Adele, real name Adele Adkins has quickly become one of the biggest UK artists. She has won a number of awards, and I can't see her being stopped anywhere in the future. She recently undergone surgery on her throat due to vocal hemorrhage. A lot of celebrities took to Twitter and Facebook to show their support to her. She came out fine, and she is a lot better now.
This song never got to number one here in the UK, surprisingly. I'd go as far as saying that it's her signature song. I am reviewing it today because it came on the music channels, but also Linkin Park did an amazing cover version that has got people comparing the two and totally splitting them up on which ones better. They are both pretty emotional and so I'll let you all decide (for the Linkin Park review, click here). The song was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. Paul Epworth has written a number of songs, but he hasn't written many well known ones, which is why I've never heard of him before today. But I'm looking forward to seeing what may be around the corner. This song is emotional and carries through perfectly, I just think something is missing...
The music video is a shot of pure gold, it is perfect in every way and links emotively, exactly how we want it to be. And what do you expect from such a great song? There's a lot to like about this video and I like the simplicity of it and the difficult complexities that can be found, I have to admit it looks difficult to create, but works effortlessly.
This video reminds me a lot of Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper". It's so simplistic but held with emotion that it's amazing. I love the drummer and how the drums makes the water move. I love the empty room, suggesting Adele's lonely and has an empty heart. I like the ballet dancer, it's brings the effortless effect, but also portrays the feelings that was put into this song.
It's all just so perfect. My one thing is the crockery, I know it suggests angry and usually people throw stuff such as plates and other cooking wares, but it just seems a bit out of place. But I do like how the editing has matched it in time to the beat.
Overall, this is a great and moving video, is the original song better than Linkin Park's cover? I'm not sure, I think they are both as worthy as one another. I expect Tink09 is happy I have finally done this video, as she is a fan of Adele's music, along with the rest of the world. I have to give this video this rating, I really have no choice.
This was possibly the first Linkin Park song I ever heard, and this song definitely was what drew my attention to this band. To be totally honest, with my hands up, I have never ever watched this music video before today. I don't have a clue why; it has never come up on the music channels, or it's either been on when I haven't been watching, or when I'm flipping through. But I have to admit it is quite bizarre. But this song is so amazing that it gets stuck in my head every now and again, and it's all to do with the radio stations playing this song every time I listen to them. And I still don't know the lyrics off by heart yet, which is usually a good thing, because if I knew the lyrics it would never get stuck in my head again, and I really don't like it when that happens.
Linkin Park, as I have recently mentioned a couple of times, are a 6-piece rock band consisting of Chester Bennington (vocals on chorus), Mike Shinoda (vocals on verses), Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Joseph Hahn, and Dave Farrell. I definitely like the way in which this song is sung, and the use of the two lead vocalists, it kind of splits the song up, and kind of suggests that it is real, and I don't really know what it is about it, but it makes the band stand out over many other bands, and they seem to do well when they split the vocals up (well lately they haven't been doing too well here in the UK, compared to the high charter of number 8 this song managed to achieve, but still...) I have to admit many bands have tried this concept, some have done well with it such as Evanescence (who only did it for their first song, but still managed to get a number 1), and some have done poorly such as We Are The In Crowd (although they are a fairly new band so they could still turn it around, hopefully). This song was released as their fourth single from their first studio album: Hybrid Theory, which people believe is their best album they've ever released, but people say that about most bands, because their first studio album is usually raw and fresh and new, and it's quite hard for bands to compete with the popularity of their first album.
As far as I can work out from the lyrics, it suggests a betrayal. It suggests that they trusted someone and to be stabbed in the back instead, and they tried so hard and only "got so far", could suggest that they tried to be with someone and it obviously wasn't working out, "but in the end, it doesn't even matter". It sounds as if they are over the betrayal and are realising that she/he wasn't a good friend in the first place. Don't quote me on that, I could be totally wrong and I'm sorry if I am, but that's what I get out of the song and what I can interpret from it. I'm not sure if it is such a good song to turn into a music video, would there be much you could do to link it? I'm not entirely sure and I have to admit as much as I want to not like the music video because I don't see the connection, I kind of find it enjoyable to watch. I'm blaming the song, it's possessed me into liking the music video.
