Tinashe "up the duff" and 11 other songs you may have missed

A semi-regular round-up of songs I wanted to blog about until life got in the way.

This week's superstars include.

1) Tinashe - Player (ft Chris Brown)
Her early EPs were a major influence on the dark, brooding lasciviousness of Beyonce's Beyonce album. Now Tinashe is going for Queen B's crown with a straight-up, chrome-plated pop classic.

The first single from her forthcoming second album, Joyride, it suggests a major push for mainstream success. But one thing is niggling at me: The lyric websites all say she's singing "you got me all fucked up" in the chorus - but surely I'm not the only one who hears "you got me up the duff"?




2) Ellie Goulding - Something In The Way You Move
Simmering electropop from pop's huskiest songstress. Another indication that Delirious will be an album full of solid gold bangers.





3) Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson - Say Say Say (2015 remix)
A souped-up version of the 1983 duet, this swaps around Macca and Jacko's vocals, and is generally a funkier, more upbeat take on the original. Part of a reissue of McCartney's Pipes of Peace album, it has even been blessed with a new video.

Sadly, the single's b-side, Ode to a Koala Bear, has been left untouched.

4) KDA - Turn The Music Louder (ft Tinie Tempah & Katy B)
The backing track feels a little "my first sequencer" but Tinie and Katy lift this track way above the average. Fantastic video, too.




5) Eliza and the Bear - Lion's Heart
A spoonful of Mumford, a sprinkle of Coldplay, and a pinch of The Libertines. Mix it all together, throw in a trumpet and you have Eliza and the Bear's anthemic new single.

Just to reiterate every article that's ever been written about them: Eliza and the Bear are all boys, and none of them is called Eliza.



6) Foxes - Better Love
Windswept, widescreen pop. But even Rihanna would think twice about a music video where the star sits on a toilet (even if she's just painting her toenails).




7) Dua Lipa - New Love
Jessie Ware's silky melodies crossed with the percussive dissonance of Bjork - New Love is an epic introduction to 19-year-old Londoner Dua Lipa. It was produced by Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs), and Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow), in case that sort of thing matters to you.






8) Frances - Let It Out
Quiet, intense, fragile, beautiful. Frances is a shoo-in for next year's "ones to watch" lists.



9) Jones - Indulge
I missed this song when it came out in April, but it's become a firm favourite after London-born R&B singer Jones performed it on Jools Holland earlier this week. A dramatic, luxurious song about surrendering to love - I present both acoustic and studio versions, because I can't decide which I love most.







10) Bloc Party - The Love Within
Back from their second "hiatus" with a renewed energy, this song is a perfect balance between the shouty whirligig of Bloc Party's indie thrash and the throbbing electronica of Kele Okereke's solo material.



Petite Miller - Barbaric
This lolita-ish French singer is being talked about in all the right places - but I'm just not getting it. Can anyone enlighten me?



11) Olly Murs - Kiss Me
An interesting diversion into "not hateful" territory from pop's perennial hat-botherer and X Factor acolyte.



12) Janet Jackson - BurnItUp! (Ft Missy Elliot)
A lyric video, shot by the cast and crew of Janet's Unbreakable World Tour, this makes life on the road look like an absolute blast.

The tour pulls into the UK next March, fact fans.

And that's your lot... Enjoy the weekend!

Tweet

Hear what the Brits were bleeping out of Kanye West's perfomance

Deranged quote machine Kanye West has just unveiled the studio version of his new single, All Day - aka the one that had The Brits playing whack-a-mole with the mute button.

Unsurprisingly, it comes across a lot better when you actually get to hear the words (and the bass, and the lyrics). What's more surprising is how long it took the song to come together.

West first mentioned it in a GQ interview last July, saying it had the sort of lyrics "Jay would normally say". But speaking to Radio 1 last week, Sam Smith said: "You know he hasn't even finished that song?"

"I said to him [at The Brits], 'what are you guys doing after?' and he said, 'I've got to go to the studio and finish that song I just performed.' I thought that was amazing."

Perhaps the extra work went into sampling Paul McCartney whistling, which is how the song ends. According to Rolling Stone, the section appears to be a re-recording of a song McCartney wrote in 1969 that was inspired by a Pablo Picasso painting of a guitarist. I kid you not.

Here's the song in full. You can buy it on iTunes now.

