Lana Del Rey - Born To Die - Single Review

Official Single Cover

Lana Del Rey, a.k.a. Lizzy Grant, is a newcomer to the world stage, but girl has been on her grind since 2006. Her retro persona has received massive criticism, notably from hipster blogs, who question her authenticity, claiming that her image and music is the clever marketing of major record label Interscope, giving her the appearance of an independent artist using a grassroots movement to gain popularity. For the record, I don't buy that, I believe that she has been working on music for the past couple of years, uploaded Video Games to YouTube, not expecting the resulting popularity, and as a result, got signed to a major label.

That aside, not only is she retro-vintage in her aesthetic, but her music has this fantastic vibe to it, a combination of All-American pin-up girl, the stylized era of the 20's, with an often tribal/hip-hop beat underneath. Her current single, follow-up to the immensely popular and haunting Video Games, Born To Die, is one of those great moments in music that makes you stop and think, it's like nothing else I've heard. Some parts autobiographical, some part ill-fated love story, it's inherently "Lana" with it's melancholy-tinged lyrics and melodic chorus. The abstract beat of hand-claps, clanging metal, shouts and jungle noises is layered with soaring strings and her powerful voice. Her voice is a thing of interest in it's own right; changing from her deep, lower register, to high falsetto, and the Betty-Boop-sex-kitten. It reminds of Paris Hilton's dual voices, but with a touch more class.

Her lyrics are genuinely impacting, opening with "feet don't fail me now/take me to the finish line/oh my heart it breaks/every step that I take", building emotion as it build to the chorus: "don't make me sad/don't make me cry/sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough/I don't know why" and reaching the peak with the final line of the chorus "choose your last words/this is the last time/cause you and I were born to die". What's different on this track from her others is her almost religious references, mentioning searching for something, and the line "I'm hoping the gates tell me you're mine". Though she's no catholic schoolgirl, during a live performance, she changed the line "let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain" to the more explicit "let me fuck you hard..."

Her charm is her unassuming air and general innocence (the single opens with her whispering "What? Who me?"), and yet can drop f-bombs and say "ride or die" and "bitches" without changing character. She never once seems like she assumes, but every every so often, there's a glimmer in her eyes that seems to say "I know exactly what you think about me". The girl transfixes with both her appearance, revival of Americana and her discordant, other-worldly voice. Her music is indie in nature, but with pop-melodies, blues chord transitions and hip-hop stylings, Lana is defying the boxes people try and constrain her in. She's poised to become Pop's new "It Girl".

Lana Del Rey is currently signed to Stranger Records, and is planning on releasing her debut album under Interscope Records on January 31st 2012 Worldwide.

Wild Heart - Single Review

Official Single Cover

You may know her as the girl that guys get "steaming like a pot full of vegetables", and "you make me feel the la la la la la", but that's just the tip of the iceberg for her. Jenice Dena Portlock, a.k.a. Sabi is the former lead singer of the girls group "The Bangz", which have since split up, and Sabi's wasting no time establishing herself as a solo-act, featuring her vocals on Britney Spears' "Beautiful (Drop Dead)" and Cobra Starships' Top 10 hit "You Make Me Feel...".

However, on this track, gone is the 'hard' rapping, or the shimmering multi-layered hook, and it's replaced with a moody, stripped, dubstep tune, not resembling anything on the radio. "Damn this wild heart of mine, it's goin' get me in trouble" Sabi sings, over a pounding beat, courtesy of the Dream Machine, a.k.a. Let's Go To War, a member of which is up-and-coming producer Cirkut, who has worked a couple tracks (notably co-producing new singles "Domino" by Jessie J, and "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida, as well as a remix of Ke$ha's "Blow"). The song's strengths are the vivid lyrics, while not the most original, it's not a cliche-ridden track, and it's stark production. The melodies on this number read like a rapper-turned-singer, and there's not a lot here for R&B fans, it's a moody, atmospheric, electo-fest. Overall, it's a great tune, with some good, ass-busting promo, it might catch on, but it's a bit complex for the current radio listener, so it'll probably stay a buzz-single. 

Sabi is currently signed to Warner Bros. Music and her debut album is expected sometime in 2012, featuring production from Benny Blanco, Diplo, Ammo, DJ Cirkut, and The Cataracs.

E.T. - Single Review (EDIT: Kany West feature reviewed)

Official Single Cover

Sometime in May/June of '10, Katy Perry's demo for "E.T." then labeled "E.T. (Futuristic Lover) leaked and up until then, all I had heard from the singer was "I Kissed a Girl", "Hot N' Cold" and "Waking Up In Vegas". Though my friend had burned me her album "One Of The Boys", I actually never listened to it until that summer, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I ended up getting pretty attached to the song, the chorus especially reminded me of another song, not entirely sure which one, some say t.A.T.u.'s "All The Things She Said", the repetition in both songs is similar.

