Friday, November 30, 2012

MADONNA FRIDAY: DON'T TELL ME

Madonna was on a hot streak with the release of her No. 1 album and single Music, and her success continued with Don't Tell Me. The closest Madonna will ever get to a country song, Madonna wrote the song with her brother-in-law Joe Henry (married to her sister Melanie). He had recorded the song for his 2001 album Scar. She and Mirwais took the song and rearranged it and the rest is history. For the video, Madonna took the cowboy theme of the pictures on her Music album and created a high-tech, country linedance inspired video with some sexy boys in tow. The single was another huge success, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed in the top 10 for eight weeks. The single has sold 4.5 million copies to date. One of my personal faves, this song got me through some really tough times when I was in a place I didn't want to be. I listened to it every morning on my way to work and it never failed to lift my spirits. Here's Don't Tell Me.
Madonna - Don't Tell Me by Madonna-Official

REVIEW: KE$HA - WARRIOR (DELUXE EDITION). KE$HA GROWS UP....JUST ENOUGH

Nobody is going to say Ke$ha is this generation's Joni Mitchell -- especially Joni Mitchell I'm sure -- but after listening to her new album Warrior they WILL be saying that this bitch know how to write a freakin' pop song. Not unlike her first effort Animal and it's companion EP Cannibal, Warrior is practically busting open with hits. First single Die Young is just the tip of the erection iceberg and doesn't even come close to the smash potential of the dancefloor epic Supernatural or the ubër-skanky Gold Trans Am, the latter with a sweet guitar lick that sounds like I Love Rock and Roll, You and I and Rock Me Amadeus had a slutty baby with Mutt Lange. But for all the bombast, Ke$ha actually puts in some legit softness on this collection. Wherever You Are is a sweet ode to teen love with a hook just as awesome as our usual drunken Ke$ha fare. Wonderland is a country-tinged, wistful, dreamy song and Love Into The Light samples Phil Collins In The Air Tonight to GREAT effect. Don't worry, there are also PLENTY of party-hard hot messes on Warrior to slam a shot to left for ya. The title track is an empowering dance jam, Thinking of You is a kiss-off masterpiece, Crazy Kids is a perfect sequel to We R Who We R. There's even a duet with Iggy Pop called Dirty Love!!! Out-trash that, whores! Of course, if you want ALL 16 songs, you are gonna have to buy the Deluxe edition because Last Goodbye, Gold Trans Am, Out Alive and Past Lives are all exclusively on that one. They are worth it though, so shell it out. In conclusion, if you already love you some Ke$ha you are going to be very happy, and if you don't...you may change your mind. Give it a try. Here is the video for first single Die Young. Go be a skank.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

DOLLY PARTON ON STEPHEN COLBERT. 'NUF SAID.

Dolly Parton is an American treasure and an entertainment ICON and Stephen Colbert gets it. He's been in love with Dolly "since 1974" and it shows. They even sing Love Is Like a Butterfly together!! So cute. AND it proves that a REAL singer can sing with anyone and make it sound great. The first clip is the interview and the second is the song. Love love love!!

NEW VIDEO: WILL.I.AM ft. BRITNEY SPEARS - SCREAM AND SHOUT

I'm not sure this actually qualifies as a song, but the video is pretty. Here is the clip for the new single Scream and Shout. Do with it what you will. I'm not thrilled. Total waste of a perfectly good Britney. Why is she lipsyncing someone else's British accent though?

THIS OPTICAL ILLUSION WILL BLOW YOUR FREAKIN' MIND!!!

I don't need to say anything. Just watch.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

NEW(ISH) VIDEO: FLORRIE - SHOT YOU DOWN

Love Florrie but have never really blogged about her on here. She is a producer, singer, songwriter, drummer and model. The girl's got spunk! Here is the single from her latest EP, Late, called Shot You Down. She's so talented and crazy pretty.

REVIEW: SOLANGE - TRUE

Wow! I was not expecting this. A couple months ago Beyoncé's baby sister released a song and video that I thought was really hip and stylish and catchy called Losing You. Loved it right away, but thought it was a fluke. I've heard Solange before and seen some decent stuff from her, but when you are living in the shadow of Beyoncé, it's easy to get overlooked. Well Solange's new EP, True, produced by Solange and Dev Hynes, is as good as anything Beyonce has put out recently and has an air of coolness and ease that many cookie-cutter artists of today would kill for...and even Bey herself. From the single Losing You to the last track, Bad Girls, we are treated to a breezy, funky, sexy throw-back styled good time. Sweet vocals that often remind me of Jody Watley's 80s heyday (not to mention her look in the Losing You video below being a dead-on Jody twin) fill the hooky melodies on songs like the girl-group inspired Some Things Never Seem to F**king Work and ubér-smooth Locked in the Closets. The funky sadness of Lovers in the Parking Lot segues into the deep bass funk and yearning vocals on Don't Let Me Down. Looks Good with Trouble could easily be a classic Janet Jackson track when the cooing starts off and then the voice drips like so much sex all over the rest of the track. The final track, Bad Girls (Verdine Version), is another sway-along winner and closes out the set on the perfect note. Sweet, soulful and sexy, Solange may have just found her breakthrough here. Let's hope it gets some attention. Watch out, Beyoncé. (not really, but I just wanted to sound brave) Watch the excellent video for Losing You below. It's light and funny in parts, but very, very stylish. Get to iTunes now.

