It’s been a few weeks since we caught up with recently released videos for current chart hits.
Lewis Capaldi – Hold Me While You Wait
I’m not sure if we’re going to get a more official video at some point, but this Vevo one, with Lewis singing in a library, does the trick for now. It’s a live performance, apparently, but it sounds exactly the same as the record. Keep watching and eventually they zoom out far enough for a glimpse of the piano player.
James Arthur – Falling Like The Stars
The video for this one is a fairly solemn affair about a military wife who works in a diner. There’s a happy ending though!
Skepta and Nafe Smallz – Greaze Mode
This video is really nicely filmically done, like a ’60s/’70s gangster or bank heist movie. I love retro stuff so this one has my approval.
Lewis Capaldi – Bruises
Another live performance video from Lewis Capaldi that sounds exactly like the record, although this one was actually released two years ago. The cellar setting is a bit ominous, but there’s some nice piano porn towards the end.
Day 83 equals Now! #83, which brings us to 19th November 2012 – just four days before mine and Geth’s wedding.
This is the way the world looked in November 2012. Not every day looks like your wedding day – to put it mildly – but on that day the world looked very good indeed, and so did we.
I am proud to report that we played absolutely none of the following songs at our wedding disco. Not even Gangnam Style.
Track 1: Psy – Gangnam Style
It’s still hilarious nearly six years later, and very danceable, even if you’re not inclined to do the comedy dance that goes with the song.
Track 2: Robbie Williams – Candy
Nice feelgood tune that gave Robbie Williams an unexpected number one later in his career. Good song.
Track 3: Swedish House Mafia and John Martin – Don’t You Worry Child
The theme is pretty cheesy, and the tune is a bit bland.
Track 4: Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Great folk-pop track with an awesome singalong chorus – really like this one.
Track 5: The Wanted – I Found You
Good danceable track, but the tune’s a bit bland.
Track 6: Calvin Harris and Florence Welch – Sweet Nothing
Another boring tune – not keen on this one.
Track 7: Maroon 5 – One More Night
Great reggae-tinged beat – this one’s a great head-nodder.
Track 8: Wiley, Skepta, JME and Dayo Olatunji – Can You Hear Me? (Ayayaya)
Love those steel drums at the start – good tune, great rhythm.
Track 9: Flo Rida – I Cry
I quite like the tune on this one – despite the title, it’s quite feelgood.
Track 10: Ne-Yo – Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)
Irritating tune, even more irritating theme.
Track 11: Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time
Another annoying tune, and the theme is really cheesy.
Track 12: Katy Perry – Wide Awake
Again, a very bland tune.
Track 13: Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
Great beat, and I love the instrumentals.
Track 14: Little Mix – Wings
Good solid pop track – very danceable.
Track 15: Stooshe – Waterfalls
Uninspired cover of the TLC classic. What’s kind of irritating is that the surviving members of TLC show up in the video.
Track 16: JLS – Hottest Girl In The World
Good beat, but in general I find this track a bit messy and jarring.
Track 17: Nicki Minaj – Pound The Alarm
Another very danceable track, another fairly forgettable tune.
Track 18: Redlight – Lost In Your Love
Dull, repetitive tune, and the messy beat gives me a headache.
Track 19: Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)
Boring, bland track – not enough melody for me.
Track 20: Cheryl – Under The Sun
It’s got quite a nice retro tinge, but the tune’s fairly forgettable.
Track 21: Wiley and Dayo Olatunji – Heatwave
Double repeated artist alert! We’ve already had both Wiley and Dayo Olatunji on track 8.
Great rhythm, but the vocals are repetitive and irritating (and it’s never clear whether the lyric is ‘body‘ or ‘party‘).
Track 22: Sam & The Womp – Bom Bom
Daft track that’s a lot of fun. Happily chair-dancing right now.
Track 23: Labrinth and Emeli Sandé – Beneath Your Beautiful
I know the grammar of that title looks horrible – it’s actually because they’re using ‘beautiful’ as a noun rather than misspelling ‘you’re’. Still wrong, but not a your/you’re fail. ‘Beneath Your Beauty’ is what they actually mean.
Anyway, the song’s a slow, saccharine ballad, and I’m not keen on those.
Track 24: The Script and will.i.am – Hall Of Fame
Collaboration cooked up between will.i.am and Script singer Danny O’Donoghue, who were both coaches on The Voice at the time. It’s a bit awkward and poor.
Track 25: Florence & The Machine – Spectrum (Say My Name) [Calvin Harris Remix]
Not technically a repeated artist alert, but this is the second collaboration between Florence Welch and Calvin Harris on this Now! compilation.
