JLS - Proud

With One Direction and The Wanted battling it out for the attention of seemingly ever-present screaming hordes of girls, it falls to JLS to continue to prove their relevance on their third LP as the band that in many ways really fuelled the fire of the full-on boyband resurgence. You'd have thought they'd up their game to the max, screw on their thinking caps and bring their very best to the table - but in Proud, what they deliver instead is a hankies-at-the-ready instance of dry commercial sheen.

Proud is an unwarranted step-backwards for JLS, seeing the group regressing back to boy-band balladry of X Factor proportions. The lyrics are bog standard up-and-at-em faux-inspirational stuff and ultimately fall flat: 'When my strength was gone... In my darkest place you are my guide... When you fall down get back up and fight'.

For a group that burst onto the scene as a kind of anti-Westlife, delivering up-tempo pop gems like Beat Again, Proud sees the band straight-jacketed into suits and welded onto stools. Within the context of an album, a song like Proud is just about forgivable - even the greatest of all recent pop acts, Girls Aloud, had their token ballad inclusions - but released as a single, it feels like a waste of the band's potential.

Of course, because the track is for Sport Relief, there's a begrudging allowance that 'oh, it's only for charity' and that the band must play it safe for a good cause - but even compared to other charity singles, this ranks pretty low on the scale.

Proud is released on the 19th March.

JLS - Do You Feel What I Feel

For my money, JLS are always at their best when they venture into 'The Club' - For all that its Sound of Music sample might be mocked, The Club Is Alive remains in possession of one of their strongest chorus hooks. She Makes Me Wanna and Eyes Wide Shut did much to develop the band's up-tempo sounds, solidifying JLS's position in a crowded market as one of the prime purveyors of slick, contemporary dance-pop.

Do You Feel What I Feel has a distinct air of being their most mature dance moment to date, strapped to a slipstream of futuristic synths. A pulsating Euro groove drives the track - yes, at times, it may all feel a bit disembodied and generic - but more importantly, it's through understanding the keen ability of tracks like this to target all the pleasure centres of their prime audience that JLS have capitalised on their position so well.

As one of the UK's premier boy-bands, each of their singles is a precision guided missile to the heart of every girl in the land, and in these succinct gems of lovelorn dance-pop, JLS win their fans. It's pop to a formula, but it's done with such finesse and professionalism that it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

(Oh, and the little 'comedy' intro to the video is a really nice touch - it's good to see the band can still take a wry chuckle at themselves.)

Do You Feel What I Feel is released on the 2nd January.

Edei - Loved

Emma Deigman is a name many will remember from Girls Aloud’s 2009 Out of Control tour, and now, in the form of ‘Edei’, she’s back sporting a soulful new tune. Loved is a sweet Duffy-esque ballad that leans heavily on the likes of classic Stand By Me. Edei’s vocals are impressive and you can easily imagine this track soundtracking any number of rom-coms. Fresh off supporting JLS on tour, 2011 could well be the year Emma hits the big-time. Personally, we loved her when she supported Girls Aloud and look forward to hearing more from her!

Loved is released January 16^th, pre-order the single on iTunes here.

JLS - Eyes Wide Shut

See what JLS did here? Use that piano-into-all-out-club-banger template that worked so well on One Shot and repackage it into a slick new package. The result is Eyes Wide Shut, and it’s actually really good. Sure, it isn’t quite as epic as the aforementioned previous single, but if anything, it’s even dancier and best of all, it features man of the moment Tinie Tempah on it.

And there’s a lyric in it about ‘looking forward to it like a Saturday’. Now we wonder what that might be referencing... Anyways, we’re won over already. And while JLS still seem just as obsessed with the days of the week as they were on Love You More, this is a far better track and perfect for the clubs. It’s futuristic, dancey, got a rap in it; chart smash – in the words of Gordon Ramsey – Done.

Eyes Wide Shut is released 13^th February