Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood
Fresh from sweeping 8 Billboard awards at the weekend and beginning her ‘1989’ world tour, Taylor Swift releases a re-worked version of ‘Bad Blood’ from said album.
The re-worked version of ‘Bad Blood’ welcomes two new verses from Kendrick Lamar. Given Lamar’s recent ‘How To Pimp A Butterfly’ LP, the move might come as quite a shock. Whilst his addition is welcome, he’s hardly at his most fieriest and adds little to the track. Given the weeks of build up via Twitter & Instagram surrounding the tracks accompanying promo, one can’t help but feel disappointed with the end result. Featuring an endless list of superstars, including Ellie Goulding, Hayley Williams, Cindy Crawford and Cara Delevingne, the finished article boasts more quantity than quality. The ode to films such as Sin City are a nice touch, but in truth the story is a little hard to follow. Nevertheless, ‘Bad Blood’ remains an album highlight and given Swift’s high profile it’s sure to garnish enough airplay to translate into another sizable hit for the global megastar.
Muse – Mercy
‘Mercy’ is the third song in as many months to be previewed from Muse’s forthcoming 7th LP ‘Drones’, which hits shelves in less than three weeks.
“Help me I’ve fallen on the inside”, the songs opening line is described by frontman Matt Bellamy as “a reference to the protagonist knowing and recognizing that they have lost something, they have lost themselves. This is when they realise they’re being overcome by the dark forces that were introduced to in ‘Psycho.’” Based on first listen alone, ‘Mercy’ isn’t the special single I was hoping for. It’s mostly bland and unforgettable and doesn’t hold a candle to the band’s early work. Whist the album’s teaser single ‘Psycho’ made me believe that ‘Drones’ had potential, the two singles that have followed have left me feeling the complete opposite.
In the pre-Drones album hype I like most other Muse fans got carried away in believing this would be the album to change their recent slump. Sadly after hearing ‘Mercy’, hope is beginning to fade for ‘Drones’.
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