[Cover Art & Tracklisting] Cheryl Cole - A Million Lights

Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate how bloody good the artwork for Cheryl’s new album is? (And yes, that is ‘Cheryl’ – singular – that whole ‘Cole’ business seems to have been dropped, at least as far as her musical output goes anyway.

That font – all futuristic and amazing, like something you’d see in Star Wars or something, all painted up in Neon and phosphorus. And then *the* hair, which pretty much dominates the cover – but I mean, when you’ve got an asset as lovely as Cheryl’s ‘You’re Worth It!’ locks, you’re going to flaunt it, aren’t you? And flaunt it she does. She’s making good use of her tattoo too – clearly not wanting to be trumped by ‘The Female Boss’ Tulisa, it’s fair to say Chezza’s getting her money’s worth out of her tattoo, giving it pride of place on the cover of her third album. And this whole hand business too – it’s like a special hand signal conjured up by a secret society. There’s been rumblings on Twitter recently that Cheryl has been dabbling with the Illuminati. It all sounds pretty fantastical to us, but I suppose it all adds to the Cheryl ‘mystique’.

The tracklisting of A Million Lights is as follows:

1.  Under The Sun

2.  Call My Name

3.  Craziest Things

4.  Girl In The Mirror

5.  A Million Lights

6.  Screw You

7.  Love Killer

8.  Ghetto Baby

9.  Sexy Den A Mutha

10. Mechanics of the Heart

11. All Is Fair

The Luminites cover Cheryl Cole's Call My Name!

Back in November last year we covered cheeky five-piece the Luminites, and their track All Dressed Up, which we rather liked. And now they're back with this cracking cover version of Cheryl Cole's new single Call My Name. We really like the beat-box workover they've given the song and it brings a refreshing new vibe to the track while still keeping all the addictive allure of Cheryl's original intact. Definitely our favourite cover version of a Cheryl song since Delphic's take on 3 Words, that's for sure.

Cheryl Cole - Call My Name

So, what do we make of the new Cheryl Cole single? We were all looking forward to it with the kind of anticipation usually reserved for Christmas and Birthdays when we were a kid. We also knew that Calvin Harris was involved in general production/knob twiddling type duties, and perhaps the biggest surprise is just how much it sounds definitively like a Calvin Harris track.

In a radio climate populated to the brim with We Found Love, Let's Go and other dancey work-outs like the new Tulisa and Saturdays singles (actually, let's just make that pretty much almost everything in the charts right now), Call My Name slips effortlessly in. It's got 'Summer Anthem!' all over it, from the tightly packed chorus hook right down to the 'oh oh oh oh oh' outro bit (our personal highlight).

In that fizzing synth bassline and the sensuous, teasing slip and flow of Cheryl's vocals, it's possessed from the start with one of those all-powerful grooves that glues itself to your feet, no, every single cell of your body. It wants you to dance, it actively gets up and pushes you till you make a move, react to it, anything. Call My Name feels profoundly 'alive'. There's those lovely little bits of electronic blippery between the verses and choruses too that just *make* the track, the icing to top the cake as it were. And what a cake it is - packed full of jam and cream and all round sugar-rush goodness. For the insatiable appetite of the pop fanatic, this resolutely hits the spot.

Just like Promise This before it, Call My Name demands instant repeat-play precisely because it works to such a simple formula - it is after all, the epitome of commercial dance pop. You want to glean more from its snappy 3.30 duration, you want to squeeze and pump it for every bit of its pop energy. But beneath that machine-tooled exterior, there's a beating heart of artistic confidence that speaks of a forthcoming third album which could very well be a bit of a revelation. If we had a Cheryl shaped crystal ball right now, we imagine it'd be telling us very good things indeed about it.

Call My Name is released on the 10th June.

Cheryl Cole announces Call My Name and new album A Million Lights!

It's the news we've all been waiting for. That's right, the details for Cheryl Cole's new single and long awaited third album are finally out! Hurrah!

You'll be hearing Calvin Harris produced track Call My Name all over UK radio at 8.10am on Friday morning (20th April) and it's safe to say we're going to be subsequently playing it on repeat again and again and again. Going by the Calvin production, if it's a uber dance behemoth of We Found Love proportions, we're in for a real summer smash from our Nation's Sweetheart.

