Lest we forget the X Factor alumnus who actually has a song to promote...

We at The Pop Web would obviously, along with the rest of the Internet, like to extend our congratulations to Joe McElderry for coming out just before the release of his second single at such a young age. Role model, brave, etc.

All joking aside, this appears to have been very well-handled, and is undoubtedly the best thing all round both for Joe's welfare and his public profile ahead of the inevitable intense public scrutiny which will come both from this announcement and the upcoming album launch.

That said, we don't really want to talk about Joe, we (inexplicably) want to talk about the runner up in the 2009 X Factor, Olly Murs. You know, the one who seemed to be the lovechild of Will Young and Gary Barlow. The one who, whilst not our cup of tea, had the unenviable task of somehow trying to stop Robbie Williams forgetting the lyrics to his own song. (Let's set aside for now the fact that despite this being the final of the biggest singing competition of the year, the whole thing still managed to sound no better than your average drunken pub singalong).

Anyhoos, we really didn't have high hopes for the inevitable "runner-up" career which Olly was clearly going to be launching (and not just because we were devout Stacy Solomon fans). Yet, six months have now passed, winter's schmaltzy light entertainment has given way to the hot piercing glare of a crowded Summer music scene and Olly has stepped back into the limelight with new single Please Don't Let Me Go. Here's the video. It's a bit stately.



A few points to note. Firstly, if you thought "he sounds a bit like Will Young" when he performed on the X-Factor, you'll be pleased to know that absolutely no effort has been put into disguising this similarity on this record. Oh well, we suppose that if Will himself can't crack the top 10 with an amazing single then we suppose we can't object too strongly at the presence of his vocal doppelganger having a stab at it.

Secondly, this video pleasingly contains a staircase-based dance routine. This, we feel is a highly underutilised tool in the pop arsenal and, we would further suggest, is what saved Hear'Say's Loving Is Easy from being a complete train-wreck.

Thirdly, and this is probably the most important bit. Please Don't Let Me Go is actually not bad at all. I mean, yes, it might as well come with a health warning saying "this will only sound good in Summer" as any single released by a Caucasian with something approaching a reggae beat inevitably does. Lyrically, it doesn't exactly break poetic barriers, but it does the job, which is to make Olly look something approaching a credible pop star. If you are expecting a modern day Bohemian Rhapsody, you were always going to be solidly disappointed. The fact is, that this is solid stuff, which is all it really needs to be. It's a likable, pleasant Summer single which, at the very least, is a much better introduction to a post-X Factor career than The Climb turned out to be for Joe.

Time will tell whether this is the start of a long and lucrative pop career for Murs. What we will say, however, is that it's a perfectly competent first step. And frankly, if Will Young's time in the commercially--viable spotlight is over, we could think of worse replacements.

That said, it'll probably be best all round if Olly learns his lesson from last December and doesn't return any of Robbie's calls.

How's it hangin'?

This is the new single from Robyn, designed to give momentum for the release of her forthcoming album Body Talk Pt. 2 (or as I like to call it, Body Talk 2: The Petite Swedish Popstar With The Nice Voice Who Sh*gged Me) (editors note: She didn't. Obviously. It's an Austin Powers reference). Hang With Me appeared in acoustic form at the arse end of Body Talk Pt. 1, but this is the single version which is due for release. Please ignore Annie Mac talking all over the intro.



It's important to note the following:

1. Robyn is always amazing, and belongs to the exclusive "artists that thepopweb would happily hear sing the phonebook" club.
2. The eventual video probably won't have anything as brilliant as the dance moves from Dancing On My Own but, frankly, we can't see how anything will ever top that.
3. As much as Robyn is always amazing. This isn't quite as good as aforementioned Dancing On My Own.

