Sam Smith is currently one of the hit voices in British pop music. His latest release is titled “I’m Not The Only One”, and belongs to his acclaimed debut album ‘In The Lonely Hour’ (2014). The video clip is signed by director Luke Monaghan, once again pairing up to repeat the success of the last hit “Leave Your Lover”, filled with stunning photography and delicious cinematic elegance.
The London singer has had the great help of the actress Dianna Agron, known worldwide for her role as Quinn Fabray in the series Glee, broadcasted by Fox.
The fourth single from Sam Smith’s first album revolves around infidelity. In it, we see a perfect wife saying goodbye to her husband at the door of their home, in an alleged atmosphere of happiness and love. While the husband runs to the arms of a lover in the city center, the wife, knowing the adventures her loved one, is evidently frustrated and resigned. Everything seems to be heading towards disaster as we listen to the lovely voice of Sam Smith, but at the end of the video nothing is what it seems…
The tone of the picture is framed in classic, elegant and timeless environment to which we are accustomed from this singer, highly consistent with the letter and the tone of the song.
Sam Smith, songwriter as well as singer, gained much of his popularity through various collaborations with artists such as Disclosure and Naughty Boy. Winner of the Critics prize in recent Brit Awards and prize-holder of the BBC’s Sound of 2014 award, Smith keeps presenting singles from his debut album, which has reached number one in the UK charts and number two in U.S. Moreover, “In The Lonely Hour”, released last May, in its first week sales overtook “Ghost Stories” by the exemplary group, Coldplay.
“Only the mad survive.” This is the motto of the new installment of the legendary post-apocalyptic franchise “Mad Max” starring Mel Gibson, which busted the box office during the eighties and became a legend of action cinema.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a new look at a world consumed by violence and barbarism in a setting dominated by desert, barren lands, cars, fire and the struggle to find gasoline. The head of this new adventure, for the constantly tormented Mad Rockatansky, is the director of the original trilogy – George Miller.
The official trailer for the film premiered last week at Comic-Con in San Diego (USA), a presentation that has become imperative with major world premieres relating to science fiction and film adventures.
Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) will be responsible for updating the franchise for the fourth time and bringing back to life the tormented avenger of the road. Sharing the spotlight with Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Monster, Prometheus). The beautiful Australian actress, almost unrecognizable in this film, plays the other major role of Empress Furious. The cast is also made up of other familiar names such as Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max), Nathan Jones (Conan the Barbarian), Zoe Kravitz (Divergent), as well as supermodel and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Transformers: Dark of the Moon).
The Oscar winner George Miller, yet again raises his own film franchise that began in 1979 with “Mad Max”, a film with a budget that was less than 300,000 euros, which then grossed a whopping 74 million worldwide. Soon after came “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (1981) and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), where we could see the singer Tina Turner in the role of a ruthless villain.
Mad Max: Fury Road, shot almost entirely in the deserts of Namibia, where events will take place before the original trilogy storyline, with hopes of becoming an icon of post-apocalyptic cinema as were its predecessors. Its worldwide release is scheduled for May 22, 2015, although the producer is considering an earlier launch date of May 15 for some European countries.
Janelle Monáe has just released a new music video for Electric Lady. The futuristic clip features a host of stars, soulful horns and plenty of groovy dancing!
The song is a great showcase of Janelle’s talents – she even demonstrates her rapping skills. Janelle took the opportunity to celebrate the important women in her life – her ‘Electric Ladies’ and the video features cameos from T.I., Estelle, Esperanza Spalding, T-Boz, Monica, Kimbra, Joi, choreographer Fatima Robinson and Monáe’s mother.
The video is set at a futuristic college party where Monáe hits up an “Electra Phi Beta” sorority house party and from there the whole party erupts into fantastic dance routines – including light sabres and marching bands.
The press release included two quotes from President Barak Obama and the First Lady:
First Lady Michelle Obama on Janelle Monáe: “First of all, I am honored to be the first Electric Lady. I got my letter in the mail — I framed it; it’s up. I love that she is one of the young artists here who is making music that means something. She has a message. She has a voice. She has a power in her. And she understands the responsibility she has within her grasp to take these opportunities and just take off with them. She serves as a role model and an inspiration to so many young people. And I am happy to call her my friend. I am so proud of her.”
