Nicola Roberts: Cinderella's Eyes

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227976_10150198498799273_813524272_6885276_4486344_n.jpg

album coming out on Universal in the autumn, Major Lazer-produced single Beat Of My Drum can apparently be heard later today here http://www.nicolarobertsmusic.com/

PopJustice are the first to have heard six of the album tracks and are going suitably bonkers about it:
http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5422&Itemid=206

bring on the scouse MIA!

Let's listen to this snippet to remember how lovely her voice actually is, and hope it's not ruined by rubbish.

Hopefully it'll sound like Swingfly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIq5WvNxKvo

Or Tove Styrke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acfopQfcer0

The current video on her website, where it's her in the studio messing around to the sound of a very-obviously Major Lazer production, has her looking really good!

I really hope that this stuff is good, and it's (here comes the inevitale comparison) as successful as Cheryl Cole's solo stuff. I've always felt that Cheryl became the supposed nation's sweetheart by being forced down our throat and being told that we love her, whereas there's something much more likeable about Nicola. Maybe it's the ginger underdog thing, or maybe it's that I once read an interview where she admitted that, while the other girls spent all their GA money on houses and investments, she's just cupboards full of shoes. She seems fun and classy and I hope that those qualities are in what she comes out with.

Xpost That clip of her singing in Whole Lotta History is stil one of my favorite moments in pop.

I don't often get excited about a lot of what PopJustice hypes up these days but I'm really looking forward to hearing her new material. I'm hoping she could end up being the British version of Annie, although it would be nice she actually sold records.

For me it's simply that she has a much more likeable voice/way with singing than the others and her record collection being full of rnb pointing towards sensible creative decisions.

reasons to be excited - Nicola's outfit and dancing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhf-UxIRz8

ideally the whole album should be better-realised versions of something like "It's Magic"

PAUL. missed you!! come post on the fun threads again, i know you're still listening.

This has the potential to be great but I'm also kinda worried it'll be the worst kind of pandering to the Popjustice audience.

xp:
(ah zems, I got some catching up to do - but in my darkest hours often think of the footprints parable, cept with you and Tim as those that carried us through!)

Matt OTM

do popjustice like major lazer? didnt seem like the kind of thing theyd be into (but then again i dont read popjustice any more)

http://www.nicolaroberts.co.uk/2011/05/read-nicolas-first-twitter-chat-in-full/

Do you still own the “I’m a rude ginger bitch, botherd?” skirt! #BeatOfMyDrum
@BrilliantlyEvil yes!!

Did you write ‘It’s magic’? #BeatOfMyDrum
@Nomolos87 Yes I wrote it! Did you like it??

what color are your nails? #BeatOfMyDrum xx
@chloebromleyx At the moment they’re lilac and my toes are raspberry.

if you could colab with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? #beatofmydrum <3
@LeiaSwan I would collab with Eminem!

What’s been the highlisht of your career so far? #BeatOfMyDrum Xx
@AliLovesChezzaX Career highlight was when Girls Aloud got our #1 album and won a Brit!!

What is your favourite shop? #BeatOfMyDrum :-)
@RebeccaMasters Favourite shop is Topshop!

What is your favourite Cheryl song? @NicolaRoberts #BeatofMyDrum
@mynameisadam_ I love 3 Words!

what’s the best way to spend a day off? #beatofmydrum
@Lauribo Best way to spend a day off is in bed with my puppies!

Would you Like too record another album with the Girlss,? @NicolaRoberts #beatofmydrum
@IzzieeButler Yes please

Whats your favorite thing to do when your back home in liverpool? #beatofmydrum my idol. my everything.
@dyaslovesGA My favourite thing to do in Liverpool is hide in the corner of the dingiest club I grew up in!!!!

what’s the most embarrassing thing you do when drunk? #beatofmydrum
@kathleen492 Talk shit…

who’s your girl crush in the pop business xxx
@KellieCheryl my girl crush is @vanessawhite from @TheSaturdays!! She’s a cool chick..

are you a fan of jessie j and nicki minaj #BeatOfMyDrum
@Plentino yes love Jessie J and Nicki Minaj…

nervous or excited to interview Lady Gaga? #BeatOfMyDrum
@HausOfMatthew Can’t wait to meet @ladygaga… keep sending in your questions.

Do you have a favorite pair of shoes???X #BeatOfMyDrum X
@AliceOllyMurs Yes my modern day glass slipper, the ones I designed… http://t.co/ANozqvl

@NicolaRoberts will never tweet me. #beatofmydrum
@xmollieeee Wanna bet?

who is your fave artist at the moment? #beatofmydrum x
@_jessmay My favourite artist at the moment is @diplo

**@NicolaRoberts #beatofmydrum Did you like the fanbook we gave you from the fans at Harrods signing? x
@NicolaRobertsUK I absolutely loved it!
http://www.nicolaroberts.co.uk

What Song have you got on repeat just now? x #BeatOfMyDrum
@DungareeGirl123 Chris Brown Look At Me Now is on repeat, Diplo did that track.

