What’s my current earworm? Well, it comes from the U.S. (Cleveland to be exact), and it’s poised to be a big hit in the U.K. Check out Kid Cudi’s “Day N Night”…soon to be wedged in your head as well.
[Updated: uh, so the video helps with one of these posts.]
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All posts for the year 2009
– Leona Lewis is writing an autobiography, which will come out in October, and will proceed her sophomore disc. We’ve seen how exciting and riveting these X Factor books can be (Shayne, no offense…), but has she really done enough to warrant an autobiography in the first place? At least in the U.K. she has a back story…here in the U.S., her back story is “came out of nowhere for a #1 record”. Not exactly life story material.
– For all of you Annie fans, fear not. She does still plan on releasing her second set, entitled “Don’t Stop”, in 2009, even if it means doing some type of self-release. Can’t say that I’m surprised, though. There’s been a lot of buzz (both good and bad) on the record, but she owns the masters, so she can go whichever direction she wants. One place I’m guessing you probably won’t see a major label release is the U.S., where she only sold 20,000 copies of “Anniemal”.
– Great article on Kara DioGuardi over at CNN.com, talking about the type of dynamic they think she’s going to bring to the show. Qualifications, anyone?
With 168 of her songs appearing on multiplatinum albums, you can thank (or curse) her for Simpson’s “Pieces of Me,” Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances,” Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl,” Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean,” Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man,” and Pink’s “Sober.” She’s also penned cuts for several products of the “Idol” machine, including Kelly Clarkson, David Archuleta, David Cook, and Katherine McPhee.
BTW, her song with Archie (“To Be With You”) is definitely a high point on his debut. She’s also tipping the guys to have the advantage again this year. I heard an interview with her last month on OutQ that cracked me up. She’s a good ol’ New Yawk girl at heart, and it will be good to get some real world perspective that’s not too brutal or too smarmy.
– What do Beyonce, Boston Terriers and the Fray have in common? Stay tuned…
Ah…I have gone much too long without a Shayne entry, haven’t I? No word on how the new record is going, but he recently played some gigs back in the homeland, including multiple shows in Killarney (“third show just added!”). No surprises musically from these shows, although his presence seems a bit…larger than normal. Check out “No U Hang Up” for yourselves:
Now, you’re not necessarily going to hear my complain about Shayne putting on a little bit of the winter weight. It’s just a radical difference from the Shayne that appeared in the video of the song. But wait…it gets weirder. Making Backstreet Boy AJ as the Phantom look downright normal, here’s Shayne performing “Tell Him”:
One other item…turns out a production team called Camberjem has posted three tracks on iTunes with Shayne on lead vocals. According to the chatter on the Shayne forums, his team isn’t too happy with the release, and from the sound of the production, I can’t blame him for being upset. They’re really not even B-side caliber tracks. These do mark the first audio tracks of Shayne available in the U.S., though. Let’s just say he’s guaranteed to still be anonymous in the States after these songs see the light of day.
In my never-ending obsession with how the music business is attempting to re-invent itself, I came across this article about Jin-Young Park, who has been playing this game for several years now over in Korea. Right off the bat, the guy grabbed my attention with this truth:
“In meetings with music labels here (in the U.S.), they talk to me about releasing albums,” says Park. “They can’t accept that there’s no such thing anymore. Where I come from, CDs are nothing—they’re just souvenirs. I tell them, ‘Wake up!'”
Sound familiar? An interesting statistic: in 2000, South Korea already had 14% of music sales coming from downloads, and last year, that number rose to 84%. Granted, South Korea has 80% of households with broadband, and the population became accustomed to downloads and texts much sooner than Americans, but this may be the direction of where the business is going.
Speaking of reworking the model, Prince is releasing three CDs on his own next year: two of his own, and one of a new artist. From the Billboard article:
A “major retailer” is in talks with the artist to release the music physically, while a new Prince Web site will sell it in digital form.
The two new Prince albums are the tentatively titled “MPLSOUND” and “Lotus Flower.” He was also heavily involved in an album titled “Elixir” from his protege, Bria Valente. “We got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album,” he said of that project.
Prince has been on the cutting edge of this movement, and industry folk will be watching these releases with much interest. This is the same guy who was selling his music online five years ago, including CD sales with tour tickets four years ago, and giving away “Planet Earth” with the Mail On Sunday two years ago. His current model works: we’ve seen the Eagles and AC/DC limit their distribution to their own website and one major retailer, and the results have been in the millions of units. The big question, however, is how much demand there really is for new music by Prince in the first place. I’m guessing not nearly as much as for the Eagles and AC/DC.
Despite my best intentions, I wasn’t able to post this list yesterday, so you get it on January 1st. What better way to welcome 2009 to the world than to show it what it will have to live up to.
1. Adele/19 – I went back and forth between the top 3 for weeks, but in the end, the impact of a new artist releasing a solid, soulful and substantive disc won out. One moment sassy, the next downright depressed, Adele takes you on an emotional rollercoaster throughout “19”. There wasn’t a lyric sung this year that resonated with me more than “should I give up/or should I just keep chasing pavements/even if it leads nowhere”. This is definitely the start of a substantial career.