President Barack Obama on Janelle Monáe: “Janelle has performed at the White House, like, 15 times. There’s going to be an official Janelle Monae room in the White House. We love her. Michelle and I love Janelle. We love her energy. We love her talent. But we most of all love her character. And anybody who gets a chance to talk to her, this is just a remarkable, strong, smart young lady. And I have to say nice things about her because she may be the only person in possession of a video in which I try to keep up with her and Usher on the dance floor. Now, this is top secret. She has promised that this will never be released. But she can blackmail me at any time.”
International journalist, author and television reporter Julio Muñoz is the editor-in-chief of the official website of Spain’s national football team (Real Federación Española de Fútbol) and has also published three top-selling novels. Before focusing his professional career on reporting sports news and disclosing the scoop on elite Spanish sportsmen, Muñoz worked as a reporter for several of the most popular television channels in Spain, including Canal Sur, Antena 3 and La Sexta.
He has chosen some awesome music videos for this week’s Sunday Sessions playlist.
San Fermin – Renaissance! – Audiotree Live
“I chose thing song because I was listening to it on repeat while I was answering Creation 5’s interview questions!”
Volcano Choir Performs “Comrade” – City of Music
“Volcano Choir is the sister band of Bon Iver’s, whom I love. Bon Iver has a story behind it that deserves to be investigated and told…”
Sigur Rós – Fjögur píanó [Official Music Video]
“This song is gorgeous. The video clip is an unofficial proposal, and it’s awesome.”
In theatres this weekend the smart, tongue-in-cheek space opera ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. A bunch of unlikey superheroes are on a quest to save the cosmos in Marvel’s latest cinematic adventure.
The film is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Vin Diesel (Groot) and Bradley Cooper (Rocket).
Marvel has brought us the blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, and now comes a brand new team – the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded into the cosmos! Chris Pratt leads the unlikely heroes – Rocket, an aggressive gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly Gamora and Drax the Destroyer. “If we are going to save the galaxy, we’re gonna have to do it together.”
As is now expected from Marvel Studios the inclusion of special post-credit sequences at the end of the movie are worth waiting for. We don’t want to spoil things if you haven’t seen the movie, so suffice to say, remember to stay for the credits, you won’t be disappointed. It’s one of the best post-credit sequences, ever.
We love the soundtrack – it’s quite retro, suggesting that the Studio are expecting ‘middle’ youth, not just teenagers to enjoy this epic adventure.
The best character in our opinion is Groot, played by our favourite actor Vin Diesel – “I didn’t realise how much I love trees” – Vin said of his role.
The movie website IMDB have given the movie a 9/10 rating and Rotten Tomatoes have given it a whopping 90%.
Initial Release: August 1, 2014 (USA)
Running Time: 122 minutes
Katy Perry debuts a wacky pop art video for her new single #thisishowwedo. It’s a wonderful explosion of art, vintage fashion, pepperoni pizzas and even twerking ice creams! Some serious eye candy here!
After problems with her last video ‘Dark Horse’ which caused a lot of controversy, Katy has wisely steered away from presenting any ethnic groups, instead she has opted for pop culture references, with her Pee-Wee Herman-inspired backup dancers and vintage art-inspired outfits. We love the tribute to Aretha Franklin’s inauguration hat!
The video begins with Katy as an art masterpiece – she then circles through 5 stunning looks in just 30 seconds! She wears everything from Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Mondrian dress to a pepperoni pizza swimsuit! Her back up dancers look pretty amazing as well – especially the super cute guys dressed in smooth grey suits and red bow ties.
Don’t worry about some of the lyrics – which are a teeny bit cringe-worthy “Now we’re talking astrology / getting our nails did all Japanese-y,” just enjoy the show! The combination of visuals and beats works really well – Katy rocks it in this video!
‘This Is How We Do’ is the fifth single from Perry’s recent chart-topping album Prism.
If there’s a superhero in you and you feel like you have the power to save the world, then this is your playlist. Grab your cape and mask, and let the action begin!
