Xtina's confusing return

ALBUM REVIEW
by Shardae Jobson

(released on June 8, 2010 in the U.S.)

After (roughly) two years of joining the external

mash up that was old Hollywood vicariously lived through new millennium young women in entertainment, Christina Aguilera declared with the release of the song "Keeps Gettin' Better" that her next record would be "futuristic", which is a term that seems almost vague and unnecessary in the late 2000s. Visually the video for 2008's "Keeps Gettin' Better" was promising towards her new venture, yet when "Not Myself Tonight" came out as the first single for Bionic, it didn't sound futuristic, genre-bending, eclectic, or whatever else Aguilera was aiming for. It sounded like just another tune of the current splash of dance music with a heavy base of electro-clash sounds, polished to the core for a mainstream audience (which David Guetta is the king of doing right now). The video was nothing to brag about, and so immediately there was skepticism for Bionic, yet enough curiosity left to see if her pop art aspirations were saved for the other tracks.

Well, on the rest of the seventeen tracks on the album, nothing else really seems to sound as planned, and on first listen, is actually kind of disappointing. It's one of few records released this year to bring a lot of noise in anticipation, but many repeats needed to enjoy what is being heard. The second single "Woohoo" featuring the adorably inane Nicki Minaj is a cut straight off of Stripped, and is one of the better songs with a terrific uppity movement to its ferocity of overt female sexuality. Its aggressive nature might be condemned and made fun of in the public because that's just what people do when a woman waves her flag of essentially exclaiming loving sex, which Aguilera has been an advocate for since her videos became more and more titillating.

Minaj was a perfect match for "Woohoo",and her verse was viewed as being "[pseudo] patois" by New York Magazine, but it is very amusing and equally deserving of attention next to Aguilera's brassy intentions. It's nice to see that Xtina is always in support of the female rapper on her more pop/dance recordings (like with "Can't Hold Us Down" featuring Lil' Kim). True Aguilera fans will likely enjoy "Woohoo" a lot, as references to cake haven't been memorable since 50 Cent.

Still, Bionic is all together a hot mess because Aguilera collaborates with too many different artists in order to achieve the new sound she was craving to experiment with. She worked with quite a few notable names, but they all otherwise crash on the same full length album. What Aguilera should have done was stick to one or two collaborators out of her usual circle, and from there go on to create a more cohesive concoction. There's Peaches, Le Tigre, Linda Perry, Tricky, Lil Jon, Santigold, M.I.A., Polow Da Don, Ladytron, Sia...no wonder the album is slightly hard to get into. These artists already have such a unique appeal (their purpose for being recruited in the first place) it also comes across odd when Aguilera's voice is singing the lyrics (that while she helped co-write) they contributed greatly to because it's just too much of their own input, and not enough of Xtina's characteristics. You'd think it might as well be the other artist providing the vocals (like on "Elastic Love").

Now, on to the songs that actually made the wait back to her more obvious dirrty girl self worthwhile (since Back to Basics). The best song hands down is the last track "Vanity", an ode to loving oneself and not giving a damn if you come across beyond conceited. It's undeniably sassy, and even carries a unexpected hilarity, embodying what Aguilera's return is all about (and what "Not Myself Tonight" wish it was). It shows that Aguilera can really be a lot of fun too because she often strives to be a provocateur and her images and statements in doing so at times go overboard in annoyance (much like her peers)--she gets it right on "Vanity" when she sings in a confident but cooing tone: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall...who's the flyest bitch of them all...NEVERMIND I AM". The song is strangely the most uplifting record because Aguilera is arguably one of the most cocky of singers in the past decade--and with good reason with a voice like hers. We can't help but agree with her mirror, and she pushes us to eventually nod heads to ours too.

The song "My Girls" with Peaches is convincingly good, and "Prima Donna" is a hard-thumping jam that shall be sung at the top of the Hollywood Hills in a pair of the most glittery of Brian Atwoods. "Glam" was described as a "modern day 'Vogue'" and while is cute and jazz-y, is not at all groundbreaking in meshing beauty, fashion and dance in comparison to the original. Yet, it's 1920s vibe is strangely more authentic sounding than particular songs on Back to Basics that attempted the same kind of vintage feel.

Unfortunately, while Aguilera's forte is usually the ballads, it is the slower songs on Bionic like "Lift Me Up" and "You Lost Me" that are almost complete doozies because they get lost amongst all the attempted eccentricity surrounding it. They aren't careless songs because "I Am" is actually quite beautiful in its simplicity and Aguilera is much more experimental here than on the crazier tracks due to its Regina Spektor influence; but is hard to appreciate when you know Aguilera was trying to get her Warhol/Madonna circa "Express Yourself"/Roisin Murphy on.

Bionic is all together not the great album fans were hoping for, but the simple fact that Aguilera is the vocalist of her generation, and always will be, at least what's returned is a voice that still gives a shiver of excitement and admiration back into the media. Aguilera has the ability to make great music, and has done before, but Bionic misses the point more than it retrieves it. In the end, it all becomes too polarizing to matter...but we'll just keep "Vanity" on repeat, if you don't mind.

THE BEST: "Vanity", "Woohoo", "Elastic Love","Prima Donna", "I Am", "My Girls"

Courtney Emancipates Herself

ALBUM REVIEW

by Shardae Jobson

As the fourth full-length album of original material under the name Hole, Courtney Love remains as the only founding member in the group, as while Nobody's Daughter contains some decent tracks worthy of her comeback in the field that made her one of the most polemic figures in music history; it's taken quite a while to get us to hear her officially declare emancipation of personal and professional tribulations.

For any real fan of Hole's music throughout the years, the return of Love (musically) is one that will again titillate, once they push play on Nobody's Daughter, they'll also find themselves wishing that Melissa Auf der Maur would come back as the band's greatest replacement member, and Eric Erlandson, the quieter founding member of the band--though nonetheless sonically vital--would've returned and help create the kind of material that made Hole an underrated band of the '90s that always delivered landmark albums in rock music.

This latest record in the Hole discography, after the laudable gritty realism of Live Through This and glittery coolness that was Celebrity Skin (a fantastic follow up in which it's only main difference to the former was a more refined finish), Nobody’s Daughter is a slight mixture of both, but doesn’t really find its footing as another spectrum of the band’s progress. As a whole, it kind of just feels like a record of songs with no theme to each other. From first listen, you'll probably like it immediately, but you’ll only get to loving it with future listens after random decisions to give another chance one day.