Kanye West - All Day | Listen for free at bop.fm

Tweet

10 must-see moments from the Grammys

Rihanna killed it vocally, Katy Perry brought the tears and AC/DC were about the only band who didn't bore everyone off with a ballad.

These are the Grammy highlights, and the tweets that best explain them.

Get them while they're hot. And by hot I mean still available.

1) Rihanna, Kanye and Macca - FourFiveSeconds

Paul McCartney did you forget the words? #GRAMMYs

— Danielle Zimmerman (@Danielekincaid) February 9, 2015

2) Sia - Chandelier (with Kristen Wiig and Maddy Ziegler)

Kristin Wiig just perfectly summed up how us normals look when we sing Sia songs into the mirror alone at home. #GRAMMYS

— Rosemary Hallmark (@rohallma) February 9, 2015

3) Madonna - Living For Love

Taylor Swift was SO into Madonna at the #GRAMMYs: http://t.co/4K0kkYGDIt pic.twitter.com/EcdOSGFt6c

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 9, 2015

4) AC/DC - Rock or Bust / Highway To Hell

AC/DC gets a Teleprompter assist at #GRAMMYs. “It’s rock or bust.” http://t.co/Bc1xixvqat pic.twitter.com/F8yHQBD32Q

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 9, 2015

5) Katy Perry - By The Grace of God
Katy Perry's performance was preceded by a speech about domestic abuse by Brooke Axtell, from Austin, Texas (sadly clipped out of this video).

She spoke about her "romance with a handsome, charismatic man".

"I was stunned when he began to abuse me," she continued. "Authentic love does not devalue another human being. Authentic love does not silence, shame or abuse."

Brooke Axtell's is the most important voice we're gonna hear tonight. #GRAMMYs

— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) February 9, 2015

6) Kanye invades the stage



7) While Jay-Z and Beyonce watch




8) ELO and Ed Sheeran - Evil Woman / Mr. Blue Sky

Paul McCartney dances like nobody Is watching, notices somebody watching #Grammys http://t.co/qRSmMuLIvi

— Gawker (@Gawker) February 9, 2015

9) Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (with John Mayer)

So far the biggest thing I've learned tonight is that Ed Sheeran's album X is pronounced "multiply" and not "ex"

— daniel. (@dandal1on) February 9, 2015

10) Pharrell - Happy (with Hans Zimmer and Lang Lang)

Ah, we knew Pharrell's outfit looked familiar... http://t.co/0eOeNPwSbF #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/L7Eb0ZdkoS

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 9, 2015

Tweet

Here's the new video from Paurihanye

Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye West - or Paurihanye, as literally no-one is calling them, have just unveiled the video for their acoustibanger FourFiveSeconds.

It has been shot in black and white so that we know what a SERIOUS ARTISTIC ENTERPRISE this is. You can also tell this because no-one smiles or looks at each other because they are LOST in the MUSE.

Rihanna has also forgotten her underwear again. It's a bit of a mess, frankly, but the song is great so all is forgiven.

Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye West - FourFiveSeconds

Fans of never-ending music ceremony telethons will be pleased to hear that Paurihanye will be performing this song at the Grammys on Sunday.

Tweet

Eleven songs you may have missed (and one you definitely haven't)

This is the first "songs you may have missed" post since Christmas so in all likelihood these are songs you may not have missed. But there's always time for a good music megapost so let's begin, with...

1) Rihanna - FourFiveSeconds
About bloody time, pop's most elusive pop star is back, collaborating with Kanye West and Sir Fab Macca Wacky Thumbs Aloft on a surprisingly attitude-free, stripped back acoustic pop "number".

It's good. So good, in fact, that it's going to appear on both Kanye and Rihanna's new album. Which is going to cause havoc with my iTunes library. HAVOC.




2) Sia - Salted Wound
The 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack is shaping up to be superb, even if the film looks like a turkey. We've already heard Ellie Goulding's saucy Love Me Like You Do and The Weeknd's even saucier Earned It, now it's the turn of Sia - who takes a different tack altogether.

Her harp-assisted ballad Salted Wound is full of remorse and doubt. "Give your heart, and say come take it," sings Sia, "and she will see you're a good man." It should be a fitting accompaniment to Christian Grey's more introspective scenes.






3) Kelly Clarkson - Heartbeat Song
Is it me, or does this sound like Shania Twain?





4) Shura - Indecision
Feather-light synth pop from London's hotly tipped Aleksandra Denton. This would make a perfect Track 7, Side B on an "I like you" mixtape.






