Wouldn’t it be funny if Beyoncé came in with only two Grammy nods this year? I can’t really see it happening, but it would be funny because so many people are expecting her to be the front runner when the nominations for the 2015 Grammy’s are announced tomorrow morning. King Bey does seem like a sure bet to lead the pack though, for a few reasons. Her album “BEYONCE” was more than an album, it was an EVENT. The surprise release back in December was a big move in the industry, a game changer, and lots of her peers respect her for doing something so risky yet successful. And let’s not forget that the Grammy’s LOVE Beyonce, she opened up the show last year with just one nomination, a definite sign that the committee is still on her team. I expect at least 6 nominations for Mrs. Carter including Album of the Year, Record or Song of the Year for “Drunk in Love”, a few Pop nominations and a few R&B nominations, and a Long Form Video nomination for the Visual accompaniment to her album.
Beyonce performing at last years Grammys
But enough about Beyoncé, who else has a good shot of taking home multiple nods in a year that was very lackluster sales and quality wise? Normally you can look at billboard charts and RIAA to determine who will be nominated, but since sales were so low this year it’s hard to think of who are the favorites. The Grammy’s could go in lots of different directions this year, they could go very young and the likes of Iggy Azalea and Ariana Grande could come out with a bunch of nods. Or the Grammy’s could go very Indie and shine a light on acts like Hozier and St. Vincent. It’s really all up in the air at this point, making predictions difficult but not impossible.
I would say the artist next in line to score a lot of noms would be Sam Smith. He had a huge hit single with “Stay with Me”, and he’s the kind of act the Grammy’s love to shower with nominations. He’s British with that whole Singer/Songwriter angle, although his music is mostly contemporary, and he’s all about the singing and not about the smoke and mirrors that have become a necessity in today’s industry. Expect “Stay with Me” to be up for Record and Song of the Year, and I wouldn’t doubt his album “In the Lonely Hour” will grab a few nods.
unless Ariana Grande snatches the trophy from him.
Ariana Grande is another very popular act of 2014 that is sure to score multiple nominations. She wasn’t up for New Artist last year, so I would put money on her being a favorite in that category this year. She also had two big singles this year in “Problem” and “Break Free”, so either one of those could end up contributing to her list of nominations this year. I do think that her fanbase is incredibly young, and this might mess up her final total of nominations, but she was so successful this year that she will definitely be named in a few categories. I also can’t help but think her collaboration with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj could result in a nom, probably Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Pharrell will be HAPPY when his multiple nominations are announced
Other shoe-ins should be Pharrell Williams, Sia, Jack White, The Black Keys and Iggy Azalea. Williams came off a big year last year, he picked up four Grammys and an Oscar nomination. This year should continue that streak of renewed popularity, and his worldwide smash “Happy” will definitely be up for Record and Song of the Year. Same with Sia and “Chandelier”, and hopefully her superior album “1000 Forms of Fear” will grab an Album of the Year nod. Jack White and The Black Keys should see themselves up for various Rock categories, and it seems likely they’ll both be up for Album of the Year with “Lazaretto” and “Turn Blue” respectively. As far as Iggy, I can see “Fancy” up for Record of the Year at the very least, along with a best New Artist nomination and a few mentions in a few Hip Hop categories.
Other very likely nominees include Ed Sheeran and Coldplay. These two acts are popular and have become Grammy darlings, I’m just not sure how far the love will go. Sheeran’s “X” will probably be nominated for Album of the Year, but with not many big hit singles coming from that outing it’s not clear if Grammy voters will even remember that he’s eligible. Same with Coldplay whose latest album “Ghost Stories” was released earlier this year and generated two Top 20 singles, but their impact wasn’t as prevalent as years prior. I can’t see them NOT getting ANY nominations, but they might have to settle for just a few.
Charli XCXs Boom Clap is a contender
There are a few artists that I can see getting nods in BIG categories, but not much else. For example A Great Big World had a big hit with “Say Something” featuring Christina Aguilera, Magic! did the same with “Rude”, and thanks to “The Fault in Our Stars” Charli XCX‘s had a big hit with “Boom Clap”. Those three will most likely be up for either Record of the Year or Song of the Year, or both. I also have this feeling that the song nobody could get away from this year will end up scoring big in those two categories. That song!? “Let It Go” from the ubiquitous Disney film “Frozen”.
Hozier, the “wild card” act that will probably score a few nods
So that leaves the Wildcard artists, because no Grammy year passes without people saying “who is that!?”. I think the more underground Independent artists that will shine this year include Hozier, who gained lots of buzz after his recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance and his single “Take Me to Church” is picking up radio steam. He, like Sam Smith, is the type of act the Grammy voters love. The nominee crowd is tight though, so I’m not sure where he would fit in other than the New Artist category. Speaking of, we all know that nearly every year the Grammy’s get the meaning of “NEW” wrong, so I have this feeling that both Tune-Yards and St. Vincent might be able to get into this category with their more recent efforts, which thanks to “Saturday Night Live” and the FX network have gotten them more exposure than before. Disclosure also has a good shot at grabbing some surprise nominations, and this is mostly due to Sam Smith and their collaboration “Latch”.
So yeah, that’s all I have right now.
Check out how well I did tomorrow morning, and watch the Grammy Holiday Special tomorrow night! Here is my Prediction run-down for the Big 4 categories.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Beyonce “BEYONCE”
Hozier “Hozier”
Ed Sheeran “X”
Sam Smith “In the Lonely Hour”
Jack White “Lazaretto”
SONG OF THE YEAR
Beyonce featuring Jay-Z “Drunk in Love”
A Great Big World “Say Something”
Idina Menzel “Let It Go”
Sam Smith “Stay with Me”
Pharrell Williams “Happy”
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Iggy Azaelea featuring Charli XCX “Fancy”
Beyonce featuring Jay-Z “Drunk in Love”
Charli XCX “Boom Clap”
Sia “Chandelier”
Sam Smith “Stay with Me”
NEW ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
Ariana Grande
Hozier
Sia
Sam Smith
St. Vincent
(and just to show off, I did the picture below randomly today during work using Photoshop. What do you think?)
So obviously, once you look at this weeks lists, I have been on a serious Gwen Stefani/No Doubt kick this week. I have always loved Gwen, and I have to say that watching her on “The Voice” has made me love her even more. Additionally, I’m tapering off from my HOV kick last week and trying to get into more new music… like Jhene Aiko’s “Souled Out” album which is GREAT. I also have a REAL ‘Blast from the Past’ here, a song I haven’t even thought about for probably over a decade.
#TopTenThursday didn’t really happen, but that IS a weekly thing I want to keep going on this here blog. But, in the effort of trying to keep this blog active, I’m going to add another weekly list – TopTwentyFiveTuesday, or maybe this will monthly, we’ll see. (Mind you, BOTH the TopTenThursday and TopTwentyFiveTuesday won’t be exclusive to Music)
This post is to make up for two things actually, the #TopTenThursday thing AND the post I planned on making about my favorite music of 2014 so far. I could have easily posted something quick and easy at the end of June, the official halfway mark of the year, but I have downloaded so much music that I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to yet. I wanted to give those albums (Agust Alsina, The 1975, Beck, Jack White, et. al.) a fair listen and have a broader, more researched list of my favorite albums of 2014. Unfortunately I still have a bunch of albums in my iTunes that have zero plays… and it’s damn near August already. SO – instead of doing that (it’ll just have to wait until the end of the year) I’m just going to post the songs that I’ve been obsessed with this year. Some new, some old, all great.
And here we go…
25. Toni Braxton & Babyface “Roller Coaster”
Their “Love, Marriage & Divorce” album is really good, and this opening track is one of the stand outs.
24. Shakira featuring Rihanna “Can’t Remember to Forget You”
Sexy video. Fun song. And… well, RIHANNA!!!
23. Robin Thicke featuring Tamar Braxton “For the Rest of My Life Part 2”
22. M.I.A. “Bad Girls”
I was obsessed with this song my last month in New York City. Nice flow.
21. Pharrell Williams featuring Alicia Keys “Know Who You Are”
My absolute favorite from Pharrell’s “GIRL” album.