Courtney’s voice sounds like it’s been through more hell on Nobody's Daughter than it did on Live Through This, but what she didn’t have in 1994 that she does in 2010 is a kind of resilience and acceptance in that she is the mess she proclaims, but she can still play the guitar. In 1994, she was searching for meaning as an emotionally discombobulated young widow—with a potty mouth. In 1998, she was a reborn glamour puss--with a potty mouth. In 2010, her feelings are up for grabs in the song “For Once in My Life”, just as she intended with the many outbursts of over-shared personal details of her life that seemed to come out the woodwork non-intermittently. Among her many publicized issues (especially when she released her iffy solo album America's Sweetheart, and a she recently referred to as "the Letterman years), it was a wonder if she would be able to rise again as a musician. It is evident she's still got it, but the weary of her woes has taken a toll as the luster she had as such a infamously eccentric figure seems to have rusted a bit. The album has some highlights of the old Courtney, and so reassuredly, yes, she was and always will be a ragamuffin talent.

The song "Pacific Coast Highway" positively gleams of “Malibu” from Celebrity Skin with a more stripped, acoustic sound, and bounces off what was left of the song before it,“Honey”, almost like an expansive look into the previous. "Letter to God" might as well be titled "Letter to Frances" in regards to her current torn relationship with her only child, and the first single (with no music video) "Skinny Little Bitch" is a classic loud, post-modern rock song for Hole but doesn't match their previous work. It's the kind of song that sounds better live, which is not exactly a bad thing. The last track, "Never Go Hungry" has got to be inspired by the character Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind when in the scene she swears on her life "she'll never go hungry again". In Courtney's world and in this time of her storied life, she'll never hit rock bottom (once more) again.

Nobody's Daughter wins when it stays along a sedate sound and perturbed lyrics of love and life gone wrong, such as the lucidly brash (bridge) lyrics of "People like you, fuck people like me" on the excellent "Samantha". The harder songs like "Loser Dust" are good, but sound a bit forced and just aren't the same without the chemistry she had with Erlandson and someone as swift as Auf der Maur who is like the Lita Ford of today's music.

With virtually new, unknown members in Hole, Courtney Love is more center stage than ever in the band, and has become a kind of Patti Smith rock icon in the microcosm of female rock stars. Yet, unlike Smith, Love yearns to be in the spotlight and be recognized as a student and purveyor of the music she creates. Love is still one of the most sincere artists in the genre. Her feminine growls have a twinge of ache in them now, but she's not going anywhere. At this point, she has nothing to lose, because she belongs to no one. The album as a whole doesn't really have a direction, but considering the facts, it's not so bad, and her vengeance is more melancholic and subservient than expected. You'll be alright, Ms. Love.

THE BEST: "Samantha", "Pacific Coast Highway", "Honey"

VIDEO: Hole performing "Violet" in 1995, and "Celebrity Skin" in 1998, (both) at the MTV Video Music Awards

Field Hearts Haring

fashion review by Shardae Jobson

Regardless if you're a resident or a visitor to the always culturally relevant Bowery/Chinatown area of New York City, hopefully you've already made a necessary pit stop to the famed fashion free for all emporium Patricia Field, to see her newest collection of clothes and accessories featuring the graffiti inspired designs of art icon, the late amiable Keith Haring. You may not recognize the name, but you're surely seen his creations of solid colored, blocky figures and dogs, their characteristics not shown through face but movements of dance and surprise. His work was super vibrant and super fun and was especially prevalent AIDS awareness in the '80s, and he even ventured towards mainstream products like Coca-Cola. He was known to show his concerns and support for issues in communities through his simplistic artwork, and while he died of AIDS in 1990, his designs continue to reappear every so often as a part of our art and popular culture periscope. As most recently Madonna (who knew Haring personally) used his figures as the background set for a segments of her classic decade of greed songs on her Sticky & Sweet Tour, and can even be seen in a black and white scene in Rihanna's return to dance hall roots mega-hit "Rude Boy".

The Keith Haring by Patricia Field collection is a homage to the man who became synonymous with the New York City art scene of the '80s that included the prodigal Jean-Michel Basquait, and with Andy Warhol as the self-appointed godfather of pop art. Up until 2005, The Pop Shop that Haring opened in 1985, exclusively carried merchandise barring his images, and was the pivotal place to learn all that was great about his artwork. It's quite dejecting that The Pop Shop is no more, but thanks to Patricia Field, an icon herself as the ultimate costume designer who's made some of the kookiest but fabulous outfits we've seen for Sex and The City and Ugly Betty, is here to keep the legacy alive. Once you see the collection at her store, it's like as if The Pop Shop never missed a keytar beat.

The clothes of his solid friends are profusely frolic. The jeans, hats, tote bags just simply scream "we love Haring!" and are perfectly attention getting for the current wave of this ADD generation. The collection is great and sometimes the material of Haring's creations are scratchy, giving it an authentic feel that it was made in 1986. Though it is clear the designs are from another era, the appeal is timeless for its versatility and amusement, and every piece can fit into any kind of style of dress too. If you're more of a conservative dresser, rock a T-shirt with the crawling, stunned baby underneath your sharp blazer and Louboutins. If you're slightly more capricious all day, every day...by all means...you got to wear the awesome patchwork jeans. Some of the highlights of the collection including the jeans, are the plastic clutches, denim vest, brilliantly sequined black biker chick jacket, gold and black snake print embellishments, and scarf dresses (that look very Gianni Versace meets Haring by way of Patricia Field).

Patricia Field, being something of an unexpected matriarch of eccentric fashion in the tradition of Vivienne Westwood and Betsey Johnson, her ode to Haring is a perfect match, and all the more real in a culturally round way due to both of their connections of 1980s New York City, than say an established big fashion house suddenly calling upon Haring for insight. Close by the store in 2008, around the corner was a community painted mural that replicated Haring's artwork in tribute on the Bowery. That same year, an massively thick introspective book chronicling his career and life in New York City was published simply titled Haring. It contains hundreds of valuable photos from his art shows, with friends, and even the artist himself at work, as well as never before seen drawings and journal entries, and his other creations (four words: Grace Jones Body Painting). It is definitely a beautiful book that allows fans of yesteryear and today to feel closer to the visionary, as his artiste (and social activist) influence since moving to New York at the age of nineteen is undeniable and lasting.