Monday, November 19, 2012

REVIEW: RIHANNA - UNAPOLOGETIC

For an album called Unapologetic, I sure felt like I'd been wronged by listening to it. I love Rihanna. She has had some of the best singles of the past decade and an astounding run of the charts thus far in her career. She is already tied for 3rd among women with the most #1 singles on the Hot 100 (11) with Whitney Houston and she's only been charting since 2005. Remarkable. Her albums are not always strong, but they ALWAYS contain singles that are obvious chart hits. 2011's Talk That Talk was her best album since the under-appreciated Rated R. Unapologetic does not have a single obvious hit on it. The first song on the record, Fresh Off the Runway, is one of the most irritating, jarring songs I have ever heard. It seems to strive to make an impression through "shocking" use of the F word and annoying repetition. What is this? Not cute, RiRi. The first single, Diamonds, is interesting in that it's a little something different from Rihanna. The song, currently sitting at #2 on the Hot 100, is atmospheric and smooth and THE standout on the album. Take the good where you can get it on this one. Numb (ft. Eminem) is clunky and drones along like a dying sloth for the full three-and-a-half years minutes that it lasts. It's not good, people. Loveeee Song (ft. Future) is a song that could have been saved with a better duet partner. I don't know who Future is, but if this is the future I hope the Mayans were right. His "voice" (or the computer that generates his "voice") should not be allowed to be recorded under any circumstances. Jump references Ginuwine's Pony. That's all I'll say about that. Right Now (ft. David Guetta) at least has a little life to it, which automatically makes it different from most of the album, but it is painfully generic and sounds like a Nicki Minaj reject from her last (not great) album. She also teams up with former assailant Chris "The Fist" Brown on a song called Ain't Nobody's Business which I absolutely refuse to acknowledge with a review. And just for the record, it's EVERBODY'S business because he decided to beat up another famous person. Here is one good thing!!!! There is a song on Unapologetic that I kinda like. Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary is actually an interesting, heartfelt sounding song that I'm sure will never see the light of day, much like her best work on Rated R. Sad. The rest of the album is pretty boring and it pains me to say so. I know this review is much more negative than I would normally put on the blog, but I just had to vent my frustration with this album. If Rihanna is going to continue her album-a-year pattern, she's gotta put quality on an even par with quantity. Skip this one if you are not a completionist. Sadly, I am. Maybe some of these tracks will grow on me. Oh, wait. THIS JUST IN: They won't.

REVIEW: CHRISTINA AGUILERA - LOTUS

Christina Aguilera has had a hard time of it in the past couple of years. 2010 was when we last heard from Xtina musically on her own and it was not a good year. Her album, Bionic, was an embarrassingly bad failure and her film Burlesque and its soundtrack did not exactly burn up the charts or the critics. While I enjoyed the HIGH camp of the movie and soundtrack, I will agree that Bionic was less than stellar. So, two years to gather herself, get on a popular music competition show and struggle with her weight and haters finds Ms. Aguilera defiant and determined to make her mark on the pop landscape once again. Lotus, her latest effort, should get her back in the game, if her former fans give it a chance. The first single, Your Body, was a little...well...."eh" is a word that comes to mind. It peaked at #34 on the Hot 100, but did get attention for its rather lurid lyrics ("love" replaced the expletive of the original lyric "all I wanna do is f**k your body" for radio). Your Body is not typical of the rest of the songs on Lotus and is certainly not one of its standout tracks. That honor goes to the amazingly catchy, begging-for-release Red Hot Kinda Love. Why this was not the lead single is beyond me, but I digress. It is bouncy, fun, free and everything a pop song should be. Lotus actually has quite a few strong pop tracks (Army of Me, Make the World Move and Let There Be Love are all radio ready) and a surprisingly Imogene Heap-esque opener, Lotus Intro, that finds Xtina is a no-riffing zone for once. Kinda nice and smooth and a nice change of pace from her hitting 1,000 notes when only one is needed. I guess we all kinda love her for that, right? Aguilera even dips her hand into the world of country, dueting with The Voice co-judge Blake Shelton on Just a Fool, which, in her defense, is just as "country" as most country artists these days. Now, the weakness of Lotus lies where most of her weakness had lied in her last couple of projects: The sappy-ass ballads. Yeesh! Enough with the gloopy, Hallmark lyrics already. These songs could have been left on the cutting room floor. Sing For Me, Blank Page, Best of Me and Light Up the Sky are exactly the type of songs that their title infers. You could practically write the song yourself by reading its name. Ugh. You're better than that, Christina. There are other moments that bring out that sassy little bitch we love, like the "F-you" of Circles (lyric: "spin around in circles on my middle finger" and it actually ends with the words "motherf**ker") and the military drummer Cease Fire. Overall the album is a step in the right direction from the Genie in a bottle of old, but the dime-a-dozen balladry is not going to get her any closer to the ever more elusive teen fan base you need to make money these days. Find some good songwriters to try something a little different, girl. That being said, the first six tracks in a row will keep you moving and are worth the price of admission to this ride. I like.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

