#3: The Saturdays - Higher

This getting on my list this year could mean a few things - my standards aren't the same as they were before, I haven't listened to an awful lot of Western songs in comparison to K-pop, and I adore a good pop song when I hear it. I'll go with the last one, thank you very much.


As much as I adore Girls Aloud and Xenomania and whatnot, there is a part of me that adores the fun and effortlessness in The Sats. Girls Aloud are very serious, and the songs they put out are really WHOA, but The Saturdays are light and fun, and girl groups should be fun, don't you agree? The technical side is important, don't get me wrong, but so is how those technical aspects are executed. Basically what I'm trying to say here is that GA and The Sats are two completely different girl groups - they both have their strengths and I adore them both for those. It's just that we were without an epic GA album this year. D:

On a side note, I love the video for this - I really do. Nevermind that they shot it in an LA studio when it's supposed to look like NY, I love everything about it, ESPECIALLY the walking on the first chorus. I took film back in sophomore year, I think I've said a few times before, and I love the cinematography on this - it's very, warm. A nice contrast to the in-your-face-fun-ness of the song.

The chorus is epicly fun in all the right ways - I love how it explodes into this extravaganza of synths and beats and a gorgeous chorus, with enough repetitiveness to make you hum the song even after it ends. I love the synths throughout the song - they're crisp, and classy, but very playful. Throw in strong vocals from all of them, and you have a masterpiece worthy of praise.

A few random "new"-ish songs..

.. or songs I haven't talked about yet but so want to.

I still haven't found/though of a decent title for these posts with a few singles thrown together here and there. Although, in an attempt to make things a little spiffier here (emphasis on the attempt) and fill the archives with more posts now that I'm far too busy to write music show recaps, I'll try and write these more often. If you have any suggestions for a name whatsoever, the comments section is all yours. And I'm in dire need for them.


But before I start with all the songs, it's time, once again, for me to lay down my schedule for the next few weeks/months. My birthday's coming up (YAY!), among other things, but this month and maybe even next month, I'll be in "training" for this national speech contest I have to represent my school at. Why I was chosen for it is completely beyond comprehension at this post. BUT ANYWAY, me being "in training" means that I'll obviously have less time than the little time I have now, and when I do get the time, I might just go sleep or laze around reading fan fiction. Add the fact that I'm flying to China in November (And there's no Google there, so I've heard. Boo.) AND preparations for my senior yearbook, the last few months of 2010 are going to be hectic as hell. I'm starting to put together that "best of" list already, so don't worry about that, worry about the regularity of my posts! But now that we've cleared my schedule for the rest of the year, let's finally get to the music! I rant, I know, but you guys seem to like it so whatever!

Cheryl and Nadine Girls Aloud both have new leaks out. YES, THIS IS ONE OF MY MANY ATTEMPTS TO UPDATE MYSELF WITH NON-KPOP RELEASES. You should be proud of me! Cheryl's got Promise This, and Nadine's got Insatiable. Promise This is very Cheryl - very commercial and generic but well-produced. It's got what I presume is French in it, and it's catchy without going overboard. Solid effort, but nothing new or ground-breaking. I'm not feeling Insatiable that much though, even if I do think it's got a lot more character and conviction than the Cheryl song. These songs just don't appeal to me that much, but Nadine does sound fantastic. WHERE IS MY NICOLA SOLO ALBUM?!



Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu's rather controversial theme song for Yoochun's drama Sunkyungkwan and Scandal (they added and "and" to the title after it premiered - I'm so not used to it) is finally out in all it's glory. It's a nice, cheery, happy song with a pretty melody and a sweet piano line - a contrast to what's happening to them behind-the-scenes. I don't wanna talk about it. I won't. Their voices were gorgeous on the song. See? I'm not talking about it.

The Wanted. I never talked about them here, right? Well now I am. I. LOVE. HEART VACANCY. I really do. It's epic in all the right ways, but once again, it doesn't hit you over the head when it does get epic. Bring on the album - I'm in dire need of some Western boybands, and they might just do the trick.

It's now time to profess my love for the new The Sats video for Higher. I love it, I really do. What seems to me like choreography during the first chorus, the whole "we're a girl group, we're fun" vibe (that really should be mandatory on a girl group video) mixed with the brilliance that is Higher has just, successfully, made me want to start listening to more British stuff again. A girl group video at it's finest. With GA in limbo and all the members out doing their own things (like a certain Korean boyband.. *sniffles*), The Saturdays are probably they next best thing. And they're pretty damn good. ;D


Aaaaand we're back to Korea. My beloved BEAST released a ballad last Friday, and although I'm not head-over-heels over it to the point of me listening to it for entire dayS, it is a gorgeous song. And I mean it when I say gorgeous - it's still a risk for a band like them, I think, a risk that has worked. Even if it sounds a bit like a theme song for this romance drama on KBS, they pull it off rather nicely. At least they have the chops to do it. I'm slowly starting to like these guys, after their decent attempt at 4-part harmonies towards the end of promotions for Shock, they're safely my third favorite boyband.


I heard the JoJo mixtape, Can't Take That Away From Me, WAAAAAAAAAAAAY back, but I was far to busy to write anything about it. And you guys know how big a JoJo fan I am - she's practically the reason why I'm writing about pop today. I have my favorites from the package, and let me tell you, I'm head-over-heels for them, but there's a part of the mixtape that I'm not liking. Yet. They're the types of songs that take time to grow on me, but when that time comes you'll be the first to know. My clear favorites right now are Running On Empty, Can't Take That Away From Me, the Travis Garland duet, and Boy Without A Heart. Brilliance I say, brilliance. If you haven't yet, download the mixtape here (for free!) - and I suggest you do.

The Saturdays - Headlines

I'M BAAAAAAACK!!!! You don't know how much I missed blogging. For real. I know my "hand-written" post was a hit (Mel found it hilarious), but I do miss the order and the formatting that typing provides. That big exam I was talking about is done, and my midterms are as well, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. I have a LOT of work to do starting now, and I'll tell you guys now that there will be a lot of changes on PRN in the coming months.

SO ANYWAY, I thought I'd make my "comeback" to blogging about non-kpop stuff as well, while I'm at it. And it just so happens that the new Sats EP came out. Just in time. I haven't written anything in quite a while, so be ready for a crap review. But you've put up with my down days, so this shouldn't be a problem.


