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On Friday Little Mix released The Platinum Edition of their hit album, Glory Days. Glory Days was one of my favourite albums released last year, so I was intrigued to know what The Platinum Edition would include. The album includes three new tracks, If I Get My Way, Is Your Love Enough? and Dear Lover, as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary and all of the music videos from the Glory Days singles. The three new songs are great, although I do think the tracks on the original Glory Days album are better. With that being said I do like the three new songs and I've had Is Your Love Enough? stuck in my head since Friday! I genuinely believe that it's impossible for Little Mix to release a bad song, obviously some are better than others, but never have any of them been bad. The documentary is also a really nice touch for the fans to see what their favourite band do behind-the-scenes. While I really like Little Mix, a documentary doesn't interest me as much as new music does, but for massive fans this is obviously great to feature on the album. If I were to design a Platinum Edition I would love there to be more than three new songs. Ideally I think at least five tracks should be added, and I think that there should be a separate album for the documentary. This would be for people like me who aren't too interested in a documentary, but love the thought of new music. That way fans have an option about what version of the album they want to purchase/download. Overall I like The Platinum Edition and the response from fans has been incredible, so I decided to run a Twitter poll to see what the fans thought. Out of 726 votes, a massive 93% voted that they love all of album, 3% voted that they only like the new songs, 3% voted that the whole album is pointless, and a mere 1% voted that they don't like any of it. @sassyjeedx tweeted saying, "The album is everything, the 3 new tracks, the documentary, it just makes me love the girls more", while @perriesstan tweeted something similar saying, "They are amazing artists, so genuine and humble. I am lucky to have them as my role models". Clearly the fans are loving the whole album, and that is really lovely to see. Therefore for fans The Platinum Edition is definitely worth it. However, for people who only enjoy Little Mix's music, it may not necessarily be worth it for them. See below the response from the Twitter poll:
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A few months ago I discovered the band Everywhere and reviewed their single Man Up (link at the bottom), and now with the release of their latest single Moments, I decided to do another review! I was really curious to know how Man Up compared to Moments, and after listening to both songs on repeat, Moments is definitely my favourite! I still think that Man Up is a great song, but what I really like about Moments is the feel good factor. I love music that makes me feel happy, and this single definitely does that! Usually it's only songs by artists that I have been a fan of for years that have this effect on me, yet Everywhere is already achieving this! In the last post I described Everywhere as being radio friendly, and this latest single confirms that. The structure, production, lyrics and vocals are all great, and together make the perfect radio hit! This is the second single by Everywhere that I have really enjoyed, and I can't wait to hear what they produce in the future! Listen to Moments on YouTube below: Singer Russell Swallow recently released his latest single Chemicals. I have only just discovered Russell because I don't listen to that much indie music, but after listening to Chemicals I will definitely be listening to him more in the future! Russell has such a lovely and distinctive voice, and I can actually imagine Chemicals being played in a film, Both Russell's songwriting and voice give him the potential to become incredibly successful in his career, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. I was also lucky enough to ask Russell all about his latest single and the upcoming release of his new EP! Congratulations on your new single ‘Chemicals’! What was the inspiration behind the song? It's a call to arms, on a very personal universal scale - reminding myself and others to look up from what's immediately gratifying and work to connect with experiences more deeply. Was music something you had always wanted to do? When I was a kid I toyed with the idea of being an astronaut, or writing my own magazine, but once I'd heard Jeff Buckley's 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over' I was hooked on the possibilities of music, for expression and experimenting. What advice would you give to any Pop Affairs readers who want to become artists? Listen to lots of different music, develop your taste, listen to your gut instinct, and stay true to yourself. What’s your favourite song you’ve ever written and why? Oh, now that's a hard question! It's usually whichever song I'm working on. I spent the Summer roaming through California, and started writing a new song about what's been happening in the past few years in the U.K. So much change, upheaval, lies and misdirection from positions of power. The song (working title London Skies) is about recognising your power for good, and also your demons, learning how to live with each of them and not be led astray by them What’s your biggest career goal? World domination. And enough money to afford really good whiskey. Seriously I want to be able to choose who to work with, and to be able to craft truly compelling sounds