Single Reviews: 28th November 2011

Emeli Sande ft Naughty Boy - Daddy

Having appeared on singles by Chipmunk, Wiley and Professor Green Emili Sande continues to forge out her own solo career, seemingly filling the void left by Amy Winehouse earlier this year. Unfortunately, compared to these guest appearances and her distinctive debut single ‘Heaven’ this doesn’t quite have the same appeal or hook. Sure, the swelling 007-esque backing is there and her voice is as great as always, but it misses the powerful chorus and bridge of her previous hit, whilst sounding a little too much like it. A pleasant enough track but not a good follow-up to her debut. Plus, where does Naughty Boy fit into it? 5/10



The Wombats - 1996

Churning out their sixth single from a ten-song album might seem as a little bit of a cash-in, and to a certain degree it is, but it’s still a track worth releasing as a single thanks to its memorable chorus and interesting lyrics that stick firmly in your head, even if at times it does seem the lyrics don’t quite fit into the music behind it. Away from the music I’m surprised they’re still releasing videos for the songs, with this one being better than their previous one with much more interesting things going on. Clearly they got a good deal from their label!

Frankly, if you enjoy this I’d pick up the album because buying six singles from ‘The Modern Glitch’ is pointless – just buy the full thing! 7/10



X Factor Finalists 2011 - Wishing On A Star

Expanded from this year’s Marks and Spencer’s Christmas advert – free publicity anyone? – this is yet another cover of the 1978 hit, most recently covered beautifully by Seal only earlier this year. So, is it worth downloading this if you have a previous version? Frankly, no. It doesn’t add much to the established formula and sounds so much like the Seal version, for instance, you might as well grab that one and enjoy one singer tackling the whole thing, rather than this bitty version. Actually, musically it’s a great version of the track but it conforms to the old adage of too many cooks. And just for good measure they throw JLS and One Direction in for the most pointless cameo ever. Good, but we’ve heard it all before. 6/10