The Saturdays. I was there when If This Is Love was first "unleashed", when they were known as "GA's support act", and they're probably the first pop band I followed from the very beginning. They're also one of the few Western acts I'm still actually updated on. I know, I know, shoot me. And besides, I never really said my piece on Missing You.

I'm rather alarmed with the growing trend in releasing EPs instead of LPs, because let's face it, EPs are a sign that labels don't have enough money to churn out full-length albums anymore, so they resort to throwing a few songs into a package and marketing one single. It's cheaper, but sells just as much as an LP, if not more.

But that aside, I have mixed feelings with a material. I know it's not an LP, but even EPs need a sense of cohesion and identity. I'll only be talking about the new material, so all the previously-released songs are excluded from the review, and the rating.

Missing You is epic, but to a certain extent it's too epic. It's a pretty song, don't get me wrong, and the chorus has it's own way of exploding, but in trying to be this gigantic-ly epic package, they overdid it a bit. Everything before the second verse is the best part of the song for me - gorgeous melody, and it sounds very "fresh", like how it's supposed to. But it's like when you get to the second verse onwards, the melody and instrumental get really boring and it feels like it just goes on and on and ooooooon.

I would like to profess my love for Higher. There, I did it. It sounds like a Sats song, but it's fresh (for them), the melody's gorgeous, and everything about this song is so.. so... brilliant. I kid you not! Everything just sounds right - together and as individual elements. The hook is a little cheesy, but it adds some character to the song. I like character. The synth loop would've been rather annoying, but for some reason it knows when to take a back seat and when to really make itself heard.

Died In Your Eyes sounds like something straight out of Wordshaker, in all it's epic-ness, but it is a gorgeous song. I got sick of it real quick, but the verses are pretty and the chorus is nice and big and all show-off-y. It's a Sats song through and through, no question.

I honestly don't know what to think of Karma. There's a part of me that likes it with its tongue-in-cheek sound and obnoxious sounding vocals, but the synths and the strange vocal treatment put me off a bit. It's sounds very American, with touches of The Sats sound, but seriously, their vocals on the chorus sound so strange - is that even them singing? To a certain extent it sounds like parts of a bunch of different songs thrown into one package and sung by the girls - the middle 8, the verses, and the hook sound so detached from each other.

Puppet wasn't my favorite song in the world when I first heard the EP, but it's slowly growing on me. I'm still a little rusty, so I can't pinpoint what song this sounds like, but it does sound like something else. Like almost every song I adore, the melody is gorgeous, and the hook really does stick, and it does sound rather American, actually. OMG IT SOUNDS LIKE AN NLT/VARSITY FANCLUB SONG. (Mel, I know you're reading!) The verses, at least. The middle 8 isn't the best thing since anything, but I did notice its existence, so that's gotta mean something.

4.2/5 - solid effort, but still lacking on some points.

A truckload of new(ish) singles

I thought of the title before I actually got down to writing the post, and now that it's done I don't think this is that big a truckload. Oh well.

So I guess this means I'm back in full swing, right? Hmm. I'm trying to get myself out of kpop land, so this post has a mix of English and Korean singles. International, much? I'm trying, OK?! You know the drill, click "Read On".


Do I look like a Maroon 5 fan? I don't know, even if they don't really fit majority of the music I like (I think?), they pretty much defined my early pop experience or whatever you call it. I was on a concert tour for the very first time when Songs About Jane became a hit in the Philippines, and then I was a freshman when It Won't Be Soon Before Long came out, so the albums and the singles carry sentimental value. It's like every time I hear a Maroon 5 song, regardless if it was a single or not, I feel sentimental. So now we get Misery - I'm in love with this damn song. I love the irony of it - the song's called Misery but the chords are so cheery and it's got a certain groove only Maroon 5 can pull off. Ugh, here I go again sounding like a press release - it's all that news writing. Anyway. I love everything about the song, and Adam's voice is somehow soothing - it's all the memories it carries.

OK, so JYP has a new girl group out under one of his gazillion sub-labels (that don't really earn him that much money when you put them together, compared to the other 2 major agencies) and they're called Miss A. They've got two token foreigners, Chinese girls now, and two Koreans - yeah, 4-piece. One of them has pink hair, random. When I first saw the video for Bad Girl, Good Girl I didn't like them. At all. But if you read my music show recaps, I said last Friday that they're not half bad when you watch them live. The song is bearable now, and surprisingly they all have actual voices plus the fact that they dance like any other JYP group - tight choreography and slick performances. They make SISTAR look lazy. I mean, what does SISTAR have - two backup dancers, a pseudo-rapper and one girl who sings everything. Lazy. Their material is well-produced but too gimmick-y and still a bit boring for me.

I'm afraid Paul might clobber me if I don't say anything about the new Same Difference single, so I better do it now before he thinks of it. I like it - it reminds me of the S Club era and I get all tingly just thinking about it. After all, that was kinda where I made my mark. Before kpop. The chorus is all inspirational and the gimmick about the photo frame makes me cringe a bit, but all is well. I do like the irony (again with the irony) of the verses and the chorus - the verses are all serious and sound like something straight out of some German/Swedish popstar's gazillionth album but then you get the chorus and you go "right, this fits in an SD album."

I've never been a Taeyang fan, but for the sake of it I tried listening to SOLAR when it came out last Thursday. I did like one song - Superstar. It's your standard "I have arrived so back off" song, and I like it. I'll have to admit, I Need A Girl sounds better recorded than performed live - I realize that now. I actually kinda like the recording, everything's snappy and the good production shows. One common trait I noticed on the rest of the album was that all the songs go on and on and on and on - they don't go anywhere and once you've heard the first verse and the first part of the chorus you've heard it all. There are songs like that that don't drag, but it's like the tracks don't have anything that keeps me interested. Oh well.