Starting with Mike Shinoda and his rapping, he is usually seen in a wasteland, where thorny vines are appearing out of the ground and enclosing around him and shattering into dust. And then during the second verse grass and plants are sprouting up around him. When Chester Bennington sings the choruses he is standing on top of a platform with gargoyles on the edges. There is a door behind him which is shaped as a trapezoid (which is the lower half of a triangle). Near the end of the video the sky turns grey and it starts to pour down with rain, and the band still plays on. When the rain stops you are left with the piano playing, which also starts the song. And the camera pans outwards revealing the wasteland where Mike Shinoda was rapping, and it is now a lush Greenland. Also a whale pops up here and there although the significance is not as obvious.
I really like the concept of this video, it is very thought out and extremely imaginable and also out-of-the-box kind of thing. For those of you who haven't worked it out yet, the music video mostly uses CGI animation. The band originally performed this at 2001's Ozzfest tour, and it was also filmed there, then editing came in so that it became the way the band wanted it to be. The wasteland signifies the betrayal, and that it is quite hard and difficult to get over, but the vines and the grass and the plants covers it up, and suggests that "In the end, it doesn't even matter". I like the ending as well when it shows what used to be the wasteland. It kind of suggests that they've started a fresh, or even, they are better off now.
The band decided to let water pipes off during their performance at Ozzfest tour, which is how they managed to show the rain in the music video, and also proves that a hell of a lot of planning was involved. Now onto the whale... The whale appears quite a lot and is quite different. It was Joe Hahn's idea to put it in, although he has yet to reveal why he did it apart from the fact that "it made sense" to him. The only idea some people have come up with is that the whale could be identified as a "space whale" which takes the concept that life (or time) is too short for one to absorb all its mass surroundings. Which definitely goes alongside the song.
I'm not totally sure what all the statues are for, the only thing I can think of is that they first decided on the wastelands and then thought that the band had to be on top of something because they performed on stage during Ozzfest tour. On top of the statue is a winged soldier this is similar to the front cover of Hybrid Theory.
Overall I really do like this music video, and can now see the similarities with the song, and I have to admit, I think it is a very clever and a very ambitious music video that I could probably watch again and again. Some people may not understand the links at first (like I did), but it doesn't take an expert to see a few of them, and there is probably a lot more behind it than what I have uncovered. I hope you all agree that this music video deserves this rating, and I hope to see more weird and different music videos from this fantastic band.
Here's another rock ballad by the almighty Linkin Park. Is this the route the 6-piece rock band plan on going down? We'll see. Linkin park contains 6 members who are: Chester Bennington (singing the chorus), Mike Shinoda (singing the verses), Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn (directed the music video). I always love it when a band decide to split the vocals up between certain members, it gives the song power, and if they are both great singers then emotion comes across a lot better. Linkin Park has been doing this for years, and I'm really happy that they are continuing.
This song is so good, although could be considered annoying every now and again, especially since it is yet another rock ballad by Linkin Park. The song is the fourth release from their fourth album: A Thousand Suns. This song is also been made as the lead single from the third Transformers movie: Dark of the Moon. I have not watched the film yet, so I'm not entirely sure if this music video goes well with it or not, however I will do my best to rate it fairly. The song is all about hope in the midst of chaos and sadness. This works well with the film, as that is what the third transformers film is all about.
The music video is definitely something I wouldn't normally watch. If I were flipping through the music channels I wouldn't watch this video mainly because it is mostly in black and white, and although this easily brings across raw emotion and perfect feelings, it annoys me to an extent and it kind of bores me. To do well in the chart Linkin Park has got to appeal to the teenage market, as well as the adults, and in doing so, a black and white music video will not help much. And although colour does appear it isn't that appealing, it's quite dull and bland and doesn't really make me interested in this music video. The reason I am reviewing it today is because I was on my computer and was just listening to a particular music channel and this came on, and the song got stuck in my head, so I had no choice but decide to rate the music video, however if this was a normal day like all the others, I would have flipped over before the song even started.
The clips from the film is integrated really nicely and makes the music video work well, and suggests that the transformers are their kind of hope. Although at some points the band members are doing something that I don't think really works that well with the song, and only has a little bit of a reference, such as the bit where they are all sitting at the table, this directly links with Leonardo da Vinci's painting called "The Last Supper". Although I have no idea what it means, but I think it goes down the line with the fact that they are having supper during a world of chaos and sadness, and this could possibly be their type of hope.
the use of animals such as a snake and a white dog, suggest danger, which goes well with the transformers theme. Apparently, according to Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn sent him a message that said something along the line of "in the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" and the next thing he knew was that he had a snake and a white dog, and he was on a throne made of antlers, and he had horns growing out of his shoulders and he had one blind eye. To be totally honest I think this music video is very different to what everyone is used to however it works well with the idea of sadness and chaos with hope mingled in between.
