Taub Judah Entertainment Palace

So, the tabloid hooey that it would be uncharitable to mention in relation to this song can be summarised thus:

Nadine’s song is out a week later than Cheryl’s. It is like Blur vs Oasis all over again.

Nadine’s album is out a week later than Cheryl’s. It is like Take That vs East 17 all over again.

Nadine and the other Aloud girls might not be getting on as well as they would like you to believe. It is like Robbie vs Take That all over again.

Nadine might not do as well with her solo album as Cheryl will with hers. This is possibly because one of these women is a key part of a hugely popular weekly TV talent show, and is currently enjoying national treasure status, and the other has yet to prove that she can break out of the constraints of being Nadine from out of Girls Aloud. It is like Sabrina Washington vs Alesha Dixon all over again.

SO, having got all of that out of the way, what’s Nadine’s song actually like?

(Here’s the video. Somewhere there is an empty dressing-up box looking rather forlorn.)

Well it is clearly the work of someone who wants to make it very clear that they are mature, and that their music exists in a timeless sphere which is unaffected by current trends. There are grinding guitars in there, and real brass instruments, like grown-ups use in their songs, and there’s a lot of soul in Nadine’s pained howl.

There are no spiralling club-banger synths, there is no autotune, there is no mad chanting, and no-one sings “ayo”. Four things which would place Nadine at the very now-ness of popular music, and therefore ruin the idea that she’s a soul madam from always o’clock.

If we are to draw a parallel with her bandmate, based on the music alone – Cheryl’s hit songs seem to speak to a public idea of what her love life is like, while Nadine is attempting to prove that she is no longer the young girl with the big voice that she was in 2002. She’s now a fully grown woman with a big voice. And big voices and rocky-soul go together like Paloma Faith and hats.

And actually, if there is a comparison to be made musically, it’s probably with something like Paloma’s ‘Stone Cold Sober’, or some of Tina Turner’s ’80s hits, only you never heard either of those two making that strange “a-haow” noise with which Nadine begins proceedings. It sounds less like an emotive mic-check and more like one of those compression sounds people make when they’re clearing out their sinuses.

Work your way past all of this baggage though, and there’s a bright, engaging song here, sung by a woman whose voice deserves to be heard on its own merits. Whether there are enough people out there willing to do this, in the midst of a gossip tornado, is a different matter entirely.

Download: November 1st

www.nadineworldwide.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

It’s Pop says: “The track is clever precisely because it is not an instant smash, but a grower that takes a few listen to fully reveal itself.”

Reflective Inklings says: “What makes things even sweeter is the instrumentation done. The track does not sound like a rip-off of a Guetta-produced track at all.”

The Chemistry Is Dead says: “first thing it reminded us of was that Kiss cover by Tom Jones, then a bit of Echo by Girls Can’t Catch and Rihanna’s Umbrella in the verses”

View full post on BBC – Chart blog

OK, quick discussion topic: what’s the best way to tell if you like a song which sounds, on first listen, like a bit of a dog’s breakfast?

Is it that you find yourself still pondering it, some minutes after it has finished? Is it that you find you have to immediately go back and listen again? Or are you so overwhelmed that you have to go and put something familiar and soothing on instead? Is it that it makes you laugh? Or cry? Or be sick?

For me, it is simply whether I find I have turned the volume up all the way through the song, all the better to pay closer attention to what is going on. This is so that I can try and divine the heartbeat of the thing, to work out what the people who wrote it think is good about it. To do this you’ve sometimes got to wade through some of the production murk and ignore the more bizarre bits.

With this song, I ran out of up to turn it before the second chorus. By the end I couldn’t tell if my internal joyclaps were enjoyment or relief that the ordeal was finally over.

(Here’s the video. I think you need a better painter too. This one is messy.)

I have since revised my opinion and am delighted to report that it is enjoyment all the way.

The great thing about this is it is proof that we’ve got the bonkers Alesha back from the evil clutches of Those Who Would Seek To Capitalise On Her Strictly Success By Making Her Into A Fully Rounded Family Entertainer. It’s time to celebrate her mad brilliance. She was mad and brilliant in Mis-Teeq. Her early solo singles – ‘Lipstick’ and ‘Knockdown’ – were both mad and brilliant. Then she had a brief – or possibly ongoing, it’s hard to tell right now – dalliance with mainstream success, and apart from ‘The Boy Does Nothing’, the madness and the brilliance was in less abundance, and this felt like a shame. But now it is back.

OH BOY IS IT BACK.

Listen to the blessed thing! It’s all over the shop! Ten million drummers giving it the full paradiddle apocalypse, and I’m not even sure if all of them are playing in time. Meanwhile Alesha is singing some bits and shouting some bits and going “whaaat?” in a manner which will NOT delight Arlene Phillips fans. She’s got some nice harmonies to do, and there are fragments of a complete song being kicked about, but nothing is being treated with due respect. It’s fantastic!

Yes, Destiny’s Child and High School Musical (and the movie Drumline, from which this is sampled) have beaten her to the marching band drummer gimmick, but they were concerned with respectfully putting that sound into a different musical context. Alesha and her gang just want to rudely plonk themselves on top, fire up the synth brass, and blow off in everyone’s faces.

And best of all, there is no possibility that you could confuse this song with anything else in the charts this year. And for that reason alone it deserves top honours.

Not that Alesha cares. She’s way too busy throwing toy spaniels into a bucket of gravy with her face, or something.

Download: Out now

www.myspace.com/aleshamusic
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

So Feminine says: “The colourful, foot-stomping new hit, ‘Drummer Boy’… is unlike any other record you’ll hear this year.”

Madnews says: “I have never rated Alesha as an artist and never well. Her music just does nothing for me. But she seems like a nice woman..”

Kid With The Specs says: “The song has completely grown on me and is very different from everything Alesha has done before.”

View full post on BBC – Chart blog