20. Jessie J “Thunder”
19. Justin Timberlake “Not a Bad Thing”
This is such a cute little Pop song, don’t “fuck around” and sleep on it.
18. The Black Keys “Waiting on Words”
Black Keys’ “Turn Blue” is an excellent album, and this has become my favorite.
17. Calvin Harris “Summer”
16. Christian Falk featuring Robyn and Ola Salo “Dream On”
I OWNED Robyn’s self titled 2008 album, but somehow never paid attention to this. I really got into it this Spring as I was easing back into the Bay Area life.
15. Drake “Connect”
14. K. Michelle “Can’t Raise a Man”
Great great song with a strong message that ladies NEED to pay attention to.
13. St. Vincent “Digital Witness”
Randomly saw St. Vincent on “Saturday Night Live” this Spring, and I fell in love with this quirky (and seemingly Prince-inspired) track. YAAAH!
12. Andre 3000 & Beyonce “Back to Black”
I was late to the party on this one, but this Amy Winehouse remake is so weird and strange – right up my alley.
11. Kanye West “Hold My Liquor”
10. Jhene Aiko “The Worst”
Thank the BET Awards for this, I seriously had never heard the song before the show. Really addictive song.
9. Coldplay “Midnight”
Just one word : AMAZING! (it reminds me of How To Dress Well though)
8. Jessie J “Sexy Lady”
Probably the most FUN song I’ve discovered this year, this girl is so terribly underrated and under-promoted. This song could be HUGE, but oh well.
7. Robyn & Royksopp “Monument”
Robyn and Royksopp’s collaboration album has highs and few lows, but this opening track is just EPIC!! Amazingly textured and one of the best aural experiences of the year. (It’s just a tad long, but worth it when you get to that Saxophone effect)
6. Beyonce featuring Drake “Mine”
I always find myself coming back to this beautifully complex track.
5. Duke Dumont featuring Jax Jones “I Got U”
I heard this on some random commercial and just had to have it. The steel drums, the low-key House bump and the Whitney Houston sample just make this one of the best FEELING songs I’ve gotten into this year.
4. Mariah Carey “Make It Look Good”
3. A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera “Say Something”
Can’t even explain why I love this song, it’s so simple but makes such an emotional impact. Great stuff.
2. Mariah Carey “Faded”
This song is so sad, but the groove of it and Mariah’s vocals make it very addicting for me.
1. Coldplay “Magic”
Everything about this song is on point, the lyricism, the production and even Chris’ vocals are … well, they fit the song and mood.
In 2009, Christina Aguilera had a disastrous comeback with her 4th studio album “Bionic”. The album not only did terrible numbers and failed to produce even one hit single, but that year seemed to be one bad thing after another in her personal life as well. Divorce, public intoxication, flubbing the National Anthem, nearly falling off stage at the Grammy’s. Seemed like she couldn’t do anything without a big dark cloud over her head.
Her feature film debut “Burlesque” was one shining light of that year, producing decent box office numbers and helping her grab a Golden Globe nomination for songwriting. Than came NBC’s “The Voice”, a reality singing competition that helped to get her back into the good graces of the public. That show was a success, and so is it’s current second season. The perfect time to consider where Aguilera went wrong with “Bionic” and give some advice of where she can go from here.
“Bionic” was not a terrible album, just very un-even. Where on certain tracks you can tell she was using her artistic and creative mind in the approach, other tracks felt like they were specifically catering to listeners who are okay with auto-tuned vocals and elementary lyricism. So the albums failure is a result of two things she should have known better not to do. Don’t hide or try to mask her voice, her main asset in the game. And don’t try to be like everybody else, which she spent most of her career not doing. It seems obvious that label pressures forced Aguilera to cave, but knowing that she should definitely go into her next album doing exactly what she wants and sticking to her guns.
I hear that Aguilera has been taking vocal lessons, which is a GREAT idea. She’s a notorious over-singer and her screeches and straining will only ruin her voice in time. So since she’s fine tuning her instrument the direction she goes this time should really showcase the voice and the training it’s been going through. And you might think it’s crazy, but Disco is the perfect lane.
Crazy only because Disco doesn’t seem like a profitable genre for her right now, but it could really work. I’ve actually had this thought in my head since before “Bionic” was released. Just listening to Donna Summer and some of the Classic Disco sounds, the genre is really made for artists like Christina. Disco is totally suited for huge voices with various chances for those long power belts, and the structure of the song (with their ballad like intro’s transitioning into bursts of dance beats) is just great for all around good singers. And since it is an uptempo genre, it’s a chance for Aguilera to show off her voice, but give mainstream audiences something to dance to at the same time.
Toro Y Moi's Indie Disco Sound would be a good look for Xtina.
Going 100% Disco might be too alarming for her handlers, so maybe Christina can hook up with some current more underground producers who pay tribute to the Disco sound in the their music, adding a few “now” elements to that Disco base it could be the change the industry is in dire need of right now. Toro Y Moi is one Indie act that comes to mind, his “Underneath The Pine” album from last year is steeped in 70’s Funk and Disco. I could totally hear Aguilera belting her life away over “Still Sound“, “New Beat” or even the mellowed out “Elise“. Even though I hear Toro has moved on from that sound already, I’m sure he’d be excited to recreate some of his Indie skewed Disco sounds for a mainstream Icon like Christina.
If that’s too Indie for her, StarGate, my favorite producers of the past few years would be another ideal choice. They are very diverse in what they offer, but their Dance/House tracks like “Only Girl (In The World)” by Rihanna and “Closer” by Ne-Yo are some of their best. And their production for Mariah Carey‘s “I’m That Chick“has a real Disco throwback sound that is exactly what I’m talking about for Miss Xtina.
Another great option is Swizz Beatz. Which, yeah… that also probably sounds crazy, but he’s done some stuff currently, with his wife Alicia Keys (who has written for Aguilera before) at the lyrical helm, that is totally up that Disco/House alley. Two tracks from Jennifer Hudson‘s latest album, “Everybody Needs Love” and “Don’t Look Down“, seem ripped right off of 1978 radio and suit her voice well, which is perfect because Christina has a similar power voice like her. Swizz and Alicia also produced the late great Whitney Houston‘s Disco/Funk homage single “Million Dollar Bill“, which I could see Christina taking to a whole different level vocally.
70's Icon Nile Rodgers could provide Aguilera with a truly Classic Disco sound
Christina could even work a little harder and dig up some production Legends that were responsible for some of the biggest Disco Classics. For instance “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston courtesy of Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff, the entire “Saturday Night Fever” album overseen by the Bee Gees, all of Donna Summer’s 70’s Anthems produced by Giorgio Moroder, and the fun and funky Chic sound along with hits from Diana Ross by Nile Rodgers. Not only would they give her an authentic disco sound, but I’m sure knowing her voice all these producers would love to work with her.
So bottom line, Disco is a relic from a better time… but it’s Danceable and very catchy, and most importantly a great showcase for Christina’s voice. Radio these days is getting hits primarily from the really catchy (and generally simple and repetitive) hooks, with verses that are great response and call back tracks. Disco could provide that, but in a smarter way.
And even if her going the Disco route doesn’t smash on Pop radio, at least she will get more credibility (“Bionic” did not) for going a more classic route. Look how her “Back to Basics” album turned out, it didn’t have any huge hit singles but most listeners respected her for sticking to her guns and paying homage to the music that came before her. Also with Disco, if Pop radio isn’t feeling it, she’ll definitely get some Club smashes with all the different remixes.
It’s just gone too far with the Ke$ha’s and the Britney’s taking the ultimate lazy route with their music and getting worldwide #1 hits. Christina could help usher in a new breed of actual music, with instrumentation and full voices.
Some time at the end of 2011, I thought a good blog idea would be to give my two cents on the careers of some of the acts in the music industry.
Who am I to give advice??
Well true, I’m a literal nobody in the industry … but as a fan and Industry follower for a good portion of my life, I think I could offer some sound options to some struggling celebs. They won’t (or it’s highly likely that they won’t) read this, so what’s the harm right?
Beyoncé dropped her first baby, so what's next!?