JUST BECAUSE: MADONNA REMIX - LIKE A VIRGIN (MIGHTY MOUSE RE-WORK)

Happy Saturday morning, folks. Now.....DANCE YOUR AZZ OFF!!!


Friday, November 9, 2012

MADONNA FRIDAY: LO QUE SIENTE LA MUJER (LIVE)

Madonna often likes to change things up a little bit in concert, so for her 2001 Drowned World Tour, Madonna took her hit What It Feels Like For a Girl and did it in Spanish, Lo Que Seinte La Mujer. She also remixed it and made it a sexy, tango affair. HOT!!! She never disappoints, that Madge. WIFLFAG hit #23 on the Hot 100 in the Spring of 2001. The video, directed by then-husband Guy Ritchie, was banned from MTV for being too violent, so of course Madge released it to the public and made a killing, becoming the biggest selling DVD single of 2001. Ha. Suck on that, MTV. Of course, the song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Duh. Anyhoo.....watch and love and translate.

NEW VIDEO: RIHANNA - DIAMONDS

Rihanna's video for her single Diamonds is finally here. The song was released September 27th and currently sits at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, so I'd say it's just about time, girl! Anyway, the song has not grown on me much over the past month and change, but the video is beautifully shot, if confusing. Rihanna has Cassie's haircut, rolls some weed diamonds and smokes them, floats in water, watches a horse come back to life(what?), wanders through the desert, reverse-trashes a hotel room and attends some post-apocalyptic street riot. You know, a day in the life. At least Fist Chris Brown isn't in it. Ugh. RiRi's new album, Unapologetic (I cannot with that title) drops November 19th.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

NEW KE$HA VIDEO: DIE YOUNG

Someone has been working out! Ke$ha's new video for her single Die Young, currently #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, show a little more skin than the singer is used to. To be fair, for most of her last album she was shaped like the lovechild of Spongebob Squarepants and a box of wine, but I digress. She in SHAPE now and showing it off. The video portrays Ms. Dollar Sign as a leader of a cult, presumably in Mexico, who is gathering her followers for the end of times. I like it! Ke$ha is finding her sexy side I guess. Check out the clip and jam along, bitches.

NEW LANA DEL REY: BEL AIR

Another dreamy track by Lana Del Rey!! Bel Air is another track from Lana's new EP, Paradise, set to be unleashed next Tuedsay, November 13th. Accompanied by a simple, smokey video, Bel Air is has a soft piano and Del Rey's trademark velvety vocals. So far it sounds like the songs on Paradise are sticking close to those on Born to Die, and that is fine by me. Can't wait hear the rest of the EP's 8 tracks (9 if you by the deluxe edition). Hardly an EP, but whattayagonnado?? Well, you could buy it as the Born to Die: The Paradise Edition, in case you hadn't picked up Lana's original LP. It's amazy. Enjoy Bel Air.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

BEST UNRELEASED SONGS OF 2012

In my humble, and usually correct, opinion, these are the best unreleased songs of 2012. A lot of artists and labels chose to release singles from albums this year that made no sense to me whatsoever, or at least in comparison with these unreleased gems it was weird. Here are some real good tunes that I wish would have gotten their due. Now these are just songs from albums released this year. Don't get me started on Adele, fDeluxe, Nicola Roberts or Lady Gaga from last year, girl!! Cuz' I will go ON! Okay. Settle in, listen and thank me later.

Mechanics of The Heart - Cheryl Cole

Inevitable - Scissor Sisters

Woman Down - Alanis Morissette

This Is What Makes Us Girls - Lana Del Rey

Only You - Ellie Goulding

I'm Addicted - Madonna

True Love - Pink (ft. Lily Cooper Rose)

God Only Knows - Wilson Phillips

JUST BECAUSE: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

FORWARD

Thursday, November 1, 2012

HELP MAKE MARRIAGE EQUALITY HAPPEN FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN HOME!!!


  • ** Sign up to make calls at www.20MillionMore.org ***

    Now you can make calls from your kitchen or couch for marriage equality this fall!

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