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'It's probably a grower'

Miley Cyrus is releasing an EP 'across the pond' very soon, and she performed the lead single - 'Party In The USA' - at the Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards at the weekend.

If you're hoping for something to match the genius of "My best friend Lesley said 'Oh, she's just being Miley'" then the good news is that "...And the Jay-Z song was on! And the Jay-Z song was on! And the Jay-Z song was on!", and "...And the Britney song was on!" etc does come quite close. WELL THANK GOD FOR THAT. How postmodern.

On to a winner

Earlier today I blabbed on about the genius-ness of Sophie/Dogface, and mentioned how she is second favourite to win behind Siavash. WRONG.

She is now (marginally) favourite to win Big Brother according to the latest odds from bookmakers, so says this screen capture from betting comparison site BestBetting.

If you look at the exact odds for each housemate it's extremely tight between the top four... the top five in some instances... and Sophie isn't the universal favourite across all bookmakers, BUT this is a very encouraging sign and, even though the likelihood of things staying this way is ridiculously small, at least she was favourite at some point.

DOGFACE TO WIN.

(Gutted Bea)

EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN

Kelly Clarkson is getting lairy again because 'Already Gone' (amazing) is going to be the third single released from the All I Ever Wanted album.

'The story goes':

- Clarkson... we'll call her Kelly... claims to have worked on her Ryan Tedder collaborations during 2008, before the release of I Am... Sasha Fierce, the latest offering from Beyoncé. Beyoncé's album was released and on it was the glorious Tedder-penned 'Halo', rumoured to be originally for Leona Lewis, cue Simon Cowell waterworks blablabla.. separate story entirely.

- Reports vary, but a general jist floating around is that Kelly told interviewers on a Canadian something-or-other that upon hearing 'Halo' she fought to get 'Already Gone' removed from the tracklisting for All I Ever Wanted, because the songs sound remarkably similar and she knew that people would accuse her of stealing Beyoncé's sound.

- The New York Something (making notes when researching these things gets tedious, you'll understand) then reports that upon hearing the record label's plans to release 'Already Gone' as an actual single, Kelly kicked up a fuss and asked for something else (apparently 'Cry') to be released instead. Alas, Operation 'Already Gone' is going ahead as planned.

- Ryan Tedder has responded by saying he finds such comments "hurtful and absurd", and that... tada... 'Already Gone' is his favourite creation since 'Bleeding Love'. He noted that Kelly Clarkson is one of the most talented vocalists in the world etc etc, Beyoncé is awesome too etc etc... basically he was Very Nice About It and didn't throw all his toys out the pram. Ryan Tedder can therefore be assumed to be some form of hybrid Musical Genius and Very Nice Person. What a legend.

'The thing is':

- 'Already Gone' is BRILLIANT.

- Yes, it does sound alot like 'Halo', but then so does every other Ryan Tedder power ballad of recent times. Line both of them up with 'Battlefield' and 'Bleeding Love' and you realise that, brilliant as he is, Tedder likes to stick to what he knows. ALL OF HIS SONGS SOUND SIMILAR.

- 'Already Gone' makes a much better choice of single than 'Cry'.

- But given the fact that 'I Do Not Hook Up' stalled at No35 here and scraped the Top 20 in the US, there's a strong chance that any new single will tank.

- ... So really, when you think about it, this great big fuss is probably big publicity.

- ... So really, everybody wins.

While we're on it, the video for 'Already Gone' premiered a couple of weeks ago and appears, like some form of twisted magic, below. It's nice and glamorous and the soft focus shots give it a Certain Something. The string instruments playing themselves are a bit hilarious but other than that, the video lands somewhere between the YAYAH of 'My Life Would Suck Without You' and the MEH of 'I Do Not Hook Up'.

Also, owners of the original nearly-five-minute-long album cut will note that for the radio edit, instead of making a few clever and subtle cuts, they have simply sliced off the last minute or so and ended the song at the end of the middle-8. A bit silly.

Big Brother: Let's update the 'sitch'

- It is very good news that Dogface's popularity has improved, especially after Friday's scene in which she seductively said to Siavash in the bedroom "Do you want some TM? Do you want some TM?", then crept over to his bed and pounced on him shouting "TICKLE MONSTER!!!!!!". What a legend. Dogface to win. She won't. But fingers crossed for Top 3 at the least.

- A few weeks ago it was published here on these very pages that Bea is one of the most likeable housemates of the series. ERROR. Her days in the house are numbered.

- Halfwit is no longer the bookies' favourite (SALVATION!); that's an honour that is now handed to Siavash, a much more worthy winner. Halfwit is in fact now fourth with most bookmakers, behind Dogface and Charlie.

- Note to Rodrigo: SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

- UPDATE: Big Brother has announced that as a punishment for discussing nominations... housemates are now freely allowed to discuss nominations past, present and future. WHAT! Interesting decision... we shall see how this pans out.

Massive Britney fail.

Britney's Circus album was far from a modern classic, but it did have a few cracking potential hits ('Kill The Lights', 'Out From Under') that could possibly have been successful singles.

INSTEAD. After 'If U Seek Amy' (enjoyable, if ridiculously over-hyped) just about managed to scrape into the Top 20 on either side of the Atlantic, the fourth single was announced to be 'Radar', a song that first appeared on 2007's Blackout album before then being snuck on the end of Circus as well.