2. Jason Mraz/We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things – Don’t get me started on this one. If Oprah can have her muses and advisors, then I call dibs on Mr. A-Z. “Live High” became my mantra, “I’m Yours” held multiple meanings through the year, “A Beautiful Mess” hit a little too close to home, and “Details in the Fabric” walked me through my darkest moments.
3. Will Young/Let It Go – I “found” Will this year. It’s not like I didn’t know who he was, but Will Young found a body of songs worthy of his interpretation. The title song moved me like few songs this year, and the rest of this opus didn’t disappoint, either. I may have to admire him from afar for years to come, but it will be worth the effort. Key tracks are “Changes”, “Let It Go”, “Love”, and “Won’t Look Down”.
4. Keane/Perfect Symmetry – Watching Keane grow as a group has been an interesting activity, especially with the way that their music has evolved. While many were more focused on watching lead singer Tom Chapin for some type of stumble after his time in rehab, I was more concerned about the music, and it didn’t disappoint. In addition, “Symmetry” inspired some pretty unique videos.
5. Solange/Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams – I’ve seen a lot of slogging of Beyonce this year when Solange’s album is mentioned, and while I have my issues with “I Am…Sasha Fierce”, I won’t play into those negative comments. Solange was in the enviable position of having the money behind her as a new artist to create a record that had musical integrity, and she definitely made the most of it. “Sandcastle Disco” was a revelation, “I Decided” stands as a tribute to those Motown legends that paved the way, and “Cosmic Journey” turned out to be a perfect pairing between Solange and Bilal. Solange, you are now forgiven for your debut record.
6. Kanye West/808s & Heartbreaks – “Graduation” was my #3 CD last year, and it’s very possible that, had this come out earlier, “808s” may have been higher, but I hope that doesn’t detract from my respect for the disc. Kanye decided to take his pain and channel it into his work, and the results are, at times, breathtaking. “Paranoid” is a personal best for him, “Love Lockdown” is sonically stunning, and “Heartless” does a great job of bridging the gap between the current sound of hip-hop, and some new territory that only Kanye can take us to.
7. David Cook/David Cook – This disc was a grower, for me, as I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed by it on first listen. But Cookie won me over, and it is now one of my most-played records in my car. As I noted in my review, this is the CD that David was meant to record, and he doesn’t disappoint. It rocks, but with a bit of class that many of the cookie-cutter (no pun intended) rock groups can’t seem to find. Highlights include “Declaration”, “A Daily Anthem”, and “Come Back To Me”.
8. Killers/Day and Age – For me, no release this year was as fraught with expectations as the Killers’ third CD, due to the amazing impact of “Human”. Would they be able to carry it off and deliver a consistent record, or would they have one flash of inspiration, surrounded by mediocre filler? Hopefully, you’ll gather my decision based on its ranking. “The World We Live In”, “Joy Ride”, and “Neon Tiger” all carried the torch. My only complaint about “Day” is the closing track, “Goodnight, Travel Well”, which just seems out of place. Anyone want to wager on Stuart Price coming back for disc #4?
9. Ne-Yo/Year of the Gentleman – I referred to this record as Ne-Yo’s version of Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous”, and I meant that as a high compliment. Not only did Ne-Yo come up with his most cohesive record to date, but he did it with style and diversity. “Year” is not a cookie-cutter of his hit formula; instead, there are multiple styles all working together to show some serious personality. It’s good to know that Mr. Yo wasn’t giving away all of his hits.
10. Keyshia Cole/A Different Me – Wow…the newest CD on the list, and I’m just blown away. Keyshia and her producers definitely stepped up, adding a level of sophisticated to her music that threatens to add credibility to the “next Mary J Blige” title that people have been throwing around for the past few years. Highlights include the trifecta of “Playa Cardz Right”, which features a downright spooky cameo from 2Pac, “Brand New”, and “Trust”, a beautiful duet with Monica.
Now for the rest of the Top 25:
11. Alanis Morissette/Flavors of Entanglement
12. Aimee Mann/@#%&*! Smilers
13. Ferras/Aliens & Rainbows
14. k.d. lang/Watershed
15. Sam Sparro/Sam Sparro
16. Shelby Lynne/Just a Little Lovin’
17. Coldplay/Viva La Vida
18. Lady Antebellum/Lady Antebellum
19. Mark Broussard/Keep Coming Back
20. Michelle Williams/Unexpected
21. Nas/Nas
22. The Script/The Script
23. Sheryl Crow/Detours
24. Janet/Discipline
25. Alphabeat/This Is Alphabeat
And while I don’t include EPs on this list, there were two this year that really rocked my world. Check out my write-up on Raining Jane here, and look for a write-up on Georgia Wonder in the next couple of weeks.
26. Raining Jane/Paper Nest EP
27. Georgia Wonder/Hello Stranger EP
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