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 cover Cher Lloyd's 'Swagger Jagger'

It's the Number One single in the UK, and now hot new girlband Parade have done a cover of it!

I'm a big fan of the acapella versions the girls in the past; everyone will know their take on Born This Way that they frequently perform at live shows, and their Chris Brown cover is spot-on too.

What I like best about their version of Cher Lloyd's hit is that it really shows off their vocals - proper harmonies, transforming the track into a chilled out, soulful little number with real charm to it.

The girls are lining up for the release of their debut album in October and going by top pop tunes Louder and Perfume, it looks set to be a mega-success.

(There's a brilliant little style feature with the Parade girls in today's Sunday Mirror too - like The Saturdays before them, the tabloids and glossy mags have totally taken to the girls' street-smart glamour, a win-win situation for everyone!)

Parade's debut album (check out the cover shot above!) can be pre-ordered here.

(Video) Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger

It was always going to happen. As much as I didn't want it to, as much as I told myself that this song would never end up on my iPod - it has. And you know why? Because the video for Cher Lloyd's debut single Swagger Jagger is a bit brilliant.

The thing is, this looks like the video for a Number One single. If I was managing Cher, this is the kind of video I would have made. it's colourful, it's young, it's trendy. It suits her.

The bouncy, bright graphics are great - and the lyrics popping up like comic-book captions are a nice touch too.

Most obviously though, Cher looks amazing. Like properly gorgeous. Her hair is all 'did', and she bears quite possibly her most striking resemblance to her X Factor mentor Cheryl to date.

The final studio version of the track has some rather subtle tweaks to it too - nothing major but enough to iron out some of the most irritating bits of the demo version that leaked first.

Yup, there's the most shameless product placement ever (ok, maybe not as shameless as the Mercedes placement in the new Transformers movie) - but really, do you need to have one of those glossy shots of Cher operating her mobile phone not just once, but twice?!

At times the video does feel a little Party At The Underage Disco! (Free bottle of WKD with entry!), but on the whole I really, really like it. Like the best videos, it's managed to make me not only tolerate the track, but like it. Perhaps in time I'll even love it.

Swagger Jagger is released on the 1st August and is available to download from iTunes here. The digital package includes remixes by HyGrade, the Wideboys, Dillon Francis and Eyes.

WOW! It's a new Cher Lloyd photoshoot

Now this is more like it! I'm still feel the effects of dissapointment experienced on first hearing Cher Lloyd's debut single Swagger Jagger, and having listened to it further since then, it hasn't done much to grow on me either.

This dazzling new photoshoot is something to get excited about though. Cher looks hot, she looks trendy, and most importantly, she looks cool.

This is the kind of thing I envisioned when Cher won the X Factor, and if she'd come out with a thoroughly amazing song in conjunction with this photoshoot she'd be my new favourite popstar, without a doubt. But there lies the problem, the complete mismatch in her image and her music.

It's a shame almost, because he image is bang on. That's why we fell in love with her on X Factor after all. But any 'cool' she managed to acrue on the show or through brilliant photoshoots like this is instantly eliminated by the annoyingness of Swagger Jagger - as much as I wish I could love the track, I just can't.

I'm willing to hold out on the jury when it comes to Cher though - I have hope in her. You see, when someone like her has potential, it doesn't really go away, it's just sometimes masked behind a whole heap of other stuff.

So, for the time being, I'm hoping Swagger Jagger is just a momentary blip, and that in time Cher will grow into the full package we all imagined she'd be when we first saw her on our tellies.

Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger

Like quite a lot of people, I feel in love with Cher Lloyd on the X Factor - she was something completely new for the competition, bringing a real gutsy influence to a show that was teetering on the brink of become tired out. With her love of  hip-hop, she was a breath of fresh air from the endless line of Mariah-wannabes.

And then, also like a lot of people, as the show finished, it began to dawn on us whether Cher could actually become a proper popstar. Multiple trips to America and a variety of colourful outfits and haircuts aside, all we had to judge her at this point was her Twitter feed - something that probably did more to undermine her than build her up. Full of angry outbursts at journalists, 'haterz', and seemingly everyone, it was quite the turn off for anyone who liked Cher because of the fantastic performances she had pulled out on the X Factor.

Can she win us back round with her debut single though? The jury's still out. I think, for me, the main problem is still the title. I visibly cringed when I first heard Cher's single was going to be called 'swagger jagger'. It felt like the single was trading off the gimmick of Cher's 'swagger'. And what made this all the worse is that she did actually have swagger. That force of personality and bluster - that's why we liked her. But naming your song after it, nah...

And now, finally, we get to hear the track. And on first listen, I wasn't wholeheartedly impressed. It's like some kind of bizarre Black Eyed Peas/Miley Cyrus mash-up. Now, we all know Cher is a big Will.i.am fan so perhaps that isn't the biggest surprise, but the worst moments of the track are precisely those that sound like a third-rate Black Eyed Peas pastiche; all cut and paste vocals and buzz-saw synths. It's a tired sound and comes across as incredibly forced. It also has massive annoyability-factor - you know, those frustratingly catchy songs you'll hear once on the radio and then have stuck in your head forever.

But that's not to say Swagger Jagger is all bad though. No, listening to it a few more times, there's definitely moments in there I warmed too. When Cher is in full-on Miley-mode, and the track errs more towards its pop side, it feels fun and far more attuned to the sense of fun we want Cher Lloyd to be about. It feels uplifting, energetic, and for a few short moments, the kind of track we always wanted her to deliver. But only for a few short moments.

You see, where Cher Lloyd, 'the popstar' is concerned, someone pretty much got in there first, and her name is Jessie J.