Let's go back a few weeks, because I never bothered writing about The Saturdays' Missing You. I don't know, the autotune bothers me a bit. But then again, everyone's doing it, and besides, they haven't had that many autotuned songs since they started so what the heck. Missing You is trying to be big and epic and all that, but I think in trying too hard they lost the effortlessness of an epic song. I mean, everything up 'till the end of the first chorus is OK - nice and fresh and stuff - but after that it just gets boring and the only thing keeping my attention is Vanessa's solo. I appreciate the dance routine at the chorus, but after watching idol groups in Korea, they're no match. Music-wise most of the Koreans are no match though, so it's even.

The 9 Best Albums of 2009: #9 - #2

Last year I didn't really re-write anything for my list of best albums - this year I've given it a lot of thought and while I'm waiting to complete my best songs list with December, why not run down the 9 best albums of 2009?


But before everything, the rules:

1. An album may be a studio album, a greatest hits package, a compilation, a live album or in Korea's case a MINI-ALBUM (EP). As long as it has more than 10 tracks for standard studio albums and more than 4 tracks for mini-albums, it qualifies.
2. It must have been released in 2009, like duh - doesn't matter if it was digitally or physically. In the case of repackaged albums, they only count if more than one-third the number of the original tracks are new tracks. Confusing? Let's say you have a 12-track album released in 2008. If there's a repackaged version out in 2009, there must be at least 4 new tracks, remixes allowed. If the repackaged album was released in the same year as the original album, then there's no problem, both qualify.
3. If I previously reviewed it, it should have gotten a score of 4/5 and above - no less. If I didn't review it, then the rule doesn't apply.

Now that we've got the rules all sorted out - the criteria.

Albums are a songS put together - a group of songs strung together in a cohesive and entertaining way. No one song carries the album and no one song brings the album down - they all have to contribute to the over-all sound of the album because album tracks are just as important as singles. If the singles are good but the other tracks fail, it's a NO from me.

The album should show one sound and one sound alone. It's not constricting and it's not 'conservative' because one sound can mean a lot of things, the artist just has to know how to manipulate the sound into different styles. There is a difference between sound and style.

That's it, actually. The list is RANKED so #1 is my favorite album of the year.

Legends:
(+/- *insertnumberhere*) - how much the score increased or decreased in relation to my first review
(retain) - That means the score now is the same as the score I gave when I first reviewed it
(UR) - un-reviewed so there was no previous score

#9: 2PM - 01:59 PM The First Album

This album is sort of representative of everything that's happened to 2PM this year, the good and bad. It has the singles off their previous mini-albums and it has new tracks - there's the 7-member and 6-member 2PM. I think JYP hit the nail on the head with 2PM when it comes to the music but he wasn't so lucky with the Wonder Girls (DON'T get me started on them, PLEASE). One, it doesn't sound like he's trying to relive his ex-protege Rain in them, two, the songs sound fresh and not recycled but three, they sound distinctly like something only JYP does. The thing with JYP and 2PM is that they make the smooth, sophisticated R&B.

A few days ago I was listening to Another Level's Summertime and I had a flash of enlightenment. I don't know if JYP knows who Another Level are but I'm pretty sure that's the sound he's going for with 2PM. Heck, even their vocals are reminiscent of the UK boyband - to a certain extent.

The new tracks off this album are really good, if I may say so.

The Best: All Night Long, I Hate You (Lounge Remix), Back 2U
The Bad: You Might Comeback (Bossa Nova Mix)
The Rating (as of now): 4/5 (UR)

#8: The Saturdays - Wordshaker

Despite doing a complete 360 change with Forever is Over, I think Wordshaker as a whole was a pretty competent album. But I think had Girls Aloud been around this year, this would be thrown to the wayside. Just a thought though.

There are tracks on this just go right through me but there are now songs that seemed like they went through me at first but listening back, they're pretty good. There's the epic, the serious, the GA-like and the songs that I think will become pretty synonymous with The Sats now and that's what I needed from this album - didn't get it entirely though.

Wordshaker was supposed to give us material that will scream THE SATURDAYS, it didn't, but the songs as individual songs were pretty good. It may not work as a whole album but the singles work as singles and the album tracks work as songs.

The Best: Here Standing, Open Up, Denial
The Bad: 2 a.m. sounds very out of place. It's nice and all but it's not right for the album.
The Rating (as of now): 4.4/5 (-0.4)

#7: Leona Lewis - Echo

I'm not the biggest Leona fan, you guys know that, and Echo was one of the gambles I took this year - thankfully it turned out brilliant.

There are a lot of things I like about this album but the main thing that kept me listening was the fact that the entire package is epic without being heavy and boring - Leona has managed to sustain my attention for more than a few songs.

Echo is one of the best this year because one, I like it and two, it was actually a hit - it's rare in Western music that I put those two statements in one sentence.

Notable highlights of the album are the string section after the middle 8 of the Paula Cole-esque I Got You, the hook of Can't Breathe, the out of place but not out of place Outta My Head, the bridge of Love Letter, Naked and The Oasis cover Don't Cry Your Heart Out

The Best: Naked, Don't Let Me Down, I Got You
The Bad: Lost Then Found it's more of a OneRepublic song than a Leona song.
The Rating (as of now): 4.5/5 (-0.1)

#6: Jordin Sparks - Battlefield

I like Jordin Sparks now, I honestly do. I didn't like her on Idol (STILL bitter about Blake not winning) but I like her now.

Battlefield was a solid album - it had one sound and it had cohesion between the songs. Her vocals were good, the arrangements were interesting and the songs themselves delivered. Although very mainstream American, it's the type that kinda sounds like everything else but doesn't sound like anything at all.

But more than that, it successfully transitioned Jordin from first to second album - the hardest shift to make musically. She was her on her first album but she grew up on this one. She knows how to pick songs, she knows how to sing them and she knows how to deliver now. Like I said when I first reviewed it, it's epic in a gazillion different ways.

The Best: No Parade, Walking On Snow, Was I The Only One
The Bad: Emergency and Battlefield I've gotten a little too sick of OneRepublic this year.
The Rating (as of now): 4.5/5 (-0.1)

#5: Alicia Keys - The Element of Freedom

As I've said numerous times, Alicia Keys was instrumental in building my foundations in pop music - back when I knew virtually nothing I knew her. It's always been about the music for her and that's one of the things I learned to always look for in a pop star but have found in only a few.

Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart gave everyone a dose of Alicia Keys for this year and she means business with this album. It doesn't fail to impress - listening to it is literally like a breath of fresh air. There are single-worthy tracks and album-worthy tracks, everything was just put together seamlessly and you can really hear it.

Sweeping melodies, gorgeous instrumentals and epic explosions make The Element of Freedom a brilliant, brilliant album.

The Best: Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart, Doesn't Mean Anything, That's How Strong My Love Is
The Bad: Put It In A Love Song
The Rating (as of now): 4.7/5 (UR)

#4: Britt Nicole - The Lost Get Found

My love for the beautiful melodies in CCM is still alive - Britt Nicole's 2009 album is stunning. If you strip off the Christian lyrics and all, you get a pop album in it's purest form.

I love the melodies, I love the songs and I LOVE her vocals. Deserving of the praise.

The Best: Have Your Way, Like A Star, Welcome to the Show
The Bad: I'll get back to you on this.
The Rating (as of now): 5/5 (retain)

#3: Super Junior - Sorry, Sorry

Unlike offerings from SNSD, SHINee and a ton of other bands, Sorry Sorry is one of the few kpop albums this year that actually delivered - it wasn't just the single(s) taking center stage. I think that shows to a certain extent how "smart" kpop buyers are, a heck of a lot of them bought the album and as of now it's swept the award shows.

No matter how much you say Super Junior can't sing (actually that's more of me), it's time to face the truth - you don't have to be able to sing well in pop. Heck, can Britney sing well now? (she could before but NOW? Puh-lease.)

The lead single turned title track Sorry Sorry is addictive, annoying (in a good way) and everything kpop stood for this year - processed like hell, dance-worthy and to a certain extent brilliant. It pretty much started the whole autotuned like hell thing within the more popular boybands and girl groups this year and it's either a good thing or a bad thing.

BUT, the track that I never, ever get sick of listening to even if you drum it into my head is the second single It's You off the THIRD repackaged version of the album. (Tes, THIRD. What a way to milk the fans' money.) It's a more epic and subdued kind of catchy but catchy nonetheless. It's not the fearlessly addictive/annoying type like Sorry Sorry but it's epic and that's enough for me. You have to remember that I happen to like epic songs.

The rest of the album is standard kpop - ballads, the occasional uptempo, guest appearances by Lee Yeon Hee (Club No. 1), Yunho and Yoochun DBSK (Heartquake), the added tracks for Version C (in short the third repackaged version) and Super Junior's so-so vocals. Oh, and the brilliant Why I Like You.

And in case you're getting lost with all the kpop, here's something I think you'll be a little more familiar with. SM is known (by me at least) for taking Western (more like European) songs, adding Korean lyrics and putting them on their acts' albums. Super Junior are no exception. Guess what they got - A MONROSE SONG. Yes, Monster on Sorry Sorry is actually a cover of Just Like That off Monrose's 2007 album Strictly Physical. *bangs head on computer table*

The Best: It's You, Why I Like You, Love Disease
The Bad: Shining Star, She Wants It
The Rating (as of now): 4.8/5 (+0.1)

#2: Kevin Borg - The Beginning

No matter how adventurous I am and how I get when it comes to my taste in music (I think.), I still love and look for a solid pop album year in and year out. I want an album filled with pop masterpieces - that's what started my entire music addiction. I got that this year with Kevin Borg's debut album.

After all, Swedish make some of the best pop music.

I won't write about every track anymore because it'll be too much of a pain for all of us if I do so I'll just quickly run-through some of the songs. Note that I think all the songs are great though.

Street Lights has the most gorgeous string section laced with a brilliant melody and his capable vocals - I mean, this is like the most perfect pop song. Epic but not serious - fun. Paint It Black seriously sounds like something fit in a Darin album, which is good. The Last Words is rock-y epic and it's gorgeous. I love it. His Idol winner's single With Every Bit Of Me is very Idol but very European as well - I couldn't imagine this being sung by an American winner.

More Than I Do Now is one of my two other favorite songs on the album apart from Street Lights. It sounds Swedish, it is Swedish and for crap's sake that just spells brilliance. I love the melody and although the instrumental is a slightly cheap-ish, AAAAAHHHHHH. Brilliance.

The Light You Leave On has the stereotypical 'girl running in a deserted/haunted mansion' piano loop but then the percussion comes in and I was like "oh shet" - the song sounds so different because of it. But the main, main, main point of this song is the melody - I honestly can't stress how beautifully stunning it is. Like, it's beaten out all the other beautiful melodies of the year with that chorus. It's simple but gosh, I faint every time.

The Best: The Light You Leave On, Street Lights, More Than I Do Now
The Bad: Can't really think of any.
The Rating (as of now): 5/5 (UR, unrated but not unreviewed)

I'll reveal my favorite album of 2009 tomorrow. Guesses, anyone?

Best of 2009: June #6 - #1

June was the month of kpop for me - the top 2 songs are from Korean artists. Just guess who. LOL.

#6: Mitchel Musso - Hey

Although the rest of his debut album was a bit boring for me, I still think that Hey is brilliant. It's pop, it's rock and it's fun. You can't comfortably headbang to it or anything but it makes you happy and that's something to work on. He's not the best singer in the world and this isn't the most musically brilliant piece but it's got it's good moments, namely that gorgeous middle 8. LOVE the video as well.

#5: Kim Hyun Joong - Please Be Nice To Me

Hyun Joong, aside from being known as an actor and DBSK Jaejoong's best friend, actually made a pretty decent solo single this year. These are the types of songs I just like whether or not they're musically good or whatever - I just damn like the piano part and the melody.

#4: The Saturdays - Unofficial

There are a ton of other songs from them that I could've included on the list this year but I chose this because one, I adore it and two, it's the longest-running entry on my top 20. Yes, it stuck around for over 15 weeks before I 'forced' it off the chart. It stayed for good reasons though - it's such a gorgeous, gorgeous song.

#3: Ju-Taun - Let Me In

I had the honor of interviewing these guys earlier this year and I know for a fact that they should be bigger than they are at the moment. This song shows off their skill as a group and as individual singers as well as how musical they are. I love the attention on the real drums, the stunning melody and how the entire song just slides by - those 7 minutes won't seem like 7 minutes.

