Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite Album Leaks (D/L)
Kylie's new album has leaked. Check it out!
(Kylie Minogue Aprhodite Album Full)
New Music Video – Katy Perry “California Gurls”
Katy Perry's new video is out, and, as much as I resented her debut single, I really think she couldn't be in a better position right now, commercially speaking. Not only is she looking great, she's really channelling the kind of quirky fashion sense that Gwen Stefani showed us in her L.A.M.B. era, on top of this, the song is catchy, the video is bright and funny, and she is now engaged to one of the most popular comedians at the moment, Russel Brand.
The video itself is definetly well done, I love that it is almost a parody of itself, and it may not have a message behind it, but it really encapsulates pop music in 2010, fun! I hope you enjoy the video and please leave a comment below, I'd appreciate it!
Yet Another Kylie Post! Preview The Entire Aphrodite Album!
Hey guys! Clips of the Aphrodite album have surfaced, and yes, it really is a great record. Give them a listen, and remember you're allowed to get excited over clips, but don't ruin you're enjoyment by writing them off too early! Leave comments below, which tracks do you like the best, which ones do you want to hear in full? Download link is below!
(Kylie Minogue Aprhodite Album Previews)
New Music Video – Kelis “4th Of July”
Kelis' new music video for "4th Of July", the second single from her new dance album "Flesh Tone" premiered today! You can check it out below! It's a beautiful video full of imagery of liberation and motherhood, the lyrics are beautiful, uplifting, but also a little bit sentimental, which is why this song is just so fantastic! The video is similar in style to that of "Acapella", really loving the outfits, great video! Leave your comments below!
Album Review – Christina Aguilera “Bionic” Deluxe
Christina's "Bionic"
The 24 track long return to music from Christina Aguilera is a curious one, that starts out with a fantastic optimistic flair, that unfortunately trips and stumbles a few too many times on the way.
The album begins with the stellar track “Bionic” which really encapsulates the direction Christina seemed to be going for with this project, and one of the best parts of the song is that unlike in other songs where she simply sings over the music doing vocal back flips and somersaults, she really just melts into the production and the end result is a really great song.
Then we suddenly hear “Not Myself Tonight” which really does not feel very “Bionic”, more like “SexyBack” (or any other Timbaland song since then). “Not Myself Tonight” is a really nice dance song, lots of fun, she has some really nice vocals in it as well, except some of the lyrics are quite forgettable and unfortunately the whole premise of the song seems a little desperate when it’s in the context of a “futuristic” album.
However, this pattern of great, but ill fitting songs continues with “WooHoo” which I personally really like. The lyrics are somewhat... of a hit and miss, but the production of the song really shines. As with the many other collaborations on the album, her voice doesn’t sound as distinctive here. Nevertheless it’s a decent song, just badly timed.
“Elastic Love” is fantastic, the only criticism of this song is that she is practically imitating M.I.A’s vocal style completely. Otherwise this song is just pure genius, the production flows a little bit better than M.I.A’s music but it still holds that quirky confidence that she’s known for.
I would really like to stop here, but alas we still have 18 tracks to go, “Desunudate” is really where we begin to understand the reality of the album. It’s really not that interesting or original, you can’t help but hear the looped beats in the background. Then we are put through the “Love and Glamour” intro, what a joke, it’s the most embarrassing attempt at sounding intelligent I’ve heard lately, just a bunch of clichés mashed into an interlude. To be honest, interludes rarely work, so why bother doing one if you don’t have anything worth saying? “Glam” is possibly one of the worst attempts to sing about fashion in a song. It’s simply absurd to even thing this compares in any way to Madonna’s “Vogue”, and the fact that she chants “Now Snap!” and then “Don’t let the clothes wear you” is practically laughable. This is where I’m starting to lose my faith in the album, and we still have 13 tracks to go!
“Prima Donna” is fairly nice, it sounds like a continuation of “Bionic” the track almost, her vocals are a little shoutier on this one, but I guess the song really demands that. The musical interlude “Morning Dessert” is really nice, as is the beginning of “Sex for Breakfast”, unfortunately the song really doesn’t go anywhere from there, very bland, especially considering it’s the longest track on the album.
“Lift Me Up” is definitely one of the stand-out tracks on the album, but perhaps the production really doesn’t compliment the sheer emotion that Christina puts into the vocals on this track. The “My Heart” intro is completely unnecessary, and it is really just using her child for all the wrong reasons, I’m definitely not criticising her as a parent, but the only reason they put this in was so some listeners would go “Oh she’s a mother! I suddenly have more respect for her, sisterhood etc etc.”
