A kung fu fighter in a disco

OMG the Cribs video is SO TERRIBLE. The song might be a tick though.

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heh. i did not expect it to do this well in the charts when i selected it for Promozone.

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Something for the Dads eh Steve?

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she looks quite unhealthy to be frank. they all do.

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pot80.livejournal.com

They are totally picking the wrong singles from that Sophie Ellis-Bextor album. They really have to make "Love Is Here" and "The Distance Between Us" singles asap.

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matthew-matins.livejournal.com

Or "If You Go"! Or anything tweaked by the King Midas touch of Xenomania.

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umlauts.livejournal.com

Like the last SEB album, it's totally rear-loaded. The last three songs are all BRILLIANT and amazing. (Not heard the UK-only bonus tracks). Any of those or "If You Go" would be the logical third single.

Not "Today The Sun's On Us" FFS.

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I ticked Biffy Clyro because it bears repeat listening, Sophie because it's quite good and Rihanna because it blows everything else right out of the water.

At university far too many people are going on about the Verka Seduchka because it is CRAZY MAN and that is WHAT STUDENTS LIKE. Dear god. Otherwise it might have got a tick.

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jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

Is Verka the first non-British Eurovision LOSER ever to make the UK Top 40?

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No - Mike Troubled-Diva found two from '74 on ILM.

(Not posting on ILM) (though who knows really)

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Rihanna: One of the singles of the year reaps its commercial rewards. Big, big tick.

Mutya: Horrible disappointment, vapid lyrics, lame sample, good performance but oh the material :( No tick.

The Cribs: All-time dreadful video but its niggly trebliness and Strokesy hooks work for me. Marginal, slightly reluctant tick.

Biffy Clyro: Um didn't try it. Suppose I ought to.

Sophie E-B: I'm gradually realising that I don't like her voice and phrasing much - this has a good hook though. Tick.

Verka Serduchka: On Eurovision it annoyed me a bit but there was a drive and bite in the record which I enjoy. Tick.

CSS; I like this because it is CRAZY MAN and WHAT STUDENTS LIKE.

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I like the Mutya! Not massively but there are worse things to be than the new Gabrielle (lest we forget, dubdobdee and myself ticked ALL HER SINGLES in the Now polls).

Verka S - this is why I don't like Eurovision. It's "hilarious" yes but it's not actually very good, ie I do not feel any need to hear it again.

SEB - v boring and she doesn't sell it in the video at all like she did for 'Catch You'.

Rihanna and CSS are amazing, I assume all poptimists know why by now.

The Cribs video really is horrid, isn't it?

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It comes on like an ugly dudes in bands recruitment ad!

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Are they the new Northside I wonder??

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Also the lyrics are really awful.

When was the last time we had new entries in the same week hailing from Barbados AND the Ukraine AND Brazil?

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- Scooch drop 3 places and are still in the top 10.
- McFly drop NINETEEN PLACES to No.20. Equal biggest drop for a #1 EVER! I blame Jellyfish.

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katstevens.livejournal.com

> McFly drop NINETEEN PLACES to No.20

However I can confirm they are still the most-requested video on Hits!Tv, closely followed by Beyonce/Shakira.

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jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

The CSS is fine and all but it's The Gossip all over again innit, i.e. ancient history. I'd rather Rihanna (or the ace SEB song for that matter) get more ticks. It's now, it's new, it's over to you, poptimists.

STOP PRESS: oh, wow I just looked at the actual chart and Rihanna is #1. And Maroon 5 is #2! Hooray. Best top 3 of the year so far?

:( re McFly. I didn't realise they were still reliant on the fanbase Week 1 guaranteed purchase. I foolishly hoped they now had a broader appeal.

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I got very upset about the McFly drop and then realised I had not bought it. :(

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Somebody give me a paragraph on exactly why 'Umbrella' is so good because I don't really get it. I don't really like massive soppy ballads but still. It makes me think of Paula Abdul's 'Rush Rush' for some reason - I am using that as a yardstick. I think the only reason I really like 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' is because it seems ridiculous and OTT - 'Umbrella' is perhaps not OTT enough/takes itself too srsly? I am a robot tho.

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Wait a decade and it'll be on Popular! (sigh)

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I don't think of it as a ballad tho!

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But it is, surely.

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It can be if you want!

One aspect of its genius is its malleability, it's a ballad which is a slow jam which you dance to either in a last-dance-at-school-disco romantic way or punching fists in the air with your friends.

I don't think of it as soppy AT ALL! It's totally real & beautiful. And STRONG, nothing this strong and single-minded and unashamed of itself could possibly be just 'soppy'. Evocations of genuine emotion != soppiness.

