Thursday 1 July 2010

Teen Today : Fugative 'Bad Girl' Shit Or Hit?

Right you lot, own up. One of you has been flirting with hip-pop superstar in the making / 16-year old overachiever Fugative. There’s talk of whispering sweet nothings, playing the good girl, smiling coyly. Then when he texts? Nothing, no call, no email, you’re washing your bloody barnet. Do you know who he is!? A top 26 chart act. A wearer of ridiculous bling. The ultimate object of affection for 30,000 under-14s on twitter. Careful love, or he might just write a song about you. Oh. He has.
Written and produced with the help of Scandinavian production duo Soulshock & Karlin (see JLS One Shot) Bad Girls repeats Harry’s tried and tested Summer song blueprint. More specifically, studio-wonder Fugative takes over the family-friendly rapping bits (think Chipmunk-lite) whilst the chorus is carried by an anonymous unknown - to deliver another energetic, brightly-shining somewhere-in-the-top-40 Summer smash. The highlight is the impossible-to-ignore, swirling, vocodoredbad girl, bad girl, bad girl chorus - the work of a ‘classified U.S R&B star’ (read: unknown session singer) - that’s so infectious it should come with a warning from the World Health Organisation.

And the video? Well it’s exactly the sort of thing you don’t want to be watching whilst locked inside an office in east London in the baking heat. Young attractive types wearing very little, frollocking in the sunshine at some anonymous Mediterranean resort, splashing around in the pool and having lots of wholesome fun. Tough it’s hardly the most exciting way to spend 3 minutes of you’re life, you can up the drama by keeping a running tally of how many times someone in the video a. texts and b. tips/takes off/puts on their sunglasses. Or just replay the bit where Harry gets in the pool over and over.

And that’s Bad Girl. What Harry lacks in ‘serious artiste credentials’ he makes up for in massive hooks, good looks and flirting with girls on twitter. And to be honest, we’d rather hear Harry on the radio with his own type of ‘the sound of Summer’ disposable pop than another autotuned synthy number by Sean Kingston and crew. Luckily, Harry’s not unsubstantatial fanbase (you can recgnise them from their feral behaviour when within 20 metres of the guy) is expanding more quickly than a lottery winner’s and the reward should be - TT prediction time - a top 20 chart placing. Good luck Harry. And to think, 6 months ago we didn’t even know who he was.

Click here to see the piece on Teen Today