Pop Music

Colorado electro-dance outfit 3OH!3 have teamed up with Katy Perry for this remix of their song Starstrukk. Adding Perry to the mix has certainly made the tune all the more attractive for the males among us, not least because of a certain wet-dress scene where Perry poses in a fountain! I love a girl who has no problem with being an object of lust!

Starstrukk is one of those songs where you don't bother trying to decipher the lyrics, the video does that for you - and the guys are clearly in sex fantasy territory. They romp around a magic wishing fountain until the whole thing turns out - predictably - to just be a dream.

Why yes, yes they have! Rage Against The Machine have beaten Joe McElderry's The Climb to the #1 spot this Christmas. It's just been confirmed via the Radio 1 chart countdown, but we heard on Twitter earlier that Killing In The Name has officially outsold the X Factor winner's single!

In the most tense chart battle in years, Scott Mills played a number of comments from fans of both artists. Lisa's done a good post about X Factor's previously unbroken string of Christmas Number One's.

I'm a tiny bit gutted for Joe, because I genuinely liked him -  a gracious, humble guy with a good voice. Unfortunately, X Factor this year for me was a complete washout. And I think a lot of people are buying Rage Against The Machine as a way of registering their displeasure at the show. And yes, probably at Simon Cowell too.

This time last year, I didn't hold out much hope for The Saturdays breaking into the pop charts in any big way. However, aided by some cracking pop tunes and capitalising on the misfortunes of Sugababes and the slumbering Girls Aloud, they've miraculously returned for a second album, Wordshaker.

Personally, I'm glad they are, although they've ditched the bright colours that were their trademark throughout the promo for the first album. I loved Wordshaker's first single, Forever Is Over, for all its divaesque posturing and melodrama, though sadly I didn't review it.

Miley Cyrus has just released a new single Party In The USA, an unashamed bubblegum pop anthem that is as infectious as swine flu, but apparently not quite as dangerous.

This time last year, you'd have been forgiven for believing that Miley was trying to leave behind the cutesy Disney universe for pastures a little more grown up. To be honest, there's little in this track that we haven't seen from Miley in the past - the celeb obsession of moving to Hollywood has echoes of Fly On The Wall, but she (and her songwriters) deserve full marks for a fun, hook-laden tune that just begs to be sung out loud.

The video's an all-American dream - drive-in movies, gyrating in front of an enormous US flag. Brilliant stuff. Beats me why it took so many months to get a release in the UK when it was released in the USA in the summer.

Well, it is a party in the USA...

Thanks to RandomEnigma for the heads up on this great new video from Black Eyed Peas. Meet Me Halfway is the third single to be released from the Peas' latest album, The E.N.D.

As a single, it's not what you expect from the group - it's very 80's and thankfully features Fergie's mighty vocals more than the last two singles. You have to agree, that girl has a great set of lungs. And although the guys from the group put in their vocal appearances, there's none of the usual swagger or overtly suggestive lyrics. It is - certainly for the Peas - quite a sensitive ballad.

I know I'm a bit late to reviewing this single, but I've fallen in love with it over the last couple of weeks. From what I gather, Dizzee released this quite late in the summer, which means it totally missed its potential to become this year's holiday anthem.

Although, having said that, it's just in time for sloggers like me who've missed out on a holiday this year. After a couple of listens to Holiday, I'm feeling the urge to have a fortnight on a sun-kissed beach "wif a pina colada or whatevah I'd ravah".

In all honesty, the dream team of Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris are my favourite things about pop music at the moment, and songs like Holiday and Harris's Ready For The Weekend are the reason why - they're unabashedly about kicking back and having fun. Especially after seeing Dizzee coolly handle a raving Kate Moss last week, I've gotta commend the guy for just being soooo easy going.

Watch him bopping around in the video - whether in that blindingly garish shirt or the cool off-white suit...

The Sugababes are one of the most enduring girl groups we’ve ever seen in the UK. They started their chart careers back in 2000 as glum-faced teens, but with a surprisingly fresh urban sound that was more interesting that the kind of pop Atomic Kitten were flogging at the time.

There’s always been a cloud of bitchiness hanging over the group and this has brought about two personnel changes leading to the departures of original members Siobhan Donaghy and Mutya Buena. However, the Sugababes have always managed to reinvent themselves with each new album.

These days, of course, they’re a very slick pop act. There’s no denying that. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what we think are the best ever Sugababes songs.

1 - Ugly

Our favourite Sugababes song of all time, Ugly is a sweet pop song that talks about growing up and feeling unattractive, but gradually realising that inner beauty is important too. It’s a real nice message that their teenage fanbase could easily relate to. It’s the Sugababes’ answer to Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful.

Our favourite Lebanese singer/songwriter (that’s Mika, readers) is returning for that ‘difficult’ second album. It’ll be interesting to see if his unique brand of flamboyance can enthrall the public once again.

The lead single from the album, We Are Golden is an interesting starting point though. In the video, we have Mika surrounded by the usual rainbow of bright colours and visual madness. On the other hand, he’s strutting around his bedroom in white boxers like a teenager posing for new photos for his MySpace profile.

I mention this because Mika is in his middle twenties, so you’d think he’d have outgrown embarrassing bedroom dance routines by now. And the small matter of his age makes the lyrics about teenage dreams a bit moot.

Musically speaking, We Are Golden is a solid pop song, if not as special as the material from Mika’s 2007 debut album. You get the impression that he’s channeling the ghosts of old Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman songs in the verses, while the chorus is simply a matter of shouting the name of the track repeatedly.

Let’s admit it, reviewing Robbie’s comeback single, Bodies, isn’t going to be easy. The die hard posse only want positive things written, but there’s something in the nation’s consciousness that wants this to be shit.

And we’ve even seen some large-scale fan mutinies lately - U2 and Green Day have been openly criticised for their latest studio efforts, so the music-buying public might not be at their most receptive to comeback attempts right now.

What impresses me about Bodies is that Robbie manages to mung together the promised Gregorian chants, string section, lurching electronica during the verses and gospel choirs. Over the top of this thick musical soup, Robbie raps about “Jesus really tried for me” and how “all we really wanted was to look good naked”. Trying to make sense of the lyrics is pointless, so don’t bother trying.