Sorry Sorry Sorry, I'm Coming Down to Fix This.

So I think this is marvellous. As the S&N contributor with the least musical expertise and most questionable taste, I always feel hesitant about voicing opinions, feelings, potentially embarrassing emotive gushings etc. relating to music. But, as I said before, I think this has the knees of the bees. The bees that have knees? Do bees even have knees? If they did, or do, or could one day have some, they would be this song. It probably wouldn't function well as a connective joint facilitating movement between two clusters of ligament and bone in an animalian appendage, but it could try.

As a pop song it fares far more auspiciously. It has a hummy bit that suggests some sort of restoration-era fan-fluttering intrigue, a climbing, expansive chorus that transitions from gentle, floating introspection to massive, euphoric belting and a lead up to it that is all choppy, harmonised and major key. It sounds like it could have come from the very beginning of the millennium, but still manages to sound current with the sampled Deadmau5 beats (? synths? beating synths? two hearts beating together?) thrumming underneath it. Perhaps its the sampling of that particular chord structure that gives it such variety, and allows it to move so freely, or perhaps its down to the songs production, handled by Stargate - who have also worked with Rihanna and were behind Katy Perry's "Firework" - another corker.

But what I love, almost more than the song itself (which is a catchy shrimp (????! shrimp?! of a thing), is the video. The slightly if not significantly dodgy CGI, the slightly surreal futuristic look of it, reminiscent of someone fusing The Cell and Bedtime Story together and adapting the result for a Theatre In Education performance at a children's nursery, the prevalence of super shiny tin cans not just by themselves but as assembled works of art. So cryptic, so bizarre. It looks like it could sit quite comfortably next to JLo's 'Play' from 2001 with its DLR car prototypes, moving benches, conveyor-belt cityscapes and curiously shifting buildings. AND WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMPUTERISED SILK SCARF? IS IT A SYMBOL? A VISUAL METAPHOR? A LINK BETWEEN TWO SELVES BELONGING TO DIFFERENT CHRONOLOGIES? WHAT/HOW/WHY/ CHICKEN POT PIE?

Considering that this is a single from a semi finalist from 2006's America's Got Talent, its a very strong first release. The clever sampling has ensured that "Happiness" has climbed to no. 3 in the UK singles chart, which is pretty decent for someone nearly totally unheard of. It'll be quite interesting to see how her campaign unfolds: will they stick with the euphoric club sound or eschew cohesive production to emphasise the considerable vocal talents of 18 year old (!!!!) Alexis? Will they give her a strong visual and genre specific identity (is that a priority in an artist so young?), or will she be a one hit wonder? Will she go on to create more knees for bees?