Here’s a look at some of the most inspiring superhero theme songs out there, as well as songs written and performed by some of our all time favourite bands and musicians who feature on these superhero movie soundtracks.
Superman Theme – John Williams (1978)
“Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith first. The trust part comes later” – Man of Steel (2013)
Williams conducted the London Symphony Orchestra to record the Superman soundtrack, made up of three main components: a fanfare, a march and a love theme. The structure of the theme contributes to the emotional power of the song. Director Richard Donner was unable to contain his excitement and ruined the first take of the original recording session for the film’s theme by shouting: “Genius! Fantastic!”
The Superman theme was nominated at the 36th Golden Globes for Best Music (Original Score) and won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Ghostbusters Theme – Ray Parker, Jr. (1984)
“We came, we saw, we kicked ass!” – Dr. Peter Venkman
“Ghostbusters” was recorded by Ray Parker, Jr. in 1984 and reached Nº1 on Billboard Hot 100 and reached Nº2 on the UK Singles Chart, staying there for three weeks. Parker only had a few days to complete the song. He was inspired by a cheap commercial on TV and thus, wrote a pseudo-advertising jingle for the movie soundtrack.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music (Original Song).
Spider-Man Main Title – Danny Elfman (2002)
“With great power comes great responsibility” – Uncle Ben
Sony released Danny Elfman’s Original Motion Picture Score for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man in June 2002. It fuses traditional orchestration, ethnic percussion and electronic elements. It was nominated for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media at the 45th Grammy Awards.
The Hulk Theme – Danny Elfman (2003)
“Hulk Smash!”
Danny Elfman composed the soundtrack to Ang Lea’s film adaptation of the Hulk, released in 2002. Allmusic’s review states: “Elfman tried to fuse his own quirky, often tense style, with a more overtly serious, droning sound that feels more akin to the work of Hans Zimmer.”
The Incredibles Theme – Michael Giacchino (2004)
“I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now” – Edna Mode
Michael Giacchino scores his first Pixar film, The Incredibles, in 2004. It’s a fun track that mixes spy/adventure music from the 60’s with fun jazz music. The theme won several awards for Best Score and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
The Dark Knight Trilogy Themes – Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard (2005 – 2012)
“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me” – Bruce Wayne
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard co-composed the soundtracks to The Dark Knight Trilogy, which includes Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight rises (2012), however Howard did not return to complete the score of the third film of the franchise. Regarding his departure, he said: “I just really felt that I had made what I felt like I could contribute to the series, and I always felt that Hans was the mastermind of those scores. I mean, they really sounded the way they sounded because of him. His conception of the scores was really brilliant. It’s not that I didn’t add a lot, I did, but I don’t think I added the aspects of the music that really defines the character of those movies”.
The score of The Dark Knight (2008) won the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Iron Man Movie Theme – Ramin Djawadi (2008)
“Iron Man – That’s kind of catchy. It’s got a nice ring to it” – Tony Stark
The Iron Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was composed by Ramin Djawadi and released in May 2008. The Iron Man main theme song for the Jon Favreau’s 2008 adaptation of Marvel Comic’s Iron Man has been described by AllMusic as a “slow-built menace of Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard’s work on Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise and dials an industrial army that utilizes crushing percussion, huge strings, and a symphony of distorted guitars, that echo Metallica’s concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, minus the vocals.”
Captain America: The First Avenger Theme – Alan Silvestri (2011)
“This isn’t freedom. We’re holding a gun to every citizen’s head and calling it security” – Captain America
Composed by Alan Silvestri and released in June 2011, the Captain America theme has been deemed by Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK as “one of the most enjoyable scores of the summer for one single reason – it’s fun… much like the film it wears its heart on its sleeve and has a simple intent: to excite you, to entertain you, and leave the experience smiling.” Allmusic have reviewed it as: “appropriately stoic and expansive… both familiar and iconic… it’s enjoyable and effective, but not groundbreaking, which pretty much sums up the score as a whole”.