This tune is epic and gorgeous. Lovely stuff.
Track 26: David Guetta and Sia – She Wolf (Falling To Pieces)
Boring, forgettable tune, and I don’t find any of the hooks very interesting.
Track 27: Calvin Harris and Example – We’ll Be Coming Back
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Calvin Harris on track 6, and sort of on track 25.
Nice atmosphere though, and the tune’s quite pretty.
Track 28: Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen
I find this one pretty dull.
Track 29: Naughty Boy and Emeli Sandé – Wonder
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Emeli Sandé on track 23.
Not keen on this tune – I find it a bit twee.
Track 30: Conor Maynard and Ne-Yo – Turn Around
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Ne-Yo on track 10.
This one’s another boring, uninspired tune.
Track 31: One Direction – Live While We’re Young
Extremely bland tune – very forgettable.
Track 32: Chris Brown – Don’t Wake Me Up
Irritating spoken word bit at the start, dull saccharine vocals. Not a fan.
Track 33: Amelia Lily – You Bring Me Joy
Another dull, forgettable song.
Track 34: Fun – Some Nights
Good tune – there’s something a bit folk-rock about this one.
Track 35: Example – Say Nothing
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Example on track 27.
This is another bland, uninspired tune.
Track 36: Lawson – Taking Over Me
Too cheesy for me.
Track 37: Karmin – Brokenhearted
Yet another forgettable song.
Track 38: Trey Songz – Simply Amazing
Again, this one’s far too saccharine for my liking.
Track 39: Simple Plan and Sean Paul – Summer Paradise
Nice jaunty track, though it’s a bit cheesy.
Track 40: Angel – Wonderful
This tune’s okay, and there are some interesting instrumentals going on too.
Track 41: Devlin and Ed Sheeran – Watchtower
The chorus samples/covers Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower, and there’s also a bit of the guitar riff from the Jimi Hendrix version. Other than that, it’s mainly a rap, which I’m not keen on.
Track 42: Mumford & Sons – I Will Wait
I find this tune really dull, and a bit depressing.
Track 43: Elbow – One Day Like This
2008 hit that was back in the charts for 2012 – I can’t remember why. Classic tune though, and that repeated anthemic hook at the end is epic.
Day 76, and Now! #76, which was released on 19th July 2010.
This is how the world looked in July 2010. Night-time beer gardens were a big part of my world that summer! I’ve recently rediscovered that necklace and wear it daily at the moment. The purple hoodie, meanwhile, has become my post-run hoodie; I’ve had it since 1999 so I may have mentioned that before.
Time for the first summer hits of the new decade!
Track 1: Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg – California Gurls
Great piece of pop, awesome party tune.
Track 2: Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull – I Like It
Great beat, highly danceable, fun tune. Quite like this track! We used to dance to this one at my Zumba class in Southampton, as my instructor Hayley was a big Pitbull fan.
Track 3: JLS – The Club Is Alive
Daft take on The Sound Of Music. It’s a bit less cheesy than their usual stuff, so I actually find this one okay.
Track 4: Usher and will.i.am – OMG
Great tune! Love the interesting vocals on this one.
Track 5: David Guetta, Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO – Gettin’ Over You
Great upbeat dance track – happily chair-dancing away here.
Track 6: Kylie Minogue – All The Lovers
Solid pop track, really like those instrumentals.
Track 7: Professor Green and Lily Allen – Just Be Good To Green
Fairly pointless cover of Beats International’s Dub Be Good To Me with added rapping. It’s okay, but the original is better.
Track 8: B.o.B and Bruno Mars – Nothin’ On You
I’ve always found this one a bit too saccharine.
Track 9: Lady Gaga – Alejandro
Great, atmospheric electropop. When we were doing Electrolicious Sundays at Mr Modos, Geth would always mix this one into La Isla Bonita by Madonna, ’cause the melodies are so similar.
Track 10: Cheryl – Parachute
The atmosphere’s nice, but the tune’s a bit dull.
Track 11: Rihanna – Te Amo
Quite like the vocal hook on this one, and the electro line is gorgeous. Nice Latin tinge too.
Track 12: Roll Deep and Jodie Connor – Good Times
Good dance beat, but the tune’s very generic.
Track 13: Kelly Rowland and David Guetta – Commander
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had David Guetta on track 5.
This is a great track though – very danceable.
Track 14: Dizzee Rascal – Dirtee Disco
Messy intro, but I really like the disco instrumentals (the sample is the Staple Singers track I’ll Take You There, from 1972).
Track 15: Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP – We No Speak Americano
Interesting, danceable track. The sample is the 1956 song Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano by Renato Carosone, fact fans – it gives it an awesome mid-century feel.
