LADY GAGA
Million Reasons ****
Interscope
The second single from Lady Gaga's Joanne album is a country music power ballad, co-written by Hillary Lindsay (who has previously written for the likes of Taylor Swift and Bon Jovi, and clearly knows the terrain very well.) As excellent as Gaga's vocal is here, it isn't nearly as memorable as her outfit: a rockin' pink jumpsuit and matching cowboy hat combo. It's half Prince, half Gram Parsons and 100 per cent awesome.
ONE REPUBLIC
Let's Hurt Tonight **
Interscope
For a band most people would struggle to pick out of a police line-up, One Republic can certainly boast some amazing celebrity cameos in their latest video: Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Ed Norton, Helen Mirren . . . Wait, wait, sorry. On closer investigation, those are scenes from Collateral Beauty, a bad movie with a title recycled entirely from the discarded titles of other bad movies that came before it. The film is, by all accounts, hilariously, transcendently, bad. This song from its official soundtrack, alas, is merely bad.
ELBOW
Magnificent (She Says) **
Fiction
The lead single from the Mancunians' seventh album Little Fictions (due February 3rd) has soaring strings, deadpan vocals and the same "Ah shucks, I'm a regular guy" shtick Guy Garvey has been peddling and suckering music critics with for two decades. Nothing new to see here, folks. Move along.
YO GOTTI ft KANYE WEST, BIG SEAN, QUAVO & 2 CHAINZ
Castro ***
Epic
"Cubans on me like I'm Castro . . ." On this new track, American rapper Mario Mims (aka Yo Gotti) and various high-profile accomplices showcase an astounding ignorance of Latin American culture: assuming Fidel Castro was universally loved by the people of Cuba, conflating him with Pablo Escobar and then espousing the idea that J-Lo is Spanish. They do note, however, that John Travolta was one of the stars of Face/Off. So I guess, one out of four ain't bad.
