Pop Is Not The Enemy: Track of the Week #5

It's only the bloody track of the week!

This week's track of the week has come of something of a surprise, a bit of a change of direction for a former talent show graduate. The artist in question is Adam Lambert, and the song is his comeback single 'Ghost Town'.

Starting with an acoustic guitar it sounds like a more stripped back version of what we've heard from Adam in the past, dark lyrics painting a picture of desperation and of someone of the verge of giving up.

"Saw all of the saints,

Lock up the gates,

I could not enter.

Walked into the flames,

Called out your name,

But there was no answer."

Then comes the switch, a rumbling deep house bassline kicks in alongside an Ebola-catchy whistle and heralds the arrival of the simple chorus that is built on that hypnotic backing. Totally catchy, dark as midnight but still poppy enough to be mainstream - not an easy task but one that Adam and the genius that is Max Martin (also responsible for arguably the best pop album of the last few years Taylor Swift's '1989') have managed to pull off. Part of me thinks that remixing this will take away the subtlety and the major strength of the track - the juxtaposition of the haunting acoustic verses against the balls-out madness of that chorus. For me, this sits alongside the other big songs from Adam's discography 'For Your Entertainment' and the Pink-penned 'Whataya Want From Me'.

The information that has been released about the single's parent album 'The Original High' is also really encouraging including (following his stint as lead singer of Queen) a collaboration with Brian May and a duet with Swedish pop deity Tove Lo.

There has only been a lyric video released so far, the official video is set to premier in the very near future, but I just had to feature this track ASAP as it is truly, actually bloody brilliant!