Indila - Tourner Dans Le Vide & Dernière danse [New Music Discoveries!]

As is often the case, sometimes I fall a little behind in terms of discovering new music, so to help combat this, this new segment 'New Music Discoveries' will charter back time to some truly great Artists and music (and not all of them from the US, UK or Korea)! The aim of 'New Music Discoveries' is to bring you music which you may not have heard before or songs from well-known artists that didn't garner as much media attention (i.e 'supplement album songs'). 

In this instalment, I will be talking about popular French musical artists, Indila, who recently released the music video for her track 'Tourner Dans Le Vide', which you can watch below. Taken from her album, Mini World, her more popular song 'Dernière Danse' gained worldwide recognition and has over 55 million hits on YouTube. 

The track in particular is rather operatic and dramatic, with Indila's beautiful vocals accompanying the track as it slowly picks up pace, as the musical accompaniment elevates to new levels. The track has a nice feeling of grandeur, and a classical twist to it, whilst the music video adds a suitable visual to the audio. In particular, I'm rather fond of the music video for this one, as it documents Indila as a struggling immigrant in Paris, who is shunned by the people in the town. 

A storm hits the town, and similar to something out of the end of the world, the birds are out in full flock, and when the storm hits Indila walks towards the disaster area and ends up being engulfed by the storm. There's a poignant quality to the video and in a way, it just suits the sound of the song to a tee. If you are not French, and are looking for a rough translation of the lyrics, you can find them at the following link: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/derni%C3%A8re-danse-last-dance.html and the music video is available to watch on YouTube: 

A more recent release is Indila's music video for her track 'Tourner Dans Le Vide',(mentioned above) which features Indila attending a party in which a painted man comes to life, only to be stabbed by another man and disappear. It also features a whole lot of room spinning, but there's something rather delightful about the cinematography for the video and how it compliments the music. 

You can find a literal translation of the song (into English) at the following link: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/tourner-dans-le-vide-turn-vacuum.html 

Indila is particularly beautiful in this video, and her white dress compliments the heavenly parts of the music rather aptly. Like Indila's previous song, this one possesses the same sense of gravitas but still has an underlying dance base, which makes it a mix of contemporary and classical, which is quite inspired. The music video, complete with regal dress is available to watch via VEVO, below: 

I hope via this new section you'll be introduced to some new and different music and some of the best hidden musical gems out there! Enjoy Indila! 

Little Mix - Salute (Official Music Video) [+ Review]

Little Mix are back with a new video (watch below) for their latest track 'Salute', an ode to girl power, which isn't dissimilar to Beyonce's 'Run The World', or pretty much any other track that focuses around female empowerment. The music video takes us to the set of a construction site, in which the women climb up various machinery and sing their track, calling for the attention of others (followed up by the obvious 'saluting'). 

Not entirely sure what to think of the track, the darker stuff from Little Mix (in the realms of DNA) tend to be a little bit more put-together, in terms of musical composition, but the more colourful, upbeat songs tend to be more popular. The definite hook of the track is the 'salute' and the repetition is bound to be enough to get it stuck in your head whether you want it to be or not. 

In regards to the video, the darker tone is intriguing, but for some reason it just doesn't seem to 'go', and it would just be nicer if there was more to the video (high expectations, I guess?). Regardless, Little Mix's latest 'Salute' is sure to delight fans, although there have been some comments as to the new direction Little Mix is taking (although, it's not really 'new' as they have done a similar thing for the video DNA). So, check out the dark and dirty video for 'Salute' below: 

Beyoncé - Pretty Hurts (Music Video) [+ Review]

Whether you're a die-hard Beyoncé fan or not, her single, 'Pretty Hurts,' is pretty hard-hitting. The official music video (watch below) is a 7 minute long video, which sees Beyoncé transform into 'Miss 3rd Ward' for a Beauty Pageant, which is hosted by the marvellous Harvey Keitel. However, things at this Pageant aren't so glamorous, and the music video provides a visual accompaniment to a song which suggests that people are hurt by societal expectations of beauty. 