The Patricia Field store is already a place of many sensational items, by carrying Haring in their store for a limited time, with purchase though, you'll be taking home some really vivid pieces to add to your wardrobe; and the fact that it'll feature one of the most unpretentious and greatly talented contemporary artists of the 20th century, it's a pretty sweet deal. Rock on, Haring.

Visit the Patricia Field store in NYC at 302 Bowery

Yarborough's Kinks in Jewelry

fashion review by Shardae Jobson

Now, I have a real penchant for whimsical jewelry. Anything a little kooky, colorful, boxy, dangly, and replicas of objects, and of cartoons and animals always catch my eye. I can appreciate a gorgeous piece of jewelry, compliments of Tiffany's and David Yurman, for a distance, but the undeniable personality that jewelry like the recently discovered Yarborough is what makes wearing superfluous adornments all the more fun, and freeing, to display.

In the latest issue of Nylon magazine, featuring Zoe Saldana on the cover, on their Private Icons page, where they highlight a usually uncommon character or public figure for fashion inspiration, was the daughter from the movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Amy Szallinki. By using the scene where Amy and her siblings are swimming in a pool of milk and cereal, looking a bunch of Polly Pockets, Nylon chose clothes and accessories that would be perfect to execute a Szallinki-esque outfit. While most items were reasonably priced (excluding that dSquared bodysuit for $1,175, though it's super hot), the one accessory that caught my eye and heart-strings for all things effervescent was a ring that atop its band was a bowl of soggy cereal and a spoon the side. I know it sounds weird, but it's adorable as you can see in the picture below. In the credits on the page, it says the ring was by Yarborough and while the price is a bit steep at $200, I was enamored.

I headed over to Yarborough's official site and saw that it was made and named after the artist who used to work as book editor. Looking for a different kind of inspiration and use of work ethic, she began creating jewelry in her East Village studio out of nontraditional materials like yarn, ribbon, and of everyday images we've been acquainted with, such as a bowl of cereal. Elizabeth Yarborough's influences range from her grandmother's belongings to fashion design legend Elsa Schiaparelli. Her collections are small as she's been pushing her creative muscle for three years so far, and her finger food set of rings ranging from dessert to entrees is definitely were most appealing. The rings are made with great care and even contain a sense of humor for they are cute and are miniature versions of some of our favorites including ice cream and a cherry pie, they almost look the Japanese trinkets made by the company Re-Ment (but you'll be lampooned a bit less for buying a Yarborough ring than a small replica of a blender machine).

Yarborough also makes jewelry inspired by nature and history, ethereal pieces with a touchstone of modernized twist. There are necklaces with a clunk of what looks like the broken piece of a China or 19th century design plate as the main charm, and others with feather chains, colorful beads and yarn rings, some with a weaved center, and horses imprinted on a smooth brown surface, it looks like frozen chocolate minus the crinkly thin white lines of ice.

Yarborough makes some fantastic works of art, and while the book editing job may have been a bit more lucrative, it's great to see someone follow their heart in an artistic direction. We wouldn't have that new, fun accessories to obsess over. You can find similar pieces in your local shops that specialize in amusing, glam pieces for a large fraction of what Dorfman sells for, like in Boston there's Dajuli Sparkles which has some awesome headbands, tiaras, and hair clips, but they especially excel in earrings and rings. Still...it like I may be forking over $200 soon. Thanks a lot, Nylon...

"Music Makes the People Come Together...Yeah..."

In honor of this past Saturday's Record Store Day and the Boston Marathon (good luck all you abominatedly good at running people!), below is a extended list of the most accomplished full-length albums of the past decade. A lot of these lists, chronicling the best of the best in singles and albums were released during the first half of last year, and often clogged their lists with songs and artists based on overt popularity than both popularity and cultural relevance, but these lists are nothing more than opinion. It's not really and shouldn't be about what was blasted through everyone's speakers and what wasn't. The music chosen are the ones that years from now will sound as fantastic as the first time your ear drums understood what heaven was in their version of audible wasteland. Some may to quick to say that music sucks nowadays, but some us choose to still believe.

So here's to the short list of albums full of unequivocal paeans for days to come in our already complicated lives. Maybe you'll "re-discover" an album you hadn't given a chance, or realize you weren't the only one you thought that album was worth every blood, sweat, and tears it took to make it. Yes, a majority of the list is from "mainstream" acts, but don't let that sway you, there's a little something here for everyone. You may even see an album that you listened to endlessly back in high school, and there's nothing like those albums that were there for you during the hard times and the good days. No paragraph reasoning underneath each listed album; once you hear them (if you haven't already), they'll certainly sing or beat-box for themselves. Let it be, my friends, let it be.

"I've got my 45 on so I...can rock on..." -"Soak Up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow

Some of the albums that mattered most from 2000-2009 (otherwise known as The Aughts)

• She Wolf by Shakira
• Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple
• Stankonia by OutKast
• La Roux by La Roux
• Ultraviolet by Kid Sister

• Come Home With Me by Cam'ron
• Rock Steady by No Doubt
• Gold Medal by The Donnas
• Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles
• Get Rich or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent
• In Rainbows by Radiohead
• Bleed Like Me by Garbage

• Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel by Mariah Carey
• The College Graduate by Kanye West
• The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem
• Rated R by Rihanna
• Toxicity by System of a Down
• Music by Madonna

• White Blood Cells by The White Stripes
• Elan Vital by Pretty Girls Make Graves
• Funeral by The Arcade Fire

• The Information by Beck
• Stories from the City, Stories From the Sea by PJ Harvey
• Whoa, Nelly! by Nelly Furtado

• Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape by Me'shell Ndegeocello
• Blackout by Britney Spears
• Fallen by Evanescence
• Midnight Boom by The Kills

• X by Kylie Minogue
• Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park
• The Woods by Sleater-Kinney

• Change It All by Goapele
• In Search Of... by N.E.R.D.
• Food & Liquor by Lupe Fiasco

• Rooty by Basement Jaxx
• Intimacy by Bloc Party
• Afrodiasic by Brandy

• A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by Panic! At the Disco
• Annimal by Annie
• Robyn by Robyn

• BLACKsummer's night by Maxwell
• It's Not You, It's Me by Lily Allen
• Kala by M.I.A.

• Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
• Fever to Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley

• Two Suns by Bat for Lashes
• We Are The Pipettes by The Pipettes
• Cross by Justice

• Hell Hath No Fury by The Clipse
• New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War by Erykah Badu
• The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga

• Oracular Spectacular by MGMT
• Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne
• Santogold by Santigold

• Words and Sounds, Vol.1 by Jill Scott
• Fantasies by Metric
• Little Voice by Sara Bareilles
• 19 by Adele

• I Am...Sasha Fierce by Beyonce
• Colour Me Free! by Joss Stone
• Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson
• Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
• In Love & War by Amerie
• In Ghost Colours by Cut Copy

• Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
• Is This It? by The Strokes
• Night Ripper by Girl Talk
• Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs

Three cheers for music videos! + Estelle's a "Freak"

Is The Return of the Music Video On Its Way?

by Shardae Jobson

…possibly, as earlier in 2010, MTV had gotten rid of “music television” underneath its 29 years old letter “M”, but music videos have continued their slight comeback in not only viewership and mainstream attention; these videos are delivering such supersonic images, maybe artists and artistes are finally taking responsibility in visually mesmerizing the public, regardless of our actual opinions of the videos and music themselves. What makes this rise of provoking visuals returning to music even more intriguing is that its mostly been catering females artists, which despite harsher and at times ridiculous criticism towards their careers, are constantly the more alluring figures in music, as maybe due to history, biology and theory, makes the woman’s role in the industry all the more fascinating…to observe.

Though the network has expanded into MTV Hits, Jams and mtvU, the original MTV channel hasn’t been remotely music anything in the past five years except for a mere four hours in the morning (and its annual video award show which despite its rebirth as an entertaining pop culture fest in 2009 seems a little misplaced). Many were quick to declare good riddance to MTV changing their logo, in lack of their imbalanced support, there is something great about music videos becoming zeitgeists on their own again.

As a lot of music videos, even back then in the greatness that was the 1980s, sometimes are as simple as can be: a plain or non-exciting background, with singers or rappers sassily lip-synching to their own track. It gets the point across as far as us getting to hear the song, but videos with a little extra effort put in them in some shape for form have been the most worthwhile. In the past deacde, at least two to three music videos would become noteworthy based on the cinemathorapy and artwork alone (such as Justice's "DA.N.C.E."), and millions of music fans, or curious minds, would flock to not MTV, but YouTube to watch how, in an age of everyone claiming that music has taken a severe nosedive in substance (which is not entirely true), this could possibly be. In 2008, Beyoncé surprisingly became the center of one of the best songs of the decade, and yes Mr. West, a contender for one of the best videos of all time, when the pop, locked and high-heeled crazy “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” was released.

Followed by such a merry phenomenon of homemade video re-creations and black leotards back in vogue, it showed that when a music video was done right, using under the radar inspiration (in this case, Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse’s “Mexican Breakfast”), or simple ideas turned into stylish aftermaths of songs that are lyrically the soundtracks to many present lives in a crisis of sorts (Lily Allen’s “22”); videos such as these two are the perfect examples of musical addendums that gives songs another life, and the public another piece of video art to utterly compress as amusing eye and mind candy fodder.

In 2009, the trend of influential videos continued piggy-backing off of Weezer's insane "Pork and Beans" clip, soon came The Dead Weather's brilliantly violent "Treat Me Like Your Mother"; the gothic romanticism daze of Bat for Lashes' "Daniel"; the fast-paced collage of Death Cab for Cutie's "Little Bribes"; and the pro-birthday suit parade of Matt and Kim's "Lesson Learned". These music videos were provocative and bright, allowing room for discussing the apparent messages given to us in the form of these short film quasi-musicals.

This year, so far, we have Dan Black's "Symphonies (Remix)", MGMT's "Flash Delirium" and Kelis' "Acapella" that have been worth a second viewing. However, the two videos that have mattered the most thus far are without a doubt “Telephone” from attempted eccentric Lady Gaga and “Window Seat” by the wonderful Erykah Badu. Both largely talented artists have released the kind of visual material we love to watch with eyes wide open, tear apart in order to make sense of, and embrace once more. In the tradition of Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey, Missy Elliot, and pop icons Janet Jackson and Madonna, Gaga and Badu are on the music landscape harder than before with these videos being as loud or subtle as they want to be, giving the public and fans’ brains a creative runaround.

Lady Gaga's video for “Bad Romance”, though premiered as any other video, had a kindof fanfare that received such a cult status that even Kevin Smith hasn’t seen since Clerks. Though some were quick to declare that “Bad Romance” would be the pinnacle of her still forming career, along came the clip for her second Fame Monster single “Telephone”. The anticipation for its arrival was so feverish, maybe even Gaga hadn't seen coming, but in favor of her pseudo-enigmatic persona, she will never admit to this. The internet updates, the sneak peek photos, word that Quentin Tarantino let Gaga borrow the Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill, fans and even non-fans had to see what Gaga and Akerlund cooked up in their wacky kitchen of ideas as the pictures informed us, though the lyrics hollered her desire to just sip her "bub" in the club, there was no typical club to be found in this other facet of Gaga World.


Well, doggone, when "Telephone" was released on websites an hour before its debut on the E! channel at 11:30 at night, in less than 24 hours, a million views were counted on YouTube and commentaries piled atop of each other on the many pop culture service announcements that one would have to watch at least five times to catch from beginning to end of the nine minute video. The success of “Bad Romance” and its lauded visuals were a segue way for the excitement of “Telephone”, so when “Honey B” (Beyoncé) and Gaga clasped hands in the name of sisterhood, riding away in Quentin Tarantino's Pussy Wagon, those million plus views witnessed a discombobulated mix of no substance, dubious society commentary, fantastic haute couture fashion on acid in startlingly HD colors, with tidbits of Thelma and Louise and second-wave feminism. Gaga clearly has so much clout right now in popular music, her little monsters worhshipped it, and again, the media were first to call her the new Michael Jackson of music videos.

Exactly what Gaga was trying to say with "Telephone" is what's fantastically bothersome. as you watch it, especially the first time, you start to think that there really isn’t anything here, and in a strange way maybe that’s the point of the “Telephone” music video experience. It is clearly appealing and craves your attention, yet in the end it is just an empty, fabulous, consumption (like a candy bar). Yet, Stefani Germonotta accomplished exactly what she was looking for: a music video of epic proportions. It is epic simply because a music video was talked about for more than two minutes pass “I like it. I don’t like it”. This is just not because it looks like a literal hot (as in utterly amusing) mess, but it's has been a long time since a music video caused this much excitement and essays of analyzation in well, a hot minute. The last time this may have happened, in which even negative or dubious accounts of the video experience was detailed was the Guy Ritchie directed “What It Feels Like for a Girl” for Madonna, back in 2000, where Madonna is seen driving around town, with an elderly woman as her friend, and the Material Girl goes an rampage against any man in her way. Three cheers for feminism indeed.