“All I Need” has a beautiful melody, it’s another track worth noting, and this really shows how her vocal technique has vastly improved since her debut. The album follows on nicely with “I Am”, this is the kind of sound that she really thrives on! “You Lost Me” can be compared to work from artists like Fiona Apple and much like the previous song, really benefits from Sia Furler’s brilliant song writing.
God help us! Not again, now we’ve unwittingly stumbled into a pitfall, “I Hate Boys” really destroys the brilliant song writing and production that we witnessed before with a cheap immature re-hash of “Keeps Getting Better”. But wait, it gets worse, Christina follows this off with “Vanity” an absolute shocker of a song, even if you put aside the off-putting lyrics. This is the kind of stuff people expected of her after her debut album.
Then we get into the Deluxe Tracks, and thank god for that, if you purchased the standard edition and were left with “Vanity” ringing in your frightened cochleas, you would not be very satisfied. “Monday Morning, the Santigold track is a massive stand out on the album, in the same vein as “Elastic Love”, it shows that she is still capable of making interesting music. “Bobblehead” is disgusting, and nothing else, such a hypocritical song. “Birds Of Prey”, much like the title track, is a smooth song where her voice relaxes into the music around it, fantastic.
The Deluxe edition ends with “Stronger than Ever”, which is the right way to leave the listener, inspired by the beautiful lyrics and soothing vocals. Overall this album does not come out as a winner. If it were a 12 track album, it would be a simply breathtaking piece of work, but with its bloated track list we are left feeling unsatisfied and pushed around.
I hope you enjoyed this review, leave your comments below!
New Song – Sia Furler “Cloud” (D/L)
Sia's New Album "We Are Born"
Sia Furler is raging forth with her new album "We Are Born" which is scheduled for release later this month. I have managed to get hold of it, and am really, really impressed. I personally have enjoyed Sia's music for a long time, I only wish I had the oppourtunity to see her live! (NB. If you have seen her live and you are reading this, please, please, please leave a comment and tell me how amazing it was!)
Either way, what I respect about Sia, is she is comfortable as is, she doesn't want to become a huge star, but she also wants to share her fantastic music with people from all around the world. So she is definetly in an ideal position at the moment, where she can make a living off touring to keep her recording career afloat.
One of the many powerful songs on this album, "Cloud", is being featured today, it really encapsulates her vocal range, and sheer vocal strength. Apparently she performs this song live, with incredible control and power. The song slowly builds up until the tumultuous chorus kicks in, it's really quite an amazing song. It is quite sombre in terms of lyrical content, however, the synths in the chorus really escalalates the song into a feel good ballad.
I hope you enjoy it, download it below, and if you did enjoy it, please go and buy the album or go see this fantastic woman live, it would be worth every cent! She truly is quite a talent! As always (but never in reality) please leave comments below, I'd love to know that some Sia fans come to this website!
(Sia Furler "Cloud" From The Album "We Are Born")
New Leaked Track – Kylie Minogue “Go Hard Or Go Home” (D/L)
Kylie's new album "Aprodite"
Hey guys! The German B-side to Kylie's Physical "All The Lovers" single has leaked in full. It's a decent song, which is a bit let down by the ultra-bubblegum chorus. It's almost something you'd expect Aqua to release, and if they did it would be great, and quite fitting, but for 42 year old Kylie, it seems a bit beneath her? I'm certainly not saying that an artist should be limited to certain styles and musical maturity due to their age, but in terms of her image, it's really appropriate as a B-side.
The song starts off really nicely, and the entire song is pretty good, but it does seem like two extremes and mashed together into the single song. It seems so stripper down and relaxed in the verses, but then as soon as the bridge and the chorus come along, it's fast-paced pure pop. I feel that Kylie's vocals have been recorded in a pitch that's just way too high and sounds unnatural, nevertheless it's a good song to hide somewhere in your library!
So enjoy the song and leave a comment below if you appreciate the link! Thanks for reading, please check out some other articles on the website if you're interested in discovering some new music (or re-discovering some old stuff!).
