was going for. As her alter ego, Beyonce becomes a fire breathing man hater who pitches songs laser crafted for all the independent women in the world. Wait a minute, that's exactly what she did before she had an alter ego. "Single Ladies" missed the mark but "Diva" is a bulls eye. If a diva is the female version of a hustler then "Diva" is the female version of "A Milli". Like the Lil Wayne track, a bizarro voice is looped endlessly as Knowles sings to the fiercest song of her career. Check out the video, especially the end where she blows up the car a la hubby Jay-Z in "Crazy In Love". She's so fierce it makes you wonder why she was so concerned about being a boy a couple weeks ago.

Single Review

"Say Aha" - Santogold

It's no "L.E.S. Artiste", but Santogold's latest single off her self titled debut proves that she is one of the most forward thinking women in pop. The neo new wave track jives along to cool guitar and Santogold's trademark yelping. Most of the lyrics are just mumbled letters strung together to form words but the effect is one of the hippest rain dances of the year. Samsung and Ford liked the track so much that they've each used it in recent ads. Here's a short version used in a Zune ad. Enjoy.

Single Review
"Lost+" - Coldplay feat. Jay-Z

"Lost" drops its exclamation point and adds an addition sign for its re-release featuring Jay-Z for the band's upcoming Prospekts March EP. The song is one of Viva La Vida's best, but the gimmick that is Jay's added bridge breathes new life into it. Chris Martin is at his most poetic, singing, "Just because I'm losing doesn't mean I'm lost, just because I'm hurting doesn't mean I'm hurt" with a real live church organ humming in the background. Jay-Z juxtaposes Jesus, Judas, Caesar, and Brutus and raps, "If you succeed prepare to be crucified" for his cameo that lasts just under a minute. Though completely unnecessary, his contribution provides an interesting reinterpretation of the song and brings his duet with Martin, "Beach Chairs", to full circle. Hopefully we'll get a Kanye verse as a B-side for Viva's next release.

Single Review
"Womanizer" - Britney Spears
Blaring sirens signal the return of Britney Spears for her new single "Womanizer". The production shines just like a glossy new Britney track is supposed to thanks to up and coming team the Outsyders. If you didn't know the name of the song before you heard it, it would take less than a minute to guess after she repeats the title the nine times with much more to follow. If you say it enough, people will end of liking it. Spears confronts her womanizer stuttering, "Boy don't try to front I-I know just-just what you are-are-are" followed by calls of "you" ringing out like a fire alarm. The eight second bridge seems forced but it's OK because it's length lets her get back to saying "womanizer" as soon as possible. The music video, directed by Joseph Kahn (who also worked with Spears on "Stronger" and "Toxic") pays homage to her massive back catalogue of videos, channeling "Toxic" in particular (notice the fat guy from the airplane bathroom scene after Britney photocopies her derriere). At this point in her career, the stakes are high, and "Womanizer" isn't up to par, but it just might cut it. The track has been the top seller on iTunes for four days and running, and after a #97 debut, this song has the potential to set the record for biggest jump to #1 a week after T.I. raised the stakes. That would make "Womanizer" Spears' biggest hit in a decade. While she has had some many other songs much more deserving of the honor, it could cement her comeback as one of the biggest in pop history.
See video here
Preview for her MTV Documentary For The Record:


"I'm a smart person...what the hell was I thinking?" - Britney Spears

Single Review
"Love Lockdown" - Kanye West
"Love Lockdown" was performed at the VMAs on September 7, released on the 18th, and by the 25th, it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The most astonishing fact is that a month before "Lockdown" stormed the charts, it didn't even exist; West wrote the song only 28 days before it reached its peak on the Hot 100. Today it's music video was premiered on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Why bother with TRL anymore in its dying days, right? (It's interesting to note that Britney Spears will also be premiering her music video for "Womanizer" on a television show not at all related to MTV. Catch it on 20/20 this Friday, or on YouTube minutes afterwards.) Mr. West is never at all subtle about his motives behind his songs. "Stronger" was an unabashed attempt to create a storming pop anthem which was successful and now "Lockdown" is his attempt to transcend the preconceived notions of what kind of music a rapper is supposed to make. His VMA closing performance was supposed to be "explosive" but that isn't the best word to describe the song; It's definitely a slow burner. It took going to his Glow In The Dark Tour to realize that most of the hooks in his songs aren't him rapping, but, his ingenious use of samples. That ceases to be a problem (if you think it's a problem) if he sings all the way through. The 808 pulses like an irregular heartbeat gently until the taiko drums raise the track to a tribal war chant. Another stellar track from hip-hop's foremost innovator

Single Review
"The Promise" - Girls Aloud

The Girls Aloud are the latest group to jump on the retro bandwagon. With them however, it feels far less trite because the Aloud and Xenomania have always been committed to taking influences from all genres and decades. "The Promise" wears its inspiration on it's sleeve, hearkening to a distinct Motown-esque sound. Usually, Nadine Coyle with her unique "fog horn" of a voice is the Diana Ross to the group's Supremes (though Cheryl Cole has always gotten more press), but "The Promise" grants each girl their own part of the song to sing solo. If the track goes top ten in the UK, the Girls will break their own record for consecutive top ten hits (17 to date). If it were by anybody else, it wouldn't be a big deal, but since its the Girls Aloud, everyone over at Popjustice is freaking out over it. I just like seeing them all in Mary Tyler Moore hair.

Single Review
"Talons" - Bloc Party

Intimacy doesn't get it's physical release until October 27, but Bloc Party is already releasing the album's second single. The band promised that the physical copy would have songs that weren't featured on the digital version and "Talons" is the first of those songs to surface. In terms of danciness, it lies in between "Flux" and "Mercury". Unlike either of those tracks, its video doesn't get its influence from Power Ranger , rather, Will Smith's Summer '09 movie, whatever it will be. Oriental xylophone runs are feathered in the chorus which give way to insistent blaring guitar. "I have been wicked, I have been arrogant" bemoans Kele before asking, "When did you become such a slut?" Great addition to Intimacy and probably a better lead single than "Mercury".