I was going to start with Christina Aguilera (have a rough draft all ready, so that post should come shortly), but I think it’s fitting to start this off with brand new mommy Beyoncé. This past Saturday she gave birth to baby girl Blue Ivy Carter after one of the most confusing and controversial celebrity pregnancies ever. And since said pregnancy nearly ruined the promotion of her latest album “4”, I just have a few suggestions for the next album whenever it may come.
In her interview with Katie Couric, Mrs. Carter said she might take a few years off, but knowing Bey she’ll probably be ready for another big era by Summer 2013. Whenever it is, it will be highly anticipated and expectations will be really high.
If “4” had been a major success (keep the same album sales, but have at least one huge hit single like she’s used to), the logical next step would be a full transition into film. She was already on deck for Clint Eastwood’s take on Hollywood standard “A Star Is Born”, but as Beyoncé told Couric that project has been post-poned until she’s ready. However, because “4” generated no hit singles, and minimal mainstream exposure, it would be better for her to come back with another album before becoming a full-time actress.
So, what should she do?
Let’s first talk the mistakes of her last album.
There’s really nothing wrong with the material on “4”, in fact if certain singles were released it might have given the album the hit single it was lacking. Aside from big hits on the HOT 100, the most important thing that was lacking from the album was something New! There were few examples of something fresh, “Countdown” is one , the beautiful “I Miss You” another and the flawless “End of Time”. They were all different in production, but utilized things Beyoncé is famous for (especially in “End of Time” matching a slightly off-kilter track with her staccato vocals, live instrumentation, multiple hooks, and strong melodies). Everything else on “4” felt like the music she grew up with, thus nothing really innovative.
With the next album, one of two directions would work and both directions would be taking her out of her element a bit. She’s had a solid discography, but the bulk of most of her albums have been pretty safe (save for her most daring work to date “B’Day”). Since she has now become more of an Albums artist as opposed to a Singles artist she really needs to start putting more risk and more daring-ness into her albums. It’s what she needs if she wants to be seen as a Legend.
One of the two extremes is to do something extremely loud and aggressive, which is what I thought “4” would be like given the early news that she was working with Noise Pop duo Sleigh Bells and the All-Around-Weird-Sounds of producer Diplo.
Diplo, looking all cute!
“Run The World (Girls)” was a mess, and that’s mostly due to the fact that a huge chunk of the song was a sample of an already existing and fairly popular song (“Pon De Floor” by Major Lazer— I also blame the verses which came off like rambling random-ness). The sample was Beyoncé again playing it safe, but if she were to go this route again she needs to force the producers to come up with something totally fresh for her.
(I could hear her on some Crazy dance/electro/dancehall mash-ups like Spank Rock‘s “No. 1 Hit“, Major Lazer’s “Hold The Line“, Robyn‘s “Dancehall Queen” or Sleigh Bells’ “Tell Em” “Run the Heart” or “Kids” — mixing her genius vocal prowess to soften the sound a bit)
If that’s too extreme for a whole album, than the opposite would be to still stay in a bit of a Indie zone but just a very minimalist one. I just downloaded James Blake‘s new EP, and the title track “Love What Happened Here” strangely screams for Beyoncé’s soulful chops to fill it out. All three songs on the EP are great for a new Beyoncé style, very different tonally but also very soulful. And James Blake made her Top 10 list of the year, so she obviously is a fan and I could see them coming up with some really fresh stuff. Almost in the vein of “I Miss You” which is almost an Indie-Electro-Ballad and it’s the best off “4”. James Blake, Tom Krell of How To Dress Well, Active Child or even The Weeknd could match her up with some very moody material to shine on.
Active Child's chill R&B sound would be a good look for Blue's mommy!
Whatever direction she takes her next album, us fans just don’t want the same old from her. “4” was a “Dangerously in Love” sequel, and unfortunately I get the feeling that Beyoncé will continue in that tradition from now on. Even though fans were satisfied with the album, it’s too early for her to get stuck in the Adult Contemporary R&B mode when she has all of her 40’s and beyond to do that.
Stans want Sasha Fierce back!
We are ready to be excited again by her music, like when she released “B’Day”. She needs to make a return to that Sasha Fierce mode, full of attitude and sass before little Blue Ivy and her subsequent siblings take it all out of her.
Honestly, 2011 was a pretty horrible year for Mainstream and Top 40 music. The bar is terribly low for a Pop hit these days, and even performance wise there’s nothing really exciting about the goings on of this year. So it’s a little difficult to try and make it seem exciting when it really was just BASIC on the whole. Adele slayed pretty much all year, and she was one of the only exciting things to happen to the industry this year. The under performing of Britney Spears and Beyoncé signaled a change in the winds, where formerly unstoppable Pop stars were being out peaked and out sold by the likes of LMFAO and Pitbull. Speaking of, Beyoncé may or may not be pregnant (*laugh). Katy Perry and Rihanna got closer to breaking chart records of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. Nicki Minaj got her biggest hit from her Pop-iest song and Foo Fighters put in a bid as the last great rock band of the 90’s. Other than all of that, and a few hot-mess feuds and shady comments, not much else happened this year that’s really worth reporting.
So here’s my take on the year, try to enjoy! And let’s hope 2012 kicks 2011’s Basic Ass!!
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Artists Of The Year,
5. Kanye West
Coming off the critical praise of 2010’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, West took a seat instead of his usual loud-mouthed antics. He took a seat in the studio though with Jay-Z, and towards the end of the Summer released the Epic collaboration album “Watch The Throne”. So let’s raise our glass to Kanye shutting up long enough to keep the focus on his talent, which ended in him leading the Grammy nominations and co-headlining a sold out tour.
4. Lady GaGa
While the media excitement for GaGa trailed off towards the end of the year, Mother Monster still had a triumphant year overall. She clocked over a million sales of her third (or second) album “Born This Way” after record breaking sales of the first single of the same name. She was ever present on television, including an HBO concert and a network Holiday special that got healthy ratings. Most importantly, she made some risky single choices that worked in exposing a different and versatile side to her as an artist.
3. Pitbull
This might be a surprising choice, but Pitbull was every where this year. He’s been very consistent ever since his debut in the early 2000’s, but this year he almost became a household name. He had a Huge #1 hit with “Give Me Everything” and his feature work with Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Shakira further helped his exposure. He ended up being invited to perform at nearly every big Award ceremony of the year, and translated his new found mainstream fame into endorsement deals. He may just be the flavor of the moment, but he definitely crossed over to a new level of fame in 2011. And as hard of a worker he has shown he is, he could potentially get bigger down the line.
2. Katy Perry
Miss “I Kissed a Girl” didn’t necessarily break out as the “It” girl of this year, but she made a lot of accomplishments and set herself up to possibly be a force in the industry. Still continuing a hit streak from her 2010 album “Teenage Dream” she collected two more #1 singles this year, tying Michael Jackson for the most #1’s from one album. She ended the year with a hosting spot on “Saturday Night Live” and a 7th Top 5 Hit. Hopefully she’s in the studio working on a follow-up, and we’ll see how long her star will shine.
1. Adele
No surprises here, for whatever reason the beginning of the year all the way till the end Adele was on everybody’s lips and on top of every chart. And she did this without compromising her sound. In the field of sexed up Pop chicks talking about nothing on their songs with auto-tuned vocals, Adele really was a shocking success being the polar opposite of all that. Her “21” album, steeped in R&B Jazz and Balladry, became the #1 selling album of the year and her two hits “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” used proper instrumentation and strong vocals to become huge hits as well. So proud of her, and if she can just get her nerves together for a tour she’ll be a Legend in no time.
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Albums of the Year,
10. Chris Brown “F.A.M.E.”
Say what you will about Breezy, but “F.A.M.E.” showed off how truly talented he is. Not only does it cross genres from Pop to R&B to Hip Hop to Dance, but it’s all catchy and well-sung with some surprisingly great lyricism. A great step in the right direction, and a true testament to why he’s on top of the R&B heap these days.
9. tUnE-yArDs “w h o k i l l”
Crazy album, going from Folk sounds to Tribe Called Quest-like Hip Hop sounds and everything in between. This is something new and different and ultra experimental, but it works. It shows off the talents of Merrill Garbus, vocally and lyrically, and it gives listeners something totally fresh to counter-act all the same-sounding stuff released this year.
