As I have explained at length in the past, Cassie is a criminally bland R&B singer whose sole selling point is that she is, like, totally hot (and so is her best friend, if this youtube video is anything to go by).

But despite her distinct lack of, er, distinction, Cassie's debut album took up near-permananent residence on my iPod's most-played list two years ago thanks to a couple of demonically catchy robo-pop hooks on songs like Me and You, Ditto and Long Way 2 Go.

Now, the 22-year-old has returned with a bigger budget and a pair of expensive sunglasses with a comeback single, Official Girl. It's 100% by-numbers slick, modern R&B, with a beatboxed percussion loop, a guest rap from bad boy du jour L'il Wayne and a zeitgeist-tickling title. I can't see it being an all-conquering transatlantic smash á la Umbrella, but the chorus is firmly lodged in my brain already.

Cassie - Official Girl


As this premiered in the US on Friday, it's already hit a lot of the Stateside blogs, who seem to be up in arms that Cassie isn't very good at the whole singing malarkey. Is this really an issue any more? Pop history is littered with terrible vocalists who triumphed over their better trained, less charismatic counterparts. Cassie could drone like a malfunctioning Dyson and still outsell Keri Hilson or Nicole Scherzingereeningeer, as long as the songs she's given don't stink of slurry. Is that so really hard to grasp? (Clue: it isn't).

Labels: cassie, Music, video

I mentioned Cassie's new single, Is It You, in a somewhat hastily-written post back in November.

The song is now edging towards its official release, along with the film it's culled from Step Up 2 The Streets, which Cassie also stars in.

The music video features scenes from the film alongside the 21-year-old starlet performing the song in a dance studio near a grand piano. Unforgiveably, she neither stands on nor drapes herself over the piano á la Michelle Pfieffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys, thereby breaking one of the cardinal rules of pop videos with pianos in them.

Even worse, there is no dancing despite the following three things:
A) the song is built around a fantastic fuzztone guitar riff,
B) Cassie is a superb dancer
C) Step Up 2 The Streets is a movie about dancing

Despite these crimes against MTV, the video is quite tolerable and you can watch the youtube (youtube) version below.

Cassie - Is it You


PS The Soundtrack to Step Up 2 The Streets is shaping up to be pretty brilliant in an R&B / hip-hop kind of a way. Head over to Chris Picks to hear the film's two new Missy Elliot tracks. They're full of chocolatey goodness.

Labels: cassie, missy elliot, Music, video

Cassie's self-titled debut album was one of my guilty pleasures last year... It was completely generic US R&B, but somehow the songs stuck in my brain - even if the singles after Me & U underperformed quite badly.

A former model, Cassie has turned up this year in videos by Kanye West (Stronger) and Mario (Here I Go Again), while recording her sophomore album, Step Up.

The first single from that record is called Is It You. Like her previous stuff, it's not going to launch a new musical movement or reinvent R&B, but it's a catchy little slice of slinky urban pop. Built around a dirty synthesised guitar riff, it reminds me of Ashanti's Only U. Expect to hear in a Top Shop near you soon.

Take a listen to the track below and let me know what you think.

Labels: cassie, MP3, Music

I'm still in the hideous process of packing up everything I own just to move it three miles down the road to a nastier bit of London... The CDs alone now take up three storage boxes, two suitcases and a shoebox. Isn't homeowning great?

Anyway, I've still managed to find a few things worth looking at, even if I can't sit down and write my usual flawless prose (you at the back, stop laughing).

:: The 10 strangest (non-porn) sex scenes, as compiled by movie website Sand and Cotton.

:: Here is an MP3 of a remix of Timbaland's Give It To Me which eschews Nelly Furtado for Jay-Z. Westwood likes it. I reckon it's a beat searching for a song. (cripes, I hope I haven't just started the UK equivalent of rap's calamitous East coast / West coast feud. I don't even own a glock, or nothing.)

:: According to a "rumour" Nadine Coyle dumped Jesse Metcalfe because of his insane jealousy. The article doesn't say whether this was jealousy over other men or her ability to obtain gainful employment. (NB: I totally have an alibi for my whereabouts every time Jesse has been out of the country for the last 18 months).

:: Angelina Jolie says she was "very sexual" at Kindergarten and "created a game where I would kiss the boys". I bet she didn't mention that on the adoption papers.

:: Rap impresario Russell Simmons wants hip-hop artists to stop using the words Nigga, Ho and Bitches, it says here. Snoop Dogg has yet to comment, because his entire vocabulary has been taken away from him.

:: Vanessa Williams out of Ugly Betty (and singer of "Save The Best To Last"), Kristin Chenoweth out of The West Wing and Cassie out of, erm, Cassie have all gone naked and taken their clothes off and been starkers for a magazine. The scandal!



Actually, that reminds me - I've been meaning to write about Cassie for a while. I bought her self-titled debut album in the January sales and it has barely been off my iPod since. However, it appears I am not the only one who missed out on her melodious R&B stylings, as my favourite song on her album - Long Way 2 Go - only got to number 97(!!!) in the US charts.

Mind you, it could have been something to do with the terrible video, which tries so hard to "capture" the "myspace" "market" that it ends up looking like a leering uncle who's suddenly taken an interest in your Star Wars stickers.



:: PS - on the subject of Myspace, I noticed that the fifth most googled phrase that made people come to this site last month was "Myspace - twat directory". Whoever you are, I salute you.

Labels: cassie, film, Girls Aloud, links, MP3, Music, Timbaland