The Reason 4 - Take It All

When it comes to that grand old favourite of British TV viewers, the X Factor, we'll always have our own personal favourites each year.

Sure, we get behind those that do well and win that dazzling record contract, but there are always those moments too where we wish we could put ourselves on the judging panel and champion a few of our own personal favourites too.

If you think back to last year's show, there was one act that everyone on Twitter was really buzzing about - The Reason 4.

Their soulful re-envisioning of Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love went down a treat, seeing them through to the judges houses stage of the competition. Sadly, the band's X Factor journey ended there, but the their story does not.

Because The Reason 4 - comprised of Glenn, Scott, Marc and Nathan - are back, and with a rather good debut single too. Take It All is a real recapturing of the classic boyband sound that seems so absent on the airwaves these days. With its gentle piano opening leading into a big, epic chorus, it feels very reminiscent of Blue.

Add in some suitably uplifting lyrics, 'Don't stop ever believing / keep on dreaming / got to be strong', and you're well on your way to a real pop gem.

With a satisfying crunch of guitar in the track's background as well some lovely vocal harmonies, Take It All feels refreshingly classy - testament to the production duties of Eliot Kennedy; an experienced hand when it comes to pop groups.

For these four Southampton builders, there's a real sense of comradeship that comes across in the song, a real pride in realising their dreams. Indeed, Take It All is almost the kind of track you wish the actual X Factor winner would release, instead of some hastily bashed out cover version. A very impressive debut.

Take It All is released on the 7th August. The band's album Crying Out Loud follows in October.

Cheryl Cole - The Flood

Last year, Parachute gave fans a taste of the kind of love-drenched pop Cheryl Cole was capable of producing – but whereas that was a mid-tempo workout with a suitably dance-focused video, The Flood represents the all out epic ballad, the perfect outpouring for all those emotions and feelings. It’s interesting to remember that Girls Aloud themselves hadn’t really brought out a ‘traditional’ ballad since their Chemistry album so the gentle touches of Cheryl’s new single make for a refreshing change. And by God is it good!

What I love so much about The Flood is that in essence it has two choruses, both as equally catchy as each-other. The poetic beauty hits you first, ‘You can’t hold onto water, it fills you up but never stays’, before the song its crescendo, rolling over you like a wave, sweeping you up into its depths. You can lose yourself completely in the layers of this song, each listen bringing something new. Those strings swelling in the background, the lazy tropical sounds of the beat, the sunny strumming of the guitar. This song transports you away to a magical fantasy world where it’s just you, Cheryl and the music – and it’s amazing. Her ad-libs are damn impressive too.

There’s a tenderness to the song, something the beautiful, picturesque – and the brilliant video only serves to further emphasise this. Set on the coast, all arty and windswept, it presents a more candid view of Cheryl than the hyper-stylised likes of the Fight for this Love and Promise This do. It’s all impossibly cute, like the song itself, picking you up on a buoyant swirl of love and emotion. This is Cheryl at her most natural, the acoustic flavours really suiting her voice. There’s a lush organic vibe to the whole thing, a sense of ‘rightness’, and as Cheryl sings ‘sitting on the shore all day, waiting for the tide to come’, we can think of fate and how we’re all waiting for that perfect moment.

The Flood is out to download on iTunes now.

The video can be seen on YouTube here.