What's more, we'll be getting that tantalising video for Call My Name (we've all seen those simply gorgeous pics from LA in all the papers) on the 2nd May.

Call My Name is released on the 10th June, followed by new album A Million Lights on the 18th June.

Could Cheryl Cole's new single sample Operation Blade (Bass In The Place)?

All us pop fans are pretty much balancing on a knife edge right now, leaping at any precious morsel of information regarding Cheryl Cole's much anticipated third album. After all, she's been working on it a while, so the hopes are high that it'll mark a real high water mark for the former X Factor star's career and top her previous two efforts.

Turning to Twitter to tease fans with a possible snippet of lyrics from a new track, Cheryl revealed:

'You know it turns me on when the beat starts dirty dancing.. The way it calls to me I can almost feel its rage.. La da da da da Dum Dum. Bass in my face, put the bass in my face, put the bass in my face, put the bass in my face.'

Now, all this might be nothing much in particular, but maybe.... just maybe... it could be that she's sampled that grand old dance classic Bass In The Place, also known as Operation Blade (the track samples the Pump Panel Remix of New Order's Confusion, as featured on the original Blade movie soundtrack).

Of course, being the massive New Order fans that we are, the prospect that Cheryl might have sampled New Order (however indirectly) is all rather exciting. And either way, the Operation Blade track is a bit of a 'tune', and this gave us an excuse to post it.

Posy Edwards – Cheryl Cole Annual 2012

Following on from Posy Edwards’ previous two compendiums of all things Cheryl-related, the 2012 Annual offers a sparkly pink whistle-stop tour through the life of the nation’s sweetheart. Aside from the perfunctory biography material, there’s an assortment of activities and stuff to keep the kids occupied in here: Cheryl cupcakes, Cheryl manicures, Cheryl sleepovers, even horoscopes – it’s all in here. For hardcore fans of Miss Cole, there’s little you won’t already know but everything’s neatly presented with lots of lovely pictures of the lady herself – the free poster is a nice plus too.

Cheryl Cole shows her support for 'electronic charity box' service Pennies!

We all love a good deed, and judging by this cute video, so does Cheryl Cole! Joined by fellow celebs Gary Barlow and Jason Donovan, the Geordie star sings the praises of electronic charity box service Pennies.

Pennies is an intuitive service that allows customers to round up their bills when paying by card, with the extra money going to charity. In our increasingly electronic payment culture, it makes sense for technology to play catch-up here, providing a handy alternative to the classic penny-in-a-box that was a hallmark of so many high-street tills.

The Pennies service has already proved to be a rousing success, racking up one million 'micro-donations' in just 12 months - this has helped raise £250,000 for charities, which we think is fantastic! People go on a lot about wallets tightening in the recession, but it's heartening to see people still digging deep to share a little love and support.

Get excited! It's the official 2012 Cheryl Cole calendar - coming soon!

Buying a new calendar of wonderfully glossy, gorgeous photos has become something of a yearly ritual for Girls Aloud fans.

And although in recent years, the band's own calendars have been replaced by solo Cheryl ones, it still feels like an event to get excited about.

That slow drip-feed of increasingly less pixelated images as the promo shots come out in better and better quality... And then getting the actual thing in the post from Amazon and the like... (what must the post-man think handing over that massive slab of A3 cardboard?!)

It's all part of being a fan, and like every other aspect of fandom, it just feels so right.

Just take a look at the cover shot from the 2012 Cheryl calendar above - absolutely stunning. I think this might even rank up there as my favourite Cheryl calendar shot ever - it's that good.

The new Cheryl calendar is available from the 1st September and can be pre-ordered from Amazon here.

Cheryl Cole and David Guetta to work together?

With all the recent media frenzy about Girls Aloud getting back together in 2012 (possibly for the Olympics), it's easy to forget that this time last year the lovely Cheryl Cole was gearing up to release her second solo album.

The possibility still remains that before any GA reunion comes about she may quite reasonably make it a hat-trick by releasing a third solo record - leading to the question, who would she work with?

Will.I.Am's involvement seems a given. His stamp was all over Cheryl's last two albums and going by their intense friendship, it seems only natural that he'd remain at the helm for a third solo effort. But today a number of news sources suggest that Will might rope in pal David Guetta too.

