Alexis Jordan Returns With a Another Big Sample In Tow

Alexis Jordan is sort of a baby Beyonce with a twinge of Rihanna whose 2010 hit Happiness still sounds rather great. It cleverly worked a Deamau5 sample into a chilly, nicely produced dance pop single with a sharp uplifting vocal. Although her big label support from Sony/Jay Z (after a stint on America's Got Talent a few years earlier and some popular Youtube covers) only snagged her a dance hit in the US she built up a decent profile on charts in Europe include the UK / Irish charts where she managed a second semi-hit in Good Girl. Her self titled album was pretty solid too. Jordan has a great voice and her ongoing relationship with production geniuses Stargate has worked out really well for her (they've of course produced numerous Rihanna hits amongst others)

Now, Jordan has finally debuted some material ahead of her second album's release. Acid Rain is a clear attempt to recreate the magic of Happiness with a slightly harder feel. There's 2 verses from labelmate J.Cole (Which work much better than your standard rap feature on a pop single), production from Stargate again and Sia on co-writing duties (according to Idolator) and a more importantly another huge sample. This time it's the dutch-house hit Rattle from Bingo Players. A club hit in it's own right (and officially released with a new rap from Far East Movement as single here this week) it's the kind of tune that was begging for somebody to nab it for a hit single.

It's an interesting idea and it's obvious that Stargate want to use the sample to build up the tension around Jordan's towering vocals and the Titanium-y feel of the chorus and eventual rave-pop break at the song's core. It's thumpy, will surely eat up the dancefloors still not tired of the dance-pop deluge and she sounds great. BUT it does feel rather shoe-horned in, the obvious hook of Rattle feeling like a huge distraction on the verses.

Acid Rain should help Jordan make a return to the charts on this side of the pond but it falls short of the same magic that Happiness such a killer pop single. Still, having such a killer team in her corner suggests that Alexis Jordan could be aiming on a proper jump into the pop big leagues.

  

Cheers to We Are Pop Slags for bringing this to my attention today. 

Rihanna Shines on "Diamonds" Recalls her Own Chart Past

At this point it's not surprising to hear that come close to the end of the year Rihanna will release a new single and a new album. Of all the artists on the treadmill of big hit singles and even bigger tabloid headlines Rihanna is ruling the roost and maintaining an enviable chart run.

This time last year We Found Love matched Rihanna's already impressive run of hits (Especially with  less agressive feel of Loud allowing Riri to knock up some of her most successful tunes to date) with the pop-dance nous of Calvin Harris for that perfect storm of a pop single. It still sounds amazing despite constant radio play worldwide, one of those pop songs that crosses over to everybody.

Despite this the following album Talk That Talk didn't offer up a near-perfect run of singles like Loud, maybe because the songs just weren't strong enough and that other then the frantic Where Have You Been little else on that album really stood up to chart scrutiny (not that TTT didn't provide some interesting numbers, Cockiness is a fantastic slice of jerky R&B pop and the title track is an enjoyable mid-tempo cousin to What's My Name)

So it would be correct to expect Rihanna to unveil a new single with a similarly dance-tinged flavour yes? Wrong! Diamonds debuted earlier today and it heads into different territory. Produced by Benny Blanco and Stargate and written by Sia it's certainly not a piece of thundering rave-pop but a radio-ready ear-worm with plenty of charm.

To compare it other Rihanna songs, you can feel the sweep and mid-tempo gloom of Umbrella in it's DNA, the production with it's drum beat, glittering piano riffs and church organ vibes recalls her duet with Coldplay, Princess of China and the vocal delivery with it's inherent Sia-ness recalls the likes of Russian Roulette.

Diamonds is compelling, hooky pop that is a reminder of Rihanna's skill as a blank canvas for strong, boldly drawn pop music. Little is known about the album but hopefully it'll feel a little less rushed than previous efforts and serve up some more memorable moments.

Listen to Diamonds here, it's due to be released on iTunes worldwide later today.