8. Beyoncé “4”
Like I said in my review of this album, it’s truly one from an artist that is so comfortable in her talents she can just do what she feels and not worry about fitting in. “4” is laid back R&B in a time when tempos must be high and lyrics must be repetitive, so in a way Bey took a risk but she really stayed in her zone and delivered a very solid and classic sounding album.
7. Adele “21”
Do I even need to go into detail about the album probably EVERYBODY has heard by now. Adele really goes back, with lots of early blues and soul inspired material, matched with a few funk tracks. The entire album is made to showcase the amazing voice of hers and why she’s one of the best singers in the game right now, and mission accomplished.
6. Frank Ocean “Nostalgia, Ultra”
This is a Mixtape, and I started not to include it. I couldn’t leave it off though because it was one of the most exciting and fresh pieces of music I’ve heard this year. From the out of the box concepts of the songs, to the pretty amazing and random samples he sings over, his knack for great lyricism and his love of singing. If you need to watch anybody that has major potential to blow up in 2012, than Frank is the one. “Nostalgia, Ultra” can be enjoyed by so many, even if it’s not what the masses are typically used to hearing.
5. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues”
The mainstream-friendly Folk/Pop group delivered another set of very soothing, relaxing chill tracks that’s really true to the roots of the genre. A very natural continuation from their debut album, just elevated and with a much bigger sound. The stories clouded in very intelligent lyricism make it an album that can be enjoyed for decades, but it still somehow feels very now. And the harmonies and cascades of instrumentation is perfectly beautiful on every track. It truly deserves all the praise and hype it got, it’s definitely a go-to album if you need to relax.
4. Lady GaGa “Born This Way”
Unlike the rest of her Pop contemporaries, GaGa really tried hard on her third album to stand out from the pack. And she did in so many different ways with “Born This Way”, still catering to her Top 40 audience she manages to make little changes and explore different sounds. From Country, Industrial, House and Rock the album is clearly one of the most diverse of the year, yet the overall album works. And it’s not just the tracks, her attacking different vocal styles and writing some pretty impressive lyrics this go round “Born This Way” shows the artist behind the crazy outfits.
3. Jay Z & Kanye West “Watch the Throne”
The event album of the year, I almost didn’t believe it would ever come out but luckily it did. The album is Anthem after Anthem, it definitely caters to Kanye’s more energetic and humorous side. However mixed with Jay’s more serious verses, they both end up rubbing off on each other with Jay sounding like he’s having more fun and Kanye even waxing philosophical on some tracks. A great collaboration by two utter geniuses, how could it go wrong really?
2. Drake “Take Care”
Drake really is a surprising character in the industry. As much as you want to, you really can’t hate on what he brings to the table and it’s almost always unexpected and to the left of what you might have assumed. “Take Care” is a surprisingly deep and personal album at times, that transitions seamlessly from an Indie/R&B feel to a harder Hip Hop feel, and you don’t really notice because you are just captivated overall. His sophomore is just as good if not better than his very impressive debut, and this does show he has the chops to stay in the game for a long while.
1. James Blake “James Blake”
An album that takes a few listens to really appreciate, Indie self-produced “Dubstep Prince” (still don’t know why his music is classified as dub step but whatever) James Blake delivers a very minimalist album that even without many lyrics has such emotion and heart in the soundscapes he provides. It’s an album that plays well altogether and really stands out above anything else released this year, because it’s so non-conformist in almost every way. Tonally and emotionally it’s really an amazing album that shouldn’t be missed.
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Singles of the Year,
15. Jessie J “Who You Are” You would think the “love yourself” inspirational ballads died with Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful”, but UK star Jessie J makes a great bid for bringing them back. The lyrics match so well with the emotion and rawness of her vocals, it doesn’t feel like sap it feels much more personal.
14. Yuck “Rubber”
An eery, forever building ode to 90’s Alternative. With it’s strange and creepy instrumentation and slowly changing tempos, and the vocal delivery of Daniel Blumberg. It’s almost like a scary movie you can’t stop listening to until you get to the end.
13. Britney Spears “Til the World Ends”
Easily one of the best songs of Britney’s career, and apparently she owes it all to Ke$ha who wrote this incredibly addictive call to the dancefloor. It’s perfection in it’s intentional stupid-ness, and a perfect song to suit Britney’s (*cough) limitations. (And the remix is even better than the original)
12. Lady Antebellum “We Owned the Night”
A beautiful yet underrated single from the power trio of 2010. The song works on many levels with a cute storyline, beautiful harmonies and a relaxed track that gets some real country energy in parts.
11. Maroon 5 “Moves Like Jagger”
Surprisingly great Pop track, not very deep but do you really expect that from a Top 40 song? No! What you expect, and what you get here, is a nice dance tempo and an insanely catchy hook. Add Christina Aguilera’s power notes and you have one of the best Pop offerings of the year.
10. Jason Aldean “Dirt Road Anthem”
Aldean has had a great run in the country world, and this rap/country hybrid (later remixed with a verse from Ludacris) does a lot to gain unlikely fans. He goes from his southern rap to belting it out towards the end over a very simple backing sample.
9. Rihanna “S&M”
The MOST Fun Dance song released this year, there are several portions that are crazy addictive and Rihanna’s sexy but coy vocal delivery takes it to another level. Another reason why no one can touch Rihanna in the Dance/Pop field, she consistently delivers the most dance-ready (and most true to the classic House sound) tracks of all her contemporaries. (And for the record, I’m pretending that Britney remix never existed! *awful)
8. Cage the Elephant “Aberdeen”
A great rock track, with clear homages to a more alternative 90’s rock sound but adding the groups standard weird effects and instrumentation to make the song totally fresh. Addictive and creative, what more do you want.
7. Chris Brown “Look at Me Now”
This is a Chris Brown song, but most of the praise for this weird electro/Hip Hop winner goes to producer Diplo and featured rapper Busta Rhymes whose flawless and breathless flow made this The urban track of the year, and once again showed he’s still a relevant player.
6. Lady GaGa “Yoü and I”
Mother Monster delivered a Pop Anthem, an Industrial Dance track, and a ballad-like House-r this year but her Country/Pop/Rock rump “You and I” is clearly the most memorable and the one that shows what a great artist she is. A great storyline, a confident vocal and a track so hype and powerful you’ll be singing and clapping along in no time.
5. James Blake “The Wilhelm Scream”
This is the genius of James Blake, at first the song is really unassuming. A simple repetitive vocal over scant electronic backing, but if you listen you start to feel and appreciate the layers and how the song builds to a beautiful climax. His songs just creep up on you and force you to feel something.
4. Miguel “Sure Thing”
In case anyone thought R&B was dead Miguel came through with a beautiful and loving R&B track that Urban Radio has been lacking for years. The writing is exceptional, a love song without any contradictions or stipulations like the “I love you but I’m probably gonna cheat on you” type songs we’ve been forced to accept in the past few years. A great return to form for R&B.
3. Jay Z & Kanye West “Otis”
Like I said in my review of “Watch The Throne”, this hit single has a very complicated and technical use of the Otis Redding “Try a Little Tenderness” sample. Everything else about the song feels so laid back and breezy in comparison, with two of the biggest Hip Hop Icons of the day genuinely having fun and not being try-hards with their second single. Epic song that’s downplayed to just being a fun record.
2. Adele Rolling in the Deep
Incredible vocals. Amazing (and LIVE) instrumentation. Killer lyrics. End.
1. Kanye West “All of the Lights”
One of Kanye’s most simple songs, in both production and verses. However the more you listen, the deeper it gets when you realize the story he’s trying to tell about the inner cities. And though the calvacade of featured artists are nice, they aren’t necessary. It’s a strong, powerful, energetic, catchy and flawless song.
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Disappointments of the Year,
3. Rihanna “Talk That Talk”
I LOVE Rihanna, this won’t change anytime soon. And because of my love, I was really excited for her 6th album even if it was clear it would be a bit rushed with the busy year she had. Now, over a month after it’s been in stores, I tend to listen to her previous album “Loud” over this one. Too many un-done songs, which gives the bare minimum in song structure, almost like her label said “whatever you have now is fine we’ll just release it”. I feel like her label jipped us fans and gave us a half-ass outing for Holiday sales, when with just a month or three more it could have been a pretty great album.