Track 16: Inna – Hot
Good beat, but the vocals are pretty irritating.
Track 17: Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina – Stereo Love
I love the accordion on this one – it gives it a lovely Eastern European tinge.
Track 18: Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber – Eenie Meenie
Terrible theme, jarring lines, irritating vocals. The chorus is okay, though.
Track 19: Miley Cyrus – Can’t Be Tamed
Great atmosphere, but the tune’s a bit uninspired.
Track 20: Pixie Lott – Turn It Up
Bit of a bland tune, but the chorus is okay.
Track 21: Justin Bieber and Ludacris – Baby
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Justin Bieber on track 18.
Horrendously saccharine and squeaky. Teenage girls loved it, though, which just goes to prove that teenage girls’ taste is getting worse and worse as time goes on. How did we get from the Beatles to Bieber? You could write a whole book on that, and maybe one day I will.
Track 22: Iyaz – Solo
I quite like the piano, but in general the song’s a bit too cheesy for my liking.
Track 23: Timbaland and Justin Timberlake – Carry Out
Love the atmosphere on this one – great track.
Track 24: Plan B – She Said
Great tune, awesome classic jazz feel.
Track 25: Scouting For Girls – This Ain’t A Love Song
It’s a bit cheesy and soft-rock for me, and the vocals are kind of irritating.
Track 26: K’naan – Wavin’ Flag
Nice jaunty tune released to tie in with the World Cup 2010. It’s funny to think that was two World Cups ago, and now we’re in the middle of another one (which I have been successfully avoiding).
Track 27: Jason Derulo – Ridin’ Solo
It’s an okay pop track, but the tune is a bit forgettable compared to most of Jason Derulo’s stuff.
Track 28: Alicia Keys – Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart
Gorgeous tune, beautiful atmosphere.
Track 29: Fyfe Dangerfield – She’s Always A Woman
Pointless cover of the Billy Joel track. I adore the song whoever does it, but there’s nothing new about this version.
Track 30: Train – Hey Soul Sister
What this song consistently achieves for me is that I always wish it really were Mr Mister on the radio, instead of Train. You have to give them credit for that.
Track 31: Scissor Sisters – Fire With Fire
I find this one a bit slow and dull.
Track 32: Diana Vickers – Once
Great pop tune – really like this one. I also love the video with all her hundreds of different outfits!
Track 33: Example – Kickstarts
The lyrics are a bit cheesy, but it’s a good danceable tune.
Track 34: Swedish House Mafia and Pharrell Williams – One (Your Name)
Great electro hooks, nice atmosphere.
Track 35: The Black Eyed Peas – Rock That Body
Good beat, but the tune’s a bit dull.
Track 36: Alexandra Burke and Pitbull – All Night Long
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Pitbull on track 2.
I quite like the vocal hook on the chorus, but the rap over the intro is pretty jarring.
Track 37: Aggro Santos and Kimberly Wyatt – Candy
Great bassline, great atmosphere. Good solid pop track.
Track 38: Taio Cruz and Kesha – Dirty Picture
Daft theme, and the tune is pretty forgettable.
Track 39: Chipmunk and Esmée Denters – Until You Were Gone
Generic and bland.
Track 40: Skepta – Rescue Me
I find the tune on this one a bit depressing.
Track 41: N-Dubz and Bodyrox – We Dance On
I like the Canon in D sample, but the rest of the track’s pretty forgettable.
Track 42: Robyn – Dancing On My Own
Boring tune – nothing redeeming about this one.
Track 43: Florence & The Machine and Dizzee Rascal – You’ve Got The Dirtee Love [Live At The Brit Awards 2010]
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Dizzee Rascal on track 14.
I remember watching this performance on the Brits at the time. You wouldn’t think You’ve Got The Love would work with Dizzee Rascal rapping over the top, but it’s actually quite an interesting take.
However, I am contractually obliged to point out that in addition to the three instances of the Source and Candi Staton’s original version of the song on Now! #19, Now! #36, and Now! #63, we now have two instances of the Florence & The Machine version, on Now! #74 and on this one, making a total of FIVE instances! I am almost certain that this makes it the most featured song in the history of Now! compilations, though I will have to check my stats at the end of the project.
Track 44: Kelis – Acapella
That title should be spelt ‘a cappella’, but I’m sure you all knew that.
I like the drums on the intro, and the vocal line is quite interesting.
Track 45: Tinie Tempah and Labrinth – Frisky
Great instrumentals, awesome atmosphere – very danceable.
Track 46: Pendulum – Watercolour
Lovely electro track – it builds beautifully, and the hooks are wonderful.
