Pop Is Not The Enemy: #TBT #6

For Throwback Thursday every week we're going to shine our poplight on a stone cold classic.

This week's 'Throwback Thursday' is a quality tune from a massively under appreciated album that never even received a release in the UK, although it was a big hit on the dance charts in the USA. I'm talking about something from this little lady...

It is indeed Roisin Murphy (yes, 'er off of Moloko, if you must!). With a new album out next week, the deliciously titled 'Hairless Toys', and a tour kicking off in Manchester next Tuesday I thought I'd shine a light on a pop masterpiece from her second album, 2007's 'Overpowered' (also home to the rather wonderful 'You Know Me Better' and 'Let Me Know'). However, the song in question for this article is the cocking brilliant 'Movie Star'!

Kicking off with a tasty, delicious buzzing bassline the pumping beats soon crash in and then we get Roisin's gorgeous smoky vocal, the falsetto section before the chorus is just bliss! And while we're talking about it, what a chorus - that high hat is so infectious! Witty, barbed lyrics paint a picture of an ambitious starlet who is willing to do pretty much anything to 'break into cinema':

"So he's a headstrong guy and perhaps I shouldn't listen,

There's a million girls wanna be in my position.

And if he tells me lies I'll suspend my disbelieving,

I'll leave it all behind, I ain't asking for permission."

It's tongue in cheek, sharp and utterly catchy from the get go. There are echoes of 'Supernature'-era Goldfrapp in this, possibly Roisin's poppiest solo moment, but it sticks in your head on it's own merits. Backed by a truly amazing cover of Bryan Ferry's 'Slave to Love' it really was a stand out track from the album, which is no easy thing on an album of this caliber). Also, I need to just pay service to the brilliant video, it's campy and hilarious with more than a few nods to the high camp of John Waters (in particular the Divine lookalike) and Roisin's mother being played by DJ and drag queen extraordinaire Jodie Harsh - obviously!