Natalia - 'Perfect Day'
Possibly this is a bit out of date for The Kidz but who remembers 2001? Not the year, particularly, I mean the Dr Dre album. The one with 'Forgot About Dre' and, particularly, 'Still D.R.E.' on it. Aside from being one of the most amazing and hilarious albums ever created and having absolutely no lyrics I could quote in a place as polite as Chartblog, the album featured a lot of distinctive piano loops by Scott Storch. Storch famously went on to have beef with Timbaland and, err, Christina Aguilera but there's no failing to recognise his keyboard work from '2001.'
Or, well, possibly there is. I honestly spent about an hour hammering google for proof that this song was produced by Scott Storch, to obvious failure. The piano riff is absolutely lovely, though, so credit to K Warren, who I think is the actual producer of the song.
The song's a complete change from 'Pretty Like Me,' Natalia's first single, which borrowed a riff straight out of 'London Calling' by The Clash. This one aims for a far more laid-back, summery feel which is the sort of thing I'd normally find quite offensive, being at heart a massive goth but the sharp piano riff manages to stop everything becoming too obnoxious.
The video helps, of course, since Natalia herself appears so overwhelmingly charming in it and the whole structure and narrative of the thing is just... marvellous, really. Its message of 'think happy thoughts and your day will be better' is cheesy to no small degree but it has the good humor to carry it off. I was, in fact, entirely sold at the moment the road workers did a little dance because let's face it, in these days of boring, classy videos there are not enough dancing road workers illustrating our chart hits.
Kaliba's contribution serves to compliment, rather than dominate the song, adding a bit of backbone where it might have risked sickliness with only Natalia's sweet vocals to sustain it. The song as a whole, in fact, is remarkably well-balanced and it all bubbles along so nicely, I'm shocked this hasn't been huge. Certainly if someone like Lily Allen trotted it out I'm sure it would be.
CD Released: September 8th
(Hazel Robinson)
Comment number 1.
At 2nd Sep 2008, pinkparadox wrote:So is this really review #666..? *glances at Categories*
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Comment number 2.
At 2nd Sep 2008, HazelChartblog wrote:Err, yes, yes it is. You'd think we'd've manipulated it so some devil-worshipping chicken decapitator was here but that's just not our style here at the cutting edge of serious journalism.
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Comment number 3.
At 3rd Sep 2008, JonnyWalling wrote:'and hilarious albums ever created and having absolutely no lyrics'
are you saying chronic 2001 was BAD?!
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Comment number 4.
At 3rd Sep 2008, HazelChartblog wrote:No, I absolutely love it to pieces. It is, however, quite consciously hilarious in places.
The lyrics quote is merely that Dr Dre's habit of swearing prevents me quoting any lyrics on Chartblog. There probably are a few lines that are clean but not the fun ones.
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Comment number 5.
At 4th Sep 2008, mesmerizingJasmine wrote:I saw this on TV and Loved every second of it!!!!! I agree more videos should have dancing street workers!!
I can't wait to hear this in my car, I am sure it would brighten up my drive to work and put a big smile on my face!
Go Natalia I love you!
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Comment number 6.
At 4th Sep 2008, quickaroundthecorner wrote:Good review - charming is exactly the right word for Natalia, the policeman really makes the video!
And I did think of Still Dre when I first heard it, although Natalia seems a lot friendlier. 2001 is a Great album though.
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Comment number 7.
At 4th Sep 2008, itishappeningagain wrote:I adore this song, just nice and chilled and doesn't try hard to be anything other than a really brilliant pop song - which is all you could ever ask for! The chorus is dangerously catchy as well
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Comment number 8.
At 4th Sep 2008, thelexiconoflove wrote:I love this tune, I saw Natalia supporting Girls Aloud and she was amazing, even the people who hadn't heard of her like me were cheering soo much when she finished. She's such a great singer and this was my favourite of her songs that night.
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Comment number 9.
At 4th Sep 2008, profoundalessandro wrote:Brilliant song, within a couple of listens I could sing the whole thing all the way through (OK, Kaliba's rap took a little more time to digest) a breezy sweet pop song to the summer out with. Judging from her bedroom in the video Natalia's favourite colour must be red?
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Comment number 10.
At 5th Sep 2008, lizzardwizzard wrote:Yeh Yeh Yeh! Can't get it out of my head! Loving it! The rave reviews on this article made me check Natalia out! I am totally converted - an overnight fan!
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Comment number 11.
At 5th Sep 2008, hackerjack wrote:'and hilarious albums ever created and having absolutely no lyrics'
are you saying chronic 2001 was BAD?!
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Try reading the whole sentance
'Aside from being one of the most amazing and hilarious albums ever created and having absolutely no lyrics I could quote in a place as polite as Chartblog'
He' saying that the albumn was very good and funny (which is was) and contains much bad language (which it did) not that the album was bad.
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