Owl City - 'Umbrella Beach'
A confession: I'm writing this at 3am. I had to. See, I read this interview with Adam Young on the BBC Slink site, in which he explains his battle with insomnia, and how it has affected his working life, and it seemed like the best way to really appreciate his work - or at least, gain an understanding as to why his work is the way it is - would be to try and go to the wellspring of his inspiration. Lack of sleep is the key.
Now, I'm someone who normally finds Owl City's output to be a little whiny, a smidge twee, a trifle over-reliant on autotune. To such an extent that, by the end of one solid listen to the album, I was desperate for some red meat, some AC/DC and a fight with a bear.
(Here's the video. It's crafty.)
But that was during the day. Now it's the middle of the night, and reality seems a bit stretched and thin. Suddenly the eurodance backing seems less cheesy, somehow the whispersoft vocal becomes more dreamy, as my tired and overheated brain starts to confuddle the line between what is real and what is imaginary.
I tried to write that exact thought down about five minutes ago, and then realised I hadn't switched the computer on. Then I was staring at the back of my hands as if they'd suddenly become unfamiliar to me.
I find I'm grateful for the blasts of syntrumpet, for the backwash of Netto Pet Shop Boys synthpop, cos they're doing what the coffee has long since failed at, namely keeping my brain focussed. I also find the lyrics start to make a crazy sort of sense, in the way that unreasoned things tend to sparkle in the middle of the night.
I'm all like "underwater ferris wheel? Cool!" and then "uh, my feet are too hot" and finally "*deep sigh* Tomorrow I am really gone SORT MY LIFE OUT, things have been going on for TOO LONG and I need to just START making everything BETTER. How hard can it be? And...hey, I like that twittery breakdown section, that's purdy!"
Now, I should really think of a way to finish this before I fall asleep on the keybssgaasgrnrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
Download: Out now
CD Released: May 17th
www.owlcitymusic.com
BBC Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
The Beat Review says: "You can hear positivity from the track which makes it absolutely radio friendly."
Strangeglue says: "From Umbrella Beaches ridiculously over-used bass thump to Dental Care's stupidly poppy structure and lyrics, the record just seems to get worse and worse."
Emily Is Smiling says: "Adam Young's style of writing is both descriptive and imaginative."
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~08~RS~)
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I am convinced this song sounds like something from an old Sonic The Hedgehog game. Every time I hear the intro I reminisce of the old days of the Megadrive :)
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Exactly, Kutox!
It's sounds like a 90's SEGA Megadrive Sonic The Hedgehog game.
I've heard this song a lot now and am still wondering whether to like it, so I'm going to post all the pros and cons here and finally make an informed decision as to whether it might just get a download from me.
The dancier vibe to this track certainly sees a more upbeat, more vocal Owl City, show-casing his consistently dreamy and quirky lyrics that would put Marina and her diamonds to shame (sorry, Liam, just know that this doesn't mean I like him any more than I do Marina).
Lyrics like 'underwater ferris wheel' and 'missing link to this island chain', ooze quikiness and should surely be worth a good old press of the repeat button, yes?
Well.. it's a bit on and off you see, Whilst the intro is very in-your-face and the vocals are horribly auto-tuned to the point is sounds like they were deliberately vocoded, the song has it's good points, that really set it away from other, lesser attempts at electropop.
The best part of ths song is, as Fraser said, the breakdown. The sudden onslaught of water SFX and absence of that ever-so-slightly cheesy beat, make it one of the best breakdown's since La Roux's 'Bulletproof'. And I also like how the breakdown works its way back into the main section.
And I also think this sounds like one of the Pet Shop Boys' long lost tracks that never made an album: The auto-tuned vocals; the sudden woosh into the chorus where you can't really hear the lyrics; the 'Go West'-esque sythesized brass, and the completely musically different breakdown.
My verdict?
He should've released 'Vanilla Twilight' instead.
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My Verdict?
He should stop copying The Postal Service seriously check out Such Great Heights and say Owl City isn't a rip off of them.
