#50 Taio Cruz, "Come On Girl"

I just wanna turn you, me into an
USSS

British singer Taio Cruz started out his professional musical life as a songwriter, penning Will Young's "Your Game," before starting on his solo career in 2007 with two singles. "Come On Girl" was his third single and first released in 2008. Up-tempo R&B-pop with an electro edge--sounds like a familiar combination recently, doesn't it? But I really mean electro here, and not just dance; there's something sharp and punchy about the electro Taio uses in this song, a fact which I love. I love cute, but you need more aggressive music sometimes, too, and "Come On Girl" is more in that direction. Add in a cameo in the middle 8 from the always welcome Luciana, and you've got a fantastic song, one that does a good job of setting me up for excitement both about Taio's future solo career and the songwriting he's continuing to do for other artists...and that even a video which featured what Popjustice accurately called the world's slowest car chase couldn't take away from that.

Taio's album is a pretty enjoyable if not always amazing listen. I bought it after having heard the first three singles when Jessica posted two other songs from in on Into The Groove and then his fourth single, which was neither of those songs--I couldn't believe someone could be four singles into an album campaign, still have songs that fantastic lying unreleased on the album, and then have a song as great as "I Can Be" to release as his fourth single. I always try to avoid overlapping song posting with other blogs, especially when it's only via other blogs that I found about other songs, but I can't help reposting one of those two songs in hopes that it might have the same effect on other people it had on me--with full credit and thanks to Jessica for the introduction to it. "I'll Never Love Again" is the album's opening track and--gasp--a ballad, but it really is a great one, melodic, catchy, and moving all at once. Why on Earth this wasn't chosen as a single when Taio released five different ones from the album and then re-released his first one, I have no idea.

Find it on: Departure