Here’s the extended playlist:
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Dutch producer Lodewijk Fluttert, known by his stage name Bakermat, is on course for his first UK Top 40 hit with One Day. The track was a huge hit across Europe last year and is now breaking out of house music circles and entering the big leagues! The song samples Martin Luther King’s most famous speech “I Have a Dream”.
The song was originally released as ‘Vandaag’ in August 2012 as a single and reached the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. It was then rereleased by Sony this year as ‘One Day (Vandaag)’ and immediately became a hit in Germany and Austria and now – it’s edging up the UK charts, currently sitting at Nº12.
Bakermats masterful use of the saxophone melody, overlaid with samples of the speech gives the track an almost ethereal feel. We interviewed Bakermat in November last year and spoke to him about the use of this famous speech: “I think it’s the best speech ever written and narrated. The speech is music itself. I thought it would be nice to ‘remix’ it and so, I started the track “Vandaag” from scratch, with only the speech to draw inspiration from. I made the chords and built stuff up around it. Martin Luther King remains one of the best speechmakers ever.”
YouTube have revealed their list of the most played music videos of 2014 (so far) and Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’ is the clear winner – by a sweet 100 million views! Sitting pretty in second place are the sexy twosome – Shakira and Rihanna with their over-the-top video for “Can’t Remember to Forget You”. Shakira appears twice in the list as does Latin heart throb Enrique Iglesias.
1-Katy Perry, ‘Dark Horse’ ft Juicy J (494,834,900 views)
Katy Perry’s Dark Horse music video is the clear favourite to be the year’s top clip, with almost half a billion views since February! The clip sees Perry as an Egyptian queen with supernatural powers. The video has sparked quite a bit of controversy though among the Muslim community as Perry uses her powers to disintegrate a man wearing a pendant with the word Allah on it. “Blasphemy is clearly conveyed in the video, since Katy Perry (who appears to be representing an opposition of God) engulfs the believer and the word God in flames,” wrote Shazad Iqbal in an online petition to have the video banned. Many similar petitions submitted to the website change.org have been met with counter-calls from YouTube to keep the video online in the name of “free expression”.
2-Shakira, ‘Can’t Remember to Forget You’ ft Rihanna (358,925,042 views)
Shakira and Rihanna’s sexy video is only 100 million views behind at 360 million views. This video also caused quite a scandal for showing the two girls writhing around together on a bed and smoking cigars. A columbian politician released a statement saying that the video should be banned for promoting tobacco and lesbianism, the New York Daily News website reported.
3-Shakira, ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’ ft. Carlinhos Brown (264,211,400 views)
This video ranked high on this top 10 for three reasons: 1) It was one of the official World Cup songs, 2) It’s Shakira (she now has 101 million fans on Facebook) and 3) It’s a great video clip, the best of the World Cup ones, and you even get to see Shakira’s football skills!
4- ‘We Are One (Ole Ola)’ [The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Song] (Olodum Mix) (218,498,700 views)
Another World Cup song by Pitbull feat. Jennifer Lopez & Claudia Leitte – this powerhouse trio is enough to rank up some hefty views, even without the influence of the World Cup. The song received positive reviews from critics, but also some negative reactions from Brazilians due to its lack of Brazilian ‘feeling’. To remedy that, another version was created and the music changed slightly to fit Afro Brazilian group Olodum’s style of drumming. It didn’t do that well commercially but did reach the top-twenty in a few countries including Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, France and the World Cup’s host country Brazil.
5-Enrique Iglesias, ‘Bailando’ (Español) ft Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona (230,758,500 views)
This song is the Sound of Summer 2014 – at the top of numerous Latin charts it’s heard everyday on the radio. For a song that is mostly in Spanish, it’s interesting how it has become such a big pop hit. Perhaps Enrique is just the ultimate ambassador of the cool and smooth vibe. Or perhaps it’s because the song is so damn happy and feel-good that it cuts through all the clutter and sets your hips swaying…? Enrique himself told Billboard’s executive director of Latin content and programming, Leila Cobo, “Of all the songs I’ve written in Spanish, there’s something about this song, the more I listen to it, the more I seem to like it. There’s something addictive about this song.”