and stage performances - exploring the relationship between human experience, sound and technology. Who would you love to collaborate with in the future? Somebody in a completely different style to what I've written so far, that would be really interesting for me. I've been working on a slow rap/more spoken word style of delivery, so it would be really interesting to spend some time with somebody like Chance The Rapper. Finally, your new EP ‘A.M. - B.P.M.’ is out in December, what can fans expect from this EP? A.M. - B.P.M. is the first thing I'm releasing under my own name, and is a 4-track introduction to my musical taste and world. There is a loose narrative about a couple meeting and exploring one another for the first time, surviving a natural disaster, only to find that they're destructive for each other. It's the first 4 tracks in a set of 8, with EP2 coming in Spring 2018. Sonically, it ranges from the hushed harmony drenched ambience of Sing To Me, through to the driving indie-electro of Chemicals.  On Sunday night London's Wembley Arena hosted this years MTV EMAs, and I was lucky enough to attend the event. I usually go to the BRIT Awards, so I was really interested to see how the EMAs compared. The first thing that struck me was how amazing the staging of the show was. The whole of the standing area was raised and made into one giant stage, and people with standing tickets got to stand essentially inside the stage - a really brilliant and unique idea! Before the show started I expected someone to be on the stage explaining to the audience how the night would work and what we could expect, just like they do at the BRITs, however strangely that didn't happen. Instead there was a warmup DJ (who was great) and a countdown on the big screens. Once the countdown reached 0 I expected there to be a massive intro, however instead we were sat in silence. After around 30 seconds of the silence the opening performance began and suddenly Eminem was on stage. Eminem was one of my bucket-list performers to see and so I was over the moon when he was announced, Because he is such a legend, I was again expecting a big introduction for him, but no. His performance was amazing, and he actually sounds exactly the same live as he does on his songs - a true musical legend! However I do wish he had been given the big introduction that he deserved. Once his performance was over I was expecting host Rita Ora to come on stage and welcome everyone to the EMAs, but no. Instead Liam Payne was suddenly one stage performing, then quickly followed by Camila Cabello. Camila's performance was great, but what annoyed me a bit was how rushed it all seemed to be. Rather than spreading out the performances it just felt like they were trying to quickly get them over and done with, at one point I even forgot I was at an awards show! When it was finally time for the first award I remembered where I was and it all got very exciting again. But what I find really strange is not all of the awards were given out on stage. Some were put up on the big screens before the adverts and some were hardly mentioned! The next day I saw on Twitter a fan congratulating Zara Larsson for winning best Swedish act, an award Zara herself didn't even know she had won! I think the EMAs really should have focused more on the awards than the performances, because at the end of the day it is an award show! The awards that were actually handed out and presented on stage were great, as I love seeing hardworking artists getting the recognition that they deserve. Seeing Shawn Mendes take home three awards was so lovely to see, as he is so young yet so hardworking! The lineup of performers was great, so I really can't fault that. Seeing the likes of Eminem, Camila Cabello, Stormzy, Shawn Mendes and David Guetta (to name a few) in one night was amazing, and each artist put on a really great performance! In my opinion the show seemed to be catered more to the people watching at home rather than those in the audience. Even though I was right there where it was all happening, I still felt like an outsider. What I love about the BRITs is how included they make you feel in the show, and actually make you feel part of it. This was the opposite for the EMAs, and I think at some points I actually would have known what was going on more if I was sat watching it at home. I also think there should have been more of a focus on the awards rather than trying to fit in all of the live performances. Overall I liked the more relaxed nature of the show and I had a really fun night, but for me the BRITs can never be beaten. After much anticipation, Taylor Swift's latest album Reputation was released today. Taylor is probably one of the most talked about artists in the industry at the moment - with conversation ranging from her music, all the way to her latest celebrity feud. I did wonder if a lot of the negative press Taylor was facing would negatively impact her next album, but what Taylor decided to do instead was genius. Rather than not addressing what people were saying about her, she took her reputation of constant drama and turned it into an album. The lead single of the album Look What You Made Me Do was an extremely bold comeback, with power and sass that we hadn't previously seen in Taylor before. I do like this song, especially the music video where Taylor is dressed up as her past looks and eras. However the song in general was ruined when I saw someone tweeting about how it reminded them of Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy, so ever since then I haven't been able to listen to Look What You Made Me Do seriously! The