#2: SNSD- Genie

For all the criticism I and many others have about these 9 girls talent-wise, there's no denying that SME knows how to give them a damn good song. The production on this is outstanding - my dad agrees (and he never says that about the stuff I listen to) and the song itself has become a phenomenon. It wasn't the song that brought them to prominence (that was Gee, but now I refuse to listen to it's horrid-ness) but it was miles better. To be completely honest with you, I wasn't loving this song when I first heard it - it took a lot of time before I became addicted to it but I think that's the reason why I'm not sick of it yet. I can listen to this for a month straight and it wouldn't be a problem.

#1: Super Junior - It's You

2009 wasn't only SNSD's year, it was Super Junior's. Sorry Sorry took over the world (figuratively) but the second single off the hit album made me literally fall at my feet. It's You is a song that sounds the most brilliant, stunning and whatever other praise you can give it when played at extremely high volumes and in CD quality on extremely good speakers - I've tried and confirmed that fact. The gorgeous, gorgeous melody mixed with an epic instrumental that sounds stunning at high volumes made me start worshiping the ground these guys walk on. The vocals were also pretty good on this track, surprisingly.

The Saturdays - Wordshaker

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! My final exams are done and I just have one stupid practical exam to worry about so technically I'm freeeeeeeeee!! FINALLY! I know it's really, really, REALLY SUPER LATE but it's better than no review at all!
I first heard the Saturdays' Wordshaker very early in the month but as you guys know, I was far too busy to even think of reviewing a full album that that point. When I first spun the album, I thought it was brilliant - the girls were in for some praise from me. However when the excitement over the fact that it was a new album from The Sats died down a bit, I took the time to listen to it and as a whole the album just went right through me - there were not tracks that stood out by a mile.

But then after reading Mel's review, the album kind of made sense for me. So here's what I think of it at this very moment.

The album is a logical direction for the girls - as I said on my review of Forever is Over, they had to stray away from the Girls Aloud rip-off sound because that sound had already established them and they were free to do anything they wanted. Forever is Over may be a complete 360 change but the rest of the album is only a slight shift in what they were on Chasing Lights.

As a whole, the songs on Wordshaker complement each other - they make for a cohesive record with songs at pretty much the same level. I think the fact that they're all pretty much the same in terms of quality and whether I like them or not made very few tracks able to stand out for me. BUT, I still have tracks I'll listen to more than the others.

I've said my piece on Forever is Over so let's go straight to the rest of Wordshaker. Now that I listen to it again after a lul in trying to get myself to like this album, Here Standing is epic, gorgeous and something new for the girls. It's the type they'll sing as the last song of a gigantic concert in Wembley or of O2 - it actually sounds like a pop-ized stadium ballad. I absolutely LOVE the fact that they got in a real piano not just for some parts but for majority of the song, I adore the dimension it gives to the song.

Ego is a little closer to the Chasing Lights Sats during the verses but the chorus with the computerized drums trying too hard to sound real and keyboard loop behind is more of the Wordshaker Sats - I think the song has a nice balance of everything. The middle 8 is great but it's not something I'd fall at my feet for. However I do like the song!

The start of No One reminds me a lot of Here Standing and to a certain extent the verse does but the chorus is a song in its own. I like the subtlety of the song - it doesn't explode but it doesn't stay on the same level for the entire 4 minutes. But the biggest letdown on this song for me is the middle 8, that's it? I was expecting something on the same level as the rest of the song at the very least.

One Shot is a song with a lot of attitude. It's very techno during the verses and the chorus just very slightly explodes. The semi-middle 8/break down reminds me of a Britney song and really, what is it with all these mediocre middle 8s? UGH. The album's title track, Wordshaker starts out like something I wouldn't really like and the verses are a little iff-y for me but the chorus is really catchy - that's probably the extent to which I'll really praise the song. The instrumental stays in one place throughout the song, only changes a bit before the last chorus (which is good) and even when it supposedly explodes, it doesn't as much as it should. BUT, that's pop music and songs like this appeal so why not? Hahah.

Denial is the girls' attempt at trying something R&B and although it's a little out of place with the rest of the album, the song works well with the girls. The chorus turns into a rock-y thing with the guitars put on top of the R&B hook and I like it, I like it a lot. Beautiful melody - I can give this album a good score now that I've heard a gorgeous melody from the girls! After let-downs in the middle 8 department of this album, I gotta say that the best middle 8 goes to Denial. Simply stunning.

Open Up has been one of my favorites from the start - the instrumental and the loop in particular sounds like something straight out of those teenage summer movie of the 90's - early 2000's I used to watch as a kid. What I like about the song is that it explodes at the chorus when it doesn't necessarily have to. The middle 8 is OK, but not my type. Lose Control sounds like something Kristinia DeBarge could put on her album, it's trying to be a Britney song. At least on the verses - I like the chorus, it's a little more Australian pop ala Ricki-Lee. Actually now that I think about it, Lose Control does sound like a Ricki-Lee song.

Let's skip Not Good Enough - wasn't this song out last year? OK.

Deeper reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on until now - all I know is that it sounds familiar. It's sweet, nice and happy with the gorgeous melody. Aside from sounding like that something I still haven't found out what, it sounds like a tribute to the Hear'Says and British pop bands of the past - it's like something they'd have no problem doing. Maybe that's why I like this song a heck of a lot!

The last song, 2 a.m. (K-pop fans, why does One Day always pop into my mind now when I read 2AM or 2PM?!? Hahah.) is novel. It's 40's/50's/60's ish and I can imagine the girls performing this in costumes ala-GA's The Promise with choreography centered around their hands. Right? Although not very cohesive with the rest of the album, I like the song as a song. I like it, I like it a lot.

So, to sum up the album:
Best Track: Denial
Better Tracks: Here Standing, Ego, No One, Open Up, Deeper, 2 a.m.
My Least Favorite Track: Wordshaker, but it's not THAT bad. It's actually quite good.
THE RATING: 4.8/5 Solid effort but not enough for a perfect score.

Girls Aloud vs. The Saturdays. Vocally.

You've read my intro, watched the videos, now it's time to read my thoughts. Let the showdown of the British girl groups begin!

10 girls, 10 different voices but each girl in both groups has a certain persona - they all give both groups the dimension and talent to make them worthy of their success. There's no one in the groups who's boring and each voice complements the rest, without any one of them neither GA nor The Sats will be who they are.

