19 April 2012 Jack Antonoff of Fun has now gone on to greater fame and fortune as co-writer and producer with Taylor Swift. I wonder if 'We Are Young' was in his CV when he was pitching for that gig. Probably not. Perhaps the more pertinent question is: what did Taylor Swift see in this? … Continue reading Fun ft. Janelle Monáe – ‘We Are Young’ →

22 March 2012 I was surprised to discover that 'Call Me Maybe', which went to number one in Carly Rae Jepsen's native Canada in February 2012, Ireland in March 2012, the UK in April 2012 and the US in June 2012, had actually been released in Canada in September 2011. That's a whole five-to-six months … Continue reading Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’ →

2 February 2012 I approach 'Somebody That I Used To Know' under the impression that it had disappeared from the popular consciousness. Yes, it was inescapably mahoosive in 2012, but who listens to it now? Actually, quite a lot of people; as I write this, its streaming and viewing figures are each over one billion, … Continue reading Gotye ft. Kimbra – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ →

19 January 2012 What if Katy Perry records were good? That's the intriguing, albeit low-stakes, premise of 'Domino'. Sure, its parts don't hold much promise. By early 2012 I was well weary of big-budget in-your-face EDM. The Jessie J school of brash naffness has limited appeal. Neither EDM nor Jessie J are a good fit … Continue reading Jessie J – ‘Domino’ →

12 January 2012 In fairness, there are parts of this Flo Rida hit I like. You've got its propulsive EDM-synth-pop energy with a twist of techno and Euro-house, plus that chorus vocal is bright and soulful. The thing is, those parts happen to be borrowed—or as the Irish Number Ones legal team prefer me to … Continue reading Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’ →

1 December 2011 This 2011 iteration of The X Factor's annual side-hustle forwent its usual militaristic poppy-kissing to raise money instead for a UK children's palliative care charity. The Irish record-buying public, who had magnanimously put previous X Factor collective singles like 'Ooh, Aah, Up The British Army' and 'Come Out Ye Talibans' to number … Continue reading The X Factor Finalists ft. JLS and One Direction – ‘Wishing On A Star’ →

13 October 2011 The unlikely roll call of women who've achieved notoriety by running carefree in a field of crops includes Theresa May and, while shooting the video for 'We Found Love', Rihanna. The latter incident was in a field in Co. Down, as you'll recall, and involved a no-nonsense Ulster farmer (who was also, … Continue reading Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’ →

15 September 2011 One Direction only finished third in the 2010 series of The X Factor, but by the following year's series had become the biggest boy band on the planet. What's more, they did so by returning the boy band idiom to the concept of teenage joie de vivre, far from the maudlin wedding-anniversary … Continue reading One Direction – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ →

18 August 2011 Only a few weeks earlier, Cher Lloyd had topped the UK charts and reached no. 2 in Ireland with 'Swagger Jagger'. Now here's the dreadful Maroon 5 also name-checking the Stones front-man. Was there a mini cult-of-Mick in the summer of 2011? Not that I can recall. We'll just have to put … Continue reading Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera – ‘Moves Like Jagger’ →