Tag: John Martin

John Martin – Anywhere For You

“It’s like Swedish House Mafia never split up.”

Tim: A voice you’ll recognise, but likely not the name, as John was the guy that did the voices for, amongst others, Don’t You Worry Child, Save the World and Children of the Sun.

Tom: I know it’s all to do with contracts, rights, and agent negotiations, but I do feel like the vocalists should get more credit. That said: it’s not like the songwriters or producers have credit on this one.

Tim: The dance music influence seems to have paid off, and now he’s doing his own stuff. Like this.

Tom: Crikey. It’s a bit like the Swedish House Mafia didn’t split up.

Tim: And yeah – that dance music influence really did pay off, as this is, by and large, very similar to previous Swedish House Mafia tracks, and that’s a huge compliment. We’ve said in the past that he has a talent for putting hefty amounts to emotion into what’s basically just yelling and trying to be heard, and that’s as true here as it’s ever been. The production underneath: as brilliant as when he was singing on top of other people’s production – like you say, it’s like Swedish House Mafia never split up.

Tom: Perhaps he’ll manage what Ester Dean didn’t, at least so far. That’s a long article, by the way, but entirely worth the read.

Tim: This is a fantastic dance track and deserves to go huge; he just has to overcome the unfortunate fact that ‘John Martin’ is a remarkably dull name to have. Blimey, just imagine only having two first names to go by.

Tom: Thanks for that, Tim.

Tinie Tempah feat. John Martin – Children of the Sun

There’s the chorus. Which is just glorious.

Tim: “I know, I know, it’s rap,” he said a couple of days ago as if it was banned. Not necessarily, so here’s some more. This is, you’ll notice, a lyric video; there’s an actual video but we’re having this for two reasons I shall mention in due course.

Tim: Firstly, the proper one features a lot of people staring directly at a solar eclipse, which is very dangerous and a terrible example to set, so obviously we shouldn’t have that.

Tom: I was going to be all sarcastic about that but, actually, seriously, that’s a really stupid thing to put in a video for all ages.

Tim: Secondly the fun thing about this lyric video is that it omits all the rude words; I suppose that’s a good thing but it does mean that reading along with him rapping serves only to draw attention to the missing words, and what has suddenly become my favourite line which I’d not noticed before: “I told my bro to call an ambulance cos I caught a cold and went spazz on em.”

Tom: Bloody hell. I can see why that got censored out. In fact, I’m wondering whether we should have done the same.

Tim: Nah. And as for the rest of it? The rapping is, well, good if that’s your thing and perhaps not so much otherwise, though I can’t help feeling that some of the cultural references may well date it fairly quickly (or, in the case of the Harry/Vegas line, make it already seem five years old).

Tom: It took me a while to place that reference even now. Tinie’s style isn’t my favourite, but he’s clearly got skill — and the fans to prove it.

Tim: And along with all that, there’s the chorus. Which is just glorious, and exactly why I love it so much. Because yes, after a while, the non-stop spoken stuff coming at you can get a bit too much, but you know it’s worth it because that chorus is coming back, and when it does it’s just great.