Please be advised, this is in no particular order!

The BIG voice

The girls who get the most lines, 90% of the ad-libs at the end and are what they call the 'lead singers' in Korea. It's unsaid but I really think these are the 'lead singers'.

Girls Aloud: Nadine Coyle

This girl has the big, show-stopping voice - she's known for her predominantly rich and deep timbre. Nadine, like Jonghyun SHINee, gives the group another dimension because you have got to put her only slightly auto-tuned vocals to contrast the rest of the group's heavily processed ones on songs like Untouchable and you need her intensity to balance off the other fours' subtlety on songs like The Loving Kind. In short, Nadine has a gorgeous voice and although it may not personally be my favorite in the band, you need her in Girls Aloud - without her GA is not GA.

The Saturdays: Vanessa White

The only similarity Vanessa has with Nadine vocally is the fact that they both have the big voices in their respective bands. Vanessa has a much smoother voice and this all boils down to personal taste now - I prefer hers over Nadine's but that's purely my opinion. Her voice is a lot more fitting for the stuff The Sats are doing and may I just say, this girl knows how to sing her head off - properly. Unlike a lot of other singers we know.

The SMOOTH voice

The description is enough - these girls are the mediators, the ones who balance off the rest of their band member's colorful and sometimes even outrageous voices. Even if they don't get as much attention as some, you can't go without these girls, you really can't.

Girls Aloud: Kimberly Walsh

The first thing that pops into my head when I hear Kimberly's vocals is that she enunciates really well. ANYWAY. Her vocals are smooth, very smooth. They're so smooth that if you auto-tune them it still kinda sounds similar to when you just use the 'regular' amount of auto-tune. But really, she has a beautiful voice that gets overlooked by Nadine's gigantic one and Sarah's screaming - I wish she got a heck of a lot more solo lines! No really, you listen to GA songs and I think the problem with her is that her voice is so smooth that producers don't want it and think it's a little too boring for the material, which it's not. HOWEVER, that broadway thing she did for Passions was jaw-dropping for me.

The Saturdays: Frankie Sandford

Frankie, Frankie, Frankie. This girl's voice has always been smooth - since she was in S Club 8 she got the most solo lines because their songs needed smooth voices, it was dance-y for crap's sake! Hahah. I first noticed exactly how damn smooth her voice was and still is when I heard Just Can't Get Enough - her first line really made the entire song for me vocally. On Forever Is Over she sounds a little whine-y during her solos but over-all she pretty much just sounds older - her voice is STILL smooth.

The predominantly PRETTY FACE

These two girls can sing, they really can but they're not as good as their other band mates. For me personally, they're the ones who bring the MOST 'attitude' or anything not directly related to actually singing. But they can sing, why else are they in the bands?

Girls Aloud: Cheryl Cole

Compared to the other members, Cheryl's probably the least vocally capable. She's better than a lot of other singers, which is why she's in Girls Aloud and she sings those R&B numbers very well but after you hear Nadine and Nicola, she just pales in comparison. There are times when I think her voice gets a little to whine-y but there are also times when I think her voice is jut gorgeous - it's just that she's inconsistent. Fight For This Love is pretty good vocally (NOT musically and you guys know that) but I believe that once Nicola hopefully gets some solo stuff out, Cheryl will be blown completely out of the water.

The Saturdays: Mollie King

Mollie isn't JUST a pretty face either, but if you don't take how she matches The Saturdays' songs into context and just take her as a singer, I wouldn't be too impressed. HOWEVER if you listen to her vocals on Work (I believe she gets the most airtime on that - the entire first verse), they match the song very well. It once again boils down to the fact that she can only sing a few types of songs and not everything you throw at her BUT she does what she can pretty damn well.

The ROCK CHIK

Rockers - they do their fair share of screaming (Sarah mainly) and the name pretty much says it all.

Girls Aloud: Sarah Harding

Sarah's voice is a little shrill for me, enough said. But the girl can sing and she has a high voice but it doesn't have a deep timbre like Nadine or a very, very smooth one with equally smooth delivery like Kimberly - Sarah just can't help but let loose. There are times when that can be an especially good thing but there are also times for me when it can get a little annoying. However she has her own niche in the group and kudos to her for sticking to it!

The Saturdays: Una Healey

What I like about Una is the fact that she isn't just a rocker - she can do the ballads and the dance stuff, it's just that the timbre of her voice fits the rock stuff more than it does the other girls'. I first heard her sing a good, solid solo part when I saw a live performance of Chasing Lights - her part is just insanely brilliant. By the time I heard her solo on Forever is Over, I was convinced she was made to sing these kinds of songs - she has the technique and the timbre to pull it off and that middle 8 of hers pretty much made the entire song.

The quiet one who sings DAMN GOOD

The label kind of applies to Nicola more than it does to Rochelle but let's just stick with it, OK?

Girls Aloud: Nicola Roberts

I'll say this now so you know what to expect - Nicola is my favorite voice in Girls Aloud. She's my favorite because her voice is so different that she actually pulls it off very well! Voices like hers that are shrill at times but thin and smooth, if not delivered and thought of well can be very annoying and ugly but Nicola's is beautiful - it's not too much but it's not held back or boring, it's just right. Her voice matches the GA aesthetic the best - she embodies everything GA has and the music they're making.

The Saturdays: Rochelle Wiseman

Rochelle. I first noticed her voice when I saw the video for Issues - I was surprised to hear that voice coming out her her mouth! She sings the part of the verse before Vanessa and when I heard the striking contrast between their voices I was baffled not by Vanessa's but by Rochelle's. Rochelle sounds like a deeper, more predominantly smooth and less excessive version of Vanessa and I personally like those kinds of voices a lot better, as you guys may have noticed over the past few vocal commentaries. Therefore, my favorite voice in The Saturdays is Rochelle.

The INTRO: Girls Aloud vs. The Saturdays.