5) Prince & 3rdEyeGirl - Marz
Prince apparently thinks this throwaway rock track is dynamite. He's following up an SNL performance of the song with this YouTube video - which appeared days after he deleted his YouTube account. Strange chap.





6) Alex Winston - We Got Nothing
Alex Winston's wonky pop curio Sister Wife is one of my all-time favourite under-rated tracks. Catchy as all heck, with a killer lyric about polygamy and jealousy, I have played it to death over the last four years.

She's been in limbo for a while, but this sumptuous new single - on the influential Neon Gold label - hints at a slightly more mainstream, but no less hook-laden direction.







7) Jessie Ware - Jealous (Labrinth cover)
Stick around for the bit where she chucks in the chorus to Chaka Khan's Through The Fire. Beautiful.





8) Bearson - Pink Medicine
Bearson is a Norwegian producer who works in the "tropical house" genre (no, me neither). This hypnotic little song is a little too glitchy to be chill-out and a little too chilled out to be danceable. But I like it, for some reason. There's a free download available here if you like it, too.







9) Lana Del Rey - Brooklyn Baby (Yuksek remix)
WARNING: If you or your family are sensitive to the effects of synthesized saxophones, please seek advice before streaming this song.





10) U2 - Every Breaking Wave (single remix)
I wonder if anyone actually listened to Songs of Innocence when it gatecrashed our phones last year? I certainly couldn't be bothered... but it turns out that at least one of the songs is worth four minutes of your time.

Ranking it as the third best song of 2014 (!!) Rolling Stone called Every Breaking Wave the "emotional centrepiece" of U2's 13th album, saying it's "stark, shimmering" melody recalled With Or Without You.

To be honest, Joey Tribiani's not going to be staring out a fake window to this one any time soon... But this stripped-back radio remix of the song is surprisingly affecting.






11) Tobias Jesso Jr - How Could You Babe?
Officially endorsed by Adele, this is about as old-school as pop gets in 2015. Tailor made for Radio 2 and fans of sweaters, it recalls Elton John back in the Yellow Brick Road days.





12) Rae Morris - Love Again
As previously noted on these pages, Rae Morris is rather brilliant - with a husky voice like Ellie Goulding and a percussive thump worthy of Florence and the Machine. I interviewed her last week and, pleasingly, she let slip that her first ever gig was S Club 7.

If that's not enough to recommend her, try out this song: Love Again, one of the standout tracks from her debut album, Unguarded, which came out on Monday.

And that's a wrap. What an oddly diverse bunch of songs, eh?

Tweet

Fab Macca's celebrity friends and five other songs you may have missed

It's that time again: A bunch of songs from the last seven days that you may not have seen, or that you have seen but I forgot to blog about along the way. Either way, here's this week's Bo Selection.

1) Paul McCartney - Queenie Eye
Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Jeremy Irons, Tom Ford, Sean Penn, Chris Pine: All of them dancing awkwardly to Paul McCartney's new single.

Like the title track of Sir Paul's new album, New, this is a pleasant return to a sort of Beatlesy instrumentation and chord progression - although the production by Paul "turn up the drums" Epworth is strangely neutered.




2) M.I.A - Yala
I was very excited to interview musical provocateur M.I.A. earlier this week (the interview is going up on the BBC soon) - and she didn't disappoint. The interview covered the NSA, Wikileaks, the SuperBowl, Hindu mysticism and the wonders of Sade's farm - from which M.I.A. borrowed a cow for her Bring The Noize video (no, really).

MIA went on from our interview to speak to Zane Lowe and premiere her new song YALA - You Always Live Again. It's been interpreted as an attack on Drake's YOLO, but she told me that was nonsense. "It's not an anti-Drake song, it's just an alternative concept," she sighed. "People find offense in anything."




3) Kelly Clarkson - Underneath The Tree
Today is officially 2 months before Christmas Day, so what better time to enjoy Kelly Clarkson's first ever Yuletide single? It fits snugly into Phil Spector's sleighbell-tastic template, although it's no All I Want For Christmas Is You.




4) The Internet - Dontcha
Fancy some mid-90s acid jazz vibes? The here are Odd Future-offshoot The Internet to help you out. Equal parts Brand New Heavies and Solange, Dontcha has one hell of a slinky bassline. Niiiice.