From the first view of "Telephone" it maybe even felt underwhelming because if you’ve heard the song, likely the video was not as you pictured it. From the overt random-ness of the scenes, the video is so ADD, it’s almost polarizing. "Telephone" scores when the viewer is nearly forced to watch it again, because you know you missed something the first time, it is so chaotic, you’ll be better off immersed one more time. It’s tacky, fabulous, too much, too little and what was unsaid is better left as so because even the concept of "Telephone" is just enjoying the ride.

Along with Gaga, Badu has met some non-objective commentary of how she was disrespectful, tasteless, looking for shock value in her music video for “Window Seat”. Quietly released in late March, “Window Seat” visuals matched the soothing tone of the song and lyrics as it was slow-paced with a serene, anxious confidence. The video shows Badu taking off her clothes until she is completely naked and shot by a unknown gun on the street, revealing the song’s absolute worry about not only Badu herself, but with the accompanying and beyond controversial, ever-changing conscious of the U.S. of A. From the first viewing, you really don’t have a clue what Badu is going to do, and while everything is mid-tempo, Badu has such a nurturing voice, even if she was singing something stupid (which is not even possible, but just saying) you would still stick around until she stopped.

The video doesn’t show its true colors as political and even romantic commentary until the end when she is shot, in the nude, on the same location that JFK’s assassination took place. While Gaga’s “Telephone” was arresting for its color and visual comment on too much everything all around us (“stop talking, stop talking, I don’t wanna think anymore!”), Badu’s “Window Seat” is neutral and minimal, leaving you wondering because Gaga was able to run free from a nonsense Wonderland in the glamorous Pussy Wagon, Badu is left as a dead, naked woman on a street in the richest country in the world. What makes “Window Seat” the second winning video of the year so far, but first place for the kind of commentary that matters is that yes, over consumption of everything is just a part of life in 2010, this is not a new concept but is nonetheless fun to watch from other's (in this case Gaga’s) interpretation; "Window Seat” is a voice of reason and realization that nothing matters more than one’s self-love and respect in order to recollect (“So can I get a window seat. Don’t want nobody next to me. I just want a chance to fly. A chance to cry”. Badu also has “EVOLVING” tattooed on her back). The music video is shock value at its most vulnerable, but “Window Seat” surface image as another naked video (Badu was “inspired by Matt and Kim” as written in the beginning by their NYC “Lessons Learned” clip), creates a bigger statement which always rises when nudity void of obnoxious sexuality, violence of some sort, is very clear in its message of encouraging us think for ourselves (at the end of the video, Badu speaks “they assassinate what they do not understand”) yet then again, this is not always translated so diligently (as in the video for “Telephone”).

In Gaga's world, there is only a modicum of intellectual outlook into the fishbowl of society's yearnings and needs, but Ms. "Paparazzi" thinks otherwise. To MTV.com, she said: "I wanted to do the same thing with this video — take a decidedly pop song, which on the surface has a quite shallow meaning, and turn it into something deeper: the idea that America is full of young people that are inundated with information and technology and turn it into something that is more of a commentary on the kind of country that we are." Anybody else not get this from the video based their viewings, the first one especially? Us, neither. No matter how many times you watch “Telephone”, what Gaga tries to invoke based upon that quote is not exactly the most obvious thing to catch in an already superfluous production. We sort of get it, but you also can't help but think that there was more concern about the clothes, makes-up and self-made attitude of the "characters" within, and then again, what does that say about us, as Gaga insists, hmmm?

"Telephone" and "Window Seat" are very loud proclamations of self evaluation and have inspired a lot of insight of what they tried to express to its audience, and fans and critics took whatever angle they could look into deeply. Some accused Gaga was using product placement without merit and that "Telephone" was just plain silly in execution; while "Window Seat" brought on the classic and tired talk of a black sexuality as Badu's bodacious backside brought on many salacious comments, which has more so to do with her being nude than being a black woman. Get over it. They would have done the same thing if it was Katy Perry.

The likely staying power of "Window Seat" is that the commentary it gave us is much more stimulating than "Telephone" will be. The initial hype that came with "Telephone" nearly died a week later, and it is because its substance is hardly anything new or that ground-breaking aside from its debuting excitement and visuals. Gaga is an advocate of pop culture, and while pop culture says a lot about us in a deepr historical context, the word "pop" is present before culture for a reason. Badu's "Seat", though seeking to be talked about, at least has a more organic element in what is going on.

However...both videos are fantastic and important to take note off in this ever weird climate of the music industry and its videos. As women in the game, Gaga and Badu are re-enforcing the many viewed concept of what a female (artist) challenging what is is to be a lady whoever and whenever they want, as others, their so-called managers and agents and what nots, often have pre planned ideas for their presentation. There is still much to done I'm sure, as the "Massive Attack" video for rap princess Nicki Minaj underperformed to say the least, as it is evident Hype Williams doesn't really know what to do with the female acts (like in the glowing but somewhat laughable "Video Phone"), which is disappointing considering his videography.

To end on a high note, thanks the videos mentioned before, and to Gaga and Badu, music videos seem to be back and with so many of us wishing it as the '90s for just a day, we can agree that the return of music videos is definitely a sight to see.

VIDEO: The crazy video with its day glo colors and sharp blackness, here is Estelle's new single "Freak" featuring Kardinall Offishall

WEEKEND EDITION: Gaga & Lolla + Kelis new video + What's Poppin'

Lady Gaga at Lollapalooza: Weird or Obvious?

By Shardae Jobson

The official lineup of the annual music festival Lollapalooza was released today, and while a few months ago, there were hints and little confirmation of certain bands planned attendance at Chicago's Grant Park this year, the list of 100+ names showed that the festival for the most part was sticking to showcase of the crème de la crème in alternative, neo-soul, "rock", and party or conscious rap, but there was one name that met some classic love it or hate it reactions, and it was: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga as a headliner at Lollapalooza is definitely odd. Though one of her first performances in a very publicly known space was at the festival back in 2007, her music and look did not yet convey the status of a mega pop superstar who three years later has surprisingly won over more people than those who loathe her. Yet for those people who see Gaga as the savior of pop music (as fans and even some critics have heralded her to represent) the latter prefer to view her as a manufactured loony.

