Cher Lloyd - Swagger Jagger

Certainly I'm not the only person who is reminded of Lily Allen's Alright, Still era when looking at this single cover?

By the way—I bought Beyoncé's 4 the day it came out!

Alright, some basic context for those who do not know seventeen-year-old Cher Lloyd. She was originally a finalist on UK's The X Factor in 2010, and although she came in fourth place, she still got herself a record deal. (And what's the point of being first on these singing competitions… ?) Now, she's currently promoting her first single, "Swagger Jagger".

And "Swagger Jagger" is one of those songs that I will be playing on repeat—but not for good reasons.

See, I like Cher Lloyd. I still remember watching her audition for The X Factor some time ago. I loved every second of it; her song choice was definitely in her comfort zone, and because of that you could sense her confidence during the performance. But more importantly, she showed the audience that she had a voice; a quirky and strong voice that, with the right track, could send Cher Lloyd to the top of the charts.

Unfortunately, I doubt her single, "Swagger Jagger", will be the track that will bring her to the top of the charts. Simply put, this song does not take full advantage of Cher's true potential. If she feels more comfortable rapping and would prefer to do that, then so be it. But after looking at a few of her X Factor performances (like this, this, and this) and comparing them to "Swagger Jagger", I truly believe that her singing capabilities are much stronger than her rapping capabilities, and I can only hope that she will take advantage of what she has. At the very least, her singing and her rapping should should be more cohesive.

Also—swagger jagger? What is this "jagger"? From what I can tell, there is no immediate relation between this phrase and Mick Jagger, unless she was "creatively" (read: poorly) trying to jump on this bandwagon that Ke$ha started with "Tik Tok". My instincts told me that I may find my answer on Urban Dictionary, but the definitions there are simply not nice, to say the least, so I'll just assume those definitions do not apply here. Maybe she just wanted to say "jacker" but wanted something that rhymed better with "swagger"? (Which I still personally find weird; it's not like "swagger jacker" would sound awkward in the song.)

Also, the video (below) doesn't improve the song in any way—it looks less like a music video and more like a three minute-long over-the-top TV commercial that's trying to be a music video. The colors were nice though.

Like I said before, this song will be played on repeat, but only because it's so annoyingly stuck in my head that I would never be able to get it out even if I tried. Kind of like Jenna Rose's "My Jeans" (which I will be reviewing at a later date). But I want to reiterate what I said earlier—I like Cher Lloyd! She definitely has the talent, and she has plenty of time to showcase that talent to the world (remember, she is only seventeen; plenty of time to establish herself). May "Swagger Jagger" just be a small misstep in her future career.

Listen to the song, and tell me what you think about it!