We reckon Rebecca Ferguson's Too Good To Lose is the best track off her album, so we were overjoyed when we heard it was going to be her next single. Even better though is that it now comes with a compliment of ace remixes!
First up is the poppers o' clock Seamus Haji mix which keeps all of that awesome synth riff from the original and wraps it round an alcopop-fuelled commercial club beat.
Then there's the Duxebox remix which does an awesome job of transforming the track into a steely dub-step behemoth - it also features a guest rap and GUITARS! All kinds of amazing basically.
What with The Saturdays delving into dub-step on their latest album On Your Radar (like everyone else in pop seems to be doing at the moment) someone called Lake Aurora seems to have hit upon the idea of giving one of their older hits (the brilliant Forever Is Over) a dub-step rework - the results are pretty decent!
And while we're on the topic of Saturdays remixes, this pitch-shifted male vocal version of All Fired Up entertained and amused me in equal measures. Basically, imagine the track as done by a boyband...
It was only a matter of time... until the Wanted stepped tentatively into the world of dubstep. Albeit, with their usual boyband twists, the usual kind of female-fanbase-friendly titillation.
For starters, the beat doesn't even kick in till a minute into the track - taking cues from Glad You Came, the boys have clearly worked out that the formula of emo-ballad-into-mover-and-shaker really works for them. A bit of smoochy piano, and then - to coin The Black Eyed Peas' phrase - the 'dirty bit'.
Just as Heart Vacancy served as the perfunctory lighters in the air single from their debut album, so to does Warzone continue the tradition. For me though, a song like this feels flat removed from the live setting. Pained and heartfelt it might be, shoving all kinds of metaphors of a warzone/relationship at you, but the trouble for me is that there's just so many better tracks on the lads' Battleground album they could have released instead.
The video plays up the damaged love theme too - positioning the boys on a ruined scrap of industrial land littered with smashed-up cars. It looks rather nice, but it doesn't match the cheeky bawdiness of the dynamite-in-car moment from their previous video.
After such a stellar run of singles - Gold Forever, Glad You Came, Lightning - this feels like a bit of a comedown, a limp end to the preceding amazing night-out. What's needed is something like the fantastic Invincible to bring the pace up again, because when the Wanted go up-tempo, there's really no beating them within the boyband market.
You know Enter Shikari, the metal band that blended dangerously loud guitars with bonkers trance synths in a recipe for guaranteed mayhem. Tales of their gigs and the apocalyptic scenes that unfolded at them was the stuff of legend and in something of a rarity for metal bands these days, their records charted respectably too.
As such, it was surely only a matter of time before they got on the dubstep scene, and with a load of dirty raps thrown in for good measure, Sssnakepit is every bit as grimy as its venom-infested name suggests.
The first single from new album A Flash Of Colour, the single feels confident, assured in its ample playing to both crowds - whether you're a dance-head or rocker, the track is primed to push your buttons. Something that the band have proved time and time again they're very good at. Mosh-pits around the country, get ready...
Oh Cher Lloyd, what ever are we going to do with you? You don't know how frustrating it is to see you turning so many potential fans against you just because you've got a little eager on Twitter.
When Miss Lloyd first performed on the X Factor last year, we knew straight away we were looking at something special. She was fresh, cool, had buckets of personality. She was the most exciting star on the show for ages. Through the course of the competition we followed her eagerly, and in the live shows she delivered some of the best performances of the series with a chain of brilliant song choices to boot.
But post X Factor, it all seems to have gone so wrong. Sure, she's nabbed herself a Number One single, and before 'winner' Matt Cardle has even released any of his own new material. But at what cost?
Where before there seemed to be a united front of Cher Lloyd fandom - one and all seemed to embrace her 'freshness' - now there lies a clear divide, many turned completely off the star by her cocky teen attitude.
There's a fine line between confidence and outright arrogance, and it's one Cher has always trod very gingerly indeed. But ever since she was let loose on Twitter, that cocky 'I'm Queen of the world and none of you are gonna stop me' approach has gone too far. Her uncouth, uneducated mis-spellings and clenched teeth insults do her no favours at all. It makes her bratty, ungrateful.
For all of Cher's talk of haters, the one thing she doesn't seem capable of doing is rising above them. Sure, defend yourself against them, but not with the kind of childish rants that could have come straight from a bunch of chavs out on the street. Cher allows herself to be dragged into these Twitter battles with classic internet trolls, plainly giving them the attention they so clearly crave.
When you get those kinds of insults spilling out into your army of fans, you know you're in trouble. After all, there's nothing worse than an artist with attitude than a bunch of angry fans with attitude.
Acclaimed dubstep producer Skream recently took to Twitter to diss Cher's ludicrously titled Dub On The Track, saying 'Dub on the track by Cher Lloyd is awful, worst attempt at a commercial Dubstep track so far.' He was promptly blasted by countless Cher fans, saying they had never heard of him, to fuck off, etc etc. The usual childish drivel.
The thing is, without people like Skream, it's likely Cher would never even be recording a dubstep track. It was after all Skream's mix of La Roux's In For The Kill that first started to properly fan the flames of dubstep in the mainstream consciousness. What makes this scenario all the funnier is that Cher apparently asked Skream to remix her song, but was refused. As Skream says 'It would ruin my career'.
Being gracious doesn't cost you anything. If Cher learned this, she'd win a hell of a lot more fans. There's nothing wrong with making a commercial dubstep track - just look at Britney. But the problem with Cher is that it doesn't feel genuine. She may even be a genuine, clued-up fan of the genre, but it doesn't show in the finished songs - they're overly glossy, Americanised, cheap-sounding.
Look at people like Katy B or Nicola Roberts, making edgy yet still highly commercial pop. That's the way to do it. If Cher had approached things with a touch more class, elegance and patience, her debut album could have been one of the highlights of the year.
I really, really, really want to like Cher Lloyd. She looks so much the part - the new young female star for the Twitter age. But until she reigns in her outbursts, that's unlikely to happen.
The Saturdays have a record of delivering amazing b-sides - always a sign of a truly great pop group. And Not That Kinda Girl (the b-side to Notorious) does much to continue that trend.
Grinding electro basslines and dub-step influences worked into the track too, it's a classy slice of dancefloor magic.
There's lots of flirty, teasing lyrics too - The Sats girls making it plain that they're in charge here - 'I'm gonna break your heart, tear it up cos that's the way I work' and 'No one-man-woman, I'm free to roam, I'll blow you kisses down the telephone'.
If this is a b-side, we can only speculate in awe at the kind of sheer amazingness that might be on offer on The Saturdays' new album, out later this year.
It is impossible to ignore the immense surge in popularity dub-step is experiencing at the moment. It's everywhere, pounding from car stereos every time you leave the house, and even sneaking its way into your favourite pop records.
And standing at the forefront of that movement are TMS, a trio of hip West Londoners that can boast Devlin, Professor Green and Tinchy Stryder among their collaboraters.
New track I Need You packs real-bite - anyone lured into the dub-steo genre by the epic 'for the masses' sound of acts like Nero will love this. With a massive vocal hook supplied by singer Jagga, there's simply a sense of scale here that propells this track up on a soaring wave of energy and dancefloor-rocking power.
Fresh from a support slot for Katy B, Jagga says of I Need You: 'I’ve been working with TMS for a while now on my own tracks but when I first heard the instrumental of ‘I Need You’ being played at Fabric and saw the reaction, I knew I had to get involved. They’ve got some HUGE collaborations planned for later this year, they are one of the hottest production teams in the UK and this track is a wicked introduction to what they’re capable of...FIRE!'