What’s the last gig you went to? Love you xx #BeatOfMyDrum
@samuelmcmanus Last gig was M.I.A.

@What is your comfort food? #BeatOfMyDrum
@szarburus Seeing as I’m allergic to dairy and wheat… not a lot!

What’s your favourite Disney movie? #BeatOfMyDrum
@heartofHz Cinderella, followed by Little Mermaid, thirded by Sleeping Beauty.

me and my friend are doing a 4mile charity run next week could you wish me good luck please? #beatofmydrum Xxx
@EmlovesGA Good luck!

Will we get to hear Beat Of My Drum before it’s released on itunes? #BeatOfMyDrum
@Ryanwmm Video is coming very soon, shooting it next week – can’t wait.

Do you like The Wanted?;)xx #Beatofmydrum
@Hollymadigan Yes I do, love their first song.

Most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you? #BeatOfMyDrum
@ParawhoreeBrett Almost being arrested for not paying my council tax when I was 18…

whats been your favorite GA single ?? xx #BeatOfMyDrum
@Untouchablexox The Promise.

What was the last book you read? #BeatOfMyDrum
@jacksongriffey Last book I read was The Alchemist.

nicola how dya like a cup of tea? Xx
@Brooke_GA_Burke Prefer coffee… black with soya.

@NicolaRoberts have you read @TheSaturdays book? #beatofmydrum
@NicciLuvsNadine No, but I love @TheSaturdays!!

What is your favourite perfume?! So excited for #beatofmydrum xxx
@MiaAndAshleigh Chanel Chance.

favourite word from our scouse language? (really wanna no) love you love allessi
@allessilovesGA There’s a few… sound, boss, lar, doll

which song do you wish was yours? #BeatOfMyDrum ♥
@MeganHind M.I.A. XXXO

what did you think of the royal wedding? X
@Kelin93Cyrus Loved the Royal Wedding but wish they filmed the party!

Which celebrity have you got the most starstuck meeting? #BeatOfMyDrum
@Fight4ThisLove I’m guessing it’ll be @ladygaga at the weekend…

what’s your favourite flavour of crisps ;) xxo #BeatOfMyDrum
@HannahScottx Ready salted walkers at the only ones I can eat!!

Whats your favourate alcoholic drink?! Hehe :) #BeatOfMyDrum
@Deb_GA_Monster Champagne!

I’ve got my school ball today any amazing make- up tips you love? #BeatOfMyDrum
@SillyTillyX For a school ball… thin black line mascara and bright lips.

@NicolaRoberts tell us something we don’t know about Girls Aloud? A secret of the band maybe? ;) #beatofmydrum
@GirlsAloudMusic A GA secret is that Out Of Control was nearly called Girls Aloud: Revolution (after Revolution In The Head)

do you smoke? Xx #BeatOfMyDrum
@Ami09x No I don’t smoke.

Do you still see the other girls a lot ? #BeatOfMyDrum
@TotallyCherola Yes I see the other girls all the time.

have the girls heard your album yet? #beatofmydrum
@Amy___x We’re having a slumber party at Kimberley’s in two weeks and I’m playing them the whole album!

what’s your Starbucks order?? #beatofmydrum
@essexlou87 Venti black with soya.

I had problems with tanning too, your story helped me a lot :) thank you #beatofmydrum
@caballodemartin Thankyou that’s why we made the programme.

when will we get to hear Beat of My Drum? #BeatOfMyDrum
@Push10Lick There’s a 30 second snippet going up on my website tomorrow!

did you write the #BeatOfMyDrum?
@HausOfMatthew Yes.

Eastenders or Corrie? #BeatOfMyDrum
@misformusicnews Eastenders all the way.

do you like photography? x #BeatOfMyDrum
@HanLovejoy I love it!

Whats your thoughts of Twitter so far? #BeatOfMyDrum
@_LucySpiller I’m slowly getting used to Twitter.. it’s nice to be able to chat to fans.

Will you be coming up to Scotland to promote your album/single for TV/Radio purposes? :) #BeatOfMyDrum xx
@xLukesterx Hopefully coming to Scotland on my radio tour soon…!

you make me sooooooooo proud to be a scouser xxxxxx #BeatOfMyDrum
@channiiholden wooooooo!!!

any idea of when #BeatOfMyDrum will be debuting on the radio?
@bbbbryson Beginning of June but you can hear 30 seconds on my website tomorrow…

are the single/album from the official store, hand signed? #beatofmydrum pleaseeeee tweet meee
@NatalieLauren94 Yes… I’m warming up my hand muscles at the moment!

