If you want to know what’s new and interesting in U.S. music, keep your eyes on artists from outside the U.S.
This first video comes from Adele. God I love this woman. Coming to you from London, Adele’s video “Chasing Pavements” instantly stood out as something different when I saw it. I love the dancing on the sidewalk. Just a cool video and a great voice. I guarantee you’ll be hearing more from her.
The next video comes from Canada’s Justin Nozuka and is called “After Tonight”. This is a simple but catchy summer love song. I really liked the falling stars. There just aren’t that many love songs anymore. We need more of them.
Another singer with ties to London, Leona Lewis, is no stranger to the U.S. charts. Her new single is called “Better In Time” and I’m sure it’s going to do well.
Honey, honey, honey… you must have not received my note about the rappers.
You took a really fun song, “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time”, and then you changed the studio version to include 4 minutes of a man saying “yeah, yeah, yeah… uh, uh”.
WTF?
It was a great song… no rap necessary. Why did you ruin it for the video?
And that’s two videos in a row that have been completely ridiculous. Even at her crackhead worst, Whitney put out better stuff…
You have two breasts. They’re perky and firm, and you like rolling them around in the sand.
We get it, and we’re happy for you. But your audience is primarily straight women and gay men, so do us all a favor and put those puppies away.
I think I’ve finally come around to enjoying Madonna’s Hard Candy album.
There are at least 4 songs on there that I genuinely love:
- 4 Minutes
- Miles Away
- Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You
- Voices
But why does she keep saying her sugar is raw? Miss Madonna, if your sugar is raw, you need to put some Preparation H Cooling Gel on it and sleep it off like the rest of us do. Mmm-kay?
We laughed, we cried, we applauded! I’ve never been to a movie where I felt like the audience was so connected to the film. It’s everything a Sex and the City fan could ever hope for!
It truly is a movie for the fans. If you aren’t a fan of the show or haven’t seen it, most of the film’s dialogue will be over your head. But if you are familiar, you will love it!
Today was the fifth anniversary of Apple’s iTunes Store. I was browsing their year-by-year summary of the most popular songs sold from 2003-2008, when I unexpectedly got flooded with emotions from the past.
For most people, music is the soundtrack of our lives. It evokes feelings, moods, memories. Whether good or bad, we use songs to remind us of an old friend, a lost love, a parent or sibling. Something as simple as a melody can take us back years, even decades, to a different place in our lives.
The page about 2003 reminded me of the internship I started at an up and coming design firm in Raleigh, NC. I was weeks away from graduating college at the top of my class with a 4.0 GPA. What a great time. Life was good. I had music playing at my desk every day. Outkast and Black Eyed Peas played a lot.
2004 immediately makes me think of the time I met my friend’s Winston and John for the first time (I talked about them in this recent post). “The Reason” by Hoobastank always makes me a bit misty eyed when I hear it. Although the message has absolutely nothing to do with them, it was on the radio, and I just connect it with them.
2005 reminds me of a lot of changes. By then I had moved up to the Senior Designer at that same web firm, and my career was flourishing. But I made the decision that our family was more important, so we moved to Nashville, TN to be closer to our family in Illinois, 3 hours away. I quit my job and found a new one here. Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, Kelly Clarkson, The Killers… those are just a few of the names mentioned in iTunes that bring back memories of that time of transition in my life.
2006 is when Rodney and I bought our first house. It was a hectic time, but not too bad overall. I know a lot about real estate, so it was actually pretty smooth. I think The Fray pretty much defined that year, and Justin Timberlake brings back good memories too.
2007 - Daughtry, Daughtry, Daughtry. There wasn’t any station that didn’t play his songs on the hour, every hour. This was the year I quit my day job and started running my own design business full time. I had a lot of time alone to listen to whatever I wanted that year.
These memories are probably meaningless and insignificant to anyone else. But to me, they are bricks that build the foundation of my life. Every song, every artist, every cover image makes me think of someone or something pertaining to that particular time in my life.
So here we are in 2008. I’m left wondering what songs and which artists will define this year when I look back at it. I already have a few in mind.
Tonight was the first time I watched American Idol this season. I usually like to jump in just around the end of a season and get the snippets. But of course I had to watch tonight because of Mariah Carey.
First of all… David Cook… wow. I’ve heard his name, and I always look out for the people I hear buzz about before I’ve ever seen them perform. I don’t know the first thing about him or his style, but this performance of “Always Be My Baby” was incredible. I loved it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwNkiHYYhRk
Next on my radar was David Archuleta. What a cutie. And yes, I know he’s 17. I’m not being some dirty perv. I’m just saying he’s adorable. I liked his performance of “When You Believe”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25DPLIBx9dk
Syesha Mercado’s “Vanishing” performance was really rock solid, although very “safe”. She hit all the right notes, everything was in tune. But it was a carbon copy of the original. I did notice the comment about it being a song that people wouldn’t know, so I’m not sure how other people perceived it. But if you are a Mariah fan, you’ll probably know the song really well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSH7MkJztUs
The Jason Castro version of “I Don’t Wanna Cry” also stood out. Worth a mention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7zo5CowPJU
So all you American Idol fans out there… who do you like and dislike? Who’s your pick for the winner?
Damn, Madonna, that was better than I thought it would be. Nice work.
4 Minutes to Save the World featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland:
Today it was confirmed that Mariah Carey’s single “Touch My Body” has broken the record set by Elvis Presley for the most #1’s. Elvis had 17 and Mariah now has 18. The Beatles have the highest record, set at 20, and Mariah is well on her way to beating that. Yay!