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jauntyalan.livejournal.com

blimey, rocking the genuine vote there.

it is soppy, but in a good way. i.e. what you say viz it's a sentiment of "lean on me" strength but expressed in a new and pleasing way. and the melody is lovely.

what's not to like.

it's not the greatest song ever, and her vocal is a bit bored sounding. but that's not nec a bad thing

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I like the way the song grinds - it's got quite a cold, hard, military sound to it that sits interestingly with the tender feelings.

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"i'll be all you need and mooOOOOOOOOORRREEEE" = not bored-sounding in the slightest

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katstevens.livejournal.com

That is the best bit of the song, with the strings suddenly going "bam Bam BAM!"

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I second the genuine emotion thing; it's very natural sounding and slightly goofy in a way that offsets the sharpness of the production etc. to stop it just sounding like a showcase.

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realness and beauty aren't the issue as such, i wouldn't care if it was fake or somehow grotesque. in recent years i've come to think of 'my heart will go on' as 'impressive' or 'powerful' just not in ways that make me want to listen to it. i think 'umbrella' is effectively the same for me, tho it is obv. 'hipper', and not as blustery, nor quite as cheesy.

"Evocations of genuine emotion != soppiness"

yes they are/can be! soppy doesn't automatically equal a bad thing tho. it is a word i use to describe all romantic ballads really, no matter how punchy their drums are or how squelchy that one synth sound might be or how real it may all seem.

maybe all the hype has put me off. 'Irreplaceable' has grown on me a little finally after months of indifference so this may go same way yet. i must see if there are any recent ballads i DO like, to compare to this.

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For me, it's how forceful it is, with the growling synths and the... cymbal or snare or whatever making that slicing noise over the top which gives the lyrics an acceptable and indeed genius face when they would have been absolutely loathesome if it had all sounded anything like the wussy middle eight. It's strangely summery, too, given how it sounds- the ingredients ought to create something late-night-in-a-taxi-watching-streetlights-go-past-through-rain-drops like 'Have You Never Ever' by Margaret Berger but instead it somehow lifts right out. Really though it's all about how ballsy it is and also the production is excellent.

The video is horribly irrelevant, despite being quite pretty.

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koganbot

"Vibeology" was way better than "Rush Rush."

"Umbrella" has a tone like quicksand. Since I love the song, I love getting sucked under by it. Anyway, this is a different type of sop from "My Heart Will go On" or "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," neither of which are dragging you down into its tones (and both of which I like). In any event, "Umbrella" hasn't yet taken off on the U.S. charts, but is going to do (almost) as well as "1 Thing" in critics' year-end polls. (Unless I'm all wrong in predicting critics, which seems to be happening more and more.)

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blue-russian.livejournal.com

I'm with you on this. There's just not much to it. The lyrical idea is fine, and she carries the song on basically her vocal alone, so more power to her. But there's virtually no melody there, just those hard beats and lots of her going "elluh elluh eaa eaa eaa." There's this strength there, but its only in the words and the muscle behind her vocal -- you don't really feel any luv. Maybe if there'd been a video with her standing strong to protect her four-year-old daughter and shots of a husband who'd abandoned them or something, but... well, I just don't think it's nearly as good as Bouncy's last batch of singles (and I'm not a fan of hers at all).

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There's those lovely crunching sounds though and some great blocky chords underneath too - there may not be much of a vocal melody but there's enough hookiness in the music to draw me back again and again.

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skyecaptain.livejournal.com

Try the Lil' Mama remix for (1) more big blocky synths, (2) less Rihanna melody (except they cut the nice bridge, which Mama now raps over), (3) NO JAY-Z!!!, (4) the words "umbuberella" and "peroxicide." Much prefer it to the orig. version...drives home the musical hook, pares down the vocal hooks, greatly improves the rap section -- which doesn't feel so awkward tacked on right at the damn beginning like a false start or something. Reminds me too much of...I dunno, something forgettable like the semi-wtf first intro track on the Fall Out Boy album shoutout/tie-in-wise and doesn't do the song any good at all.

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skyecaptain.livejournal.com

Umbuberella (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvQLZ0vB-T8)

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umlauts.livejournal.com

OMG Umbrella is TOTALLY a 00s Rush Rush.

("Rush Rush" is like one of my favourite singles of all time, EVER. Maybe my favourite single of 1991 or whatever year it was, god I can't remember now.)

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I know right, I was gonna say, in what universe is "like 'Rush Rush'" not a MASSIVE COMPLIMENT!

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katstevens.livejournal.com

I don't like Umbrella as much as the new Amerie song (which has an awesome video too!) or even the SEB song which earwormed me for pretty much all of yesterday. SEB video = much better now I've realised it is the Nu-Rave version of Singin' In The Rain.

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