I don't need to say anything more about Dr. Luke, he for sure knows what he's doing, and he co-produced this with frequent collaborator Max Martin and newer producer Ammo, a.k.a. Joshua Coleman, who also co-produced "Your Love Is My Drug", "We R Who We R", and "Check It Out". The writing for the song has the same whimsy as many of Katy's others, but she pulls it off without being corny, which, for a song called "E.T.", is quite a feat. The single has a great *thump thump clap* beat playing over a bleeping melody followed by a powerful chorus driven by a rapid hi-hat beat, swooshing electro gusts and an unintelligible noise someone is moaning, appended by a simple synth and chord repetition on the bridge. 

In my opinion, the demo is better than the album version, listen here. Maybe because that's what I grew to love first, but there are pros and cons to both; the demo of course is not as produced as the finalized product, so instrumental wise, not as great, however vocally, Katy sounds over-produced and the singing is much simpler on the final version, they take out some of her distinctive voice during the verses, especially on the runs on the emphasized last words of the lines (could you be the devil, could you be an angel). The song did not initially cross my mind as a single choice, I would've expected "Peacock" or "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) as it is a rather dark-sounding song, but its is unexpected, which is something Katy loves to be, so we'll see how it fares on the charts, strong downloads when it was released as a part of iTunes Countdown to the album made it peak at 42 on the Hot 100.

EDIT: Katy has since released the single that will be impacting radios and it features a couple verses from Kanye West. This union is a good example of a couple things; the difference between a song originally intended to be a collaboration (California Gurls with Snoop Dogg) and one that wasn't, compromising morals in order to sell more records (wasn't it Katy who Tweeted after the Taylor Swift scandal "FUCK U KANYE. IT'S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN." which has surprisingly not been deleted) and a good idea gone awry.

It's not that the +Kanyeezy version is totally bad, it's that when compared to the original, it falls flat. It doesn't sound like he really grasped the concept of the song, or he just didn't care. His verses consisted of him talking about, what else, getting girls, sex, wearing nice threads, sex, being a legend and sex. So he really went out of the box with this one.

Bottom line: it's interesting to see someone's artistic interpretation of the song's theme. But please play the album version.

Official Single Cover

F**kin' Perfect - Single Review

Official Single Cover

A little over 4 months ago, P!nk's lead single from her "Greatest Hits... So Far!!!" album "Raise Your Glass" was released and it was awesomely another #1 for her, 2nd as a solo artist following "So What", 3rd if you count "Lady Marmalade". I had random songs from her various albums on my iTunes and when the track-listing for her Greatest Hits came out, I was a little surprised that it mirrored exactly what I had in my library. So I bought the LP, it was a great price, and how perfect that it was everything I already liked. Get it? Perfect?

In addition to old favorites, this album also introduced 3 new songs, "Raise Your Glass","F**kin' Perfect" and "Heartbreak Down" (4 if you were lucky enough to be able to buy the International Version which also included "Whaddaya Want From Me", written by her, performed by Adam Lambert, check it out). I immediately gravitated to "F**kin' Perfect", and it really made me realize that not only has P!nk stayed true to her sound throughout her career, she is the one pop artist that comes to mind that consistently puts out singles with meaningful lyrics. It seems that of late, a lot of songs have touched on the idea of acceptance and being who you are (Firework, We R Who We R, Raise Your Glass), and this song, as cliche as it sounds, is one we can all relate to.

Writer-producer-extraordinarie Max Martin, who also worked on her last 3 albums, co-produced the new tracks with Shellback, an up and coming producer under Martin's production label. His work with P!nk always brings a nice rock-edge that has been lost in the synthy-pop that dominates the radio, and this track is a great example of that, with the simple guitar chord-strumming opening the song to more rapid strumming accompanied by some great drum work and then with thumping bass and soaring strings on the chorus. She would seem to have really hit her stride in the past couple of years, and well timed too as everything seems to be going extremely well in her personal life.

Made by yours truly

Hold It Against Me - Single Review

Official Single Cover

If you haven't heard Britney's new single, or at least heard she HAD a new single out, you literally would have to be living under a rock. As a Britney fan, I was probably more aware of the progress of her latest album than the average person, and as the premiere date for the song drew closer, super-fans were foaming at the mouth for official news, surprisingly they were divided on whether they wanted the song to leak or not, some feared for the songs success if it leaked early (no one would buy it) and others, like myself, wanted to hear it. My policy on music is that if I want to support the artist, I will, and this was one instance where I wanted her to have a great start to her new album, which she did with "Hold It Against Me" debuting at #1, her 4th single to do so (Baby One More Time, Womanizer, 3). The demo, featuring the vocals of co-writer Bonnie McKee, leaked a couple days before the single, and was very catchy, but needed some refining, and boy did it get one.

Producer of the moment, and Grammy nominee for "of the Year", Dr. Luke is behind some of the biggest hits in the past 4 years (Right Round, TiK ToK, Circus, Party in the U.S.A.). Frequent Katy Perry and Ke$ha collaborator (executive producer of their most recent efforts), Dr. Luke a.k.a. Lukasz Gottwald knows how to craft a catchy pop song. With "Hold It Against Me", he has really outdone himself, if you've just been listening to it through speakers, you need to pop in a good pair of ear buds because thats when his effort becomes evident, the finished product is leaps and bounds better than the demo, from the oscillating bass, throbbing synths and piano chords on the chorus,  not to mention the dub step bridge, simple the production is not.