(Kylie Minogue "Go Hard Or Go Home")
Potenial Single – Kelly Rowland “Rose Coloured Glasses” (D/L)
So, it seems that "Grown Ass Woman" may not be the first American single after all. Instead it seems that a song called "Rose Coloured Glasses" is being sent to radio for adds quite soon in the US. Basically, all three songs I've heard (excluding Shake Them Haters Off) have really sounded quite great, much better and more interesting than anything from her Sophmore album "Ms. Kelly", Either way, any confirmed news on this song is still quite hazy, so for now, just enjoy the song below! It's pretty nice! *EDIT* I have put in the download link below, this is confirmed on her Myspace page as being the official first US single! Enjoy!
(Kelly Rowland "Rose Coloured Glasses")
New Music Video – Lady Gaga “Alejandro”
I'm going to try and keep my opinions to myself here, and just post the video as is for now. If you want to see my opinion below (I stress, that it is an opinion), then check it out!
Ok, so basically, in my honest opinion, this video is just 8 long boring minutes of self gratifying cliches. I will admit that Lady Gaga does a nice job at making something seem meaningful when it's really just 8 minutes of techniques lifted straight out of a first year film students textbook. When Lady Gaga came out, she was great, her music was fun, and her personality was too. But now she is pretending to be some amazingly dark and troubled person, when clearly, if you ever saw interviews of her two years ago, she was just a young woman who loved fashion and pop music.
Unfortunetly now, she tries to cram imagery into her video's to fool her fans into thinking she is some kind of visionary. Can anyone not see that ever since she released her "Paparazzi" video and second album (or EP, The Fame Monster) her attitude has completely changed. Nobody, except her fans will want to sit through this video more than once, I don't understand how anyone could. This is 8 minutes of grade a "Bullshit". I think that Lady Gaga uses to her advantage, is that ANYTHING can be analysed and given a meaning, even if the meaning, is incorrect, or there was no meaning at all. To quote Pablo Picasso, "Those who try to explain pictures(in relation to art) are usually barking up the wrong tree". For Lady Gaga, it seems that the meaning can come after the actual creation of the project, as if it were some kind of divine intervention from her "muse".
One great example is, "Telephone", she wrote this song for Britney Spears in 2008, then releases it on her second album which she claims was all about "Fear of different monsters we encounter". OK so, let me get this, "Telephone" despite being written for Britney Spears, was written with the "Fear of Work" monster in mind? My God. I do like Lady Gaga's music, but I just cannot bring myself to listen to these songs that she brings out horrific music videos for. I originally loved "Paparazzi" when I bought "The Fame" in Mid 2008, but ever since the video I just cannot enjoy it.
I know that i am definetly in a minority here, but I am sure there are plenty of other people who are smart enough to understand how ridiculous and blown out of proportion, Lady Gaga's "Artistry" is. If not that, at least to understand that she is not some shining star of hope in the pop music world. I will thank her for one thing though, for making music videos big events, and allowing record labels to justify larger budgets! Although this is also due to the Youtube era.
I'm really sorry if I have offended anybody, but to set the record straight, I LOVED Lady Gaga when she wasn't so full of shit, there is an article on this website where I give endless praise to "LoveGame" the video. I love her music, ask me about any song, checkout the review of "The Fame" that I did. I honestly have given her a lot of time and thought, but I can no longer fully enjoy her music when I am bombarded with all this bullshit and delusions of grandeur from her "monsters" and the Lady herself. (Ps. I have seen her live three times, once in 2008 in a club in Melbourne, opening for the Pussy Cat Dolls, and then the Monster Ball)
New Single – Kelly Rowland “Grown Ass Woman”
Firstly, I would love to have a quick vent! WHY IS KELLY NOT RELEASING "COMMANDER" IN THE US??????? Ok rant over. So Kelly Rowland is now releasing a different song as her US single, I personally forgot the name of the previous contender because it was so forgettable, something about "shaking haters off". This new song "Grown Ass Woman" is great, it has some nice emotion, it's a good mid tempo which is quite similar to her hit with Nelly "Dilemma".
I really find Kelly quite endearing, she is constantly overshadowed by Beyonce, which many people believe is intentional, but that's just irrelavent. I think Kelly has a good chance of finding success in Europe and Australia with her new material, but possibly she needs to shy away from the lite RnB and focus on what she seems to excel at, DANCE! I'm not asking her to work with David Guetta again because, frankly, I'm sick of him personally, and many other people are too, despite his talent.
So check out the song, "Grown Ass Woman", on the download link below! It's a nice song that will surely make a minor impact on the charts in America, albeit not as much as "Commander" would have.
(Kelly Rowland "Grown Ass Woman")