2. The Strokes “Angles”
After waiting 5 years for a new album from the once great Garage Rock band, when it album finally came it was a bit of a dud. “Angles” was way too all over the place and not making any real statement of their growth as a band. Not a terrible album by any means, but definitely not worth the long wait. Hopefully there is a quick follow up to redeem themselves.
1. Britney Spears “Femme Fatale”
I don’t know why (maybe because her team kept Tweeting about it), but I expected this album to be a sign of growth for Miss Spears who has been stuck in Robot-Mode for almost 5 years now. Unfortunately, the album was yet another Dance/Pop heavy, heavily vocally altered singles album with virtually no real effort coming from the star. And even with hype about insane choreography and performance lessons, Spears continued to disappoint by doing the bare minimum performance wise this year. Signaling the fact that Britney will probably never get any better as an artist, thus the potential demise of her career. (Her fans are the most faithful of any stan base though, as long as they are easily impressed she’ll be fine)
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Guilty Pleasures of the Year,
5. Big Sean “My Last”
This, for any other rapper, would have been pure filler. There’s nothing truly stand out about anything in the track, and the whole”we do it big out in public” concept is so annoying. Than the “a-a-a-all, a-a-a-all” hook pulls you in and you spontaneously start singing along.
4. Jennifer Lopez “On the Floor”
Could the lyrics get anymore elementary, or the track be anymore basic? I doubt it, but somehow the “La la la la”‘s and the overly repetitive “On the Floor”‘s were too catchy to deny.
3. LMFAO “Party Rock Anthem”
Overproduced, Pointless, Stupid, Basic… yet after a few times being forced to hear it on the radio you kinda get used to it. I know for me, the first time I heard it “Noisy Garbage” came to mind, after about 4 listens I was actually anticipating hearing it. Shameful, but that’s the beauty of a Guilty Pleasure.
2. Rihanna “We Found Love”
I called this when I first reviewed the single, the song is basic in every sense of the word. Random lyrics, and a hook that seems to never end. Not even the production is anything all that noteworthy, as Rihanna has had much better Dance singles. However that hook, after about the millionth time, engraves itself in your brain and you go a little crazy for 3 minutes.
1. Pitbull “Give Me Everything”
Pitbull’s verses are rather weak, Nayer is like a non-factor, the track is almost a “paint-by-numbers” dance track… but who can deny Ne-Yo’s infectious and addictive hook. Overall, everything comes together pretty nicely and you just get in a zone when the track comes on.
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Flops of the Year,
3. Kelly Rowland
Kelly’s solo problems have always been that she’s choked at the wrong opportunities. Her BET Award performance was all everybody could talk about, that was the time to hit us with a new single and video capitalizing on that exposure. But she waited until after her very decent album “Here I Am” had already flopped. And the supposedly “dance heavy” UK edition fared even worse, and that’s after all her “X-Factor” exposure. She seems to be stepping her performance game up, so there may be a chance next year.
2. (tie) Beyoncé, Britney Spears
How the mighty have fallen! Even though both divas posted respectable numbers in either album or single sales, 2011 showed that their time as relevant artists might be up.
Britney had major success on the singles charts, but her album sales took a steep dive given her track record. She truly became a singles artist this year, in the same realm as Ke$ha and LMFAO. And most of that is due to her consistently lazy performances, and refusal to do any interviews or press.
With Beyoncé, her album “4” posted good numbers but her single choices were disasters and … well, plain stupid. Her mistakes were clear, and she didn’t seem to take the hint (or maybe she didn’t care because of her pregnancy). She saves face with a few great live performances including the now iconic pregnancy reveal at the VMA’s, but now that she’s ditched her father as manager she’s totally accountable for this flop.
1. Joe Jonas
Poor Kid. He’s cute, he’s at least minimally talented, and you’d think with the success of The Jonas Brothers his solo career would make some kind of sales dent. Unfortunately, after hyping his first single for what felt like months it only peaked at #92 and the album “Fast Life” only managed to stay on the Billboard 200 for 2 weeks. I guess with Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber there was no spot left on the charts for another “teen heart throb”.
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Music Videos of the Year,
5. Beyoncé “Run the World (Girls)”
Beyonce went as big as she could to try to salvage the poor first single choice of “Run the World (Girls)”. Hyenas, Lions, Task Forces, Exploding Cars, a Few Hundred Backing Dancers. She threw the kitchen sink in there too, but luckily it’s saving grace is the dancing. She incorporates different styles and attacks, the type of big dance video Janet or Michael Jackson would do.
4. Jason Aldean “Tatoos On This Town”
They could have went a totally different way with this song, but they gave us the tear-jerker storyline. And it actually really works in a beautiful way with the lyrics of the song.
3. Lady GaGa “Born This Way”
Enter the crazy world of Mother Monster, where there’s no judgement and… blah blah blah. GaGa is known for being a bit pretentious, but overall this video came off visually very different from most Pop videos. And it’s always nice to see GaGa drop the seriousness and have fun, which she does towards the end.
2. P!nk “Fuckin Perfect”
Speaking of GaGa, P!nk this year proved you don’t have to make an 11 minute video to tell a compelling and emotional story that unfolds in surprising and beautiful ways. Really one of the most heart wrenching and inspiring videos of the year.
1. Rihanna “We Found Love”
This video is one that didn’t try too hard, but did an amazing job of bringing alot of depth and rawness to the basic song and it’s lyrics. In very quick glimpses yo almost see the entire length of a destructive relationship, the highs and lows, and with the flawless editing job it really does get surprisingly real, but still a beautifully shot video.
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Award Show Performances of the Year,
3. Bruno Mars “Valerie”
Bruno finally showed he has the chops to deserve his spot at the top right now. His 2010 Grammy performance showed a performer who truly loved music, but his vocals were a bit off. At this VMA tribute to Amy Winehouse, he really makes the song his own and is almost perfect vocally. His energy, and clear love for performance and singing really shined.
2. Beyoncé “Love on Top”
(this clip is mirrored, so it looks a little weird. sorry)
Bey pulled out all the stops for her Billboard Award performance, but this simple VMA routine was the one that got everybody talking. She’s known as a great performer, so she doesn’t have to do much to impress. And her flawless vocals before her reveal already clinched this as another great one in her long list of live performances. It’s the pregnancy reveal, and the reaction of the crowds, that made this what it is though.
1. Mumford and Sons “The Cave”
This is the kind of performance I love to see, where the group is ecstastic to be performing and you get a true sense that they really love what they are doing. Mumford and Sons delivered an un-jaded, energetic, and technically perfect Grammy performance this year. It helped “The Cave” become a major player on the charts as well as their debut album “Sigh No More”.
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So, what have we learned this year. It’s actually a little hard to say because it was so crazy and unpredictable. You never really knew what song would hit, what promotional opportunity would help sales. Random circumstances like YouTube videos ended up helping singles more than “American Idol” appearances (case in point Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” aided by Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift videos). The industry continued to get majorly shaky, but it seemed whatever Radio was backing would determine who would shine.
Which brings up a weird issue with Adele being so huge, it was kind of funny to hear one of her songs (like the piano ballad “Someone Like You”) on pop radio than right after hearing Cobra Starship or LMFAO dance trash single. You’d think radio might take the hint that people are ready for talented vocalists and great song structure. Obviously they didn’t, but they need to realize that a little diversity never killed anybody.
And I have a few remarks for two of Radio’s biggest stars Katy Perry and Bruno Mars. They both get the Step Your Game Up Award, because both are talented in their own ways. Bruno is a great performer and a good writer when he wants to be. It’s just the songs he’s been putting out are very below the bar and elementary, when he’s capable of putting out some classic and creative stuff. And Katy really needs to take her exposure and step out of the “Pop Top 40” realm a bit and get a little deeper. “Teenage Dream” actually does offer some depth and artistry (“Circle the Drain” “Pearl”), so she needs to let the world hear a different edge to her.
My I Don’t Get It Award goes to Foster the People and Florence and the Machine. “Pumped Up Kicks” was a huge single this year, but to me it just sounds like a horribly distorted MGMT rip-off with a forced catchy hook. It’s not just that they took their sound and tried to process it through a Mainstream filter, but it doesn’t even sound good and it’s surprising that it fit into the Mainstream machine at all. With Florence, I just can’t get into her voice long enough to hear an entire song, but she’s hyped as this amazing vocalist somehow. I just don’t get it.