This is rather exciting. There are so many Guetta-produced tracks in the charts these days many would be inclined to say his sound has become completely ubiquitous. But looking back to the beginnings of his 'Imperial Phase', 2009's brilliant Sexy Chick, you begin to get the idea of just how potentially amazing a Cheryl/Guetta collab could be.

Back then, you couldn't enter a club without hearing Sexy Chick at least twice in one night. It's success was immense, in many ways ushering in an era of increasingly dance-influenced urban tracks.

It's a sound Cheryl herself is no stranger to - Messy Little Raindrops was notably more dance orientated than her debut. Yeah Yeah and Waiting, praised by many fans as two of the strongest tracks from the album, were full on dance stormers, and it's easy to see how Guetta's involvement could further Cheryl's music down this avenue.

As for when or if said collab will ever actually materialise, we'll have to wait... But it bodes very well indeed.

Kimberley 'calls the shots' on Cheryl, Nadine, Simon AND Olly

If you're not already aware, Girls Aloud's delightful Kimberley Walsh writes a very entertaining column every week in OK Magazine where she lets us, the dear readers, know what she's been up to. She also uses it as a platform to share her views on various celeb dilemnas and to clear up any important Girls Aloud-related issues when they arise.

The new issue of the magazine is out today, and I've got to say, this week's column is Pure Win. It's literally jam packed with everything you could want. Let's have a little run-down:

Cheryl and The X Factor - 'Cheryl's fine - it isn't a huge deal for her'. This is very good to hear - we like to know that everything is all ship-shape and hunky dory in CherylWorld.

'From a selfish point of view, I'm glad I can pop round again for a cup of tea!' - What will it be? Milk and two sugars Chezza?

Nadine and Jason's split - 'Nadine is a strong person and a strong woman in relationships so I know she'll be ok' - This is also very reassuring. This is the GA girls sticking together and backing each-other up - they are, after all, a force to be reckoned with.

Simon - 'Simon displayed some almighty hevage recently' - OMG what is hevage?! I have to thank Kimberley for introducing this word to me - because reading this about Simon had me in fits of laughter. It's so true too! I think every one of us who's ever sat down to watch Britain's Got Talent or X Factor has been full of critique over Simon's 'style' choices, so it's fun to imagine our Kimba sat there too doing the same.

Olly Murs - Here Kimberley talks about those rumours that she was being considered for a role on the Xtra Factor. She says 'I think it would've been fun but I couldn't have seen myself doing it with Olly'. Yes - Because we all know Kimberley and Matt Edmondson would have been the best combo by far for the show.

KTLA Morning News chat US X Factor & Cheryl's accent

With the impossibly massive black hole of speculation about Cheryl and her apparent ejection from the US X Factor, sometimes it's good just to cut straight to the heart of the matter.

As many people have commented, this whole business that the reason she's been 'sacked' because of her accent is ridiculous. Not only does it not make sense (show co-host Steve Jones also has a strong regional accent), but it is also insulting to Americans; implying they are too stupid to understand her accent.

And this is what KTLA Morning News pick up on in this rather charming clip. They're really supportive of Cheryl, singing her praises and emphasising her UK success - best of all though is a hefty montage of clips of Cheryl speaking on the UK X Factor to illustrate their point that they can understand her perfectly. They even say her accent is cute.

They then play a proper LOL-worthy clip of fellow US judge Paula Abdul cocking up her words massively.

Point proved.

Cheryl Cole 'I miss my tea and English soaps'

Sometimes a video can speak a thousand words. And just watching this short interview with Cheryl as she steps out onto American soil for the first day of auditions on the US X Factor, you just fall in love with her all over again. Seriously the most adorable thing ever. For starters, she looks absolutely incredibly rocking a real 70s disco inspired look with big hair and bright colours to match the increased scale America operates in.

The American reporters seem just as enraptured with Cheryl as we are over here and her answers express that instant natural charisma and charm we've come to adore her so much for. True perfection - Cheryl really is fast on her way to becoming a global star.


Cheryl Cole at the First 'X Factor USA' Live Taping from Yahoo! Music on Vimeo.

The new Cheryl L'Oreal advert - featuring amazing 'You're Worth It' jacket!

The Cheryl L'Oreal adverts have in many ways become the stuff of legend. There'll be countless Girls Aloud fans (or just random members of the public, even) that can recite them word for word. They're just that iconic. And we love them all. Which brings us nicely on to the latest one in the series, which we think is quite possibly the best one yet.

