The very lovely Spoony finished a 6 year stint at Radio 1 last week and I've very much enjoyed spending the last two years working with him. I only got round to listening to his last show yesterday (I was out of the country when it was live) before it fell off Radio Player, but with a very funny Mills and Spoon and a couple of guests, I'm glad I did. Hilariously from Oct 3, you can catch him on Strictly Come Dancing, where I expect everyone I know to vote Spoony!
Anyway, that aside, one of his farewell guests was the awesome Alesha. Her brilliant debut single Lipstick charted much lower than it deserved at no.14 and October 16 brings single no.2 Knockdown. Totally different to the in-your-face style of Lipstick, it's reminiscent of Kelis' Trick Me and I guess if I have to say it, of Lily Allen too. The bassline is funky funk and it's pretty immediate. Based on the tracks I've heard, Fired Up, her debut album, is shaping up to be a stonker, and just the two singles alone beat anything on the new Jamelia album. Plus the video version breaks down into an unexpected crazy-voiced Alesha rap to remind us of the good ol' Mis-teeq days. Hooray.
This is the video to the new Robbie Williams single Lovelight.
I'm not really sure of Robbie Williams place in the pop world at the moment. His ballads which were once certain top 3's have been getting weaker and weaker, and (excluding Rudebox) when was the last time we had a fun, party tune from the cheeky chapper. To top it off, last album, Intensive Care didn't really go anywhere. Sure, tickets sold out for his tour, but as far as new material went - it was as if he'd suddenly lost his relevance in a world in which he was previously king.
Now less than 12 months after the release of the last album, he's back with new album Rudebox and I can't help but feel it's going to end up a really underrated, forgotten about great album. Above is the video to new single Lovelight and after a few listens I'm gradually getting my head around it. At first it seemed that if I didn't know it was Robbie I'd think it was really cool, but knowing who it is slightly weirds me out. And it's not that I don't like him, Robbie at Knebworth in 2003 is still one of my favourite gigs ever.
Lovelight is a cover of a little known American song and this version is produced by the ever wonderous Mark Ronson. Hearing Robbie falsetto for a whole song is a little strained, but give it a few listens. What do you think? (Could this be any more George Michael by the way)
1 single and dropped. :'(
Goodbye Frank. Mr Lampard will now enjoy his own 'Totally Frank'.
Frankly (ha), I'm more than gutted about losing Naomi's celebrity doppleganger.