The Have a Seat Award goes to Rihanna, and we know I love her by now. She is just over-working herself, and I need for her to be healthy and ready because she’s clearly being run to the ground. I already talked about her latest album, but her performances went from a major high earlier this year to a drastic and saddening low at the Jingle Ball in December. Six months of not working wouldn’t kill her, but Three more months of her pace might actually do it.
I WAS gonna Go In on Nicki Minaj. With touring with Britney, the success of “Super Bass”, and her recent David Guetta collaboration has become more of a Pop sensation than a Hip Hop Star. I won’t though because I’m hoping “Roman’s Reloaded” will make me love her again. And that’s pretty much all I have for this year, which like I said was pretty boring but some good things came out of it I guess.
Yesterday, somebody (a GaGa stan no doubt) posted Billboard’s list of Top Videos of this Decade and “Bad Romance” was #1. I don’t disagree with that video having a high placing, it is a knockout video, but #1 I’m not too sure. Looking at the rest of the list it’s obvious this was a poll where fans were going to do anything to get their favorites on the list. If you look at the Top voted Music Videos of the 80’s and 90’s, it’s made even more clear because some of those videos that are leading the list don’t even belong in a Top 100.
Let’s just break it down really quick. I’ll show what Billboard readers voted into their Top 10 for each decade, and I want to share some snubs and other videos that are amazing but might not have been seen by too many people enough to make this popularity contest.
The 10 Best ’00s Music Videos
1. Lady GaGa “Bad Romance”
2. Britney Spears “Toxic”
3. Panic! At The Disco “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”
4. Michael Jackson “You Rock My World”
5. Beyonce “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
6. Rihanna “Disturbia”
7. Eminem “The Real Slim Shady”
8. Katy Perry “Firework”
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Californication”
10. Missy Elliott “Get Ur Freak On”
Agreed: “Bad Romance”, “Toxic”, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”, “Californication”
>Clearly a listing of all the popular acts of the past decade, but in most cases I feel they picked the wrong videos. Yes, “Bad Romance” “Toxic” and “Single Ladies” are of the best videos from each of those artists, however “Disturbia” “Firework” “Californication” and “Get Ur Freak On” don’t hold up as highly when compared to videos from those unique video artists.
Disagreed: “You Rock My World”, “Disturbia”, “Firework”
>See above, Rihanna has had better videos (and “Disturbia” was really just a Nine Inch Nails rip off), Katy has too even though her best wouldn’t qualify her for the Top 10 IMO. And Michael really wouldn’t have been on this list if not for his death, the “You Rock My World” video was forgotten nearly as soon as it was released in 2001.
Snubbed: Christina Aguilera “Dirrty”, Destiny’s Child “Lose My Breath”, Fatboy Slim “Praise You”, Feist “1234”, Jay-Z “On To The Next One”, Linkin Park “Faint”, Ludacris “Rollout (My Business)”, Madonna “Don’t Tell Me”, Madonna “Music”, Kylie Minogue “Come Into My World”, Missy Elliott “Work It”, OK Go “Here It Goes Again”, Red Hot Chili Peppers “Can’t Stop”, Red Hot Chili Peppers “The Zephyr Song”, Rihanna “Umbrella”, Britney Spears “Every Time”, Justin Timberlake “Cry Me A River”, Kanye West “Heartless”
MY snubbed FAVORITES
1. OutKast “Hey Ya!”
2. The White Stripes “The Hardest Button To Button”
3. Beyonce “Crazy In Love”
4. Coldplay “Life In Technicolor ii”
5. Kanye West “Love Lockdown”
The 10 Best ’90s Music Videos
1. Britney Spears “…Baby One More time”
2. Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson “Scream”
3. Madonna “Vogue”
4. Korn “Freak on a Leash”
5. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
6. Eminem “My Name Is”
7. Missy Elliott “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”
8. TLC “Waterfalls”
9. Guns N Roses “November Rain”
10. Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity”
Agreed: “Scream”, “Freak on a Leash”, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, “November Rain”, “Virtual Insanity”
>This 90’s list is much better, most of these videos listed were both impactful, unique and insanely popular. Jamiroquai’s breakthrough moment in “Virtual Insanity” still amazes years later, while Guns N Roses epic mini-movie of a video “November Rain” was an MTV favorite at the time but it still holds up even when the group is nowhere to be found.
Disagreed: “…Baby One More Time”
>There’s just absolutely no way Britney’s debut video should be anywhere near the best of the 90’s, since that was really the best decade for Music Videos. So many other inventive, revolutionary and creative videos were released and far superior to Britney’s Tween-aimed High School video, but this just goes to show that the Brit Bots don’t play when they have the opportunity.
Snubbed: Paula Abdul “Coldhearted”, Paula Abdul “Opposites Attract”, Beastie Boys “Sabotage”, Bjork “Bachelorette”, Blind Melon “No Rain”, En Vogue “Free Your Mind”, Foo Fighters “Learn To Fly”, Janet Jackson “Got Til It’s Gone”, Janet Jackson “If”, Michael Jackson “Remember the Time”, Jennifer Lopez “Waiting For Tonight”, Madonna “Bad Girl”, Madonna “Take a Bow”, Alanis Morissette “Ironic”, Pearl Jam “Jeremy”, Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give It Away”, The Rolling Stones “Love is Strong”, Weezer “Buddy Holly”
MY snubbed FAVORITES
1. Nine Inch Nails “Closer”
2. Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”
3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers “Give It Away”
4. Daft Punk “Around the World”
5. Madonna “Justify My Love”
The 10 Best ’80s Music Videos
1. Michael Jackson “Thirller”
2. Madonna “Like A Prayer”
3. Cyndia Lauper “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”
4. A-ha “Take on Me”
5. Prince & The Revolution “When Doves Cry”
6. Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer”
7. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf”
8. Run DMC and Aerosmith “Walk This Way”
9. The Police “Every Breathe You Take”
10. Janet Jackson “Rhythm Nation”
Agreed: “Thriller”, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “Take On Me”, “Sledgehammer”, “Walk This Way”, “Rhythm Nation”
>With not as high of a volume of videos released, and even far fewer videos that stood out so choosing the best in this decade was relatively easy. Of course the iconic and game changing “Thriller” would be number one, and of course popular 80’s acts Duran Duran, The Police, Madonna and Cyndia Lauper would find themselves included.
Disagreed: “When Doves Cry”
Snubbed: Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)”, Cyndi Lauper “She Bop”, Dire Straits “Money for Nothing”, Genesis “Land Of Confusion”, Herbie Hancock “Rock It”, Janet Jackson “Nasty”, Michael Jackson “Beat It”, Madonna “Papa Don’t Preach”, Lionel Richie “All Night Long”, Warrant “Cherry Pie”
MY snubbed FAVORITES
1. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
2. Michael Jackson “Smooth Criminal”
3. The Cars “You Might Think”
4. Robert Palmer “Addicted To Love”
5. Pat Benatar “Love is a Battlefield”
I KNOW that as soon as I post this, I’m gonna think “Oh Crap, how could I forget such and such!” but the fact that those stuck out in my head is good. I just hope maybe I can expose people to some videos they might not have ever heard of.
In the end, Billboard should have titled this the top 10 FAVORITE music videos, because to really pull a list of the BEST videos of the past 30 years would take a big panel of critics and artists and most likely a huge debate. I’d be interested to see what they came up with, but this will do for now.
Hate is a strong word, but at this point there might be some truth to this statement. Released in theaters today is “Friends with Benefits”, now the 11th film featuring Justin Timberlake. The same guy who over the past 5 years has been a “Saturday Night Live” favorite, an Emmy award winner and short-lived MTV Reality show producer. But does anybody remember when this guy used to be considered a SINGER!?
