MNEK goes volcanic

There are big songs, there are BIG songs and there are HUMONGOUS songs. But this song sounds like a volcano erupted in the Grand Canyon.

It's called Never Forget You and it courtesy of MNEK - producer of Madonna's Living For Love and Little Mix's Wings - and Swedish pop star Zara Larsson. At times, the singers sound like they're competing with Anastacia and Celine Dion for the title of "shoutiest duet of all time". At others - particularly when it veers into deep house territory - it's irresistibly soulful.

The tension between the two styles is what makes it work. You're constantly caught off balance as the song swerves between hyperbole and harmony... so your attention never wavers.

It could be a massive hit, or it could make you cover your ears and run away. Listen below to find out.

MNEK and Zara Larsson - Never Forget You

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Songs you may have missed: AMA special

A semi-regular round-up of songs I should have blogged about, but didn't.

This week, I've spiced things up with a few performances from the American Music Awards, which will probably have been whisked off YouTube before this sentence ends. Take your chances below...

1) Sam Smith ft A$AP Rocky - Stay With Me
Vocal chops, he's got 'em.




2) Ariana Grande - Break Free / Love Me Harder
Vocal chops, she's got 'em.





3) Fergie - LA Love
Vocal chops, she's got 'em on a backing tape.





4) Beyonce - 7/11
The best thing about this home-made video is discovering Beyoncé's bedrom is just as messy as mine.




5) Taylor Swift - Blank Space (AMA performance)
Magic tricks, homicide and another outing for Taylor's crazy eyes acting face. Superb.




6) Take That - If You Want It
I do not want it.





7) Gwen Stefani - Spark The Fire
After the lacklustre response to Gwen's comeback single, Baby Don't Lie, this Pharrell-produced club has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Thankfully, it's a cheerleader earworm in the vein of Hollaback Girl.





8) Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk (Live on SNL)
I just checked and this song is still amazing.




9) Clean Bandit - Show Me Love
Sounds exactly like you'd expect a Clean Bandit cover of a 1990s house classic to sound. It's like Hooked on Classics all over again.





10) MNEK - The Rhythm
MNEK's Wrote A Song About You was one of this year's best singles - smart lyrical conceit, indelible melody and insane vocals. The fact that it stalled at no. 66 is a genuine travesty.

His follow-up isn't half as adventurous, but it'll probably sell a bucketload.





11) Paul Oakenfold ft Azealia Banks - Venus
After years of delays, Azealia Banks's Broke With Expensive Taste turned out to be quite good after all. And this collaboration with Paul Oakenfold (who must be about 75 now?) is an Ibiza sunset delight.

The career rehabilitation starts here.




12) Years & Years - Desire
There's an argument that the UK electro-house scene is starting to become saturated, from Disclosure downwards. But I reckon Years & Years might squeeze in a few hits before the door slams on the scene forever.

Desire, their latest single, is getting a few spins on Radio 1 and they've just made it onto MTV's "Brand New for 2015" list. Ones to watch.



13) Labrinth - Jealous
Not sure how I missed this when it came out last month, but after last night's X Factor performance, it's leapt into my consciousness (and, more importantly, the iTunes top 10). A terrifically heartfelt piece of songwriting.

An exhaustive list, I'm sure you'll agree... And there are plenty more AMA performances (Lorde, Charli XCX, Selena Gomez) that are worth checking out if you can find a valid link.

Back to business as normal tomorrow.

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A quick chat with MNEK

MNEK is one of those singers whose name you keep seeing in brackets (or parentheses if you're posh) on other people's songs: Rudimental's Spoons (ft MNEK) and Gorgon City’s Ready For Your Love (ft MNEK), to name a few.

He also co-wrote the bracket-tastic Need U (100%) for Duke Dumont and Gecko (Overdrive) for Oliver Heldens and Becky Hill.

In other words, he's pretty damned good at his job.

His first solo single, Every Little Word, came out in April and now we have a dippy-trippy video for the follow-up, Wrote A Song About You. A constantly shifting deep house barnstormer with a sublime "la la la" moment, it's one of my songs of the summer.

MNEK - Wrote A Song About You

I caught up with MNEK (real name Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike) at Glastonbury a couple of weeks ago, where he told me his debut album was "almost ready", with the artwork finalised, and everything.

"There's only one duet , one collaboration, and everything else is me," he said.

And, although he's known for club hits, the album promises to be more diverse.

"There's ballads man! There's many ballads! The struggle was to get more uptempo songs on the album. A good album is a journey rather than being too low or too up."

The 19-year-old also joked that he kept an eagle eye on the exit doors when he was on stage.

"I always pay attention to that when I’m performing. If I see someone go out, I should start calling them out: 'Halt the song! Halt the song! Come back here and explain yourself!'"

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Mnek and Kiesza have made songs for you

:: You will know MNEK from singing Gorgon City's epic Ready For Your Love.
:: You will know Kiesza from singing Kiesza's superlative Hideaway.
:: Now they have made epic and superlative follow up singles.
:: This is something to celebrate.