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEq7WiINa4
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wait i just realised, did Fraser post this at 3:01 in the morning? if so that's what you call commitment
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I agree OddOne. There are some great elements to this song, but it just lacks catchyness and it doesn't have any decent hooks to it. I'm not surprised it's flopping badly, not that I want it to.
Vanilla Twilight definitely should of been the second single.
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i was thinking he should have released 'cave in'.. been one of my favorite tracks since christmas..
and yea harry he does sound like postal service (who are better) but i wouldn't call it 'copying'.. are editors 'copying' joy division just because the singers have a similar voice? there is a difference between copying and taking inspiration
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I've got nothing against taking influences, LCD Soundsystem's new album screams Bowie but I still love it. My problem is the fact that he has a similar voice, with a bit of auto-tune added, has the same style of beats, the same style of synth and his lyrical structure is incredibly similar.
The Postal Service have a very distinct sound and everything about Owl City's songs seem to be incredibly similar to a Postal Service song, it's like he's not even trying to hide it.
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From what I've heard of Editors, I would call them a pretty blatant copy of Joy Division, yeah. At least they were before they went all Depeche Mode.
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Is everyone still comparing him to Postal Service? The only thing more annoying than him having been massively influence by them, is people talking about it. Still. Not a personal dig at you guys, everywhere people are still.
Onto the song. Love it.
Twee vocals, optimism, songs about his teeth, auto-tune, over use of synth/computer/whatever quirky things he uses to create his sound. Why don't I hate it? Dunno. I just love it.
It's my favourite wandering-into-town-on-a-weekend-with-a-hangover-to-hunt-food-but-only-when-it's-a-bit-sunny album and I dunno why. As Fraser said, perhaps best enjoyed in the dead of night. But for me, it's kind of replaced Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. for my its-sunny-quick-play-music-that fits.
My guilty pleasure could be a whole lot worse, Justin Bieber anybody?
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Fireflies sounds quite a lot like The Postal Service, his other songs don't really apart from him having a similar accent. Get over it please.
Editors are quite clearly copying Interpol... but they're doing it well (possibly better than Interpol themselves, at least given their last album) so it doesn't really matter.
This song is a lot of fun to dance to at a party, and it has therefore achieved its purpose, well done Mr Young. 4 stars.
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Famous/recent musical rip offs. 1 at a time, take it in turns. GO.
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Ill start with a recent one,
Ke$ha and Gaga.
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What, you mean Ke$ha is ripping GaGa off? Or they're both rip-offs of someone else? :S
Ummm, I think...
Ellie Goulding is a rip off of Little Boots.
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The Music ripped off The Verve I think. But I still prefer The Music to The Verve.
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Liam Gallagher and Johnny Rotten.
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The lead singer of The Hives and Mick Jagger.
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Wolfmother and Led Zeppelin.
Stopping now so I can do some work.
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The Enemy and The Jam.
Oops.
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Oh, The Charlatans ripped off the Stone Roses big time when the Roses were big, then switched to copying Oasis in the mid-90s. They're probably burrowed away somewhere copying Muse or Kasabian as we speak.
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Oh, and Dan - whether or not Editors sound like Interpol I don't know, as I'm not that familiar with them. However, I DO know the similarity between Editors and Joy Division is beyond striking so I'm quite happy sticking to that comparison, thanks.
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Oh I meant Ke$ha massive Gaga rip off.
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oddone, goulding ripping off little boots???? similarities are that both are female and use syths.. thats about it really.. ellie goulding is much more subtle.. a lot of boots is very 80s.. more likely to hear boots in (mainstream) club nights.. loads of other differences
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Surely the obvious one here is Oasis trying to rip off everything about The Beatles.
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See I can't see the Oasis - Beatles thing that everyone says about. I mean in the music. it's obvious they copy their image etc, but I can't see an oasis song that sounds similar to a beatles song. Except the na na na bit in All Around THe World, which is obv Hey Jude, or the piano intro to Dont Look Back In Anger, which is obviously Lennon's Imagine.