There has been a great deal of buzz about her upcoming album E=MC2, and all of it positive. At the beginning of the week, several of the songs were leaked and surprisingly the big gossip sites have remained silent about it. I wonder why? Well I guess I’m letting the cat out of the bag.
It appears as if there was some type of studio documentary Mariah was putting together that explains how each song was written. The footage includes about 2 minutes of previews from the songs. I don’t know where the source of the leaks is, but it’s been fascinating to hear and see how a song is made. They keep appearing on YouTube, but then are quickly pulled. So if you want to hear them, try searching later at night.
The tracks leaked were “Love Story” (a ballad, rumored to be her next single and next #1 hit), “Bye Bye” (a very sad song about death and loss), and “Migrate” (which is the infamous song she performed poorly on SNL). When the criticism came up that she gave a bad performance of “Migrate” last month, Mariah defended herself saying she hadn’t had time to plan the live version since she was a last minute replacement for Janet Jackson. I have to agree with Mariah, the studio version really is good!
Another song is “I’m That Chick”, which Mariah performed on MTV last week. Wow. This song is really addictive and sounds unlike anything she’s ever done. I really like it.
So is this Mariah’s best album ever? At minimum, I think it’s going to be one of the best ones since the 1990’s. She has a completely new perspective on music and each song is extremely unique. One thing I’ve noticed is that Mariah has dramatically improved her lyrics. Every track has a very catchy hook to it that gets stuck in your head, and they are memorable. I find myself listening to the previews over and over again.
Congratulations, Mariah! I hope you go on to beat even more records!
Add this to my collection of Mariah Carey posts. Yes, I know you dear readers hate the woman. The gays turned on her somewhere around 1998. I can only speculate, but I think it was the poodle hair she sported in Hawaii. It was right then and there that the gays threw in the towel. By 1999, I couldn’t get one gay friend to say they liked her anymore, and it was all downhill from there.
But I digress… I’ve been a loyal Mariah since 1990, and I suspect I always will be. Clearly somebody is buying her music… just nobody that reads my blog. (Except for you Alexsander.)
So her new CD is coming out, and I do believe my advice is helping. Look at Janet Jackson. I wrote several spirited posts back in 2006 giving her tips on how to make better music, and I think she took notes. That woman has completely turned it around. Good for you, Miss Jackson. I’m glad I could help you.
Now that brings me to my beautiful Mariah… you know you’re the only woman I’d switch for. But we need to talk about these rappers.
Let’s stroll back to 1995 when you did the “Fantasy” remix with ODB. Yeah, that was edgy. You were a pop princess living in Tommy-land, and collaborating with a rapper pissed off all the right people. It was a new sound for the Mariah we’d all known, and we liked it. It was a #1 hit. Good for you.
By 1997, the rap was going a little overboard. To this day, I don’t understand why people allow Jermaine Dupri to talk on their songs. “JD, y’all” is not singing… it’s not even rapping. He’s just this freakishly short man who says his name in the middle of songs, and ruins the whole damn thing for me. Really, Mariah… what value does he bring to the table?
As we moved into 1999, things got really crazy. There were just random guys screaming on your songs. No reason, they just screamed at really inappropriate times. The concept of rapping had went out the window. But I could still forgive you, because I understood that you were doing your independent thing, trying to find your place in the world, and all that good stuff.
We’ll bypass the early 2000’s because I think the media was incredibly harsh on you. So let’s just move on to to your most recent albums. You’ve survived the storms, you’ve grown up now, and you’re wiser and stronger. Why haven’t you ditched the annoying rappers?
Honey, you can out-sing anyone. You’ve been in this industry for nearly 2 decades! Why, oh why, do you feel like you have to share the stage with these rappers? You have enough talent to fill a 4 minute song on your own.
Last night, you appeared on Saturday Night Live with T-Pain, who looked like a homeless guy you picked up in an alley on your way to the show. Why???
The song was great. You were doing very well on your own. And you looked fantastic. I see no reason why this clown had to jump on stage 3 minutes into the song and start jumping around. Then you started dirty dancing with him. Bleh…
If you want my professional opinion; you should delay the album release and remove the rappers from the songs. Re-release it in May and let it be a true Mariah Carey album that features you and you alone. Come on… you’ve earned it!
Just look what my advice did for Janet. 
Madonna… we’ll get to you next week…
In the April 2008 edition of Out Magazine, yours truly has a spot in the Out Letters section. My commentary was in response to the ongoing “is he or isn’t he gay” article about singer Mika.
At first I thought they had watered down my quote, but then I realized I was the one who watered it down. I had originally written a very long-winded analysis, but erased it and submitted the short and sweet version that made it to the magazine. I guess it worked, because there I am.
My quote:
Oh, come on. I love Mika, but no straight men ever makes that big of a deal about his sexuality, so at minimum he’s bisexual. But more than likely he’s 100% gay. Perhaps he’s stuck in that unfortunate phase where you secretly know you’re gay, but in public you try to rationalize that you might be straight because you enjoy the company of women. Enjoying their company is not the same as being attracted to them.
His interviews remind me very much of the ones from Darren Hayes’ early days. Darren just refused to “label” or discuss his sexuality, and tried to make it this big mystery for years. For the record, nobody cared when he finally did come out, and he wrote the most amazingly beautiful record after he was “free” to be himself.
——-
Pictured above: Rodney, Mika, Me, Rey
Thanks to Chris at Hunk du Jour for bringing it to my attention that my comment was published!
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