Just over two years ago in 2019, when we wrote our 10th anniversary blog for the release of their debut album, we confidently predicted (or at least hoped) that JLS would both get back together and return to the UK and Ireland's arenas in December 2020 to tour and mark the occasion properly. Whilst the … Continue reading #CrazyStupidAlbum: JLS (@JLSOfficial) – ‘2.0’
When pop bands get to a certain level of success - hit singles and albums, stacks of awards and sellout tours, it's safe to say they've reached national ubiquity and adoration. It is therefore not out the question, then, to mark this transition into absolute phenomenon via their first big screen outing. But it's a … Continue reading JLS: Eyes Wide Open – the 10th anniversary of an intimate 21st century pop film
It's official: JLS are - to use the Smash Hits term - BACK! BACK! BACK! Following on - we would like to think - from our retrospective piece we did for the 10th anniversary of their debut album last November, Oritsé, Aston, Marvin and JB finally settled months of speculation last week, and announced details … Continue reading Our definitive ranking of all of JLS’ singles.
It's funny how much has changed in ten years. Not least of all The X Factor. Once the cornerstone and an unmissable powerhouse of Saturday night entertainment on ITV, pulling in 16m viewers at its peak, it actually once did what it said on the tin and produced stars. Nowadays, it's a pitiful and irrelevant … Continue reading JLS: a retrospective piece on the 10th anniversary of their debut album
It's not unfair to say that there are two areas of programming the BBC have struggled greatly with in the last decade and a half. One: making Saturday night telly unmissable during those times of the year when Strictly Come Dancing isn't on the air. Two: making a show centred around pop music actually unmissable … Continue reading #CrazyStupidTV: The HitList (BBC One, 25th May)
ARTIST: Marvin Humes and A-Minor SONG: Girls on the Floor SO ALEX, WHY IS THIS YOUR SONG OF THE WEEK? So whilst Aston Merrygold storms the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom, JB Gill tends to another turkey flock/films for his CBeebies farming show Down on the Farm and Oritsé Williams beavers away on new material, where … Continue reading #SongoftheWeek: Marvin Humes and A-Minor – ‘Girls on the Floor’
The post pop group solo career is a tricky, some might say unforgiving mistress to navigate. For every success story - Beyoncé, Robbie or Justin selling out stadiums and shifting albums by the bucketload, there's a thousand Abz, Lisa Scott-Lees or Appletons starring in Z-list reality shows and being dropped like hot potatoes from their … Continue reading Beating again: the rebirth of Marvin Humes
Alex's Blog (still Crazy, still Stupid)... 