MNEK's record is called Wrote A Song About You. It begins: "Baby, baby, baby, I wrote a song about you last night, and it went something like this", which is an example of metafiction.

Very clever, MNEK. Almost too clever. But we'll let you off for the catchy "la la la" bit.




Kiesza's record is called Giant In My Heart. It begins "I'm trying to pretend it isn't true, but even when I run it's like I can't get over you", which is an example of Taylor Swifting your lyrics. It's also an example of confrontational first-person narrative.

Very clever, Kiesza. Almost too clever. But we'll let you off for the catchy "waow-do-doop-do-de-do-daow" bit.

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Songs you may have missed: Easter edition

It's been a pretty busy week on the blog - with excellent new songs from Lana Del Rey, and Sky Ferreira, and OneRepublic and Robyn in the mix. But here are some of the ones I didn't get round to writing about...

1) Clean Bandit - Rather Be (Live on Jools)
This is the first time I've ever seen Clean Bandit in the flesh. There are about 80 of them. Who knew?




2) Iggy Azalea ft Rita Ora - Black Widow
If you haven't latched onto the Iggy Azalea bandwagon so far, this could be the song to turns you around. Like Katy Perry's Dark Horse, it weds a sparse, minor-key verse to a soaring chorus that gets clipped just before you get to the good bit. It's a cruel tease, but it leaves you wanting more every time.

Clever writing, then, and a good trailer for Iggy's debut album, The New Classic, which "drops" (is released) on Monday.




3) Prince - Computer Blue (full version)
The news that Prince has kissed and made up with Warner Bros means my wallet's going to get much, much lighter.

For a start, it means albums like Parade and Sign O The Times will be remastered and re-released (and believe me, they need it - the original CD masters are woefully tinny and quiet). But the deluxe, 30th Anniversary edition of Purple Rain also promises a bunch of rarities from the Vault. Let's hope it includes an official release for this long-cherished, 14-minute bootleg of Computer Blue.

Sadly, that track can't be embedded - so here's Mr Rogers Nelson performing Purple Rain at the Brits instead.





4) Paolo Nutini - Recover
The mumbling Scotsman covers Chvrches, with spine-tingling results.





5) MNEK - Every Little Thing
It's pronounced Em-En-Ee-Kay, and he's the biggest UK pop star you've never heard of.

He wrote Need U (100%) with Duke Dumont. He plays the spoons on Rudimental's Spoons. That was his voice on Gorgon City's Ready For Your Love. Little Mix's Wings? He produced that one. And he's working with Florence + The Machine, too.

Somehow, in the middle of all that productivity, he's been making his own solo record. Every Little Thing is the 100% not bollocks first single.






6) AlunaGeorge - Kaleidoscope Love (Kaytranada Remix)
Montreal DJ/Remixer Kaytranada has taken one of the least-loved tracks on AlunaGeorge's debut album and turned it into a deep, dark house cut. The backing suits Aluna's ethereal vocals so well, it should give the band a hint of where to take their second album.






7) Future ft Andre 3000 - Benz Friendz (Watchutola)
The stand-out track on Future's new album is a two-hander with Outkast's Andre 3000, with both rappers insisting they do not care for a girl and her choice of automotive transport. Andre goes so far as to declare he'd rather ride his bike or walk. God knows why, but this is one the catchiest beats you'll hear all Easter.





8) Lulu James - Beautiful People
21-year-old Lulu James has been bubbling under for a year or so. Born in Tanzania, raised in South Shields, she's Jessie Ware with a harder edge and a voice that'd make Aretha Franklin jealous.

Beautiful People is the first track from her new, as-yet-untitled, EP. It starts quietly but builds and builds until your walls start vibrating. Spellbinding stuff.





9) Culann - All Reverie
I wrote an article for the BBC News site this week on "the return of rock" - based on the fact that, finally, the UK is producing some guitar bands good enough to be played on daytime radio.

Afterwards, I got no end of abuse on Twitter from hardcore rock fans who said I didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe, but the article wasn't targeted at Metal Hammer readers and, to the majority of Radio One and Two listeners, new guitar bands have been pretty thin on the ground for the last few years.

Anyway, the positive result of the piece was that lots of guitar bands sent their videos at me. Here's one I liked, from Scottish five-piece Culann. Singer PJ Kelly's Celtic lilt has a touch of the Biffy Clyros, while his band are clearly accomplished musicians - this single makes a lot of unexpected detours on its way to the chorus without ever descending into fretwanking. (Unsurprisingly, Culann say they're fans of prog bands like Yes and Rush).

The video, meanwhile, stars Rab Affleck, who you might recognise from his hard-man roles in Layer Cake and Gangs of New York.




10) Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Stink Mix)
A parping jazz remix to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nas's debut album Illmatic. You've got to love a rap song with a flute loop.



11) Pawws - Sugar
"Upsetting disco" says the bio on Pawws Twitter page, and I couldn't have put it better myself.

She's a London-based electro singer, with shades of Little Boots and St Etienne in her sugar-spun 80s pop. The cascading synth lines in her debut single are sweeter than Canderel. Just the thing for Easter.

That's all for this week, then. Happy Festival of the Chocolate Jesus!

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