Whatever you think of Beyoncé as an artist, person, etc., and whatever you may think of some of the other songs from her album, 'Pretty Hurts' is quite touching and the singer's vocals elevate it to something more than just another song about Beauty. With the increasing pressure on women to look 'beautiful' and society affirming the concept of beauty through its tabloid magazines and media (which often comment on how much weight a certain celebrity has losts, what their 'pins' look like, or other image-focused remarks), it seems young women are feeling lost or insecure in their looks, and this can often be damaging to a person's well-being and health. 

Now, I'm not saying Beyoncé has all the answers, because she doesn't. But if one person can feel as if they are not alone, through hearing Beyoncé sing about insecurities and the pain that people feel about their appearance, then surely that's a good thing. If Beyoncé manages to get people talking about body-image then that's a good thing. 

Feeling happy and confident in your image is key to a positive life, and its something that needs to be talked about more often - don't ever feel like you have to conform to societal expectations to be valued as a person - you are more than your appearance. But anyway, back to the music video. 

The video for 'Pretty Hurts' sees Beyonce exhibiting several eating-disorders as she struggles her way through the Pageant, only to lose out on the trophy in the final two. In the video she is seen being pointed out on her weight several times, hitting the gym in an attempt to burn some calories in order to feel accepted. 

A more thought-provoking video than some are probably used to, 'Pretty Hurts' is pretty much what it says on the tin - it's claiming that the attempts to conform to a standard of 'pretty' created by our society ultimately hurts people. So, is this another killer track from  Beyoncé or do you prefer some of the other songs from her album? 

Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This [+ Review]

Taken from her third studio album, A Perfect Contradiction, 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' is the latest release from Paloma, and, finally, the official music video has been released for the track (watch below). As always, Paloma's voice is soulful and unique, but the track is a little bit, how you say, uninspired. While Paloma's beautiful vocals suit the track, the lyrics and musical accompaniment are a bit too generic, in this case. Her first release from the album, 'Can't Rely On You' is a much stronger track in this sense, and 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' unfortunately falls short on this front. Despite this, the music video for Paloma's track, is rather bittersweet, and wonderfully envisioned - even if the material it is accompanying isn't the best from the sultry singer. 

Nevertheless, Paloma is a strong artist and we can hope for more inspiring additions as she progresses. The music video sees Paloma explore her emotions surrounding her love and features several scenes of the singer looking poignant in the rain. The scenes of her 'underwater', if you like, are particularly dramatic, and if anything, the music video may be 'better' than the actual song. 

The Other Woman (2014) - Review

This is it. The empowering film depicting quirky, well-constructed female characters who unite in an attempt to deal out much-deserved revenge on a serial cheater that audiences have been waiting for. Or so you hoped. What had so much promise and had been backed by power players Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann may leave you slightly disappointed. Promising to be the quintessential gal pal flick, The Other Woman charts Carly Whitten’s (Diaz) discovery that her boyfriend, the man she has been led to believe was single, is in fact married and holds another mistress.

After an unexpected run-in with her boyfriend’s wife, the zany and a little too emotionally attached Kate (Mann), the two team up with the other buxom blonde mistress, Amber, (Upton) to serve up cheating, three- timing husband Mark (Nikolaj Coster- Waldau) his just desserts. Clocking in as Carly’s best friend is American rapper Nicki Minaj, who is one of the more redeemable features of the film, putting in a surprisingly hilarious performance.

What should be a triumph for generations of women seems to have been half-heartedly constructed, despite enthusiasm from Diaz and co. The partnership between Mann and Diaz is actually rather dynamic, and perhaps given a different film, they could truly be able to shine on screen as a power-house pair of comedy queens. However, whilst Upton is not at fault for her performance as Amber, the construction of the character itself is rather disheartening, in the sense that she seems to be purely superficial and without depth, despite the obvious attempts at being self- mocking. With the trio having failed to latch onto a film with enough substance for their brilliant personalities, The Other Woman seems to follow a rather formulaic pattern, settling for a few cheap laughs instead of driving home the comedy, which just brings the whole production down to a disappointing level, given the amount of potential there was for a new female comedy film to match that of Bridesmaids.

What seemed to be a step up from the usual mind-numbing chick flicks, The Other Woman seems to have settled for second best and follows an unimaginative formula, which effectively squeezes most of the life out of the film. Despite strong performances from its cast and a general best effort to make things seem better than they really are, it seems to have fallen victim to the very thing it aimed to combat, stereotypical representations of genders.

 2 stars 

Reviewed by Mel.