6-The Chainsmokers, ‘#SELFIE’ (187,011,580 views)
This video and song perfectly captures our cultural obsession with selfies. It might soon be relegated to a pop culture footnote but for now it shows no signs of dwindling. The Chainsmokers are Drew Taggart and Alex Pall and they recorded a demo of the track and uploaded it to Soundcloud and Instagram. It went viral and was picked up by Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. Ok, so it was helped by TheAudience – a marketing firm that specialises in social media, but nonetheless no one can deny that it became a ‘viral sensation’.
7-Iggy Azalea, ‘Fancy’ ft Charli XCX (187,050,600 views)
This song has spent the majority of the summer to date at Nº1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the song of the summer. From Memorial Day to Independence day Fancy was downloaded 1.3 million times – that’s a record for a six week period. According to Billboard, since Memorial Day “Fancy” has a cumulative audience of 1.03 billion “listener impressions”. Fancy that.
8-Frozen Soundtrack, ‘Let It Go’ (291,127,574 views)
The worldwide phenomenon that is the Frozen soundtrack – many have been surprised at the incredible success of this soundtrack. “When a musical grosses a billion dollars at the worldwide box office and features an inspirational album, why should we be surprised?” asks Glen Brunman, former head of Sony Music’s soundtrack unit. The time that the movie was launched made the ‘weather’ a key player in it’s success. With freezing temperatures, most Americans were confined to their homes and the album became a soundtrack to more than a movie. Disney fans have posted more than 30,000 versions of the song to YouTube with a combined total of more than 150,000,000 views.
9-Jason Derulo, ‘Wiggle ft Snoop Dogg’ (155,308,309 views)
What a great combination Derulo and Snoop Dog make! This track, lifted from the hugely successful ‘Tatoos’ album sees Jason and friends surrounded by bikini-clad girls enjoying a party at a huge mansion – it’s not difficult to understand it’s success!
10-Enrique Iglesias, ‘El Perdedor’ ft. Marco Antonio Solís (130,772,069)
The second single from Enrique’s album ‘Sex and Love’ – the song is the opening theme of Mexican telenovela ‘Lo Que La Vida Me Robó’. It’s the 5th time one of Enrique’s songs has been chosen as an opening theme of a telenova. According to reports, Enrique wrote this song eight years ago and was just waiting for the right time to approach Marco Antonio Solís, one of his biggest idols, to ask him to put his vocals on it. The music video, released in January 2014 was directed by Jessy Terrero and also features a guest appearance by televonela star Sandra Echeverría.
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American-Mexican rapper Taboo, best known as a member of The Black Eyed Peas, released a rhythmic solo single entitled ‘Zumbao’.
The song was released just before the start of the 2014 football World Cup Brazil, and has now become one of the most played hits in Latin America.
The track was composed by the Ecuadorian singer-songwriter and winner of a Latin Grammy, Paulina Aguirre. Taboo pays homage to his Latin roots in ‘Zumbao’, where he mentions South American pop stars like El Chavo del Ocho, Juan Gabriel and Marco Antonio Solis. In his own words it’s a way of describing, through music, his childhood as a Latin growing up in California.
Jaime Luis Gómez, or Taboo, became tremendously popular in the 90s and early 2000s as part of The Black Eyed Peas. Today, his fame hasn’t waned and is among the 10 top-paid rappers in 2014, according to the ‘People with Money’ magazine – his profits are around $46 million. With the launch of this latest solo single, he’s cemented himself at the same level as the other members of the band, such as Fergie, Will.i.am and Apl.de.ap, who already have several works and collaborations on the market.
Having just turned 39 and father of 3 kids, Taboo stated that ‘Zumbao’ helped him get his feet back on the ground and escape a life led by drugs and alcohol. Some of the habits were destroying his personal and professional lives, and are covered in his biography, ‘Fallin’ Up: My Story’.
After collaborating with artists such as Sie7e, Mexican star Paulina Rubio in his hit ‘Hoy Me Toca a MI’, and the recent ‘Taboo Experience’ tour, in which the rapper toured the world’s best clubs, Taboo returns with ‘Zumbao’ while still shaping ‘Tabmagnetic’, which will presumably be his first full-length work.