next song to be released from Reputation was ....Ready For It?, which has been one of my favourite songs over the past few months, Since it was released I've had it playing non-stop - it's definitely one of my favourite songs by Swift! What I love so much about ...Ready For It? is the strength and power that is exerted throughout the whole song. While many people may have expected Taylor to return to music a lot more timid and careful, this song just proves that Taylor is ready to fight and not let the hate impact her or her career, and I find this quite inspiring. What I love about this album is the fact the word 'reputation' is in the lyrics of multiple songs. This may seem like a weird thing to like about an album, but I like it when artists reference the name of the album in their songs because then it feels like one complete project all linking together. All of the songs on Reputation are a lot darker than Taylor's previous songs, but this new sound is brilliant and definitely's Taylor's best yet. Her collaboration with Ed Sheeran and Future on End Game is great. Ed and Taylor collaborated years ago, but this time Future featuring on the track brings a completely new sound and style. End Game is definitely one of my favourite songs on the album, in fact most of my favourites are on the first half of the album tracklist! I Did Something Bad I think is my ultimate favourite song on the album, as the production and lyrics are something very special. What strikes me about this album is just how great the production is, the listener literally feels like they're listening to a live show. This is definitely the best Taylor record, and I think it could also be my favourite album of 2017! I wanted to know what people on Twitter thought, so I ran a couple of polls on the Pop Affairs Twitter page. The first question asked was, 'What do you think about Reputation?', 88% of people voted that they love it, while only 9% voted that they think it's okay and a tiny 3% voted that they don't like it. Just from the results of this poll I could already see that I wasn't alone with my love for this album! I then asked if Reputation was worth the wait, and a massive 94% voted yes! This clearly shows that no matter how hard the media try to make Taylor look bad, no one can deny her talent. See below the response to the Twitter poll: Back in July I published a post about the songs I had been listening to most recently on my phone, and I thought it would be cool to do it again to see how my favourite songs change throughout the year! As I said in my previous post, if you haven't listened to any of these songs yet, I would definitely encourage you to do so!
Are you loving the same songs at the minute? Or do you have other favourites? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me on Twitter - @Pop_Affairs  This weekend the MTV EMAs (European Music Awards) are coming to London for the first time in 21 years. The event will take place at Wembley Arena, with a massive lineup set to take the stage. I'm lucky enough to be attending the EMAs, so I thought before the event I'll make my winner predictions! BEST US ACT Bruno Mars DJ Khaled Kendrick Lamar Taylor Swift Fifth Harmony There is no doubt in my mind that Taylor will be taking this award home. The hype surrounding the release of her new album Reputation has been massive, and I think Taylor's comeback has been brilliant. BEST CANADIAN ACT Alessia Cara Drake Justin Bieber Shawn Mendes The Weeknd This category is tough because all artists are brilliant. I am a massive fan of The Weeknd and would like to see him get this award, however the success that Shawn has had in the past few years at such a young age has been amazing. Arguably Bieber deserves it just as much as Mendes, but I think Shawn could win this one. BEST SONG Clean Bandit - Rockabye ft. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie DJ Khaled - Wild Thoughts ft. Rihanna, Bryson Tiller Ed Sheeran – Shape of You Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee - Despacito (Remix) ft. Justin Bieber Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back Shape of You is one of my favourite songs released in 2017 (particularly love the Stormzy remix). This song was a brilliant comeback for Sheeran, and he definitely deserves to win this award. BEST ARTIST Ariana Grande Ed Sheeran Kendrick Lamar Miley Cyrus Shawn Mendes Taylor Swift For this category there is one clear winner in my head, and that's Ariana. The horrific Manchester arena bombing in May this year was heartbreaking, and the fact that only a few weeks later Ariana put on a One Love Manchester benefit concert to raise money for the victims, was nothing but inspiring. This year Ariana has had to face pain and heartbreak that other artists have never had to go through, and the fact that she has shown strength and love throughout it all proves that she is indeed the best artist. BEST LOOK Dua Lipa Harry Styles Rita Ora Taylor Swift ZAYN This category is another hard one because all nominees look great 24/7! However I think that Zayn may have this one in the bag... BEST NEW Dua Lipa Julia Michaels Khalid KYLE Rag'n'Bone Man New Rules has been one of the biggest songs this year, so Dua definitely deserves this award! BEST POP Camila Cabello Demi Lovato Miley Cyrus Shawn Mendes Taylor Swift Another tough category, however because of the amount of success Taylor has had, I think she has a high chance of winning this award. BEST VIDEO Foo Fighters - Run Katy Perry - Bon Appétit ft. Migos Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. KYLE – iSpy ft. Lil Yachty Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do