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Actually Oasis just seem to be a hugely original group in general, they steal their image from the beatles, the riff from Cigarettes and Alcohol is blatenly Get It On - T-Rex and as Jonesy's already mentioned All Around The World and Hey Jude and Don't Look Back In Anger and Imagine.
Finally they've never progressed at all with their sound and just keep releasing record after record with no change in sound, songs like The Importance of Being Idle, The Hindu Times and The Shock of the Lightning could have easily been on their first or second album yet it's been ten years and they haven't changed at all.
I like some Oasis songs as much as the next guy but I don't see why they're one of the biggest bands in the world.
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I'm with Harry. I love getting the proverbial lighter up to 'Dont look back in Anger' and think some other tracks like 'Live Forever' and 'Champagne Supernova' .. all the classics, are geat. But I've listened to whole albums and get bored. Plus they have no progression of sound, which annoys me.
Compared to bands like Bloc Party, Artic Monkeys and Radiohead I think they pale (not just in terms of how much I like them, but their contribution to music) Oasis bought what they did to music, then repeated it. These three (and many other) bands have all tried and suceeded in progression of sound.
The future of bands relies in bands such as them, and the bands they have influenced. And not in Oasis and the bands they have influenced (Such as The Enemy .. can't really think of many others, who I like).
Pop's ruling at the moment, is is ever going to be challenged by the likes of these?
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Well this was bound to come up sooner or later. Personally, I don't think the Beatles rip-offage is half as big as it was made out to be - Oasis borrowed from LOADS of bands and artists. It was really just because they made such a big deal out of idolising the Beatles so much themselves that that particular example stuck in the public consciousness.
They've always been honest about bits they've taken from other bands: T. Rex in Cigs and Alcohol; Bowie in Stand By Me; Velvet Underground in Mucky Fingers; New Seekers in Shakermaker; Lennon in Don't Look Back In Anger; all openly acknowledged in interviews off the top of my head.
But all those various steals, with the Johnny Rotten vocals and the rock and roll guitars don't make for one clear decisive band being imitated in my mind, not like The Enemy with The Jam. Just a mishmash of various "classic" artists.
I wouldn't ever point to Oasis as an exemplar of musical reinvention. However, there were some conservative attempts at broadening their palate beyond straight-up rock and roll or terrace-ballads every so often, especially on the fourth, sixth and last albums. And anyone who thinks The Importance of Being Idle could have been on Definitely Maybe or Morning Glory is either deranged or has never heard those albums.
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BTW, "contribution to music" is an incredibly vague concept that really no-one is sufficiently qualified to definitively judge (and is usually retrospectively revised every time there's a change in trend - hence the key indie reference point changed from the sixties during the 90s, to the seventies and early eighties during the 00s).
But I will say that I've lost count of the number of interviews I've read with young indie bands (some of whom surprised me) who said that they were inspired at least in part by Oasis. The Killers and Arctic Monkeys are two of them.
And that's not even beginning to consider the popular cultural impact that Oasis had in the 90s.
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The Importance of Being Idle is in a sense a progression but compared to other artists is pretty poor. Songs like Mercury, Crying Lightning and Everything In It's Right Place are all miles away from their bands first albums and show a real progression for the bands.
Blur managed it (sorry but the comparison has to come up eventually), judging by the first album you wouldn't have thought this was a band capable of songs like Beetlebum, Tender and The Universal. However, with Oasis the new songs just sound like old Oasis except ten years older.
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New debate Blue VS Oasis.
Just kidding. Moving swiftly on!
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That's either an amazing idea for a debate or the best typo ever!
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Oh God.
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@ Liam,
I disagree. I don't think Ke$ha and Lady GaGa are that alike at all apart from a similar electropop sound and the fact that both their debut singles were about getting trashed at a party.
GaGa sort of sees herself as this saviour of pop music and that's reflected in her music. Ke$ha doesn't seem to take herself seriously at all.
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Am I missing something here? Did I not concede that Oasis were pretty conservative in their attitude towards changing their sound? Harry, your argument seems to be veering from whether they were just a Beatles tribute act to being that they weren't avant garde like Radiohead.