Cheryl seductively spells out all the amazing stuff you can do with L'Oreal's Elnett hairspray:

Spray it
Up-Do it
Undo it
Brush it in
Brush it out
Work it
Rock it
Glam it
Nothing holds me like it
Keep hold of it

Actual audio-visual sensual overload. We're in love.

And just to top it all off, Cheryl pulls on a black jacket with 'You're Worth It' daubed in gold paint on the back. SO GOOD.

L’Oreal Elnett celebrates 50th anniversary with a gorgeous new Cheryl photoshoot!

WOW! It's fair to say that nation's sweetheart Cheryl Cole already has a heap of breathtakingly beautiful photoshoots under her belt, but this new shoot to celebrate the 50th anniversary of L'Oreal's Elnett hairspray (you know, the one you see in every Boots store in a pink bottle with Cheryl's face on it).

This picture really works to all of Cheryl's best assets, her eyes radiate warmth and those chocolaty brown waves of hair frame everything perfectly. Perfection.

Simon: "I thought Cheryl was bright, cute and ambitious"

In what might possibly be the most protracted period of waiting for confirmation ever, Simon's gone and as good as admitted that Cheryl will be a judge on US X Factor. Even better though, he's said some genuinely touching things about Cheryl, sharing his admiration for the girl we've all fallen in love with.

Speaking about the judging role in an interview with Deadline, he said: "I never think about it as an American or British audience. I genuinely don't. I think that's what's happened on a lot of these shows now is it's almost like you've got to hire well known celebrities to be a judge.

"And with Cheryl, when I hired her initially, I'd only met her literally once when I offered her the job on UK X Factor. I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious..."

Awwww!

Simon continued: "And you meet someone special a few times in your life... and this girl is special. She's just got a great ability to communicate. She's a great judge. She's smart. It's just a hunch."

How adorable!

"If people take to her like the British public did, I think she's going to do really well in America. And Fox was desperate to hire her."

It's really moving to see Simon speak so candidly about Cheryl like this - on the UK live shows we often only got their feisty banter and Simon's usual hard-man act, so moments of open emotion like this are really sweet. He clearly believes a lot in her potential for winning over American audiences in the same way she did over here, and you know what, I think she's more than got it in her to do it. Exciting times indeed!

Cheryl eyes up some hot collabs & Girls Aloud are a FIVE forever

Yup, it's time for the latest round of Girls Aloud news.

Reports today suggest that Cheryl wants to work with Rihanna, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj on her next album. Let's face it, who wouldn't want to work with a trio of amazingness like those lovely ladies! These high profile collabs are apparently to help launch Cheryl in the US.

An insider revealed: "Cheryl's management want her to become the next big popstar in America and are working on securing some A-list names for the album. A Rihanna duet is a certainty and Will.I.Am is trying to convince Minaj to work on the LP too. Katy Perry has also been in talks with Cheryl about a duet, as she is a big fan."

We like to imagine will.i.am as one of those super-cool guys who's always on his phone lining up various business deals and meetings, and in this dream scenario, hooking Chezza up with the best in US female pop. There's even reports that Cheryl wants to work with Britney and Beyonce too.

Turning our attention back to Girls Aloud as a whole... this afternoon, the awesome-threesome of welovepop, supersonicpr and polydorrecords all tweeted this message:

"Time to set the record straight after another ridiculous story. Girls Aloud will always be, Sarah, Nadine, Kimberley, Cheryl and Nicola."

Which throws cold water all over Heat's super-silly story about them wanting to continue as a four-piece.

Rihanna as a judge on US X Factor would have been amazing...

There have been reports in the papers today that Rihanna was asked to be a judge on the new US X Factor but had to turn it down due to her tour schedule.Speaking on an American radio show Rihanna said:

"I just heard about it actually and yes, it's something I would have loved to do but our schedule doesn't allow it. We're going to be on tour for the rest of the year. It is a demanding schedule to be in that show and you have to be around for a long time, months at a time - which would've been impossible for me."

Fair enough, RiRi's a busy lady, but let's just imagine for a moment how awesome it would be if Rihanna had taken on the job...

Like most of the world, we're properly in love with Rihanna and as confirmed by her 18 nominations in the upcoming Billboard Music Awards, she really is one of the biggest superstars around right now. Plus, her music is amazing. Her presenting X Factor would have been a further extension of that enchanting Rihanna brand, a further boost to an already massively successful career.