Say Hi to Brazilian fans, please…. We love you.. #BeatOfMyDrum
@Carollyna_Del Hello Brazilian fans, love you too!

how many songs will there be on Cinderella’s Eyes? #beatofmydrum
@Petra_Em Last question – there are 12 songs on the record, can’t wait for you to hear all of them!

Thanks for all your questions guys, gotta go now but promise we’ll do it again soon! xxx

RT Popjustice @nicolaroberts What role did you really play in the 1966 World Cup victory? http://t.co/LpakEtR #beatofmydrum
@Popjustice PS: I supplied all the hookers for the afterparty.

-

didn't know she wrote It's Magic. they'll kick me outta the GA fanclub for that.

there's a 3 track album sampler doing the rounds, anyone heard it yet? grrr wish i had.
review here: http://thechemistryisdead.com/2011/05/12/nicola-roberts-beat-of-my-drum/

"Best way to spend a day off is in bed with my puppies!"

am I the only one who... never mind

lol

Full song (radio rip, I assume). The "drum" part is pretty awesome!

http://soundcloud.com/paganpoet/beat-of-my-drum-nicola

this is rotten

(am going by the actual HQ mp3)

uffie meets the ting tings, says a friend, which is like...you can't get more insulting

"run the world" if it was a pon de floor knock-off rather than actual pon de floor, and if instead of beyoncé's sheer presence you had some whimpering wallflower. nicola roberts really doesn't have a great voice does she? i mean, more recognisable than plank cheryl, i guess :/

She does have a great voice, for ballads and the likes. This is a nice way of making that irrelevant.

yeah i guess - should've said a weak voice, i couldn't imagine it carrying an over-stuffed banger and it doesn't

Nicola has a great voice. And this is very good!

I'm really, really not sure this is what she should be doing. That pre-chorus.. it doesn't sound like the melody and the music behind it even remotely fit together.

It sounds a little awkward, that bit, but I can see how it can easily become less so after a few listens. The only part I don't like is that hyper-reverbed bits (it doesn't even sound like a drum anymore) in the last chorus, it just sounds like unfiltered noise.

I think the shouty chorus is fine, but the reverbed drum noises you note are indeed dreadful. Too many effects, too busy, not enough hooks.

Oh the video just got uploaded. Hmm. I think Nicola's heart's def in the right place but she hasn't quite got the hang of showing her new-found inner confidence outwardly yet. A bit awkward, like she isn't quite used to it all, and I don't just mean the new teeth...

She has always been a bit awkward and self-concious, and I think that's part of her appeal. But yes, the lyrics suggest some sort of transformation that's not quite apparent yet, and maybe it will never be. I like it, though. I think there are way to many pop stars who are either too confident or project a vulnerability that's too calculated. Somehow Nicola's unintentional awkwardness is endearing to me.

sing it baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_BG3n1q5KU

I like it a lot. There's something about the clashing rhythms and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production that puts me in mind of aggressive Korean pop. Sounds a bit like a hybrid of Yelle and After School's Bang.

mildly unconvinced by the song, wildly unconvinced by the production (youtube caveat), intend to watch the video multiple times and think about smelling her hair

backing sounds like Pop The Glock tbh

If this sounds anything like Uffie, the Ting Tings of K-pop I'm just not going to bother.

The chorus sounds more like Daphne & Celeste, which is obviously the best bit.

actually Matt's accidentally right, the chorus kinda sounds like the Ting Tings "Shut Up And Watch Me Go," if that's the title, and indeed by them.

song completely rules; whatever

Yeah I like this single a lot. The other new songs sound really good too, Lucky Day sounds like it should be the next single.

in with a bullet at number 27 :/
supposedly there's no physical release yet because of this whole 'on air on sale' thing. confusing innit.

I like the song a lot but I have to kind of avert my attention from the song while this bit is going on.

That pre-chorus.. it doesn't sound like the melody and the music behind it even remotely fit together.

That bit just doesn't need to be there.

B-side >>> A-side

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajp3IrNS1SE

I prefer the single but that B-side is really great. I really hope she does well, I'm looking forward to the album so much.

for me nicola was easily the best thing @ t4 on the beach yesterday.
a setup that i would never have expected to find myself at a few years ago, but hey, someone has to be the designated driver for the teenkid.
never again though.

the intro/middle 8 makes the bside sound better than it actually is.

Poor Nicola. The director of her next video put a rough cut up on Vimeo. Now the song is all over the web more than a month before it's due to release.

Assuming you're talking about "Lucky Day," I've only heard a snippet...but the fact that it's a Dragonette composition (and, perhaps, production) is reason to cheer.

I like it a little bit more than "Beat of My Drum", having heard the whole thing.

lucky day is amazing, my pop song of the year so far by miles

anyone know what the next single is set to be?

Anyone heard the album yet?

I read that Yoyo was going to be a future single, not sure if it's the next one or not though.