I know what you might be thinking - FINALLY! Hahah. Time for me to talk about my line of expertise, British pop. K-pop may be great but it's not my forte, this is purely what I blog about best. Hahah.
Girls Aloud and The Saturdays - the two biggest 5-member girl groups in Britain. Vocally these girls know how to jump through hoops and fire but it was only until my K-pop addiction that I learned to appreciate the fact that all 10 of these girls can sing. Yes, there are a lot of Koreans who can sing damn good and a lot of British who just suck but it’d been a while since I first sauntered into the realm to British pop - all the crappy voices I’d already gotten rid of years ago. Now that I just got addicted to K-pop 3 - 4 months ago, I’ve spent that time scouring the good and the bad - in seeing the bad I began to appreciate the good even more.

On to the girls. The reason why I chose to combine the two groups in one post (apart from convenience which I know isn’t valid) is because whether we like it or not, the two will ALWAYS be compared in one way, shape or form - it’s a fact. They’re Britain’s top girl groups, they’ve got five members and they make pop songs, what’s more to ask?

I don't know if anyone has noticed this but I never talk about Girls Aloud's vocals seriously. Yes, I say that I'd love some solo stuff from Nicola and Cheryl's my least favorite singer in the band but apart from that you don't really hear me ranting about the girls, maybe because I don't have anything bad to say about them or I just never thought about commenting on their voices.

It's a given that everyone in Girls Aloud can sing. They went through an American Idol-like (Popstars the Rivals, to the exact) selection process and emerged victorious over their supposed male equivalent - One True Voice. Over the years their vocals have grown along with their musical style but who we heard on Sound of the Underground are the same girls we heard in Untouchable - their voices didn't change, they just grew.

I got all nostalgic when I had to listen back to Sound of the Underground, The Show, Love Machine, Biology, Whole Lotta History, Call the Shots and all their other old stuff that I hadn't listened to in ages - I got all tingly remembering the time when this was all I used to listen to.

The Saturdays' roots trace back to the ill-fated S Club 8 - Frankie and Rochelle (was that her or was that another girl?) were what I assume the 'lead singers', it wasn't directly said (it never is in Britain) but they, Calvin Goldspink and another guy got the most singing parts and the most airtime. After the band dissolved in the wake of I Dream, their failed yet somewhat musically brilliant TV show, they disappeared and suddenly returned to pop in the form of The Sats.

If vocal ability says anything about them assuming the place of Girls Aloud in British music, the Saturdays are the best candidate for it. Yes, even Mollie can sing - at least the material they're doing right now. We don't have a lot of material to work with yet when it comes to The Saturdays but I can at least trace Frankie and Rochelle's vocal growth.

Here are a few videos from each band - these are the ones I really based my commentaries on.

Girls Aloud:

The Saturdays:

I used the recorded version of this but you can't embed that from YouTube.

You have the 2 WHOLE DAYS to watch and soak up on all 10 girls' voices - on Wednesday MY commentary's up! Hahah.

What's been happening?

Has anyone noticed that these past few months I haven't been doing any bulleted posts - they've all been paragraphs and paragraphs of me ranting on and on about trivial things. I thought for a while that I could pull off the all full review thing but I can't right now - there's too much I wanna talk about.

SO, here's a quick run-through of everything that's been going on in the world of pop I'm interested in. If there's something I didn't mention here but you think I should know of, SPEAK UP. I've been so behind on stuff lately it's pathetic.

• The Saturdays' Workshaker has been out for a while but I haven't been able to listen to it 10 or 20 times straight - there's too much new stuff coming out! However I do have my favorite songs and Mel was right in saying that I just needed to digest it a little more. When I first heard the whole thing the excitement made me fall in love with it but then immediately after I felt that the album would go right through me when I heard it. After not listening to it for some time, it's quite good! A review to come SOON, I promise. School has just been the biggest pain EVER.
• Cheryl Cole's Three Words (the song) has ALSO been out for quite a while. I don't like it - end of story.
• Amy Pearson's Butterfingers is BRILLIANT. Apart from the talking/pseudo-rapping/chanting, the song is so damn brilliant I could fall apart. I swear, you wouldn't believe this was Amy until you actually watch it 'till the end - it's so hard to believe she's the same girl who sang Don't Miss You.

• From the world of K-pop, f(x) and SNSD are both endorsing a cellphone via 2 different arrangements of the song Chocolate Love. What do I think of it? The girls sound crap. No really, Tiffany and Taeyeon SNSD and Luna f(x) who're the strongest voices of all 14 girls sound like the crap voices (won't name them anymore but you can probably guess who) - there's no difference because EVERYTHING WAS AUTO-TUNED SO MUCH. And the song really isn't that good. Yeah sure it's catchy but really, once you think about it that's all the song will ever be - catchy.

• Now SHINee, my beloved SHINee. I heard Ring Ding Dong and I personally thought it was a little too confused with the instrumental and the auto-tuning but the more I think about it, this is the logical direction for them. SHINee need a song like DBSK's Rising Sun and Super Junior's U to take them away from being the SM newbies who everyone loved and make them an established boyband - they have to mature. Ring Ding Dong reminds me a LOT of SuJu's early 2009 hit Sorry Sorry with all the repetition and the auto-tuning but surprisingly, the rest of the elements are a lot more SHINee than I first thought they were. The full video isn't out yet but we've got a pretty damn good teaser and the MP3 to hold us up 'till then.

• New boyband B2ST, now called BEAST (what the crap?), actually has debut single that's a bit better than MBLAQ's Oh Yeah recorded. Still, it's heavily auto-tuned and a bit generic. However, it's not that bad.

• Speaking of MBLAQ, my theory was right - these guys are performers. No really, they're a heck of a lot better live. The song sounds more convincing, they're pushing the not miming thing and it really sounds like the song was made for a stage. Kudos to the guys! Hahah.

The Saturdays - Forever Is Over

AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! Let me compose myself first. *breathes*

OK. Here we go:The Saturdays are the textbook example on how to break the pop industry these days - there's no question that even if the girls have never had a number one single, they're one of the most talked about new pop acts and that's enough to warrant success. They started off as a direct spin-off of the reigning girl group (in this case, GA) - the songs mirrored what they were doing a year back. Even if they were probably made to follow the mould GA had created, they weren't thin on the quality and musicality - they really, honestly had the makings of a hit.

That move works for a debut album but that era of their music is all done and over - it's time to welcome the new Saturdays.

