Take That - Happy Now

Kicking off with a trippy electronica intro that could have come straight off the latest glossy TV ad, Take That's Happy Now quickly slaps a big dollop of vocodered Robbie Williams in your lap as he whispers about 'super-heavy elements'. Is this a chemistry lesson or a pop single?

But then comes the chorus, so glorious and joyous in every extreme, you're left speechless at the marvelous duality of the track. Cold, wintery verses and then explosive choruses of spring-like energy. Compared to the epic power of The Flood and the electro-stomp of Kidz, Happy Now in a way represents the most traditionally 'pop' record off the new Take That album. Yes, the chorus really is that good. It's a slice of unashamed euro-disco that you just don't get enough of anymore.

Take That's move to a more electronic-influenced sound has certainly divided opinion, but for me, when it has resulted in such a brilliant run of singles as this you can't fault the boys. That is if this does indeed become the third single from the album (which I sincerely hope it does). Imagine the Take That boys performing this live at Wembley Stadium... that chorus is simply a pure arms aloft moment, the pleasures of pop music distilled into that one perfect moment. That's what it's all about.

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.

Take That - The Flood

Every so often a song comes along that quite literally picks you up off your feet and blows you away. There are some songs that are just ‘that’ good. And for me, Take That’s new single – the first from their 6^th studio album – is one such song. Walking down the street, this song comes up on your iPod, and my God does it leave an impact. From its subtle beginnings it builds and builds, layer upon layer, to an immensely powerful crescendo.

Of course, it’d be unfair not to mention the significance of Robbie Williams’ return to the band, this is after all the band’s first single with him since his return to the group. Robbie doesn’t fail to make his presence immediately felt, adding a much needed grit to the band’s sound. Post-comeback Take That were always highly skilled at pumping out glossy, melodic guitar-edged slabs of modern pop, but with Robbie’s return on The Flood, they now reach a new level of epicness, something the brilliant accompanying video marks out perfectly.

Featuring the band in a beautifully shot rowing race down the river Thames, it feels as quintessentially British as the band itself. By the time we see the reunited fivesome making their way past London’s famous landmarks and on out into the sea, we have a perfect visual metaphor for the song’s message of triumph in the face of adversity. Quite literally ‘holding back the flood’.

And so we have Take That, returning once again, stronger than ever. With each new album since their return they have presented themselves as more glossy, more meaningful, more driven. No wonder then they set the charts alight with colossal record sales, blasting the Christmas market apart with numbers other acts can only ever dream of. And with The Flood, every single inch of that success is justified – it really is a truly magical record.

Out 15^th November