McFly ft. Taio Cruz – ‘Shine A Light’
Hats off to anyone who wants to buck a few trends here and there. Or even give off the appearance of trend-bucking while actually fast-bucking, I’m not fussy.
Y’know, zaggers when we were expecting ziggers; lefties instead of righties. These are the kind of counter-intuitive jumpabouts which are always a good idea. Keeps us on our toes, keeps the flow of ideas from getting too stagnant, and generally shakes things up a bit.
For example: taking a unashamed pop band, who have spent most of their career thus far trying to prove that they can properly rock like the rock bands do, and introducing them to a producer and songwriter who embodies the very sound of what is going on currently in popular music, just to see if they get on. It’s a great idea. Or a great idea on paper, anyway.
(Here’s the video. It’s got girls in it.)
Something isn’t quite firing though. It’s not the Taio Cruz pop sound per se. A better, more attention-grabbing song would’ve suited this noise rather well. It’s more that neither side seems to have brought their best game to the table. There are none of those McFly melodic twists, no maudlin chords. Just one of those four-chord turnarounds and a lot of “eh”.
And it’s yet another recent pop song which can’t seem to decide what tempo it should be. A ballad with a beating dance heart. Too fast and too slow at the same time. Beautifully sung, of course.
And that’s the weird thing about expectations, because we know McFly are capable of writing astonishing tunes, and Taio has his moments too, everything points to this being brilliant, except the song itself.
Another zag successfully zigged there.
Download: Out now
(Fraser McAlpine)
#1 Hits From Another Planet says: “It’s easily their best single in years and a real standout of the 2010 pop sound.”
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