I do like Lucky Day but around the two minute mark I find myself struggling with her vocals a bit which is odd as I've always thought she had the best voice in Girls Aloud.

That should be Yo-Yo by the way.

I'm also having some problems with Nicola's voice lately. I find it almost a little off-key sometimes. For instance the "...oooh, don't I make your heart go wow" bit in Beat Of My Drum and the way she sings "Daaaaay" in Lucky Day.

Where/when did you listen to yo yo, Kitchen Person?

ok what are "disco blisters"

blisters from dancing too much in non-sensible shoes?

Actually I've not heard Yo-Yo yet I think I read about it in a Pop Justice interview where they said it was an obvious single, not sure if it's leaked at all. There was talk of another song called Dance In The Rain being a single too but that doesn't seem to be on the album.

the zoom zoom zoom bit in lucky day is pop at its absolute best

and the mwah mwah mwah and the boom boom boom and all them. great to see dragonette finding their niche - they had the hooks but really didn't convince as a pop act in their own right. hope they've written more songs on the album

I thought beat of my drum was good but lucky day is tremendous

They should have made the Snap "bootleg" the single mix, probably.

"Sticks and Stones" off the album is pretty stunning.

So this album isn't quite the masterpiece I was hoping it would be but it's pretty enjoyable on the whole. Sticks and Stones is a beautiful end to the album but I think Say it Out Loud is my favourite overall.

"Say It Out Loud" is excellent, prob the second best (and why it wasn't the first single I don't know, that or "Yo-yo"), but the best song is surely "Gladiator".

I mean, these lyrics!

I had to call the firemen, my head was burning bridges
I'm shooting bullets from my chest, I'm Superwoman, bitches
And if my balls of steel have got stuck halfway down your pipe
I've got some KY, time to open open open wide

If only the whole album were as good as that! I mean, it's pretty good, but I'm really not feeling the Metronomy tracks, and I love Metronomy (and the song Joseph Mount did with Sophie Ellis-Bextor was fantastic) so far.

Also I'm down with Mondeo Pop in all its forms, but really, there have been ENOUGH covers of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" already, Nic.

Anyway, the reasons "Say It Out Loud" should have been the first single are that it bridges Girls Aloud to Nicola Roberts perfectly. Her singing on the verses is immediately familiar and reassuring, it hits the "awkward girl comes good" much more articulately and catchily than "Beat", and it sounds like radio might actually have played it.

Shame that yet another "I wanted to showcase something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT" single choice means this album likely won't sell when a few of the songs off it are pretty brilliant in their own right. I mean, Beyonce can get on the radio with "Run The World" because she's Beyonce, nobody else could get away with that in 2011 (much the same was as Madonna could put out "Justify My Love" and "Erotica" and people still bought them, but you've got to be that famous, and Nicola isn't).

"Lucky Day" came into the charts at no. 40 :( :(

girls aloud solo = so much pointlessness

cheryl cole: all the charisma, character and ability to convey emotion of a plank of wood
nicola: shrill, awful ~quirk~ inexplicably beloved of A Certain Type Of Person
nadine: did anyone anywhere give the tiniest shit?

for once i appear to be in step with the public on nicola, though bafflingly they seem to love cheryl

does nicola always look so sad, is my question

i like this album but even i have to admit that those Certain People who will say this album is the Best Thing Ever are .... uh baffling weirdos. Scary pop fanboys scare me these days... people who if they had slightly more depth would be crazy Tori Amos stans.

Scary pop fanboys scare me these days

send 'em back to poland I say

on first listen this is pretty bloodless outside of the first two singles

nicola: shrill, awful ~quirk~ inexplicably beloved of A Certain Type Of Person

― lex pretend, Monday, September 26, 2011 5:21 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i like this album but even i have to admit that those Certain People who will say this album is the Best Thing Ever are .... uh baffling weirdos. Scary pop fanboys scare me these days... people who if they had slightly more depth would be crazy Tori Amos stans.

― unskinny blap (edwardo), Monday, September 26, 2011 6:37 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

prime trolling, guys

this reminds me a lot of when the last siobhan donaghy record came out. although there's not a lot to the comparison; ginger pop singer i find attractive from pop group releases slightly 'arty'/'difficult' record, is not a success

Doesn't it have to be in a thread read by, y'know, someone, to count as trolling?

Siobhan Donaghy is a pretty good comparison actually, speaking as to why the record won't sell very well.

i like this record.

like this 1 a lot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYUmIbiYU2E

yeah I like that + say it out loud

besides the sginesl

sticks + stones should be covered by nicki minaj

this album is classic fuiud

iirc "beat of my drum" was my favorite song of 2011

song completely rules; whatever

― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Sunday, June 12, 2011 3:37 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me otm

MWAH MWAH MWAH MWAH

Queen!