We like the delicate yet idiosyncratic electronic backing track and the operator of the drum machine does a fine job in creating the all-important clap-along moments. Lyrically, the whole thing hangs together very well. The admonition "Just don't fall, recklessly, headlessly in love with me" is bloody brilliant and demonstrates in a flash why Robyn is such an important and eloquent songwriter. It hasn't got that iconic sad disco sound of Dancing or With Every Heartbeat but Robyn's voice, which just drips with sadness and emotion, creates the effect all by itself.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what doesn't quite click for us with this song. All of the elements are there. We love the lyrics. We love the backing track, we love that whooshing effect when it breaks into the chorus. The song misses a strong middle-8 and could do with a crescendo-creating bridge into the chorus but that's a minor niggle. We suppose it's a classic case of loving all the constitutent parts and being a little dissatisfied when the whole just ends up being the sum of its parts. Pop is like that sometimes.

We would like to underscore all of this with the following conclusion, however. This isn't our favourite Robyn song: it's still one of the strongest pop singles to be released over the past six months. She's that good.

In which McFly learn that Lady Gaga works...

McFly have a new single and album out soon (September and November, respectively). Said single is Party Girl which sounds something (i.e. exactly) like this.



First off, you can tell that Dallas Austin has been involved in all of this. While the oh-oh-ooooooh bits are heavily reminiscent of Gaga, there are real similarities to be had here with Pink's most recent output, particularly with So What (listen, for example, to the 50s-1:07 for that stuttering backing track effect which appears to be on all of Austin's acts since he picked up a copy of Kanye West's Flashing Lights). Certainly, the decision to go with a new producer has caused McFly to completely reinvent their sound. This is certainly a world away from Lies and yet very much appears to be heading in a similar direction with the over-the-top underpinning concept behind the album's marketing with them creating some kind of virtual Second-Life-esque world for fans to "interact" and get access to "exclusive content". It's easy to forget amidst all of this that, when it's all said and done, we're dealing with a new McFly song.

Certainly it feels like every type of in-vogue effect has been thrown at this to try and make it relevant, with the band wisely sensing that their earlier guitar-led pop is becoming increasingly dated and unlikely to penetrate the endless streams of RnB/Hip Hop acts which appear to have camped out in the top 10 at present. Rather, with Party Girl, they've gone all out to create a true blue pop song. And whilst it's not entirely convincing (you get the impression that JLS would be happier with this than McFly) we can't deny that it's a very successful change of direction. Yes, the lads are probably desperate to retreat behind a guitar and drumkit as soon as possible but the one constant in McFly's delivery is that they've always managed to have excellent, wel-arranged and well-harmonized vocals. What they and Dallas Austin have done is to extract that quality, give it a dose of ritalin, and send it into a recording studio and let the hyperactive madness play out. That's probably why he's one of the best in the business.

McFly's new single isn't so much a return to form as it is a complete reinvention. And, to give the boys credit, it's a very, very good one.

And that's something we'd never thought we'd be saying.

RIP Girls Can't Catch

The world of pop suffered another crippling loss this week as it was confirmed that Girls Can't Catch were unceremoniously ousted from their contract with Polydor Records. Rather than struggle on without a record deal, the girls have done the smart thing and call it a day.

As we type this, we realise that Popjustice have already eulogised GCC better than we ever could but we'd just like to add to the whole debate by saying that whilst Girls Can't Catch never really set the pop world alight, with their first singles charting at numbers 26 and 19 respectively, they were a perfectly competent girlband who, with a bit of luck, may have at least reached the sub-Girls Aloud/Sugababes pantheon of female vocal pop groups (or, as we like to call it, "The Saturdays" level). Keep Your Head Up, in particular was a stonker of a single and a great way to launch what the band were all about. A shame it never really caught on but there you go.

So so long, Girls Can't Catch. We hope there's at least some consolation to be had in the fact that when we saw you supporting Girls Aloud at the O2 we whispered to the person next to us "they're alright but I do wish they'd get on with it so Girls Aloud can get out here and be pissed off by how much more popular Cheryl is".

Which is a substantially better treatment than Gabriella Cilmi received when she was supporting Leona last month.

Also, we've just chucked 10 pence Polydor's way by downloading the aforementioned Keep Your Head Up. Perhaps if we'd done that six months ago we wouldn't be in this mess but there you go.

In memoriam.

Brandon Flowers has some target practice

Two words usually without fail send a shiver down our spine here at thepopweb.

Solo. Career.