 Overall, the song was a great lead single for her album, proved commercially and critically successful, and showed several great steps forward for the artist; the first thing that I noticed was that it's her, her voice shines through and is not overpowered by the backup singers, dubstep is growing in popularity and for her to take that step on what is going to inevitably become the new "thing" was very smart. Some fans have brought up the point that the passion in her songs has been slowly declining in the last few cycles of Britney music (don't think that you can't sing with passion through auto-tune, check it). However, the #1 songs of late aren't exactly showcasing jaw-dropping vocals (if you say Firework, I will force you to watch her sing it live), so don't hold it against her :-)

Made by yours truly, as is the one below, in case you wanted a cover for the Funk3ed or Brian Cua remixes 

Nicole Scherzinger - Singles Review

No available in the U.S. to purchase yet, but go ahead and listen

Official Single Cover

Nicole Scherzinger, former lead singer for the Pussycat Dolls, has been trying her hand at being a solo artist, even when we didn't realize it; "Jai-Ho (You Are My Destiny)" was released "The Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger". Her now shelved debut album, "Her Name is Nicole" attempted to garner attention through a series of promotional singles (or rather a slew), none of which really had staying power (though Supervillain wasn't half bad).

In comes one of various producers-of-the-moment RedOne, now synonymous with radio-friendly pop after producing most of Lady Gaga's hit singles (Poker Face, Just Dance, Bad Romance, Alejandro). Synth-pop with a steady bass beat, "Poison" was made for the dance-floor, which nowadays seems to be the mainstream flavor of choice. With his help, there may be some viability left in her solo career. In the U.K. Despite being from the U.S. (yes Hawaii is a state), her single has yet to be released here, though it has fared quite well overseas, peaking at #3 on the U.K. singles charts, bolstered by a series of live television performances, notably a tricked out X Factor appearance (American Idols' U.K. predecessor). However, being that the U.K. is the size of Texas, a #1 there VS. a #1 in the U.S. are two very different things; even a fantastic song can flop without proper promotion so we'll see if she releases it in the U.S.

That beings us to the follow-up single, "Poison" was released October '10. Keeping with the same vibe as her "debut" single, "Don't Hold Your Breathe" is a mid-tempo pop song, not quite a ballad, but for sure containing the essence of a woman scorned, it deals with an ambiguous situation of a guy doin' her wrong, can't we all relate? "What you did to me, boy I can't forget, if you think I'm comin' back, Don't Hold Your Brea-e-eth"

The history behind this song is an interesting one, originally performed by Timberland and Keri Hilson (cause they haven't done enough songs together) and leaked back in 2008, the song had a harder, colder vibe and featured a man VS. woman dynamic and was pretty...like not good, its understandable why he passed on featuring it, presumably on Shock Value. 

No word on who officially produced Nicole's version, but they updated the song in a big way, the demo featured more of a rock-pop-edge and slight alterations to the chorus (and in my opinion, was sung by Kelly Rowland as a demo for HER newest dance-flavored effort, she was rumored to have had it in her hands). There are two versions with Nicole's vocals now circulating the interwebs, the first is in the vein of the demo, opening with sparking synths and overlayed with background vocals "ohh ohh"-ing over her appropriately breathy voice. The noticeable difference between the two is the second one has less emphasis on hard guitar strums and drumming and goes more fully into the synths and dance beat. It is possible that the second version that's out there is Dave Aude's radio edit of her single, as he confirmed he is remixing it, however there are some minor differences in the second half of the songs vocals.

In any case, the verdict is that Nicole has made a smart move in jumping on the bandwagon with every other artist trying to re-invent themselves, though it presents nothing new to the world of music, so far her "new" sound is very listen-able and radio-friendly, so we'll see if she will have a little more longevity this time, after all, she don't got her Dolls to fall back on no mo'.

Made by yours truly, no official cover yet

EDIT: Cover art revealed today, possibly official

First post - S&M single review

Above is the official cover art for Rihanna's "third" single off of Loud (if you don't count Raining Men, which is fine by me). With such a stylized art direction with the albums visuals, it's understandable that the label wants to keep some similar design elements with products released, it's smart marketing, makes is more recognizable and re-brands her as an artist, however, as is so often the case with official single covers, it's lacking in presence, creativity, originality, and doesn't really reflect the meaning and tone of the single.

This was instantly my favorite song, helped by the fact that it's the albums' opener, it almost plays like a sequal to Only Girl with its' strong, bass driven beat crafted by frequent RiRi collaborator Stargate (Firework, Rude Boy, Take A Bow) and penned by Ester Dean, the songwrite behind What's My Name, Firework and Not Myself Tonight. Strong digital downloads have already made the song impact on the Billboard Hot 100 chart ahead of the release date, and honestly it's a no-brainer to release S&M, I'd bet money on it being Rihanna's first #1 in 2011 (and maybe her only one).

"I may be bad but I'm perfectly good at it, sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it, sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me."

Cover made by yours truly, I felt that the cover needed to be more contrasted and vibrant, and to me this is a much more sensual pic than the one they chose originally.