5) Svē - Talking To The Walls
Svē is an unsigned artist from Brooklyn, who majored in songwriting at college and recorded this single "in bedrooms and closets". It doesn't sound like it. Talking To The Walls is a stunning, slow-burning pop ballad, whose chorus will fling you out of your socks. Very, very impressive.




6) Jungle - The Heat
Mysterious London duo Jungle were recently named NME's New Band Of The Week - but don't let that put you off. The group don't let anyone see their faces, but the music can do the talking just fine, thankyouverymuch.

Their new single is a slippery twist of funk, and the video is sublime. Expect big things.

That's it for this week. Congratulations if you got this far.

Tweet

Paul McCartney hits the nostalgia button

And he hits it pretty hard, right in the smacker. The result: A new song with a Beatle-tastic descending chord progression and a spunky harpsichord. It's good. It's really good. And the a capella coda seals the deal.

Produced by Mark Ronson and lifted from a forthcoming album titled (with unbridled creativity) New, here is his new single, New. It's new. In case you hadn't noticed.

New.

Paul McCartney - New

And if that's not enough Macca for you, here is the man himself teaching you how to cook mashed potatoes. Because: reasons.

Tweet

Poor old fab macca wacky thumbs aloft

The British papers are full of "revelations" about Sir Paul McCartney's acrimonious divorce from Heather Mills. These reports are causing me two problems.

1) I can't help reading about it, despite the fact it makes me feel dirty and wrong.

The stories revolve around a 13-page court document filed on behalf of Mills, which has been leaked to the press.

The accusations range from funny - McCartney told Mills to stop breastfeeding their baby daughter because "those are my breasts"; to the horrific - McCartney stabbing Mills with a broken wine glass.

Do you see? It's like Sunset Beach, only better.

2) The leaked document doesn't make any sense.
For a start, Mills' complaints constantly contradict each other. In one instance, she says she was "forced to crawl on her hands and knees up aeroplane steps" when Macca refused to lift her. Never mind that she has one good leg, a coterie of assistants, and that Sir Paul is so old he could have put his back out by trying to carry a fully grown woman -- she then claims that, around the same time, he passed out in the bath requiring her to get him out, dry him, and drag him upstairs to bed. Oh, come on!

Furthermore, Macca doesn't seem the type. I'm no psychologist, but shouldn't there be some evidence of a tendency towards in his previous relationships for this to ring true? He never even hit John Lennon, the most infuriating twat ever to have walked the planet.

Lawyers are now saying Mills could lose £70m in her divorce settlement because the claims have leaked into the public domain (and my 'sources' reckon it was her legal team that leaked the document) - so what does anyone stand to gain from all of this?

It's weird, grubby and wrong.

And I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Tweet

The Grammys: In pictures

I really have very little to say about the Grammys. I watched the 2-hour synopsis of the ceremony last night, and even that seemed like extended aural torture.

U2 clearly had to restrain themselves from killing Mary J Blige as she systematically ruined their one decent song.

There was general confusion, and the air of a ramshackle last-day-of-term show, for the the 'tribute' to Sly and the Family Stone. Sly himself looked particularly discombobulated, probably because of the industrial amounts of coke he's shoved up his nose over the last 35 years.

Stevie Wonder did his joke about taking his glasses off, the better to see a pretty lady (again(. And Madonna displayed her gusset for the all world to see (again).

As is par for the course at these ceremonies, mediocrity was heavily rewarded. Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", for instance, was clearly not the record of 2005. Nor was U2's "Sometime You Can't Make It On Your Own" the song of the year. And what is the difference between those two awards, anyway?

I could ramble on about this for days, but in the end the awards make little or no difference. Especially 'Best Polka Album'. What we're really here for are the frocks - so let's take a look:



Stefani: Hollabump girl



Kanye: Tells it like it is
(In all seriousness, this man needs taken down a peg or two. We used to beat up the cocky kids like him at school. And we were the nerds.)



Sting: "I'll fight you for that mushroom vol au vent"



Madonna: GUSSET!



Joss Stone: "Does anyone know how to get superglue off your chin?"



Jamie Foxx: Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum



Mariah: She's got the horn(s)



Fergie: Face or fish? You decide.
(Oh, alright, it is a fish. Sturgeon, I think.)



Missy: Cool as ice-cream, and the only deserving award-winner of the night (best video for Lose Control)



Beyoncé: Prom queen (again)



Macca: "Help! I've dislocated my hip."

Grammy Nominees: Full list of winners

Tweet