Girls Aloud Release New Video, It Is A Bit Boring.

Obviously, it is a very good thing that Girls Aloud are properly back together even if it's only for a greatest hits album and tour and not a proper full length album etc etc. Something New was such a perfect return, it was exhilarating to see how they could take on the current chart sound and still sound like them after a few years break. The new tracks on Ten, that new compilation, are mainly amazing, upbeat, fizzy pop with the kind of quirky twists that are their hallmark.

Sadly, current single Beautiful Cause You Love Me is a rare misstep. By the time Call the Shots rolled around, we saw that a Girls Aloud ballad didn't have to mean an unbearable 4 minutes. But this track is a huge disappointment, a mawkish slowie that feels like a girl band spin on the kind of "My man will love me despite how I look" ridiculousness Ed Sheerhan and One Direction have been peddling through popular song in the last 12 months.

The video has just arrived and it's hard to deny they look gorgeous and they all swan around beautifully. And in terms of music video product placement, wielding a new Nikon camera to take self empowering selfies of yourself is pretty damn hilarious. But, it's so BORING. It's like a timewarp to the early 2000s when every dreary pop act had to pout moodily in an abandoned house amidst some leaves in order to telegraph that it was nearly Christmas (what is it about empty houses and leaves that screams elegance to music video directors?)

In short, Girls Aloud can and should do better. The video is worth a look once just to gawk at how pretty they are, but the rest of us will just wish they'd done a clip for On the Metro instead. Sigh.

Album Review : Gabriella Cilmi "Ten"

Gabriella Cilmi is a bit of a funny one when it comes to the pop big league. Her Xenomania produced debut single Sweet About Me was as slow burning sensation, becoming a hit on the charts and raido internationally. Despite her obvious vocal chops and being a star in her early teens (what a way to spend age 14-16 eh?) it was hard to get a sense of anything solid out of Cilmi.

Thankfully her new album Ten solves that problem. It’s easy to roll your eyes when a popstar claims to be all grown up with a sexy new image when they want people to pay attention but this time there are the tunes to back things up. You may already know the thumping lead single On A Mission. It’s anthemic pop with bags of attitude and a fantastic calling card for that big voice to shine.

There are plenty more highlights throughout the album. The true standout is the sole Xenomania produced Hearts Don’t Lie, a sultry and impressive disco number that should hopefully be a huge hit. If it’s not the world is missing out as this is one of the strongest things Xenomania have worked on in quite awhile.

There’s plenty more to enjoy however, including Love Me Cos which sees Ellie Goulding crop up on the co-writing credits (in fact it doesn’t sound a million miles away from something that would crop up on Lights) and Superhot which is a nice slice of Moroder style synth pop. It’s nice to hear someone with Cilmi’s pipes tackle these songs too as opposed as to the Amy Winehouse lite of her first release.

Sadly the odd dud crops up here and there, Defender is a limp would be power ballad and What If You Knew is a tad cheesy. Still these are merely blips on the radar of an otherwise fantastic pop album. Dripping with sass and a sense of fun, this should hopefully place Cilmi firmly in the middle of the pop heap.