The single was released on July 27 to very little fanfare. Now, a week after climbing to the dizzy heights of No46, it's slipped back to No58. Given that its official release date was July 27th, any further upward momentum is not gonna happen.

Its reasons for failiure probably are:

- It's twenty-one months old, aka NEARLY TWO MORTAL YEARS.

- It's been on two albums. TWO!

- The cover art is like the 'Toxic' sleeve, only it's shit.

- People like to know that a single exists, so perhaps a bit of basic promotion might be a good idea next time...? Just a thought.

- The RoboBritney that seems to have replaced Actual Britney doesn't really sound much like Actual Britney; in fact we haven't really heard Actual Britney singing for quite some time now, what with Miming Britney being the Britney of choice for all live performances these days.

- No-one likes a music video that's basically about a love affair with a horse.

Also, reports say there's another Greatest Hits album out by the end of the year. This is a bit ridiculous seeing as there have only been seven singles from two albums since the last one in 2005, and of those singles only three have made the Top 10, but the good news is that the compilation - rumoured title Sublime: The Singles Collection - looks set to feature some new material from general all-round musical overlord Max Martin, a major player in Spears' first three albums and producer of 'If U Seek Amy'. The first three albums were a bit bubblegum-y and 'If U Seek Amy' was just absurd, but if he can find some form of middle ground we could be on to a winner.

We shall see.

P-P-P-Pixie face, P-P-Pixie face

Pixie Lott's 'Use Somebody' was a brilliant cover version and different enough from the already-amazing KOL original to not be a crime against music.

And (HOLD THE FRONT PAGE) there's more. This emerged on YouTube a few weeks ago - a cover of Lady GaGa's 'Poker Face'. Her hands are again doing The Diana Vickers Thing in reverse, as if she's luring air towards her. The cover itself is no 'Use Somebody' but it's still a pretty enjoyable affair:

Meanwhile, the actual new single 'Boys and Girls' is most definitley a grower, but never has a video been so awkward and so good... AT THE SAME TIME.

'Boys and Girls' is out on September 7th, with the album (VERY EXCITED) the week after.

Bit slow on the uptake - Part 2

Noirin.

A great housemate. Likeable at times. But, as the weeks went on - especially that last week of her in the house - she became more and more of a complete bitch.

Note especially this spectacularly two-faced interview: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/bigbrother/a169000/noirin-kelly-big-brother-10.html

Bit slow on the uptake - Part 1

Look into Demi Lovato's iTunes Live From London EP. Been out for nearly three months but there are some gems on there, notably a nice little acoustic version of 'Behind Enemy Lines' and the audience actually KNOW ALL THE WORDS, despite the fact that the album ('Don't Forget') didn't even crack the UK Top 100. Obviously the crowd is entirely 13 year-old girls but THIS IS IRRELEVANT.

High fives for everyone.

Album Review: Jordin Sparks - Battlefield

She struck gold with the ball-busting R’n’B power ballad ‘No Air’, a collaboration with the then-unhated Chris Brown, but Jordin Sparks has yet to really make herself a staple of the modern music scene. Her self-titled debut album landed somewhere just above average, and her other two singles – the brilliant ‘Tattoo’ and the likeable ‘One Step At A Time’ – struggled to come anywhere near the success of that duet. So this, her second album, is really where she has to prove her staying power.

The highlight of Battlefield is, without question, the single of the same name. It doesn’t so much push the right buttons as push all the fucking buttons, as undisputed master of the modern power ballad Ryan Tedder (‘Halo’, ‘Bleeding Love’) throws literally everything into a four-minute explosion of 80s arena-style pop-rock to create what is easily one of the best singles of the year. It really is frustrating that in the UK it’s stalled at No11 on three separate occasions, despite selling more than 124,000 copies.

The rest of the album fluctuates between very good and disappointingly average, but there are plenty of potential hits on here to keep Sparks a chart regular for the time being. Opener ‘Walking on Snow’ is a breezy pop gem and on ‘No Parade’ she gets to really show off that glass-shattering voice of hers. Note also the brilliant ball-busting climax of ‘The Cure’, a highlight that’s criminally tucked away at the end of the album. There are a couple of nods to dance here as well, and these are surprisingly successful – the Shannon-sampling ‘S.O.S. (Let The Music Play)’ could do with a bit of tweaking before its forthcoming release as a single, but it’s an enjoyable high-camp stormer nonetheless; and ‘Emergency (911)’ is really quite brilliant, despite a hilariously random phone-dialling sound effect about thirty seconds in.

But unfortunately what weighs Battlefield down is the amount of tracks that, although far from awful, are somewhat underwhelming and fail to make much of an impression. ‘Watch You Go’ and ‘It Takes More’ are a bit forgettable, ‘Faith’ sounds like a cliché-ridden reject from a Leona Lewis album, and ‘Was I The Only One’ is just plain boring. The problem is that the whole album has been based around the avalanche of praise that met ‘Battlefield’ (the title, the general sound) but unfortunately its nearest sound-a-likes just aren’t strong enough. Interviews suggest that the final track listing was whittled down from a total of thirty recorded songs, and perhaps it would have been a better idea to include a couple of ‘No Air’-style R’n’B tunes over half-arsed pop songs that try, but never will, match the perfection of that title track.

That said, despite the handful of forgettable fillers Battlefield is at least an improvement on last year’s début. This is far from a perfect album, but, at just nineteen years old, there’s plenty of time to perfect Project Sparks yet.

3/5