Just as England took over world domination in T20 cricket, the weather in England took over the sunny skies of Sri Lanka. And for those of you who followed the commercial breaks in between the T20 World Cup or followed the radio while chugging through flood waters, you would be able to sing by memory the chorus to an instantaneously catchy FIFA World Cup song.

It was played throughout the T20 coverage during the commercial breaks and it is now one of the upcoming hits on local radio. All anyone has to do is say the first few words, ‘when I grow older…’ and a crowd of people, who may not even be football fans, would sing the rest along.

The artist is a Canadian-Somali singer and rapper who won Juno awards as 2010’s Artist and Songwriter of the Year. K’naan, whose name means traveler, lived in Mogadishu during the Somali war and learnt his English by listening to the music of American rappers like Nas which his father would send him from the U.S. His family has a rich heritage of musical and lyrical expertise, with his mother being a famous Somali singer and his grandfather an acclaimed poet.

Following a spoken word performance given at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999, K’naan won the attention of Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, who invited him to contribute to the Building Bridges album. Contribution to the album allowed K’naan to tour the world and resulted in eventual compilation of his debut album Troubadour.

K’naan’s lyrical style has been compared to the protest poetry of Bob Marley and he claims he strives to make ‘urgent music with a message’.

Wavin’ Flag was first released as a single in 2009 and was then selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa as the Coca-Cola anthem. The version that is used for the World Cup is a remixed bilingual version which features K’naan performing the English lyrics and David Bisbal performing a Spanish translation.

Check out this version in which Will.i.am and David Guetta have collaborated with K’naan.

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This is the first song from the Grammy-winning band’s latest Greatest Hits album, Monuments and Melodies, which was released as a tribute to Incubus’ 18 year of charttopping megalomanic rock and roll.

Yes it’s been 18 years since they’ve been around (and it’s been almost 10 years since they released Drive)

The song is one of two new tracks included in the compilation of hit songs and B-sides.

The song is an easy-going track that doesn’t offer too much adrenaline-pumping rock emotion like Megalomaniac or classic balladeering like Drive.  It’s a simple song led nonchalantly by Brandon Boyd’s inimitable vocals, until it breaks out into a wicked guitar solo that almost makes up for the otherwise half-hearted effort on the track.

The track is not ambitious – it doesn’t sound like the band is trying to make a hit, it just sounds like they put together an original that could feature on the credits of their Best Of collection.  Well…because it’s nice to have something not too obtrusive on the credits and also not so clichéd as to be a past hit.  

Yes, the credits are a safe place for a new track.  But the credits are also when much of the audience leaves.  It’s the track that fills the silence of their departure and easily forgotten on leaving its ear-shot.

So it’s not necessarily a good place for a new track you want smashing the charts like a Kanye West temper tantrum.  It’s only a safe place.  But then Black Heart Inertia is a safe song, not veering from the Incubus alt-rock genre but nothing like an Incubus classic.

If it wins any popularity, will be out of obligatory respect for the band and because of any fresh relevance for Incubus.

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TNL’s the kind of station that will never let you forget the many suits Good Charlotte used to wear when they were hollering about how they ‘just wanna live’.   Law suit, white suit, black suit, birthday suit…and then the falsetto chorus.

And it’s never a bad thing to wave a few tribute flags to the bygones of the hit parade, when the hits are that good.

Franz Ferdinand seem to be doing just that with this World Premier, which is the second single from the FF’s album, Tonight Franz Ferdinand,.  

Back in their art school suit, it’s Franz Ferdinand tossing their groovy batons with lovable flare as they march their way onto the dance floor, grinning that all-Kinks smile, while winkin’ at ya some eye-rolling pick up lines.  

No You Girls uses the same intensely colorful formula that sent Take Me Out into an anthemic momentum like Rosa Parks on the Indie – chart bus.  Sitting on the radio-worthy side for all the other pop-loving white folk to see.

Filled with propulsive and colorful guitar riffs and an irresistible electro-pop tempo, the song is infectiously very TNL.  

And one thing’s for sure, this song will be spotted a mile away, as soon as that guitar intro begins.  The riff intro and continuous underlying frills got a little glam rock, a little retro charm and a little quirky cheekiness that combine into something you can’t scowl at, whether you’re hearing it in the middle of traffic, in the middle of your employers ego trip rant or in the middle of a valentino day dream, because you just can’t scowl at four punk-pop dance-rockers grinning gleefully at you, even if they are wearing really tight pants.

No You Girls is the slower, ballad-like sister-track or counterpart of Katherine Kiss Me, which is also featured on the same album.

 “Its two versions of the same event, said frontman Alex Kapranos in an interview with Rollingstone, “One with the sort of exaggeration with which you would tell it to your friends — and the other way, which is more vulnerable.”

Check out an unplugged studio version of the track here…

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And this is what it sounds like plugged in and live…

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And this is the album version…

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