– First off, Happy Valentines Day to all of you. You don’t need to have a special someone to enjoy the people around you that you love. And a good romantic ballad is ALWAYS a good thing. Speaking of romantic music, congrats to Trav in Michigan and Amy in Pennsylvania for leaving comments that got them a copy of the Now Love CD compilation. Those CDs will be in the mail soon. Hope y’all enjoy!
– Finally saw Avatar yesterday (on IMAX 3D…wow), and I am still stunned that James Cameron would have thought that “I See You” by Leona Lewis would be a worthy successor to “My Heart Will Go On”. While the melody worked very well in instrumental form for the scenes between Jake and Neytiri, the actual song itself is so limp and lifeless that it is probably a good thing that it is hidden at the end of the movie. No wonder this song has not charted anywhere. Oh wait…looks like it made it to #47 in Ireland. My bad.
– I feel like I need to post a small disclaimer about my We Are the World post. While I may be severely disappointed in the way this song and video came out, it does not change the fact that the people of Haiti need help, and buying “We Are the World” is not the only way to do so. There are multiple organizations out there (including Unicef, which is specifically helping the children in need) that can effectively use your donation to get resources where they are most needed. While I am sure it is great to say you supported the same charity that Susan Boyle or Jeff Bridges sang for, I would rather eliminate all of that middleman stuff and go straight to the source.
– There has been a lot of news about the music business recently, and one of the more interesting bits I have come across is that Warner Brothers is testing out a “Six Pak” format that allows an artist to put out new music faster to their fans. Country singer Blake Shelton will be the first artist to get the six-song treatment for his Hillbilly Bone CD, and it will be released on March 2nd. The single of the same name is currently at #9 and climbing on this week’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Speaking of country artists getting creative with releases, Rascal Flatts released on February 9th a limited-time digital collection called Fourteen Love Songs for the Fourteenth. The package will only be available for two weeks’ time, and contains some of their biggest ballads, including “Bless the Broken Road” and “I Melt”. You can find the collection at online shops like Amazon, but get it before the 23rd.
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While I agree it’s no “My Heart Will Go On,” I don’t dislike “I See You,” and I’m surprised Leona Lewis hasn’t hitched herself to the Avatar bandwagon and made the song into a hit. In the UK she’s got “I Got You” and in the US…nothing.
I just noticed that both “We Are the World” and “Everybody Hurts” are available in both the US and the UK. Interesting. I wonder if both will be hits in both countries or if they will adhere to their home court advantages.
I saw “Everybody Hurts” here on iTunes. Even though it was thrown together, I bought it. Both versions. This money better be going to the people of Haiti and not into someone’s pocket.
There’s no way 100% of this money can go to the charities. Even some of it has to go into the production and distribution.
Popjustice had a good idea – instead of doing dodgy songs to raise money, why not get artists to donate half a day to businesses to help them with adverts or marketing campaign, and the business donates the fee to charity! That could raise loads! Brilliant. And no more disappointing covers (why must it always be a cover? Wasn’t Do They know It’s Christmas and We Are The Wuuurld both originals?!) End of rant 🙂
Paul, that’s the best idea I’ve seen yet. So much more productive and useful.