Just Jack - 'Starz In Their Eyes'
There's a word your English teacher will have used quite a lot when you were studying poetry. It tends to come up when a poet says something pretty, and then immediately says something nasty, or stinky, or generally unpleasant straight away (or the other way around, obv), and it sort of sums up what's brilliant about this song. That word is JUXTAPOSITION.
Cos while the music is all glorious, super-happy disco, with proper Kool & The Gang bass, chunter-funk guitar and whooshy synth noises, the lyrics are bitter, cynical, and as down to Earth as falling over after slipping on a dropped chip at the bus stop. That's juxtaposition right there.
It seems Jack, like Mike Skinner before him, has little time for the kind of people who want to encourage everyone to try their hand at becoming a celebrity by entering talent competitions and auditioning for reality shows. Not because he doesn't like the X-Factor as a TV show, but because the people who win these things aren't often told about the down-side, when it's a few months on, there's another series to plan, and suddenly Heat magazine has Big Brother to rave about and Simon Cowell is too busy to take your calls.
Pretty bleak stuff, eh? So you NEED that summery music underneath, if only to get across that pointing this stuff out isn't just whinging about reality TV, it's a way of caring, by asking everyone who would give their right arm to have what Leona Lewis has if they are really SURE what they're asking for.
After all, a right arm is pretty useful. If only so you can write 'Juxtaposition' down in your English notebook...
Released: January 15th
(Fraser M)
