Rated Flashback - Sweet Dreams

Beyonce has really disappointed me with her latest song, so much so I won't even utter its name on here. I'm sure in a few weeks it will have grown on me and I will have to apologise to the lady herself, but for now I hate it. It is certainly nothing like the immense tune 'Sweet Dreams' that graced the latter stage of her I Am... Sasha Fierce collection. With its roaring synth and catchy as hell verses, chorus, bridge, everything, it rightly earns its place in the top ten songs of 2009 and the top five Beyonce songs of all time. So come on Beatch, impress me with the next song, I beg you.

Rated Judas and Born This Way.

There's a lot of discontent with the new GaGa material circulating amongst her fans at the moment. It's amazing how much her sound has evolved since her mega-commercial 'Just Dance' days. This evolution is entirely positive. Lady GaGa has become Lady Euro-Pop, belting out self empowering gay anthems about love, life and gender alteration. What needs to be kept in mind is that the most successful female artist of all time changed her sound (pretty much) with every album. This development kept listeners enticed and kept pop music interesting. Lady GaGa is the Madonna of our generation (I'm 24 - ONLY JUST).

'Born This Way' was an epic slice of pop knobbery and has, since release, notched up well over 100 plays on my ipod. Second single 'Judas' from the upcoming album Born This Way is yet another euro-pop inspired floor filler with one of the gayest sounding choruses in history (but I love it). With 'Bad Romance' style thumping synths this is guaranteed to become top of the list on party playlists the world over. The lyrics are smart and the bravery of using a biblical metaphor is typically GaGa, who is already causing unrest within Christian groups. When this reaches number one she can stick her two, well manicured, fingers up to the fussers and bathe in her ever growing fountain of cash. Jealous.

Rated Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers

The last artist to make me “omg” to myself was Sia Furler, back in 2008 when I first heard her second studio album ‘Some People Have Real Problems’. It was refreshing to find a singer who presents a collection of down tempo love songs and fills them till they overflow with passion and sincerity. Three years on and it’s happening to me again, this time with Icelandic star Hafdis Huld and her second studio release Synchronised Swimmers. This album will revolutionize your ideas of ‘chill-out’, ‘background’ and ‘cutesy’ music. Hafdis’ unique, soft tones are as easily consumed as cotton candy and her brand of female folk pop is brimming with charm.

Far from her days in electro-pop outfit GusGus, where she sounded a bit like Moloko star Roisin Murphy, Hafdis sings her newer material in such a relaxed manner that it tingles the spine. Opener ‘Action Man’ is, potentially, the cutest song you’ll ever have the pleasure of hearing. “Wishing, wishing and wishing away, by my window everyday, while he’s on a mission…” sings Hafdis on a track about a heroic lover and his absence from home. It’s the perfect introduction to an almost purely folk inspired album. ‘Oldest Friend’ continues the nostalgia theme that seems rife here, before the tempo picks up on lead single and Icelandic chart number one ‘Kongulo’ (Icelandic for Spider), which is about the human spider Alain Robert. This quirky source of musical inspiration is reminiscent of Icelandic superstar Bjork’s often odd-sounds and subject matter.

Synchronised Swimmers’ folk charm is continued with the minimalist ‘Boys & Perfume’ and on the mid-tempo title track, which is one of the album’s highlights. A darker moment is ‘I Almost Know a Criminal’, but this step down from chirpy nostalgic moments is minor and short lived, as ‘Robot Robot’ kicks in and Hafdis sings about building herself a lover. Album closer ‘Winter Sun’ is a gorgeous end to an intelligent, interesting and delightful album.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Hafdis Huld has big things coming her way on an international scale. With the recent rush of folk females (Ellie Goulding and Laura Marling are just two examples) on the commercial music scene, the door is already open for Hafdis to stick a toe over the threshold and bring some much-needed luminescence into our lives. 

Rated 'Till The World Ends.

I wasn't impressed with 'Hold it Against Me' when I first heard it, nor when I saw the crappy ass music video. Its unconventional structure threw me a little as did the lack of a really big climax. However, it has grown on me and I will give it time on my ipod, but not as much as I give to Britney's new single, 'Till the World Ends'. The song was begging for an apocalyptic music video and that's just what it got. I love a good apocalypse, so I'm pretty happy with the result. Britney looks hot, like really hot. Almost 'Golden Age Britney' hot, which is a relief because I thought she'd just about lost all her charisma and charm. There's dancing and lots of sweaty half naked dancers, oh and a red lace catsuit with spikes on it. Thankfully there's a distinct lack of narcotics a la 'Gimme More'. Britney's lovin' life.