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Diana Vickers - 'My Wicked Heart'

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Fraser McAlpine | 11:53 UK time, Thursday, 21 October 2010

Oh THERE it is! That's what you lot were all banging on about when you said Diana was a different kind of reality TV contestant from the usual mob! Cos to be frank, I was starting to wonder if you were talking about someone else. I mean X Factor contestants are usually determined and passionate and all of that, but rarely quite as dogged and sure as this one, and what's more, her struggles seem to have paid off.

That Diana Vickers has a solo career at all is some kind of triumph of her determined square-peggery in an industry which often demands their pegs to be not only round, but small enough to slip through the template hole without touching the side. She put her first single out long after the buzz around her X Factor appearances had passed. She put her second out, and it didn't seem to do quite as well as the first. This is usually the point at which the story of an X Factor pop star fizzles out.

But not our Diana, oh no...

(. It is, in a very real sense, a rum do.)

And look what she came back with! To kick off the re-launch of her album, here's a song which is all puff and swagger, pomp and nonsense, brassy and kick-assy, and a video which is pretty much Lady Gaga for kids. All of which are officially Good Things*.

Just about the only thing against it is that the production sometimes feels a bit anaemic for a song with quite this much spirit. Diana's giving it the full "WHOOPS! BONKERS!" treatment, and the music, while arranged into an artful patchwork of trumpets and stutterdrums, doesn't quite match the sheer what-the-hellery. We need timpanis! A marching band! Very very loud guitars! Explosions!

In fact, the bit where voice and music seem to be in closest alignment is the breakdown, which is almost entirely voices: a bank of Dianas, some of whom have been playing with helium. That's a brilliantly confident thing to do, especially when followed with her Barbara Windsor-y "whoops-a-daisy" yelp. These are the kind of moves you pull when you don't care how your song fits next to anyone else's, and of course, that thought is always how you get to the good ideas.

AND it scores extra points for being the first Diana Vickers single to fail to mention death. Just at the point at which her career recovers from, well, the thing itself. Amazing.

Four starsDownload: Out now


³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

* Apart from the album thing. That's a bit ripe.

"Firmly puts to bed any lingering doubts we may have had that Diana Vickers is becoming a licence to print money."

"Huge props to Diana for not taking the electropop/Guetta/RedOne train, and instead choosing the more worthwhile trip."

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Aggro Santos?

    I think it sounds like a rip-off of Under The Bridge anyway.

  • Comment number 2.

    And I can't understand a word she says.

  • Comment number 3.

    Fraser you have posted the wrong video to the song , buddy .

  • Comment number 4.

    Fraser wake up ! Before Oddie gets here . . .

  • Comment number 5.

    I actually really like this, though the video is really cringe-worthy, trying far too hard love!

    And I agree with Spiveym, what the heck is she saying?

  • Comment number 6.

    Well, I can't say I'm a Vickers fan. Possibly because for the duration of her stint on the X Factor I couldn't go a single day without at least one person going to me "You look just like Diana Vickers!" which became incredibly annoying. Almost as annoying as her voice. Although not as annoying as her hands.

    However, I was pleasantly surprised by her performance of this on Sunday night. I'd not given the track a listen prior to the show and I have to say whoever wrote it did a blimmin' good job of working with her vocal ticks and making them sound deliberate instead of silly. I also thought the performance was great, far superior to Katy Perry's.

  • Comment number 7.

    Hi Olivia, I've seen you here a few times. If you want, you can come and join us for general music discussion whenever you like over on the Jedward thread on this page

    Also, the topical posts box at the bottom of this and every page here tells you what threads have been posted in last. Cheers :)

  • Comment number 8.

    So Oliviaaa looks like Diana Vickers . I am sure some will see this as a blessing .

  • Comment number 9.

    Well maybe if she becomes properly successful I can scrap further education and become a professional lookalike haha. Come on Diana, make me proud to be your doppelganger >:(

  • Comment number 10.

    @ 4

    spirit... I'm not sure I understand? :L

    Anyhoo. 5 STARS. And you all now how much I dislike the idea of Diana Vickers so she must've done something right with 'My Wicked Heart'.

    Oh, and I may cause controversy with this following comment but at least it'll stimulate chat:

    I cannot abide the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And 'My Wicked Heart's chorus is a development (musical term) of the chorus, it's not a sample.

  • Comment number 11.

    Yeah at 4 , the moment has gone . Fraser made another mistake but rectified it by the time you arrived . The video for this review was originally Aggro Santos . You would have been angrier than Alex Ferguson in hair drier mode ! ;)

  • Comment number 12.