Gaga in the past year and a half or so has morphed from a futuristic, club kid baby doll, to "Candy" Warhol, and now a female Ziggy Stardust. Those who have no desire to become one of her minions, a.k.a. little monsters, see the artist as just another pop diva whose costumes and antics belong in a crazy circus. They view her music as no different, but standard to her full scale competitors in pop music. She gets away with it all because she is not conventionally beautiful, and her approach is campier than ultra vixen.

Sure, Gaga's whole "fame is here to love you" shtick can be a little stomach turning, but what these anti-fans fail to see or at least admit, is that Gaga is what the music industry needs. She uses sexuality, fashion, visuals and even some of her lyrics in a more idiosyncratic and seemingly less perfect presentation, which is a hell of a lot more intriguing than what a majority of her sudden peers are doing right now. She is artistically capricious and thoroughly entertaining. While her quick conversations with the audience at her concerts do come across a bit rehearsed (or maniacal), in interviews she’s open, knows her (music) history, and is definitely not a dummy—which is incredibly refreshing.

The fans, the little monsters, came in droves because finally in the last five years of the last decade, a singer was turning herself into a kind of visionary, and this is one vortex we're all curious and secretly wanting to be sucked into. She's a loony, but the most terrific loony we've seen this side of Bjork at The Academy Awards. Gaga's rising profile has provided music analysts to again take a star who has already come to define the time period of her success and (now) tear her apart as to why and how this came about when probably all the star wanted was to be seen and heard in the first place.

Gaga seems nearly completely out of place on the list of Lollapalooza performers because in comparison to a majority of the artists included, despite their critical acclaim and steady fan base, Gaga has become an icon in her short time of fame. Her presence is never ignored due to her outrageous outfits, and her musical talent and fantastical outlook on what an artist should be is largely amusing as her more obviously manicured pseudo-starlets of pop music seem to just shake and shimmy and look very pretty, one of which she has collaborated with twice, “Honey B” Beyoncé, on "Video Phone" and the much better "Telephone".

Ms. Stefani Germonotta at one point was just like MGMT and Spoon. She was known enough that she had fans, released records to likable reviews and was a fairly new artist that MTV and The Grammys wouldn't care about until she blew up; but this was okay because the music spoke for itself and the fans that showed up did because they liked what they heard, not what sudden groupies of always searching for the next big thing and couldn't think for themselves tend to do, which is always the case once these artists reach international prestige. As the saying goes, they follow like white on rice. When The Fame was released in October 2008, Gaga wasn't an artist so green she couldn't cultivate a persona, but she was fun, and her hair bow ties were a riot. Her first Fame Ball Tour sold out immediately, and was full of the original monsters who worshipped her absolute weird-ness.


As the pro muffin bluffin' anthem "Poker Face" unexpectedly took off, everybody was suddenly eating her shit. The girl from New York City was now the living martyr of pop music, who rapaciously used theatrical visuals in the name of pure entertainment. Later in 2009 and early '10, her music video premieres would recall the days of MJ's, and whether you care about that or not, that is a big deal in her field of career.

Perry Farrell, the creator of Lollapalooza, for better or worse, by adding Gaga to the list of performers is making it very clear, he doesn't believe he is and still yearns to be relevant in popular culture and (aspects of) mainstream music today. He knows that by adding Ms. "Paparazzi" to the list, that alone conjure much media press, and in return too many teenagers at whatever date and time she'll be ready to set musical fire on that very large stage in Grant Park.

Perry Farrell is giving in to the consumers who matters most: the eighteen and under crew. Granted, what teenager has $215 to burn for three-day pass unless it's given to them by some guardian, who knows, but they'll want to show up more than ever because of Ms. "Paparazzi". It can be guaranteed that her mini-concert will be the greatest scene of pandemonium for the festival since Rage Against the Machine performed in 2008—now that was a real riot. We'll have to see the kind of damage Gaga will bring to Chicago. If anything, her audience will look like the biggest gay pride parade there ever was, and will undoubtedly make the frat boys and jock douche bags shake with inferiority because they likely won't understand Gaga and her inflated world of glam-rock and fame is our friend testimonies.

Once word got out that Gaga was in, the comments came flooding online, and most were actually looking forward to her appearance. For some, Gaga's name evoked the hundredth sign of the apocalypse on its way, and Farrell has backed his choice even more by (prematurely defending) to MTV as a quick statement: “Lady Gaga represents to me the music industry today. She’s a good representation of where it’s at and where everybody’s trying to get to. If you look at the Grammys, it looked like everybody was trying to catch up to Lady Gaga,”. Interestingly, on RollingStone.com where they also posted the news of the Lollpalooza artists list, a blurb in the comments section from anonymous "BC" wrote: "it’s pretty sad that Perry is sitting home watching the Grammys to get ideas for lollapalooza. like her not (i don’t), gagas commercial pop music. i’m not hearing the difference between gaga, beyonce, britney… otherwise there are a lot of good acts on the bill".

Should everyone just lighten up? Isn't music supposed to bring the people together, just like Gaga's musical hen-mother Madonna exclaimed? One could easily argue that a majority of the other acts are drippy, I’m so depressed, but so artsy, angsty indie bands.

Both Farrell's and "BC"'s statements are valid, but is Perry really fond of Gaga—or is he just cashing in on our mother monster as well? Both reasons are plausible. The festival’s whole list is a bit more inviting than last year's, which is a contradiction since 2009 was really like a rock festival with its calmer, low-key musicians, but Lollapalooza is great when much of the music there is not necessarily the biggest names in the world, but are already known enough among music fans who can think for themselves.

Lollapalooza doesn't usually care to be a people pleaser, unlike most music "programming" today, yet in connection to Gaga's inclusion, the more famous she got, she began to be included in the sub-genre of pop stars alongside Rihanna and Britney Spears than say Amy Winehouse and M.I.A. (who've both performed at Lollapalooza). Gaga is a legit pop music, which is precisely why her name stands out erratically next to Soundgarden. Yeah, Green Day, another co-headliner this year, are a mainstream act today (even some of their old fans can't tolerate them anymore), their more polished sound, last heard on, 21st Century Breakdown, still remains rooted in punk-rock.

Lollapalooza may have wavered in popular mention just like the grunge era at the time of the festival's rebirth and appearance on MTV back in the day, but many people who know the festival well enough that when they saw Lady Gaga's name in bold, many a face squirmed and a mind pondered "really?", while staring at a poster where other music acts that may never win a Grammy, are still deemed the most popular of under the radar "indie" music.