Overall I'm not totally sure what to make of it, I really like the concept and the absurd idea that Joe Hahn came up with (I really wouldn't like to take a look in his mind, it would be too weird), but I dislike the black and white feel, and I think that what lets the music video down. Anyway, I think I'm being pretty generous with my rating and I hope you all agree.
I've been aware of Linkin Park for ages, I used to be a massive fan, and so I have a few Linkin Park albums hidden here and there, but I stopped buying their singles and albums because I had a year when I went completely off the band. However this cover version has totally changed my feelings about them, and although I know I will not be buying any of their future material, I would definitely keep up to date with them, and there may be more and more videos of theirs posted up on here. This cover version is really good, and I totally enjoy listening to it.
Linkin Park is a six-piece rock band consisting of Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda. In the early days Linkin Park made a really big impact on the charts, and rarely dropped out of the top 40. However recently they haven been performing as well, however on the Albums side of the chart, they keep getting really high, with a couple of number 1s here and there (which is to be expected as rock bands seem to do really well in the Albums chart, which totally makes up for their not so good attempt at the singles chart). This song was released on their iTunes London Festival 2010 album which was exclusively released on iTunes. iTunes then decided to release this song as a single here in the UK, and it performed pretty well on the charts getting to number 42, which is usually an achievement in the world of rock.
This song was originally sung by Adele, who's voice gives off amazing emotion and you really feel what she sings about, however in my personal opinion I don't exactly like her, now I have no idea what the reason is behind it, whether I just don't like her voice or I don't enjoy her performances, I haven't got a clue. It usually takes me ages until I end up liking her songs, and that is mainly because of hearing it over and over again on the radio. Now Linkin Park's version blows me away. Chester Bennington's voice is filled with tonnes of passion and feeling that you can truly believe he wrote the song himself for the band. Although this song only features Chester on Vocals and Mike Shinoda on the keyboards, I like the ballad, it's interesting and I could listen to it all day and all night for the next twenty years and I still don;t think I'll be bored with it. Chester has this voice that's so magical and interesting, that it glues me to Linkin Park for a couple of months until they stop releasing songs, I don't know why but he is such a great singer, and I really don't think he gets enough credit for it.
Now unlike all the other music videos, this one is a little different, and although it could be considered similar to other music videos, there is only a few that is done in the same technique. This was done totally live, the audience are real, Chester and Mike are real, and so are the vocals and the keyboard. To create a music video like this is extremely difficult, one mistake and you'll either have to start right at the beginning again (which would annoy the audience), or leave in the mistake, which could be disastrous for the music video. So although many people (like myself) don't think much of live music videos, and we all think it's kind of lazy and there's no thought behind it; a lot of hard work and preparation and sound checks and audience calmality and effort goes into this to make it perfect first time around.
This music video is shot slowly, this helps us to connect to what Chester is singing, but also is a technique that could possibly cut off a mistake which might happen, such as a fan crowd surfing (which usually happens at a concert). It is clever how it is done, and I really like the fact that you can hear the audience singing along to the chorus as if there is a mike being held out to them. I really like, also, how stripped back this is, when I first watched it, I expected the drums to come in after the first verse, and then a guitar, somewhere else, which would make it more of a rock song, but then again this would've excited the audience, and they may have been louder that Chester's singing.
I also like how Chester sings it really slowly, especially after the chorus, because of all the fans screaming. I like how he carries on singing just after they've stopped , it kind of gives a real sort of feel, as if you're actually in the crowd singing along and listening to this amazing performance, those people who went to the Linkin Park iTunes London Festival 2010, had one big treat, and to be totally honest, yes I am jealous.
Overall I am in love with the song and I really can't stop hitting the replay button. But on the other hand the music video is not unusual, and therefore it lacks originality, even though it is a cover. Some of the comments on the YouTube Video (which has over 7,000,000 viewers) state that some people think this cover is better than Adele's original, whereas other people disagree and say that it could never beat Adele. I'm a little torn, I so want to be biased, and I think you know how I'd be biased, however putting my personal thoughts aside, Adele has a strong emotive voice that affects a lot of people, and I think Chester Bennington's voice, at times, can be just as good, so I'm planting myself right in the middle and I am saying that both versions (the original and Linkin Park's cover) are just as good as one another. Some people may be surprised by my rating, after all I've said, but I really want to remind you, I am rating music videos, and not the songs, otherwise it would've been higher.
