JLS are nice guys – everyone saw them on X Factor as genuine friends wanting to be pop stars.

Their new single reflects the problem with the TV pop competition though. They don’t want to make music particularly, they don’t want to write lyrics – they just want to be performers of songs, not musicians. This leaves them with little direction over their own sound; so they end up being packaged according to what is perceived as popular.

This worked with their first song – the background forces created a catchy pop hook that led to success. The Club is Alive though is an amelodic, overly produced mess. Their voices are tinkered with for no reason just leading to an annoying synth lyrics, which themselves are pretty meaningless.

A poor performance for the nice guys – but this can happen when you are buffeted around on the music companies will. Anyways, if you like car crashes, this is for you.

Picture Courtesy of Litonali