Friday, August 18, 2006
Nicola Monday Friday: Betty Boo's "Hangover"
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 It is the end of the week, and to celebrate, I've moved Nicola Mondays to Fridays!
What happens on Nicola Fridays is that I, being a lover of music, will each week select one song from the vaults of pop music history, and explain why Nicola Roberts, Band Leader of Pop group Girls Aloud, should cover said song when she launches a solo career once the girls split in December.
Of course, on some weeks, people that write and/or run fabulous blogs that I worship will contribute, discussing what pop-vault-classic THEY think Nicola shoud cover. One week it will be me, the next, someone else. So for those of you who failed math, each fortnight will be my contribution, and the other weeks will be someone elses. Fantastic! This fortnight's guest comes in the wondrous form of Alyson from the amazing CFBGoesPop, and although I do not approve of her use of Hamish Blake in the video clip (my fantasies involve Andy and nobody else thank you), it is none of my conern because this is HER Nicola Friday, not mine...
DON'T FORGET THERE IS AN MP3 ON OFFER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST AS WELL, SO IT IS TRULY WORTH "STICKING AROUND", IF NOT FOR THIS BRILLIANT AND HILARIOUS PIECE OF WORK THAT ALYSON HAS WRITTEN BUT THEN FOR THE AMAZING BETTY BOO TRACK YOU WILL NOW OWN ILLEGALLY. ENJOY!
Alyson, CFBGoesPop: Even though in the great girlband wars of 2006, I'm a card carrying Vanilla Ninja fan, I am becoming increasingly enamoured with the individual ways and mannerisms of the individual members of Girls Aloud more and more as I study their development with a glass of brandy, and the aide of Youtube. I see them less now as a group, especially in light of Vanilla Ninja's statuesque blonde army indentikit look, and more as 5 functioning individual members. There's Tweedy, with her mean right hook and desperation to marry class with a reet guid Geordie accent (incidentally, how apt is it that my friend Claire's impersonation of Geordies focuses on their obsession with coal, and Tweedy married Ashley Cole?) and thrashing right hook, there's Nads, and the brilliant way she says "Gerls Allowd", there's Sarah, and her knifes edge balancing act between blonde sensation and slightly skanky girl of ill repute who made it out of Volts nightclub and away from her old nickname "Strike" (don't ask), and there's Kimba...who...um...so how about that Tweedy huh! As this individuality grows into something more dynamic, ie. solo careers, some people would have you believe that the rude ginger bitch, Nicola Roberts, is somehow the 5th and lowest member of Girls Aloud instead of one of the worlds 5 best pop stars (Lily Allen? PAH!) to which we can only say two things - if you think this, you are clearly a brain dead moron, and secondly, even if you DO think this, think of how well the 5th best member of Take That did with his solo career! That's right! Howard Donald...um...no wait, that's wrong...where was I...ah yes, Nic Rob. Now, during the Girls interview with Frank Skinner (the Ugly Dave Grey of UK comedy) the sole moment Nic Rob was mentioned was in a Tweedy anecdote about how Nic Rob fished Tweedys phone out of the toilet - that Nic Robs only mention was in a Tweedy anecdote is part of my problem when it comes to solo careers - how to position the truth, that Nic Rob IS the girls leader (given my three favourite Girls Aloud moments, "Frankly I don't even care", the pants that say "I am a Rude Ginger Bitch - BOTHERD!", and her brilliant "BONES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" insane ranting in the Popjustice magazine interview are all hers, and the fact that she's the only ginger person on earth my friend Claire doesn't find evil right now, I say this with authority) is through a brilliant, dynamic cover version single, which showcases all that us Nic Rob fans can see, brilliance, dynamism, beauty, intelligence and above all, mardy indifference. So what to release? So many choices, so many brilliant songs across the globe for Nic to sink her teeth into....honestly, I could sit here for hours and just come up with ideas, and strategies, but let's start out with the dream, in fact, let's start out with the one I've already started drawing sketches and single covers for - in confession, it wasn't my idea, it was actually the idea of one Edward O, but truthfully, I've taken the idea and gone a bit nuts with it, even coming up with an original album for Nicola entitled "botherd" (lower case b deliberate) with songs about Liverpool, broken hearts, fiesty revenge on old lovers, and a cover of Melly Ts "Blink" which we imagine to somehow be regarded as the worlds greatest ever song. If you thought Betty Boo was some kind of one hit, drop the microphone and fail kind of pop star, you haven't really hung around me have you? No, nothing tops the sheer magnetic brilliance of Grrr! It's Betty Boo (I went through a phase of having my answering machine say Grrr! It's Alyson Guard) and it's pivotal, narcoleptic, woozy lullaby slash pained stab to the broken hearted "Hangover". Where as Hepburn shouted their pain with London references to the Kings Road (so THAT'S where Lily Allen got it from!), Betty gently pulls the covers over her head, trying to be brave and the ice queen we know she is for the public, but as she gently hums "won't get over it in a day", only stone hearts remain unbroken (a mix only Kylie Minogues "It's just..........Sex" in Finer Feelings and Venke Knutsons final sighed "Love explains it....all" can pull off). So I hear you say, why this song? Well, in my sketches, she's in a coffee shop, with her mates, explaining why her boyfriend (played by Hamish Blake, because it's my damn video and he's pwetty!) is no longer with her. The video is entirely in black and white, except for Nics couch which she's sitting on, which is bright red. Hamish smilingly tells her all the things she wants to hear in flashback shots, while her friends console her. In key moments, Hamish is frozen, while Nic walks around him, rolling her eyes and shaking her head wistfully, singing the song. Even though she's bravely smiling, throughout the video, she progressively goes from brave to angry, to sad, as Hamish packs his stuff and moves out. In the part that says "Didn't have the decency to even confess", we see Nic walk past a local shopkeeper, who in a thought bubble, realises that he saw Hamish going out with a generic blonde (played by, I don't know, one of the Appletons?) but the final shot is of her smiling gently as she looks out the window as a hearse drives past - does it mean she killed him, or her, or is it a metaphor for the fact she's over it and he's dead to her? Perhaps we'll never know, as the song fades on her walking out of the coffee shop arm in arm with her mates. It's perfect for Nics gentle, soothing vocals, and ice maiden, slightly vulnerable sense of cool. B sides? A short, sharp cover of Kenickie's Rebel Assault (1:27, with Tweedy on the tin whistle), film clip on old skool CD rom component, and a cover of Jo Breezers sighed "You'll Get There Some Day", artwork of Nic outside a nightclub watching the world go by - sorted, #1 around the world, bashing Lily Allen over the head with an iron bar... Spot todays theme kids! x Alyson
DOWNLOAD >> Betty Boo "Hangover" MP3
Link #1 YOUSENDIT: Here
Link #2 MEGAUPLOAD: Here
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