Olly Murs Set to Crack America, Opening for One Direction

Oh My Goodness! Olly Murs has confirmed that he is indeed the opening act for a good portion of One Direction's American tour this summer. This is FANTASTIC news and should provide Murs with some excellent exposure Stateside.  I'm sure American One Direction fans will just eat him alive, considering their fanbase here mainly consists of teenage girls and gay men (myself included in the latter demographic).

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Hot Video Alert: Joe McElderry - Someone Wake Me Up

I have to be honest - the whole concept for the new Joe McElderry video confuses the hell out of me. What's with the movie clips if the song isn't appearing in the movie? Is this just the label being cheap? The video features clips from new movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader but "Someone Wake Me Up" doesn't actually appear in the film. Instead, the single's B-Side, "There's A Place For Us," (sung by Carrie Underwood for the U.S. release) will play during the film's end credits. So confusing! I guess "There's A Place For Us" won't be getting it's own video so the label decided to throw together some scenes from the film and put them in the video for Joe's second third single which isn't appearing on the film's soundtrack? Just seems a little lazy to me.

That all being said - let's discuss the song itself.  It's good. I really like Joe McElderry. I like his voice. I like his range. I like his courage and bravery in coming out of the closet. He's absolutely adorable. I just like him. While I think "Ambitions" was a catchier song, "Someone Wake Me Up" isn't that bad of a follow up. My biggest complaint is that the video is just a bit too distracting for me...more Joe less Narnia please...specifically more rain-soaked Joe if at all possible. Co-produced by Ray Hedges and Nigel Butler, "Someone Wake Me Up" is due for release in the UK on December 5th. Check out the movie trailer video clip below.

Check out Joe McElderry on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//YouTube

Hot Video Alert: Joe McElderry - Ambitions

Way to go Joe McElderry! You exceeded my expectations with your new single "Ambitions." Any doubt has since vanished.  I am now left wanting more. "Ambitions" is actually a cover of an already brilliant song by a Norwegian band called Donkeyboy.  Joe's version is what it needed to be. It's up-tempo and it's the perfect vehicle to showcase McElderry's vocal ability, specifically his upper register.  The boy's got a strong falsetto, kind of reminiscent of Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters. Having not seen McElderry's season of X-Factor I really wasn't sure what to expect. Before hearing "Ambitions," I was relying solely on Joe's first single, "The Climb" (a Miley Cyrus cover for God's sake) and various live clips. Not a lot to go on. I knew Joe had the chops. I knew all that was left was being paired up with the right team of songwriters, producers and publicity people.  Working with producers like John Shanks and Dallas Austin, Joe McElderry's album Wide Awake is looking to be a hot one this Fall. Wide Awake is due out October 25th, preceded by "Ambitions" on October 11th.  Check out the fun and sappy video directed by Nigel Dick.  Well done Joe. This song will surely go straight to #1, as it should.

Check out Joe McElderry on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//YouTube

Hot Video Alert: Olly Murs - Please Don't Let Me Go

Olly Murs may very well be my next pop crush. While he may have lost to Joe McElderry on the sixth series of X-Factor, he's already got the 1UP, releasing the first post-X-Factor single from his debut album, due out in September on Epic/Syco Music. Close your eyes and "Please Don't Let Me Go" could very well be another Will Young single. Open your eyes and...well...same story. Murs shares many similarities to Young and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm hoping his album shows a bit more pop variety.

The video features Murs as a guest at a "Summer Solstice Garden Party" along with a myriad of other colorful characters (including an eccentric, boozy old lady with a dog). Amongst the guests we meet the object of Murs' desires, a pretty young lady playing hard to get. The video is fun, summery and safe, much like the song itself. Not a bad first effort but we'll have to see how the song charts when it's released on August 30th.

Co-written by Murs, Steve Robson and Claude Kelly, Murs is also known to be collaborating with Roy Stride from Scouting For Girls, John Shanks, Eg White, Trevor Horn, Wayne Hector and Matty Benbrook on his debut album. "Please Don't Let Me Go" will be available as a CD and digital download, with b-side called "This Ones For The Girls." Also worth noting, Digital Dog has remixed Murs' debut single. Given how remixable Will Young's music is, I'm sure this single will lend itself well to the dance genre.

Tracklisting:

1. Digital Dog Club Mix

2. Digital Dog Dub

3. Digital Dog Radio Edit

4. Radio Edit

Check out Olly Murs on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//YouTube