It’s been almost 5 years since Timberlake released his second solo album “FutureSexLoveSound”, and from the looks of things it doesn’t seem like he’s at all interested in creating a third album for his massive fan base in the music industry. Instead he seems to be focusing on lame films. “Friends with Benefits” for example is a lazy romantic comedy that is clearly a retread of two recent films (Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher’s “No Strings Attached” released earlier this year, as well as Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal’s 2010 Dramedy “Love and Other Drugs”). If Timberlake and Mila Kunis’ film is any different than the other two, there’s really no indication of that in the trailers.So really what’s the point in making it!?
Which is the start of a slew of questions for the former N Sync’er, who exhibited such great taste in his music career but so far is making some horrible moves in the movies. His film decisions have almost been all bad. He lucked up attaching himself to Craig Brewer’s “Black Snake Moan” and David Fincher’s Oscar winner “The Social Network”, but he was clearly the worst performance in both of those movies. The rest of his film roles have been cliche, or just over done. And mostly all of them have been box office flops, especially the ones where he had a lead role or a big supporting part. Which is why it’s curious why after so many failed attempts, Hollywood keeps hiring him. And why he doesn’t realize this and return to the studio and make some music.
In the years since his last mega selling album he has barely even talked about working on new material. When Ellen Degeneres asked him point blank on her show he said something along the lines of he can’t do two things at once. So “Yogi Bear” and “Bad Teacher” are more important than pleasing the fans that made him famous apparently. And there are lots of fans in waiting, myself included. He had two pretty excellent Pop albums on his own and since than he’s barely sang a word. To his credit in 2008 he helped Madonna score another hit with “4 Minutes”, and in 2009 he helped Ciara hit the Top 10 with “Love Sex Magic”. Also in 2009, him and production team The Y’s were behind two album cuts for Leona Lewis and Rihanna, and the aforementioned Ciara single. Those sporadic appearances may tide over some fans, but it’s really not enough to show he’s still into music, and he’s done nothing musically since early 2010.
His last stint as a musician was on the Haiti Benefit special in 2010, his rendition of “Hallejulah” was the biggest selling performance of that event. And that event had big names like Shakira, Madonna, U2, Jay-Z, and Beyonce. His ability to score a hit from a one-off performance shows that his fans are still there waiting for him and ready to support him. So why can’t he take the hint? And if that’s not a good enough sign to return to music, he can also look at the industry and his peers to realize it’s of great importance to get back on the radio soon. Christina Aguilera took a 4 year break in between albums and it was one of the things that hurt her 2010 “Bionic” album. And the recent lukewarm success of former girlfriend Britney Spears and former duet partner Beyonce proves that his generation of superstars is fading next to the new crop of stars.
For a while, it seemed Timberlake’s lane in the industry was un-threatened, now he has some major competition to his throne of Pop King of the New Millennium. For one there’s a new Justin in town that goes by Bieber, although he is more of a star to the younger generation and Timberlake’s fan base is a little too old to (admit to) listen to Bieber. Still time goes quickly, and Bieber has some talent to back up his hype, so if he waits too long Bieber might have matured enough to get older fan bases.
Bruno Mars is really the toughest competition for Timberlake though, because it seems he can’t lose these days. Every one of his singles from “Doo Wops and Hooligans” has been a Top 5 success with pretty massive sales figures, and Bruno fulfills that “nice guy with swag” image Timberlake had. Bruno has also become an industry darling, scoring multiple Grammy nominations and being invited to perform nearly everywhere. And even other artists are rushing to Bruno to write and produce hits for them, so he’s well respected in the industry and liked by the masses.
It will be interesting to see if Timberlake stops reading scripts and starts writing new songs, but the clock is really ticking. This break is just giving other artists time to give him more competition and after a while he’ll just become a “failed movie star” and people won’t even remember he used to have a great music career.
>Hey readers.
I haven’t posted anything, obviously, since the Grammy update. I was experimenting with Tumblr (d1esel6.tumblr) and wrote some quick music reviews there. And than I was contemplating closing this blog out, but maybe I just need to revamp how I go about this.
So anyway, I thought maybe I should start by reviewing what I saw this weekend. This past Sunday, the LOGO network had a cool little Pop Diva marathon. They were showing Behind the Music when I woke up (Eve and Jennifer Hudson), and than after that they showed 4 concerts in a row. Concerts that I actually had on my Netflix Q, Mariah Carey‘s “Adventures of Mimi Tour”, Christina Aguilera‘s “Back to Basics Tour” and P!nk‘s recent “Funhouse Tour”. I’m pretty sure most of the shows were edited down for time and commercial breaks (I know, for instance, that P!nk not doing “Stupid Girls” or Christina not doing “Genie in a Bottle” was more of an editing thing because to not perform those hits seems strange) but they gave a good indication on whether or not the shows were any good.
Mariah’s show, well I give her an A for effort.
“The Adventures of Mimi” came after her big comeback with the album “Emancipation of Mimi” and I think she felt like she had to pull out all the stops. So there were big dance numbers and elaborate set pieces, and her scantily clad throughout. Mariah is great with her interaction with the crowd, that’s definitely where she excels. She was fun and funny, and at times genuinely heartfelt. Her voice, at times, was still phenomenal although not flawless. There were times when she kind of fell off the melodies, or just hit the wrong notes, but those were few and far between. And her stage presence, well it ain’t that great. I feel like her problem is that she’s too overly conscious of every move she makes. Though sometimes she busted out some dance moves that looked really natural on her. At the end of the show, I was satisfied with the concert. She ran through pretty much ALL her big hits and it was fun taking a trip down memory lane (I hadn’t listened to “Dream Lover” in I don’t know how long and I forgot how much I love it), she even brought out Boyz II Men (well three of the four original members) to do her gigantic mid-90’s hit “One Sweet Day”. Mariah really did give her all, she really tried and you can’t really fault her for the mis-steps, just comparatively it wasn’t the best show out there. Obviously great for True Mariah fans like myself.
Rating: 7 of 10
Christina Aguilera’s “Back to Basics Tour” faltered only because she pretty much sang nothing but “Back to Basics” material, and that’s not my favorite Christina album.
I respect the album because she truly did go for the sound that she was into and didn’t get persuaded to change it, however that R&B meets Old School Jazz meets Pop sound doesn’t lend itself well for a big arena tour. I also should add, I think this was the most edited show of the three I watched. I just kept feeling like “Okay, WHEN is she gonna sing a song I know” and it didn’t come until the end. (I also got the feeling she was lipping big chunks of her show… I just never heard her BREATHE which is an indication) Where Christina excelled on this show was her confidence and her stage presence blew me away. She was ripping up the stage, and not that she was doing intricate dance moves or anything like that, she just was all over the stage with sass and attitude that was necessary for the material. Even the overall staging of the show was superb, “Makes Me Wanna Pray” and “Candyman” specifically were really well thought out as far as look and utilizing the stage. Towards the end, Aguilera lost some steam it seemed like. She ended with her classic “Beautiful” (terribly oversung) and “Fighter” which I felt was an ODD closer, but it worked. Overall, the show seemed a little disjointed and out of sync (and I think it’s because of the LOGO editing) but she LOOKED great, and her stage presence was on point. Better than I expected, but still not all that impressive.
Rating: 6 of 10 (based on the LOGO broadcast which I still think was heavily edited)
Now I saw P!nk’s tour in support of “I’m Not Dead” on DVD a few years ago, and it blew me away. I always knew she was a great singer and great performer but that concert was just EVERYTHING you’d want in a show.
Her most recent “Funhouse Tour” took it up a bunch of notches. The stage presence that Christina had, and the interaction with the crowds that Mariah had, combined with some real Cirque du Soleil stunts, true musicality, and wonderful costume and set design really OWNS both the other concerts. I guess the thing that P!nk has is pure energy and not taking herself too seriously. And I should add, true versatility. She goes from Rock Anthems (the excellent cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”) to slower acoustic sets (“I Don’t Believe You”) to pure Pop extravaganzas (a great rendition of “Get the Party Started”) all while joking with the crowd, making fun of her dancing, and being playful with her band. Of the three shows (there was a 30 minute Lady GaGa show I didn’t watch) P!nk really just seemed like she was the one actually having fun up on stage, and of course the audience and the viewer enjoyed it more because of it. Immediately after watching, I added the show to my Amazon playlist because I could definitely imagine myself giving that more than 10 viewings.