    Oh right! :) I don't think I was here yesterday because I was on a Drama Trip to Salisbury Playhouse, we watch 'Punk Rock' and 'Death and the Maiden'. It was a great day out but unfortunately there was this niggling thought in the back of my head that meant I couldn't enjoy the plays fully, because I knew I'd have to write and essay on both during the half term. But the point is, I only got back at my house at midnight, so I didn't go on my laptop; just went to bed! And then I had to get up in six hours (after the 18 hour day) to get ready for Sixth Form!

    SUCKS to be me!

    Random Bit:

    The new Black Eyed Peas song is awful. Just though I'd warn you here because I can't be bothered to sift through the Jedward pages. ;)

    However this song ('My Wicked Heart') is brilliant. ITE?

  • Comment number 13.

    Sounds like yesterday , you were a bit of a drama queen ! lol . Hope your work is going well .

  • Comment number 14.

    Fantastic song. I do think she needs a different record label and management however. She's not promoted enough and videos leave a lot to be desired (though the one for this is a drastic improvement on her last two). She's a lot more credible than what they make of her. And to be honest, Red Hot Chili Peppers can stop complaining. Yeah the chorus bears a slight resemblence, but it's hardly the same song at all, is it? I love Under The Bridge but it's not like they invented the chord sequence. This whole plagarism thing is abused by bands in my opinion, some get so greedy.

  • Comment number 15.

    It is great to read your comments again Moz , you have been gone TOO long .

  • Comment number 16.

    @ 12

    Woah! When you said the new BEP song was bad I didn't expect it to be that bad, I was expecting Boom Boom Pow level of bad e.g: bad but in a wierdly charming sort of way. This is just obnoxious though, the only catchy bit is from Dirty Dancing and the whole backing track just feels like a collection of previously released songs. Disappointed.

  • Comment number 17.

    Exactly, Harry, it truly is awful. If they think they can do another 'Boom Boom Pow' with that then I'm sorry; 'Bom Boom Pow' grew on me but this... this is dire.

    The part where whichever one of them says "dirty bit" is just annoying! And the music section sound like it's trying to charm a cobra. No thank you.

  • Comment number 18.

    Thanks Spirit :)

    I need to hear this BEP track now, you people have me excited for it. BEP haven't been the same since Monkey Business in my opinion. Seems they keep going in a downward spiral in terms of quality

  • Comment number 19.



    There you go MozFoz.

    Don't forget to get back to us with your thoughts. :)

  • Comment number 20.

    I love the video to this, and as Fraser points out, it's the wackiness we were all promised from Diana so long ago. She looks great in it too... if she isn't careful she could end up being this years Little Boots for Thranjax...

    As for the similarity to Under the Bridge, well yes, it has some similarity, but I don't think there's enough use of the hook for the Peppers to really complain. I know they are considering action, but frankly I doubt it was that original to start with.

  • Comment number 21.

    The BEP track is a lot like the stuff on the E.N.D.
    Very low quality attempt at music; especially when there's certain parts in the songs that lead you to think that they could have been amazing.
    Only I Gotta Feeling reached it's full potential.
    It's not totally shocking, but still very bad. It's a shame, because I used to love them.

    2 stars.

  • Comment number 22.

    Really MozFoz? The only track that I could bare to listen to on 'The E.N.D.' was 'Meet Me Halfway'; I'm think I'm still recovering from the over-enthusiastic amount of airplay 'I Gotta Feeling' had.

    Anyone else noticed that even though 'I Gotta Feeling' has a contraction in it's title, it's actually one huge grammar mistake?

    "Gotta" = "Got to", as in "I gotta go".

  • Comment number 23.

    The things that make pop music great is all its contradictions . If everyone played by the rules it would be a boring place . Bit like the time I saw a sign outside a shop that said " WATCH BATTERIES FITTED . " I went in and it was the most boring hour of my life . ;)

  • Comment number 24.

    Translation :
    'Waaaa waa wa waaaaaa waaaa wa waaaaa!'
    Or
    'Oh my wicked heart!'

  • Comment number 25.

    Every single professional review I have read of "My Wicked Heart " mentions Under The Bridge by The Peppers !

    That is all .

  • Comment number 26.

    :O! I don't mention it!

    I like to feel professional.

    That is all. :L:L

  • Comment number 27.

    Guess what?
    THE BRIDGE!
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

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