(Incidentally, it's not just a case of The Importance of Being Idle, and then everything else is the same. Be Here Now has country and western pastiche, Standing On the Shoulder of Giants experimented a little with production styles and effects to create darker moods that felt sombre, paranoid, claustrophobic, regretful, etc. Don't Believe The Truth has the Kinks pastiche of Idle, jerky piano-rock nicked from the Velvet Underground etc. And a third of Dig Out Your Soul is southern friend blues-rock, plus some dark "disillusioned psychedelia" (thanks Wikipedia)).
The debate is whether or not their conservatism was a problem. For a lot of people, it was. For a lot of other people, it wasn't. It doesn't change the fact that they produced a lot of great songs, throughout their sixteen years at the top, right up to their last album.
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'the fact that both their debut singles were about getting trashed at a party'
Surely that applies to most people's debut single nowadays
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In conclusion, whether or not you like Oasis will depend on whether you mind them being conservative or not. I don't like Oasis and, judging by his posts, Curtain's does. We aren't going to change each others mind and probably won't change anyone elses mind either.
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Artists taking inspiration from other artists :
1) Lady Gaga - Madonna
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2)Britney Spears - Madonna
3) Christina Aguilera - Madonna
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4) The Temper Trap - U2
Compare Sweet Disposition to Where The Streets Have No Name .
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Soft Cell - Sparks .
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The Pet Shop Boys - Soft Cell
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Kraftwerk - Gary Numan .
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The Ordinary Boys - Madness
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The Kaiser Chiefs - Madness .
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Michael Buble - Frank Sinatra .
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Muse - Queen .
The Darkness - Queen .
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Band of Skulls - The White Stripes .
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Freiheit - The Beatles
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Then Jericho - U2
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Scissor Sisters - Elton John
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Ne - Yo - Michael Jackson .
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Kids in Glass Houses - Fall Out Boy
You Me At Six - Fall Out Boy
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Hurts - The Pet Shop Boys .
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Kim Wilde - Blondie .
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Marc Almond - Jacques Brel
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Bat For Lashes - Kate Bush .
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Marillion - Genesis .
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Imogen Heap - Laurie Anderson .
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The Psychedelic Furs - David Bowie .
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Delphic - New Order .
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Professor Green - Eminem.
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David Gray - Bob Dylan .
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Foals - Radiohead .
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Mr Hudson - Sting .
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Justin Timberlake - Michael Jackson .
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The Jam - The Small Faces .
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The Style Council - Curtis Mayfield .
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The Stranglers - The Doors .
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Japan - Roxy Music.
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Joan Jett - Suzi Quatro .
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Spirit's been busy, thought i'd mention we're talking more about rip offs than taking inspiration.
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At 42 .
Should read :
Gary Numan - Kraftwerk .
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AT 71 .
Harry . One man's inspiration is another man's ripping off .
It's all open to opinion .
:)
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We could spend hours upon hours listing people's influences. It's much more fun arguing over blatent rip offs.
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The Owl City/Postal Service comparisons got old months ago, thought I'd heard the last of them.
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Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not true
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dont really think foals can be uttered in the same sentence as radiohead... surely they would be flattered if people thought they were ripping off radiohead
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I don't think Foals are similar to Radiohead as well, apart from the fact they both come from Oxford. Muse are probably the closest thing to a band like Radiohead but only in the early stages, now they're closer to Queen.
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Hey, Soul Sister - basically just I'm Yours by Jason Mraz on a ukelele instead of a guitar?
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I agree, with a name like yours I'd agree with pretty much anything you said. Btw, are you out of that cage yet?
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I've got a newer one for you
Marina and The Diamonds- Florence and The Machine (come on, even the name's a rip off)
Then obviously:
Florence and The Machine- Kate Bush
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Practically every indie band around nowadays - The Libertines
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Due to the rather unfortunate closure of dear Alexander Rybak's thread, I'll shove some interesting stuff about the Top 40 downloads in here.
