Mohombi gets interactive!

Mohombi... In Your Head in every sense of the word. He's the guy who's already collab'd with Nicole Scherzinger and worked with always-awesome Lady Gaga producer RedOne, and now he's set his sights on the UK. With his debut release here set for the 5th March, it's a fair bet In Your Head is going to be a firm future No. 1.

But here's something new - ever been enjoying a YouTube video and found your thoughts wandering, eager to do something extra, to engage a little more with the track and the artist? Well now you can! Mohombi has rustled up this rather nifty interactive YouTube video which links through to various mixes of In Your Head.

Take Me Underground, Slow It Down or our personal favourite, Give Me A Floorfiller! - it's basically triple the amount of Mohombi for your money. And then you can go back and listen to the original again, because it's that catchy.

Oh, and anyone that defines their own sound as 'Afro-Viking' wins our vote too.

The Saturdays - All Fired Up

When I first heard Girls Aloud's masterpiece Sexy! No, No, No... I loved it right away. That feeling of eagerly listening in to a radio show, tuning in especially just to hear the new single from one of your favourite bands... there's nothing like it.

And so Sexy! No, No, No... became one of those rare songs that I absolutely loved from the out. No need for it to grow on me, the infatuation was there from the start - and the song remains to this date my favourite Girls Aloud single.

It brings me great pleasure then to be able to say that I'm experiencing all the same emotions with The Saturdays' spell-binding new single All Fired Up.

Initial reports and 30 second preview clips made it clear the track was a hyper-upbeat floorfiller, but hearing the full thing played on Radio 1 today, calling it merely a 'floorfiller' would be an understatement.

All Fired Up is positively alive, blasting away anything in its path with atomic levels of power and punch. Launching straight into the chorus straight from an ambient, moody intro, the Xenomania influence is clear.

For years the thoughts of The Sats working with Xenomania existed as a kind of Holy Grail of pop, a collaboration that seemed logical seeing as the band launched off the back of touring with Girls Aloud.

But of course, Xenomania in 2011 is in many ways a rather different creature to when dear Girls Aloud were putting out Tangled Up and Out Of Control, and it shows in All Fired Up. The DNA of tracks like Sexy! No, No, No... are there in the song; whether it be the structure, vocodered vocals or hectic pace. But it's an evolution of that sound - a FutureXenomania; a sleek space-rocket of pop amazingness that blasts away to stratospheric heights.

All Fired Up is the pop dance anthem to end all pop dance anthems - If there was a time when The Sats might finally claim that No. 1 single which is so overdue for them, then it is now.

With flirty, playful lyrics like 'we make the party super-naughty', All Fired Up is just as irresistible  - if not more so - as its forerunner Notorious was. And then there's Mollie's uber-cute 'We're all animal!' chant, oh, and Una's inspired 'Keep me on your radar...' outro, quite possibly my favourite bit from the song.

All Fired Up's real charm is that it channels repitition in a way that is impossibly exciting - by the time the song's finished you feel like you've already heard it ten times - and that's a good thing as it's So Damn Great!

This represents a big step for The Saturdays - in its entirety it sounds like nothing they've done before, yet zooming in, it stands as a very natural progression from what they began in Missing You and Notorious - now brought to full fruition.

It's The Saturdays go trance - and quite simply it sounds as brilliant in reality as it does on paper.
All Fired Up is released on the 2nd September and can be pre-ordered here.

The Kixx - Already Gone

In this age of social media and internet-savvy teens, 15,000 fans on Facebook is a pretty sure sign you're on the right track. And that's exactly what new boy-band The Kixx have gone and got themselves. Comprised of David, Robbie, Dave and Jack, the band are set to join Olly Murs on his UK tour in the coming months - something sure to see that number of fans grow and grow.

Their debut single Already Gone is an electro tinged pop-rock stomper; a buzz-saw synth bassline and machine-gun beats setting the pace before the track launches into a full-throttle chorus. Electric energy lies at the heart of this track and it whips you along at a roaring pace.

Fans of The Wanted will lap The Kixx up, they present that same confident, powerful brand of lad-pop. But what marks them out as different? Well, they play their own instruments for a start. Then there's the more clinical, precise feel stamped all over Already Gone - It's a song that knows all the right buttons to press, presenting a more refined, modern breed of track. Imagine the swagger and youthful energy of McFly in their prime mixed in with the dreamy New Wave of Duran Duran and you'll have a fair idea of what the band sound like.

And if all that wasn't already enough to convince you to check them out, the video for the single features Emily Atack AKA Inbetweeners hottie Charlotte Hinchcliffe.

I really love some of Kixx's early YouTube cover versions too, in particular their take on Linkin Park's Numb where they transform the track into a beautiful chilled out ballad. It showcases a real rock edge to the boys' voices, a nice touch when so many competiting boybands head more for the R&B vibe. Take That's SOS and The Script's For The First Time also get an outing - one thing that really wins me over with these guys is simply the song choices displayed here, they go for less obvious songs and it allows them to fully come into their own. This is a band that place themselves in an increasingly crowded market and who aren't afraid to try something a little different to get heads turning their way. I'm impressed.

Already Gone is released on June 5th.

The power of US X Factor - Would it work for Cher?

Things are still very hush-hush about the US Factor. We don't know the full line-up of judges, we don't know the presenters, we don't even know the format. Will it be similar to the UK version or try to do something bold and new? With rumours flying left, right and centre it's hard to know what to trust, but as the days pass by, we are surely drawing closer and closer to the inevitable confirmation of everything. The show must go on after all.

Which draws us to another inevitability. As seen in the UK version of the show, Simon was always keen on getting back old contestants - now signed to his record label - to perform on the show - it was an instant boost for their sales. It's his show after all, he has the power to do this.

So imagine now, if he were to do the same on the US version of the show. With a potentially immense audience, the prospect for boosted sales for Simon's UK-based artists is immense. An artist does well on the UK show? Bring them over to America and voila, an instant platform for them to perform on.

Today, we hear reports of X Factor darling Cher Lloyd being lined up to appear on the American show. How would she go down over there? It's impossible to know. On one hand she's very distinctly British, but equally, with her rapping and love of American artists like Nicki Minaj, she could be a surprise success. Let's not forget the mega-popularity of her debut Turn My Swag On performance at the UK auditions. Uploaded on YouTube, the clip was already being shared around the world. The US X Factor would see this same platform for exposure, but on a larger and far more concentrated level.