Oh we can understand the temptation. Boy/Girl creates band. Boy/Girl quickly realises that they're the only one in band that anyone even remotely cares about. Boy/girl thinks "wait, I don't need these guys divvying up my paycheck. I can make it on my own!" Boy/girl throws some bollocks together in a studio. Boy/girl realises far too late that whilst no-one else quite realised it at the time, the rest of the band actually gave their music the x-factor which made it likeable and commercially viable in the first place. Boy/girl hobbles back home and can only sit and watch whilst said solo career tanks bringing down with it the shattered remains of their ego and talent.

In short, we're looking at you Sharleen Spiteri.

But fear not, ladies and gentlemen, all is not lost for the Holy Grail quest known as the solo career. Brandon Flowers (i.e. "him from the Killers") has taken a stab at the whole thing and has, to his credit, produced something extremely listenable. Crossfire is the first single to be released from his upcoming partly Stuart Price produced album Flamingo which is due out in September. Behold the video below. It features an ass-kicking Charlize Theron and Brandon demonstrating why he's the world's worst action hero given that Charlize appears to have to rescue him three separate times from some particularly blood-thirsty ninjas.

Yes, the song itself sounds like it could have slotted in nicely anywhere in the Sam's Town album (on an aside we're totally going to produce a paper one day on Mormon mythological influences on that album and the personification of mountains in Brandon Flowers' lyrics but that's probably "by the by") but given that Sam's Town was an  absolutely stunning album once you listened to it three times through, that's definitely no bad thing. At least Brandon has stuck to what he's good at rather than going "I know, I totally need to do an album inspired by the music of the 60s because that's what all the cool kids are doing and it will thus totally kickstart my solo career."

In short, we're looking at you Sharleen Spiteri.

No, Crossfire plays it safe and is a tender and emotional love song which sees Brandon grappling with themes of "heaven and hell" whilst trying to get his paramore to sleep with him. It's amazing how in pop music decisions like these suddenly take on a cosmic significance rather than "oh bugger, I should probably just get an early night because I've got a presentation early in the morning etc."

The guitar outro of the track is absolutely bloody brilliant to the point that we imagine that Brandon is extracting genuine tears from it as he and Charlize drive off into the sunset. But, as you might expect, it's Brandon's vocals which really set this apart. His falsetto "Lay your body down" hook is delivered beautifully and the whole thing is given the electricity by the modulating and emotional vocal tone that Brandon does so well.

If this is even a taste of what's to come from Flamingo then we fully expect that this body of material will stand up very well alongside the rest of The Killers' output and may well buck the usual "solo career" trend. Time will tell, of course, but this is an extremely promising first offering and has certainly piqued our interest in seeing what Brandon can deliver on his own.

Which is more than can be said for the whole Sharleen Spiteri fiasco.

Sigh

This week's top 3

1. Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg - "California Gurls"
2. B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams - "Airplanes"
3. Kylie Minogue - "All The Lovers"

Can we have a rethink about this democracy thing?

Same Difference prove they're absolutely brilliant

WAIT! Come back. Seriously. This is the new Same Difference single Shine On Forever (Photo Frame). We'll make this quick. It's bloody brilliant. In a number of sneses it's the love child between the more brilliant Steps singles like Deeper Shade Of Blue, Stomp and One For Sorrow and S Club Juniors' One Step Closer.



Of course, it's important not to be uncritical about these sorts of things. Sean still suffers from a severe case of "earnest-face" even when the sole content of his lyrical delivery is "yeah". Sarah, on the other hand, has properly embraced the spirit of this re-invention and at one point in the video even elects to liee on the floor of the club where they're shooting the video. That, friends, is commitment to a bit.

The track itself is exactly what Same Difference needed as an antidote to We R One which was brilliant in its own right, but not exactly a song which screamed "relevance or sophistication". In fairness, neither does Shine On Forever but it manages to be brilliant in a completely different way which is all that really counts in the end.

Crucially, the choreography on the "photo frame" lyric which consists of Sarah and Sean drawing a massive rectangle with their arms is a stroke of creative genuis.

In short, it's very good but we wouldn't go so far as Youtube user jdharris7 who commented

"Wow! Very sexy! I need to take a cold shower now. lol." 

It's good, but it's still Same Difference. Some perspective is very important.