Gaga is absolutely a star, and even if she was to fall from grace, her time right now is important in music history for the conversations and individuality she inspires. Is she in many ways like Gwen Stefani in that she takes from various influences and convincingly makes them her own, you would think she really was the first to present herself the way she does? Yes...and no. Though admittedly, as big as a star as Our Lady Gaga is, there is something disheartening about the fact that she is co-headliner, but the assertively calm Erykah Badu, though on the list, is not.

So at the end of another day of interesting music news, Lady Gaga is performing at Lollapalooza. A pop act is going to entertain one the biggest audiences she'll encounter, and at a festival that generally takes note of the other side of music that is brilliant and thoughtful, and doesn’t care too much to be noticed by the mass media, though appreciates when they come around. She will surely bring one of the most talked about and even celebrated performances of the festival's run. Even those who aren't fans right now should check her out despite the guaranteed squashed feeling they’ll experience in the crowd—can't be any worse than RATM was, and Ms. "Paparazzi" has the kind of stage charisma even a performing vet could learn from. Looks like Lollapalooza is fully welcoming a new generation of music lovers to the festival, so for all you slightly, older music snobs, you better make way. Lady Gaga fans don't play around.

You really are a “free bitch”, Ms. "Paparazzi".

(long version) original post written with peace, love and hair grease

first photo courtesy of: V magazine

third photo courtesy of: Elle magazine

go to Lollapalooza's official site (http://www.lollapalooza.com/) for all the details on this year's festival at Chicago's Grant Park

VIDEO:

"Acapella" is the first single off Kelis new album, definitely coming to us soon. As the original fantastically weird chick, Kelis is back and sounds as great and ahead of everyone as ever. Check it out.

WHAT'S POPPIN' THIS WEEKEND (AT THE CLUBS):

Music Re-visted: Echo by Leona Lewis, + new MGMT video

A Terrific Singer Singing in the Wrong Era

reviewed by Shardae Jobson

Leona Lewis’ first album Spirit was a bit of a bore, she was part of a wave of British gals that captured a lot of fans and press in America back when it was released. It is obvious homegirl can sing, and her voice is a throwback to the likes of Dion, Carey and Houston. Her second album Echo is an improvement, and features much needed personality, even as her debut swept the floor selling 7 million worldwide. Displayed on nearly every track, Lewis enjoys singing emotionally driven songs. She’s in her own land, away from over the top pop music, and sings about life as it really is in straightforward, non-Fiona Apple-esque lyrics. Lewis even co-write much of the songs on the album, placing her closer to a Mariah Carey career which is great to see with a voice like hers.

The best song by far on Echo is “Don’t Let Me Down”, a heartbreaking song that while features Justin Timberlake in background vocals, yet his presence is unnoticed as a star cameo, and is instead just a great addition to an already outstanding track. The lyrics display promise of hope and perseverance and are the “I Hope You Dance” of the latter end of the decade, even if Timberlake’s inclusion is as grand as the group Sons of the Desert were on Lee Ann Womack’s hit. “Don’t Let Me Down” is the kind of song that captures the essence of a true talent and feelings, and reminds us why Lewis’ star worldwide is completely irreversible.

Lewis challenges her otherwise angelic voice to other sounds on Echo that are not piano or elegantly stringed based on this disc. On “Outta My Head”, she gears towards being randomly disco and it actually works for her. It is an obvious different vehicle for her, yet neither the lyrics or voice sound pretentious. She’s quite good at this opposite sound, done again on “Fly Here Now”, and she should give herself more credit for.

Lewis is in an interesting position in mainstream pop music as while Susan Boyle is celebrated as the anti-thesis to the Barbie dolls of music, Lewis looks like one and can sing amazingly well, but wasn’t Echo a smash out the box. On an album containing stellar cuts as “Can’t Breathe” which will literally leave those of us who can’t sing in a jealous mode, Lewis as an artist succeeds as a true vocalist. Her work is a spark plug to operatic singing, and while her debut sold 7 million, heavy-ballad music is not often bought in massive numbers like it used to be for the aforementioned singers of Houston and Dion. While other high octave artists like Christina Aguilera have gained worldwide fame, she’s always followed a similar regime like most pop stars of today. Lewis, though adorned in extensions, loves her ballads as a purveyor of love and while carrying a more light-hearted, yet still regal veneer.

A majority of Echo's songs sound like they could be the soundtrack to a romantic film, which isn’t a bad thing. If anything, it would be quite beneficial to the promotion of any film, as shown with “Happy” (which should have been as big as "Bleeding Love"), the first single and soaring background music for the trailer of the crestfallen film “Precious”. There is a resilience on this record that wasn’t necessarily devoid from Spirit, but at the same time was hard to uncover atop the sugary creations. No song can trump Lewis’ voice but most songs were utterly bland, allowing her voice to be used unproductively. Echo excels in in showing us Lewis is the same girl who won The X Factor, but the same girl amplified because there is growth heard on the record, and Lewis has a terrific take on nuances thanks to her brilliant voice. Some more noteworthy moments are heard on"Love Letter" and "My Hands".

For Susan Boyle, surprisingly there was room for the late forties ugly duckling turned swan singer, but for Lewis her work may be more of a hard sell because while her talent is evident, she isn’t a party animal or Janet Jackson wannabe. There is an audience for Lewis’ music with the right selection of singles, and anyone regardless of their preference, knows a good voice when they hear it. The last song “Lost Then Found” ends the album on an aspiring note, with the band OneRepublic joining in. “Lost Then Found” sounds short when in listening, but is affective. The cover of Echo is equally alluring, with a come-hither but deadly stare that Lewis has had much practice perfecting on her magazine shoots for U.K. women magazines (too bad the booklet photos are ridiculously monotone, the only real complaint on the whole package, music and otherwise).

Spirit sold very well because it was the first official outing by the girl that Simon Cowell promoted as an important figure in today’s music. Echo has a lasting appeal because not only does Lewis take part in its creation, she sounds self-assured this time. She's singing from not only the heart but from words she help put on paper. Sing on, Leona.

This album gets: three stars

original post written with peace, love, and hair grease

VIDEO:

"Flash Delirium" is the lead single from MGMT's second album, releasing on April 13, Congratulations. Those BK homies are back "Kids".

