This week’s single releases – 09/08

Eminem ft Rihanna- Love The Way You Lie

Eminem’s latest comeback album, Recovery, has been praised as one of his best and considered a return to form for one of the finest rappers of this, or any, generation. A feature of the album is its brutally honest lyrical content and its stellar cast of supporting artists – both of which are on display here.
It’s a mark of how strong Recovery is that ‘Love The Way You Lie’, featuring one of the world’s biggest stars in Rihanna, wasn’t the lead single. Although that decision may have been to avoid the controversy overshadowing the album release – as the song deals with volatile relationships and features a recent victim of domestic violence. Either way, ‘Love The Way You Lie’ is a powerful and brave examination of the subject, with Rihanna’s lyrics a particularly strong and affecting insight: “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn / But that’s ok because I like the way it hurts”.
Watch the video below, which features Hollywood stars Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan acting out the rollercoaster ride of a destructive relationship:

B.O.B ft Hayley Williams- Airplanes

Released at the same time as Eminem’s single, this other rapper-female singer collaboration is always going to suffer from comparisons. Its similar sentimental tone fails to hit the same notes as ‘Love The Way You Lie’, mostly because B.O.B can’t quite match the emotional and powerful contribution of Paramore’s Hayley Williams.
Her simple and vulnerable delivery of the songs theme: “Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? / I could really use a wish right now…” is a nice poetic sentiment that should provide the backbone for a soulful and memorable single. Instead it gets a bit swamped by B.O.B’s disjointed hip-hop posturing.
Watch the video:

Ellie Goulding- The Writer

‘Bright new star’ Ellie Goulding ditches the sparkly glam-pop that helped propel her to stardom and goes all ballady with new single, ‘The Writer’. No doubt intended to show off her vocals and position her as more than a one-trick synth-pop pony, ‘The Writer’ just sounds a bit flat and unoriginal.
Ellie does her best with the bland material, but it’s obvious this type of piano heavy ballad is not her strong suit.
Watch the video:

Laura Marling- Darkness Descends

While the likes of Ellie Goulding and Pixie Lott claim all the headlines, Laura Marling quietly goes about her business releasing sumptuous Mercury nominated albums. ‘Darkness Descends’, taken from her second album I Speak Because I Can, is a typically stark and honest appraisal of Laura’s depression after her split with Noah and the Whale’s Charlie Fink.
Full of the lyrical poetry and beautiful melodies associated with Laura Marling, ‘Darkness Descends’ is yet another example of why she deserves much more attention.
Listen to ‘Darkness Descends’

Tinchy Stryder- In My System

Part of a host of crossover grime MC’s currently clogging up the charts; the Tinchster continues his assault on the i-Tunes generation with his ‘big summer song’. Featuring rising star Jodie Connor (doing a solid job keeping things poppy and accessible), ‘In My System’ has all the right ingredients to be a summer holiday dance-floor favourite – the dramatic synths, brooding bass and a sing-a-long chorus all present and correct.
Watch the video: