This Week in the Music World

So, it's shaping up to be quite the exciting week in the music world. On Monday, the latest offering from the Kings of Leon titled Come Around Sundown was released. I'm a massive fan of their previous Only By The Night, it's one of my favourite albums and I was intrigued to see the kind of stance they might take. As with quite a lot of bands, I'm not a huge fan of their early stuff but was swept along with the wave of new fans when this came out. Although Come Around Sundown has only had a few listens through it's certainly sounding better each time round. I love having new albums, when you've got so much time to listen out for new things that you didn't hear before and when you're just waiting to be taken on a journey, no idea where the band are planning to take you next. There don't seem to be any massive stand-out Sex on Fire-esque tracks (although the single, Radioactive is pretty catchy) but it's definitely a lot more chilled out and, at the same time, feels a lot more soulful and passionate. Their Nashville roots are clearly identified with such song titles as Pickup Truck and Back Down South, with a slight return to their Countrified compositions but it's definitely standing out to me as a great album for fans and non-fans alike.

Diana Vickers was one of the featured artists on the X Factor this week, which is once more causing a stir between itself and the 'real' music industry and it's fans of 'real' music. Her new single, My Wicked Heart, has come under fire for its chorus being a complete rip-off of the Chili Pepper's Under The Bridge. Although she is qouted to have admitted listening to Under The Bridge before having written the song and being worried about it sounding similar, she then decided not to bother to changing it afterall. Have a listen for yourself, but the melody for the first four lines of the chorus is uncannily similar. The Chili Peppers certainly have a case that would surely stand-up in court, and I believe they are pursuing this root. I actually quite liked her when she appeared on the X Factor as a naive 17 year old daring to be different, with her quirky stage presence and vocal style but she has obviously sold herself to fame and allowed her record company to mould her into something a lot more generic and accepted in order to sell records. The auto-tuning of her single is also far too obvious. Disappointing stuff Miss Vickers.

Diana Vickers - My Wicked Heart


Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge


And finally, Bon Jovi are to be presented with the Global Icons Award at next month's MTV Europe Music Awards and I believe they're performing at the ceremony too. Just another one for the trophy cabinet for the band maybe, but it's still great news that they continued to be recognised and celebrated today.

So there's my two-pence for what it's worth, enjoy the rest of your week.