In the world of modern R&B there's been an obvious shift towards the dancefloor, with cheesy synths being slathered all over the beats. What tends to happen when extra elements get added to songs that already have a lot going on, however, is that things get muddled and we end up with one big fat mess. Sometimes the song can technically still be defined as a mess but be so good it still works, but there are also times when all the elements seem to clash and you can't work out which bits a chorus and which bits the sound of your modem dying. Obviously, there are always exceptions to any rule and sometimes a mess of a song with no discernible chorus is still amazing (Girls Aloud's 'Biology' please stand up).
But, we digress. R&B messes. This is a hot mess that works brilliantly:
This is just a mess:
This leads us on to the new single by Estelle. Produced by dance titan David Guetta, it samples about three different songs, has no real chorus and for all its bells and whistles is just a bit of a, erm, mess really.
The less said about Karinall Offishall the better. He makes Flo'Rida seem like Nas.
It's all gone a bit X Factor 2008 crazy round these parts, so apologies in advance if you find the whole talent-show-pop-star-making-machine thing a bit tiresome. It did give us Leon Jackson, let's not forget that...
Last year's winner Alexandra Burke has been in the good old US of A for the past few months working on her debut album, to be released in late October. She's worked with just about every pop producer you can think of on the album and will no doubt perform on the X Factor live shows around the time her first single is about to 'drop'.
But what is the first single we hear you cry ('mutter')? It's called 'Bad Boys' and features rent-a-rapper Flo'Rida and is right here:
EDIT: This video's been taken down so click here instead.
It's not a ballad, let's put it that way. It's got sirens on it, some piano bits and a chorus you could easily label 'eurovision' (i.e. it seems to come from a different song and is annoyingly catchy after 30 seconds). It will no doubt be a pretty big hit all things considered.
Ever wanted to hear Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy' mixed with the worst bits of the Black Eyed Peas and Flo Rida? Yeah? What the hell is wrong with you? Ignoring all that, here's your opportunity, it's the new single by the Sugababes and it's called 'Get Sexy':
This band - though not this current incarnation - have been responsible for the following singles; 'Overload', 'Freak Like Me', 'Push The Button', 'About You Now' and a couple of other well above average pop songs. This new offering would have been rejected by the Pussycat Dolls for being too generic and you can't get much worse then that now can you readers?