The point of what they did during their first album was to actually get them the attention (good or bad) and cement their presence in the industry. It wasn't done for creativity or credibility (although Work is still one of the most brilliant pop songs ever) - it was done as an introduction. Now that their second album is due and (I presume) done, there's something they had to do and may I say that they did it damn well.

The girls need to make a sound that's distinctly them and they need to steer away but not clear of what their first album offered. I put the most pressure and importance on a sophomore album because it says so much about the artist - this is one of them. This new album will show us if the girls really have the ability to release songs worthy of the hype, keep us interested in them and have the right to be called artists in every sense of the word.

When I first heard the clip last night, I wasn't impressed but told myself to save the judgement for until I'd heard the entire song. Now that I have, my previous thoughts are all wrong.

The song is just like how Genie was for me, only that the 'I don't like it but it's OK' stage lasted for a few hours - overnight. It's a new sound for the girls over-all and on the surface but the more you listen to it, the more you hear bits and pieces of the previous album. They aren't obvious but the little emphasis on them is enough for a semi-trained ear to notice.

Everything starts out European techno-y and the vocals are clean but the chorus kicks in and the whole song explodes with this rock but ever so slightly techno instrumentation and Vanessa's intellectually (meaning you have to think about it to realize that she has one of the most gorgeous voices ever) jaw-dropping vocals carry the chorus. Throughout the song you hear the emphasis on the rock elements and less on the processed side - the middle 8 even boasts of some electric guitar!

All in all it's a great song but the more important thing to commend the girls on is successfully transitioning from their first to second albums - now all we need to hear are the other tracks!

5/5 Like duh. Need I say more?

I did not have fun today.

So all over the internet, news about the Saturdays visiting my home country were circulating. Ken reported it first (as far as I know..) and soon people followed suit. I wanted to go so badly - The Sats are and forever will be one of the best UK girl groups we've heard. I was depressed yesterday because one, I was so tired and two, I couldn't go see The Saturdays. I woke up this morning, told my parents that the girls would be in Megamall (one of the gigantic malls here..) and planned to go. I checked the time on multiple websites - SIX IN THE EVENING. So OK, I'd leave the house at 4 and get there 4:30, walk around, get some Starbucks, relax and go watch my favorite (active) girl group perform brilliant pop songs.

So I left the house at 4, right on time. Me, being a time-freak who always gets there 30 minutes to an hour early for everything.

Lo and behold, when I got into the mall at exactly 4:30...

THE CONCERT WAS DONE.

All that was left was the autograph signing. So just to make my trip worth it, I bought an album I already have, almost cried in front of Mollie and didn't get to enjoy dinner and going around the mall.

Frankie wasn't there. I completely forgot to ask why because I was so pre-occupied with the fact that I MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE THE SATURDAYS LIVE EVER AGAIN. NEVERR.

MCA Universal, the next time you bring someone here who isn't Lady GaGa or Rihanna or someone who makes crappy, boring, annoying and worthless music - PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT. I was there 1 1/2 hours early for the time YOU TOLD ME and I was STILL late. WHAT KIND OF RECORD COMPANY DOES THAT? Then you made me PAY to get their autographs and talk to them and actually make my trip somehow 'worth it'? HOW MONEY-HUNGRY ARE YOU?

I'm not angry at the girls - they were lovely, my opinion on them hasn't changed. I told Mollie about the fact that I was late because Polydor gave me the wrong time, told Vanessa about the fact that I'm a music blogger and I wanted to give them a good concert review and they were sympathetic - considering that they knew nothing about me and had never met me before that 1 minute encounter.

4/5 of The Sats signed my second copy of Chasing Lights and 3/5 of them signed the crappy 'free' poster of an old promo pic that was released months ago that I got.

I'm furious at MCA. I dragged my parents to a gigantic mall only to get autographs? I know people kill for them but I'd rather see the girls sing live than get their signatures on an album jacket. I love music - seeing them live would tell me whether my adoration for them is worth it.

The Saturdays - Unofficial

I've been bugging myself to write something up on this since I woke up this morning but the content only came to me now - it's 4 in the afternoon. Shows how lazy I've been over the past few days. Moving on.Oh yes, The Saturdays. They're one of those few bands/artists that I've seen go from support act with a few demos on MySpace and a debut single to a full-fledged pop sensation with an album and a huge following of fans, me included. I like many others saw how brilliantly new yet familiar If This Is Love was and simply fell in love with the girls to the point where I can actually recognize who's singing what on a song.

This song marks a new phase in their music but unlike countless others who've made the transition and failed, it seems so effortless and natural for them. They're growing musically because they need to up their game and show us exactly why they're Britain's hottest girl group but everything's falling into place, I think. With GA not releasing an album this year and Girls Can't Catch slowly gaining momentum, we need to hear something even more mind blowing than Work will ever be and we all know it's the most brilliant thing since anything. We've heard the stuff they're doing on tour(in bad quality so I'm not absolutely no position to judge) and now we have this - I think it's safe to say that their next album will be remotely amazing at the very least.

Unofficial is something I haven't heard from the girls before but it has traces of their other stuff. Take the piano part of Fall, it's quite similar to the one on this song. The melody also reminds me of an even more epic Why Me, Why Now at certain places but the thing that makes this unfamiliar to me is the fact that is sounds so much less processed and computer loop-based or guitar-influenced than their other stuff, probably somewhere in between the two. It's got a much more R&B-ish edge to it but it seems like this was the logical thing to do.

Aside from that I honestly adore the song. It has the potential to seem boring and overplayed after a few listens but to my surprise I kept on looping it. The vocals are epic, Vanessa sounds absolutely breath-taking and the rest of the girls are in great shape - they do the song more than the needed justice. My dream of ever hearing this sung live will most probably not happen though, dammit.

5/5

I interrupt the current special for this announcement..

AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! Do you know how long we've waited and longed for this? I bet you do.

This is exactly why The Saturdays are the best candidates to take Girls Aloud's place if and when they split up. I mean, look at how they've transformed over the year - they've gone from GA's support act to being the hottest new girl group in the UK, that isn't too bad is it?

But they certainly deserve it. They all have competent voices(some brilliant), they have amazing songs and they can dance - that's what girl groups are all about, right?

The single's out in June.