I thought that the Look What You Made Me Do video was brilliant because of the last scene. Seeing Taylor recreate all of her past looks was brilliant, and I definitely think it should win an EMA! BEST LIVE Bruno Mars Coldplay Ed Sheeran Eminem U2 One of my favourite acts to see live is Coldplay because you always get such a beautiful show. The other nominees in this category are all great, but I personally love seeing Coldplay live and think they deserve this award. BEST ELECTRONIC Calvin Harris David Guetta Major Lazer Martin Garrix The Chainsmokers I think The Chainsmokers have a high chance of winning this award because of the amount of success they've had over the past year, however Guetta is one of the best DJs in my opinion, and should win this award! BEST ROCK Coldplay Foo Fighters Royal Blood The Killers U2 Coldplay are one of my favourite acts, and should definitely be winning this award. However all acts are brilliant, so it's quite hard to predict. BEST HIP HOP Drake Eminem Future Kendrick Lamar Post Malone This category is easy for me. Eminem is legendary and should definitely win this award. BEST ALTERNATIVE Imagine Dragons Lana Del Rey Lorde The xx Thirty Seconds To Mars I think this award will be between Lana Del Rey and Lorde, however I think Lorde could be the overall winner... BIGGEST FANS Ariana Grande Justin Bieber Katy Perry Shawn Mendes Taylor Swift This category is tough because each fanbase is very dedicated to their idol. The artist I would love to see win this is Ariana, and I think she has a very high chance. However I think Taylor Swift also has quite a high chance as well. BEST PUSH Hailee Steinfeld Jon Bellion Julia Michaels Kacy Hill Khalid KYLE Noah Cyrus Petite Meller Rag'n'Bone Man SZA The Head And The Heart Rag'n'Bone Man has such a gorgeous voice and he is such a unique artist! While other artists in this category have bigger fanbases, I think Rag'n'Bone Man is the most deserving. BEST WORLD STAGE Steve Aoki – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2016 Kings of Leon – Live from Oude Luxor Theatre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2016 Tomorrowland 2017 DNCE – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2017 The Chainsmokers – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2017 Foo Fighters – Live from Barcelona, Spain 2017 I saw a lot about Tomorrowland on social media this year and it looked incredible! While I haven't been to any of the nominated shows and performances, from what I've seen online I think Tomorrowland could win. Make sure you watch the MTV EMAs this Sunday (November 12th) on MTV!  This week up-and-coming singer Maria Milis released her debut EP Medusa. When talking about the release to Pop Affairs, Maria said, "The EP is in chronological order and genre wise falls into contemporary pop with an element of alternative to it. The EP is inspired heavily by Greek mythology and takes central themes from Greek mythology and each song reflects this is some way." The Greek mythology influence throughout this EP is brilliantly unique and is what I think makes it so memorable. As a new artist to come up with an EP as strongly themed as Medusa and for it to actually work well, seriously highlights the talent and potential that Milis has. The lead single from the EP, Medusa, shows off Maria's songwriting skills fantastically. Keeping the theme of Greek mythology while also managing to keep the song relevant, truly shows what a talent Maria has. The vocals and production in the song are also ridiculously impressive, especially for a new artist. Medusa is the final song on the EP and closes off the body of work really well. What I also find really impressive is the thought and effort that went into putting the track list together. The fact that so much effort was even put into the smaller details, like the track list, shows the listener how much Milis cares about her music, and it's really lovely to see. The opening song Bring Out The Devil In Me is fantastic. The song is quite different to Medusa, yet you can still tell it's Maria who is singing. Once again the lyrics are brilliant, and the song manages to show off Maria's vocals. What strikes me about Maria is her versatility. Usually when artists are starting out they appear to stick to one genre of music because it's where they feel safe, however with Maria this isn't the case. While the main genre is contemporary pop, the different aspects to each song makes for a very interesting listen. Bring Out The Devil In Me opens with electric guitar and explores a pop-rock theme, which I really love! Just by listening to these four songs I get the impression that Maria would be able to cover any genre of music she wanted, and that's a very good skill to have! The next song on the EP is Dreams and Nightmares, which is one of my favourite songs on Medusa. This track seems a lot darker than the rest of the songs on the EP, once again highlighting Maria's versatility. Every song is so brilliantly written, showing that Milis has a natural talent for music. The EP then continues, with Heart For Sale, which is much more of a slower song than the others. The lyrics in this song really make you connect with Maria, as you're captivated by each and every word that she sings. Heart For Sale to me shows off Maria's stunning voice the most, and just listening gets me excited for what the future holds for her! I have no doubt that Maria will get the success that she deserves in the future. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when she becomes a star. |
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