What a night! The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards presented this past Sunday was actually quite entertaining, and even if it was less about handing out awards and more about performances it worked a lot better than telecasts of the past. There were some surprising high points, and some over-hyped low points but overall it was a great night for music. As far as the winners, I actually predicted a good amount of the major winners so let’s go through that now.
Even though I predicted Eminem would win (as did most people, who seem very surprised that he only got 2 wins of 10 nominations) Album of the Year, my “should win” choice Arcade Fire took home Grammy gold. And I couldn’t be more happy because of what I wrote about them possibly winning “It would be nice if the Grammy’s showed they could be ahead of the curve for once, awarding an Indie act would do that. Arcade Fire have continued to be one of the most critically acclaimed act of the Indie scene, which is quickly beginning to surface on the mainstream.”
For Record and Song of the Year I was on point with my guess that Lady Antebellum‘s “Need You Now” would sweep. “It’s really a great, simple, catchy and relatable song. It would deserve any prize it got.”
I accurately predicted both Pop Vocal Performance prizes based off Grammy voters favoritism, with Bruno Mars winning the Male prize “With 6 nominations already, it seems the Grammy voters are falling for Bruno Mars fast, so he’ll probably get this one.” and Lady GaGa winning the Female one “The Grammy voters are obviously in love with Lady GaGa so she’ll probably take it, and why not, her vocals on “Bad Romance” were some of the high points of the song.“. I was also correct with Lady GaGa’s other win for Pop Vocal Album.
One Pop category I was floored that I was incorrect in predicting. I would have bet money that Lady GaGa and Beyonce would have won Pop Collaboration for “Telephone”, but I didn’t trust my first mind when looking at the nominees. I was going to mention the calvalcade of stars that won for Herbie Hancock‘s “Imagine”, he had the help of Jeff Beck, Pink, Seal, India.Arie as well as Konono No 1, & Oumou Sangare. A remake of a classic Beatles song with previous Grammy winners, what was I thinking not mentioning this, it’s obviously a Grammy winner just on paper.
Though it was an easy call, I got R&B Album correct which went to John Legend and The Roots for “Wake Up!” “However individually John Legend and The Roots have won a few Grammys already, teaming up looks like a winning idea.” Another easy call came from the Rap Album which went to Eminem “Eminem definitely, even though his was the lesser album of them all, with his track record there’s no way he could lose this one this year.”
Surprisingly I got a few of the Rap categories wrong, but I was so pleased that I was correct in guessing Jay-Z and Alicia Keys‘ “Empire State of Mind” would triumph in Rap/Sung Collaboration, they also won Rap Song which made me very happy because of this comment I made “this future classic instantly captured the hearts of people in every city and became Jay’s biggest hit and first #1 single.” Still I was off with Rap Solo Performance, awarded to Eminem’s “Not Afraid”. Nicki Minaj didn’t get Grammy gold as I predicted for Rap Duo or Group Performance, Jay-Z also grabbed that one for “On To The Next One” (which… I mean I’m happy he won, but Swizz Beatz hype-man status on the song doesn’t seem to qualify for Group performance to me).
Even though Arcade Fire won the Album of the Year prize, that didn’t translate to any wins in their category of Alternative Album which surprisingly went to The Black Keys, the duo also won for Rock Performance Duo or Group. Both of those awards I predicted Arcade Fire would win, but I did say if Kings of Leon didn’t win the latter award it “would leave the race open to the Black Keys, Arcade Fire and Muse… The Black Keys’ song was an underground and commercial favorite“.
I think everybody was shocked at Esperanza Spalding winning for Best New Artist, I was happy to see her name since I’ve been somewhat familiar with her for the past year or so. I was surprised she was even nominated, and I was sure the prize would go to Mumford & Sons. I figured Drake or Justin Bieber were the back up winners but I never though Esperanza, a little-known Jazz artist, would pull the upset. I’m really happy she did though, I like hard-working artists who aren’t in the mainstream picking up top prizes.
Overall, I felt like most of the winners were well-deserved. As I mentioned before Arcade Fire winning the top prize of Album of the Year looks good for the Grammy’s, showing you don’t have to have massive album sales or media attention to win awards. I think the winner I was most happy with was Danger Mouse finally winning Producer of the Year. His output the previous year wasn’t as high a volume as the other nominees, but obviously voters recognize his genius.
I was also really pleased with the telecast. In typical award fashion, it went a little over-long, but overall some really great and diverse performances took place. Going into the show, the most buzzed about performances were that of Mick Jagger taking the Grammy stage for the first time to tribute Solomon Burke , Barbara Streisand‘s (pretty boring) performance of “Evergreen” and ofcourse Lady GaGa’s performance, debuting her new record-breaking single “Born This Way”.
Though she sounded great and showed loads of energy during the performance, her red carpet entrance in an Egg was actually more exciting, creative and unique. Katy Perry did an impressive job doing “Not Like The Movies” and “Teenage Dream”. She’s not known for her voice, but she sounded great during both numbers and even her stage presence took a step up. Rihanna and Drake’s performance of “What’s My Name?” was a little unnecessary (she wasn’t nominated for the song) but she’s showing some improvement in her live performances, and she danced alot which isn’t typically what she’s famous for on stage.
Arcade Fire’s second performance, “Ready to Start”, was much better than their first seizure inducing rendition of “Month of May”. Lady Antebellum, Muse, Avett Brothers and Miranda Lambert were all passable. Justin Bieber’s performance was a little over the top and when Jaden Smith joined him it felt like The Kid’s Choice Awards and not the most respected Music awards show, and Usher should just lipsync any future performance of “OMG” because with the choreography it’s obvious he can’t sing at the same time. And when Eminem, Rihanna, Adam Levine and Dr. Dre all took the stage, it was newcomer Skylar Grey who stole the performance by just singing the hook of Dre’s new hit “I Need a Doctor”.
And ofcourse there was the mess of a Aretha Franklin tribute with chronic over-singers Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson, along with Yolanda Adams, Martina McBride and Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine. You kind of knew what to expect here, but I think the biggest problem was the ladies voices were not compatible at all. And Florence Welch and Martina McBride really seemed out of place, not great, but somehow better than the Michael Jackson tribute last year which was just painfully boring.
Here are my Top 5 performances of the evening.
1. Mumford & Sons “The Cave”. They were just the first part of a trio of performances followed by The Avett Brothers and Legend Bob Dylan. However their short time on the stage was easily the most exciting during the whole show. They sounded great, the song was good, their band was in perfect sync with each other. The best thing about it was they, moreso than any other performer, actually seemed really excited to be performing there. You could feel so much love coming from their performance.
2. B.o.B., Bruno Mars & Janelle Monae “Nothin’ On You/Grenade/Cold War”. The newbies of the evening really showed why they deserved to be there. B.o.B. started with a beautifully stripped down version of “Nothin’ on You” with Bruno and Janelle providing wonderful backing harmonies. Bruno Mars was full of confidence with his Doo-Wop version of his recent hit “Grenade”. Though he was pitchy towards the end, overall his performance showed great promise. And with “Cold War” Janelle Monae rocked the house, hopefully that performance will get her the exposure she deserves.
3. Cee-Lo Green “Forget You”. Not exactly sure why Gwyneth Paltrow was chosen as his duet partner here, but his whole performance was just a great show. His over the top feathered outfit, the Muppet band and the Muppet back up singers and their choreographed steps. And even though I’m still perplexed, Gwyneth sounded really good just lacking in stage presence.
4. Mick Jagger “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”. Hard to believe, but this is his first ever Grammy performance, and he chose to use his debut appearance to tribute one of his inspirations Solomon Burke. If you’re a Stones fan you realize they started out all those years ago playing the early Blues and Rock and Roll sounds they loved and he seemed like a little kid on stage just enjoying singing probably one of his all time favorite songs. I didn’t quite understand why he kept pushing Raphael Saadiq around on stage (was he mad he was trying to hog some spotlight, or is this some kind of Blues thing I just don’t get), but it was an impressive performance.
5. Katy Perry “Not Like the Movies/Teenage Dream”. This is a performance that won’t really be remembered, as it wasn’t anything too groundbreaking or new. She just sounded great, she stepped up her game a lot for The Grammys. And the wedding footage is also adorable.