The Saturdays - Turn Myself In [Studio Version Preview]

The other day we listened back to the live version of Turn Myself In from the Headlines tour and were struck at just how good a song it was. At the time of the tour, it had felt like little more than a cute live curio, a little bonus for the fans to fill out the set and offer a taste of what the next album might hold. Of course, as things turned out, said new album (On Your Radar) went for a direction far removed from the moody, rock-centric Turn Myself In, and you can kind of understand why the song was left off the record.

Praise must be given then to the girls for finally giving the song the proper release it deserves, the studio version serving as b-side to their excellent 30 Days. As far as fan incentive b-sides go, this is up there with the Nicola solo version of Memory of You on her Yo-Yo single, which we absolutely loved.

The studio version, interestingly, goes for a harder, crunchier vibe than the live take - the beats pack a real bite to them and the vocals have a smattering of vocoder laced all over them. The result is a haunting, introspective track that offers a fascinating look at what On Your Radar might have been like if the girls hadn't gone wholeheartedly down the dance route.

[Official Lyric Video] The Saturdays - 30 Days

All that anticipation, all that waiting with baited breath for the new Saturdays single since the largely unspecified 'end' to the On Your Radar album campaign. And it lived up to our every expectation, exceeded them even!

Because what 30 Days represents is a new scale for The Saturdays, a fully epic club banger that builds on the All Fired Up formula and bolts on all the heartaching emotion of My Heart Takes Over for good measure. It put it in a wider scheme of things, it really is - as so many have long wanted from The Sats - their Call The Shots, their Untouchable.

As with all the best Saturdays songs, there's a top-notch middle-eight bit from Una and an incredible drum fill at 2.25 that sounds like a jet-fighter fly-by. The lyric video, in my eyes, totally fits the feel of the song - that sort of neon-drenched, fizzing realm of pure electricity - barely on the cusp of being constrained. 30 Days is that impossible, teetering moment on the edge of letting loose, of collasping into constituent atoms of pure energy. And boy does it sound good.

30 Days is released on the 13th May and a five-track iTunes EP is available to pre-order now including a karaoke version and the Ruff Loaderz Radio Mix of the track. More important though, is the studio version of fan-favourite Turn Myself In and a 'Saturdays Only' version of The Way You Watch Me (with no Travie McCoy guest raps!)

Parade party it up in Hoxton Square for Clean & Clear

The hottest new girlband around, a super trendy venue in East London's Hoxton Square, coupons for free soft drinks, some great pop songs... oh, and lots and lots of balloons.

This was the scene for Parade's exclusive gig for skincare range Clean & Clear. With the venue kitted out with what seemed like a thousand helium filled balloons, little green crystals and plenty of sample bottles of facial wash, Parade took to the stage; fresh from their weekend slot at V Festival.

The girls played a fun, intimate set-list featuring hit singles Louder and Perfume as well as fan favourite cover versions Forget You, Yeah x3 and new addition Swagger Jagger.

The highlight for me came with one of the first ever performances of the full studio version of Ticking On It. A stripped-back version of the song with Bianca playing piano has been part of the girls' set for a while now but here we got the track in all its sunny, energetic glory.

There was also a gorgeous acoustic performance of new song Weather Man with Bianca playing along on the guitar - talk about multi-talented! What with these two new tracks, it's getting us even more excited for Parade's debut album - you can pre-order it on HMV here.

Here's a list of some of the tracks that should hopefully be ending up on it - snippets of them have appeared in the two mini-mixes the band have previously put up on YouTube for fans to hear:

Louder
Shoes
Weather Man
Pretty Ugly
Ticking On It
Perfume
Stars
Knock On My Door
Yes You Are
Just A Girl
Like You

I'm hoping my personal faves Rollercoaster and Rokstar end up on the final tracklisting too!

Back to the Clean & Clear gig and the amazing goody bags everyone was given - just take a look at all the fabulous stuff inside them!

Parade - Ticking On It (Studio Version Snippet!)

In today's Parade mail-out, there's a video from the lovely Jessica where she takes us through her neighbourhood of Bow in London. It's all very classily shot and we see her driving around, going to a park, meeting the other girls for a Nando's (YUM!).

We also get to hear a new Parade song! Ticking On It got its first airing back in April during the girls' Koko perfomance - then, it was just a stripped back piano version, but playing during Jessica's video is the studio version.

You can hear it best in the last 30 seconds of the video and it shows off the same glossy, R&B tinged pop the girls do so well in current single Perfume. It's also got a very mid 90s summery feel to it and reminds me a little of this...