There are five new entries in the Top 10 downloads.
Overall, there are 17 new entries in the entire Top 40... ones that could be of... 'mild' interest are as follows:
Lady G's 'Alejandro' hitting an pre-release peak of #35.
Pendulum's 'Witchcraft' also peaking early at #34.
Ke$ha, with her best song yet - 'Your Love Is My Drug' at #12.
K'naan (one time collaborater with Keane on 'Stop For A Minute'), with his 'Coca Cola' endorsing anthem 'Waving Flag'. (Sounds like it should've been our Eurovision entry).
N-Dubz and Bodyrox's soundtrack for 'StreetDance 3D' WHICH IS CRAP IN COMPARISON TO 'KICK ASS (WE ARE YOUNG)' FYI, is at #5.
And of course, the song that came from nowhere - Eminem's 'Not Afraid', at #2.
So, to summarise, I now sound like I'm writing a GSCE essay... but anyhoo, here are the Top 10 most downloaded singles this week.
1. Dizzee Rascal - 'Dirtee Disco'
2. Eminem - 'Not Afraid'
3. B.o.B. ft. Bruno Mars - 'Nothin' On You'
4. Iyaz - 'Solo'
5. N-Dubz ft. Bodyrox - 'We Dance On'
6. Jason Derulo - 'Ridin' Solo'
7. Aggro Santos ft. Kimberly Wyatt - 'Candy'
8. Sean Kingston ft. Justin Boobface - 'Eenie Meenie'
9. Edward Maya ft. Vika Jigulina - 'Stereo Love'
10. Roll Deep - 'Good Times'
Oooer.
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Thanks OddOne for that chart update. I love your very subtle and very mature typo on Justin's last name.
Yeah, where did Eminem's Not Afraid come from? It's a return to form for him but it's not spectacular and really not good enough to debut at #2 without a video in my opinion anyway.
I don't like Dizzee Rascal's Dirtee Disco or Jabba The Hutt and Boobface's Eenie Meenie, what a terrible song. As well as Ridin' Solo and Stereo Love, in fact I hate every song on the chart apart from the rap ones surprisingly.
Anyways going to leave a plug here, I've been busy on Unreality Shout lately and have news on the following - you can listen to two new singles by Arcade Fire, listen to Nicole Scherzinger try and forge a solo career again, listen to two new songs from Enrique Iglesias, see Rihanna's new Slash aping music video, see the new line-up of the Pussycat Dolls, get details on Royskopp's new album, see Robyn's new music video and see the third line up of the Pussycat Dolls as well as Eminem's new album artwork.
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Dirtee disco is dizzee's worst song yet.
I quite like eminem's new one, it was number in the US about two weeks ago, it's falling down the chart fast though
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My cats are all quite sexy.
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no argument with that, then.
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I will, with all of you baited of breath and hungry of content, soon be revealing my review of my most awaited album, "Bang Goes the Knighthood", by the Divine Comedy. But with the death of Rybak, one question has to exist: Wherefore should this paragon of reviewing genius be placed? Answers to thranjax@ most places. Answers including the phrase "up your" will generally be ignored.
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Well Thranjax, reviews go on the Jedward Thread. I'm guessing exclusives will have to go on a new thread, perhaps Lena (whenever Fraser reviews her song).
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I think it would be fitting to use the latest Eurovision winner's thread yeah. If she gets one!
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Fraser's had the chance, twice. But instead he's posted something about Usher, and a review on 'Zorbing', by Stornaway.
Mind you, the German entry was awful and I heard Lena perform it live and was she was shocking.
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YAY! This song peaked at #194! Owl City is now officially a ONE-HIT WONDER!!!!!
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LOL at that!
Not necessarily, if he releases 'Vanilla Twilight', that could JUST save his career.
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hope not
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Yes jonesy and I'm doing just fine, thanks.
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I don't think it's fair to deem Owl City a flop just yet. This is only his second single and was only released exclusively to the UK and Ireland. I do think the guy will probably flop but I'd wait a while before I'd deem him a flop.
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