Tastes of Gin

"Tastes of Gin" is the second single from English band Jetfire's sophomore studio album Counting The Stars. The single was released on 31 October 2016 via Digital Download and physical release through Next Generation Records. The song received positive reviews from pop music critics who regarded it as a highlight from the album. Upon it's release, "Tastes of Gin" charted at #? on the UK Singles Chart.

Background
"Tastes of Gin" appears as track 04 on the album "Counting The Stars". The song focuses on a man who abuses alcohol as a way of escaping from his life, becoming a new man when he's intoxicated. Upon release of the album, many critics felt the single was the obvious choice for the next single. On 20 September 2016, it was revealed that the song would act as the album's second single, with a release date of 17 October. However the day before it's release, the single was pushed back two weeks, as there was no other songs being released alongside it, and it is against the chart rules for only one new song to be released in a week.

Release and reception
Upon release, "Tastes of Gin" was met with critical acclaim. Many critics described it as a highlight from the "Counting The Stars" album. NME commented on the song in reference to prior single "Little Black Book" - "The newest song, “Tastes of Gin” is more mellow, but reminded me more of what everybody loved about Jetfire initially. They take sadness and find a way to create some beauty out of it." PopJustice complimented the songwriting - "A broken half a glass has opened up his chin/He thinks he's hard, a powdered mouth that tastes of gin/It's common knowledge that fantasy is the enemy of reality/But the liquor drowns the sound of the dreamers desperate plea/He's just drowning in reality, living in fantasy - this alone simply shows how the boys have developed as songwriters. In fact, it shows we shouldn't even be calling them boys or a boyband, when they've clearly become men."

The band performed the song on The X Factor on 16 October 2016.

Track listing

 * Digital download
 * 1) "Tastes of Gin" – 4:17


 * CD1
 * 1) "Tastes of Gin" – 4:17
 * 2) "Tastes of Gin" (Extended Version) – 5:03
 * 3) "Tastes of Gin" (accoustic verison) – 3:50
 * 4) "Starboy" – 4:22

Music Video
The music video premiered on 17 October 2016.

The video begins showing a young boy doing various things you'd expect a young boy to be doing with his friends, such as riding a bike, having sword fights with sticks and climbing trees. The boy and his friends all appear to be having a great time, with plenty of laughter. Suddenly each of the boys mothers appear, and usher for the boys to come home as it's tea time. The mothers all look very happy and immaculately dressed. The boy were focused on hugs his mother who has a huge sunhat on and sunglasses as they walk home together.

The boy walks into the house as the mother shuts the door. She takes off her glasses revealing a black eye, as the father staggers through drunk. He grabs the mother by her face, smearing her lipstick and throws her into the wall. He also starts yelling abuse at the little boy, who runs to his room crying.

Gradually the young boy is shown looking into a mirror as he gets older, with scenes of violence between his parents shown in the mirror's reflection behind him. Now in his early 20's, he stops ageing, moves away from the mirror and looks out a window. He see's the same boys he used to play with, now as men, walking past his house as they laugh together. He closes the blinds and the screen turns to darkness.

The lights come on inside and his girlfriend is sitting across from him, looking incredibly beautiful, almost like a princess, as they stand in a grand ball. He walks over to her and they dance beautifully across the room, gliding as if they were walking on water. However then the screen distorts and shows them holding each other and stumbling around a run down motel room, with rats and smashed windows, as they clutch a bottle of vodka and drink it straight, clearly so drunk that in their head they're in the first scene, unaware of reality.

The couple share several scenes together, smoking as they walk through a dark street, and sit in the rain taking a pill. There are also flashes of them in the rain screaming and shouting at one another, before they make up and embrace.

Finally, Jetfire appear on a grand stage, performing the song to a huge crowd. The man and his girlfriend are in the very front row, against the barrier, singing along to the song having a great time. They take a swig of vodka from the bottle and as they lower the bottle the stage is actually in a very run down rough pub, where a Jetfire tribute act is performing. The couple, so drunk believe they are at an amazing concert. Dancing around like idiots, the man accidentally bumps into a large man, and they get into a fight. The fight results in the man we've been following getting stabbed, as his attacker runs out of the pub. His girlfriend dives to the ground holding him covered in his blood. She screams for help as people just stand in stare. The video begins to fade out, as the final words of the song are heard: "Just let me fade out, just let me fade away, Just let me fade out, just let me fade away"

Chart performance
The single was released on 17 October, 2016. It initially appeared at #41 on the Airplay chart before rising to #30 and then #15. It then rose into the top ten at #9.