By far the best thing would have been more Cheryl and Rihanna love-ins though (if Cheryl is indeed confirmed for a role on the US panel), following on from their very public display of affection for each-other at the BRIT Awards. 'Team CherRi' really are awesome.

We can all dream...

Cheryl Cole - Rare And Unseen - Pretty Little Newsclips

Rare and Unseen – Pretty Little Newsclips is a new unofficial DVD release featuring a selection of clips culled mostly from press events and red carpet interviews and provides a delightfully candid look at the evolution of nation’s sweetheart Cheryl Cole. Cramming a fair amount into just 45 minutes, the highly condensed collage-of-clips format works surprisingly well to give a snapshot of Cheryl as the superstar she has become.

Kicking off with a lengthy interview from all the way back in 2003, we see Girls Aloud on the cusp of releasing Jump from the Love Actually soundtrack. It’s quite charming really to see the girls in their jeans and t-shirts, so far removed from the hyper-styling we always see them in these days. It serves as a reminder of just how far they’ve come from those humble beginnings. Unfortunately, the interview is marred by some rather forceful questions about Cheryl’s conviction regarding the night-club incident and it’s frustrating to see the interview continuously push down this avenue. Thankfully the other girls step in to give Cheryl a helping hand and there’s some touching ‘Chim’ moments as Kimberley sticks up for her best friend. Cheryl is asked of her wishes for the future and she answers simply ‘to be happy.’ It’s a touching moment and a sentiment we can all subscribe to.

Moving swiftly on, the DVD whips through a 2006 Top of the Pops Reloaded interview where we see a ginger Fearne Cotton chatting to a blonde Cheryl. Changing hair-do’s and hair-colour are definitely a recurring theme throughout the DVD. With the overall feel of these largely quite unedited clips being very much random odds and ends that have been uncovered, you never quite know what’s going to crop up next. There’s footage from the 2006 V Festival and various glamorous red carpet affairs including a great shot where Nadine sticks her tongue out at the camera as she walks behind Cheryl and Sarah being interviewed.

As we reach the beginnings of Cheryl’s solo career on X Factor in 2008 there’s a fantastic bit just immediately following Alexandra Burke’s win. It’s here we get some of the best moments of the DVD: ‘I want to duet with Girls Aloud!’ exclaims Alexandra, only for Cheryl to retort with ‘No! You’d upstage us!’. It’s so charming in its sweetness and the clearly happiness on both Cheryl and Alexandra’s faces at having won – neither of them can quite believe it. One of the reporters asks Alex if she’d like Cheryl to be her manager; Alex replies ‘Oh My God! She already is.’ Even better is when a Freudian slip gets the better of Cheryl and she says that she did a ‘victory dance around Simon’s bedroom’ when her and Alex won. I was in stitches.

A smattering of clips from 2009’s Kilimanjaro Climb Comic Relief press shoot, the launch of Cheryl’s waxwork at Madame Tussauds  and the 2010 National Television Awards red carpet finishes things off. Perhaps the most iconic clip has to be the charity fashion show in 2008, for it was here that, in many ways, Cheryl achieved her true transformation into the solo star and national icon she is today. Walking down that catwalk, the cameras flashing and her smile lighting up the room, we fall in love with her again and again.

The DVD can be ordered from Amazon here.

Selena Gomez - Who Says

Taking a spin away from the fizzy teen-pop of Naturally, Selena Gomez goes for a far more natural vibe on her great new single Who Says. All strummed guitars and lovely little vocal hooks, it's the kind of song that could slot right next to the likes of Jessie J on UK radio playlists.

Could this be the track that really breaks Selena in the British market? I certainly hope so. Going by the cover too, she's been taking some style tips from her idol Cheryl Cole - that hairdo is pure Chezza. This is Selena growing into herself, letting her inner beauty and charm shine through - bothing physically and in her music. Cool, melodic, and effortlessly beautiful - this is Selena Gomez, and we love her.

Adele - Someone Like You (The Thin Red Men Remix)

Sometimes you just want a big fat dance mix of your favourite pop ballad. Remember how good the High Contrast remix of Adele's Hometown Glory was? Well, now you get to dance away to her current Number 1 single Someone Like You too, courtesy of Thin Red Men (who've done a load of Cheryl Cole mixes in the past).