Music Re-visited: In Love & War by Amerie

Pop R&B’s Most Unpretentious Singer Wants Your Appreciation

reviewed by Shardae Jobson

In contemporary R&B, Amerie is one of the most overlooked and dignified singers of the genre. “1 Thing” is likely to always be her signature song, but Amerie previously and continues to make some really great tracks that her peers would otherwise destroy—and not in a good way. In Love & War is her fourth album, and despite the release of two pulsating tracks (“Why R U” and “Heard ‘Em All”) the singles didn’t garner as much attention as they should have. The thing with Amerie is when she hits the mark, her songs are fantastic. Towards the end of the album, some songs are a bit of a dud, but her latest work further displays her versatility in both vocals and music that don’t exactly come across as random either for this singer.

The opening loud and proud drum beats of “Tell Me U Love Me” sounds like a bonus track off her third release Because I Love It, which is her most consistent album and of course was not released in the U.S. officially. Music execs have proven to us time and time again they don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to their artists. Not only should that album have been available, the duet track from In Love & War, “Pretty Brown”, featuring the It Boy of R&B right now Trey Songz, would have been the perfect first single, and arguably the best one on the album. It is a revision of the song “Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” by ‘90s group Mint Condition, and does not disappoint in its 2009 rebirth. In a perfect music world, “Pretty Brown” would win a Grammy. The aggressive soprano tone of Amerie with Songz’ smooth, sweet nothings voice is an excellent match in duet heaven and deserves perpetual repeats. This song should be spun in the clubs and have a smoking hot music video to boot. No need for big words or phrases here. This song is the one.

Amerie is keen on consulting the tribulations of being in love. She sings of the flirtation that propels two people to come together and the agony of when all of a sudden, love is nothing that it promised (shown a little livelier but simultaneously darker, like on the track “Higher” with its “Trampled on Foot”-esque guitar riffs). There is a sincerity in her voice that is not as audible in some of the other R&B girls (aside from Keyshia Cole) which gives her a personable appeal, not so solely based on being ostentatious in presentation, but interestingly seems to be her downfall in getting more attention.

“Swag Back” is another brave stand-out, a “broken-heart don’t fit no more” jam, while “More Than Love” featuring Fabolous is breezy but honest. Amerie always comes across as the kind of girl that seethes when underestimated and delivers when she truly lets go as showcased in “Heard ‘Em All”. It’s fast, choreography-tinged, with prove yourself, once and for all lyrics. “Red Eye” is another tune that recalls Because I Love It, specifically the song “Crazy Wonderful”, and is sexy and relaxing.

As an undertone of the album, it seems that Amerie is aware she is not as blown-up as her peers, and In Love & War is her confident reprisal. Her sophomore disc Touch that featured “1 Thing” was her one big hit, and with her latest, she wants to show an industry she’s not another long-haired hottie that could easily grace the cover of a men’s magazine. Even the album’s artwork is taking chances, with watercolor splashes of red, white and black, and freedom poses declaring she’s here. However, what makes Amerie great also doesn’t make a full-length album feel complete at times. Songs like “Dangerous” and “Different People”, though opposite in sound, both feel a little sparse.

Then there’s one of the last songs on the album titled “The Flowers” that may deliver a yawn from a listener. Amerie is best when experimenting with her likeness of old school funk and go-go fun music. She especially shines when she gets her Kelly Clarkson-on and acknowledges she’s wasting tears on an absolute loser—but she’s only human—and instead of trying to save the love, at least wants some answers before she says goodbye, executed so well among the old school hip-hip beats on “Why R U”.

Amerie certainly has the ability to be a bigger star, and maybe with better promotion and a harder push for recognition, as the lyrics she so boastfully sings on the first track: “I’m going to make you love me. I’m going to give you what you never had until you’re always thinking of me”, here’s hoping Amerie is given a chance to glow in a industry that maybe doesn’t understand love or war when it comes to music.

This album gets: three stars and a half

original post written with peace, love and hair grease

Music Re-visited: Colour Me Free! by Joss Stone

reviewed by Shardae Jobson

Colour Me Free! by Joss Stone is her fourth album and thus far the grandest of her career. Just like Gaga, Stone belongs in a different era, for her, the 1970s soul movement (she even won a Grammy for a Sly Stone remake), but as she is a part the population that is Generation Y, listening to her music in 2010 doesn't make it any less enjoyable. From the first song in, the album doesn't let go of its terrific harmonies that flesh out the personal lyrics.

At only twenty-two years old (damn!), Stone has such an amazingly husky, soprano voice, in return has made her music wiser than her age promises, but there is never a twinge of arrogance. Stone is just telling her stories as they are, and we're all ears with a voice that sensual.

Colour Me Free! was released back in late fall of '09 to little promotion, though it did make the American Billboard Top Ten albums the following week. There had been news that she was having problems with her record label, the usual artist vs. corporation, which of couse included the kind of music she wanted to release. As past instances have showed us, this usually means the music waiting for us, is possibly some of their most accomplished work, such as Fiona Apple's Extradionary Machine, luckily, despite the issues, Colour Me Free! was released, and yes, it is an under the radar treat.

The album is inviting and truthful, and the tracks seamlessly work into each other. The featured artists (Sheila E., Nas, Jeff Beck) don't take away from Stone but add to the luminously steady feel of her work. Her fourth release is the kind of album that really lifts you up and it's not even trying.

The first track "Free Me" is Janis Joplin reincarnated and prepares us for the greatness ahead. "Could Have Been You" is perfect for moving on in relationships but aware that what could have been didn't have to be in the past. This song for some reason recalls a light, rainy day since it's one of the more melancholy songs here. It's like the female perspective of "You're Beautiful". Maybe this was what the ex-girlfriend would have thought that fateful day if she saw James Blunt from the corner of her eye in that metro station.

"4 and 20" is quite lovely, but the track before it, "Lady", is seductively self-aware of the hard place a girl is in when wanting to give into intimacy--but at her own discretion. The beats of this song are very lounge-esque and lyrics are the prelude to a romantic, but very naughty short novel. Stone's voice in comparing "Free Me" and "Lady" goes from wistful to sounding like the personification of coquettish eyelash batting (even at her young woman age). The chorus doesn't even have much lyrics except for "But I'm trying to keep my lady" before and after the ooohs and yeahhs which seem to represent the contemplation of what to do when you want to be the woman that everyone hears roar, but must keep her self-respect in that she's doing what she wants to do. Joss Stone does Women's Liberation right!

Another notable track is "Governmentalist" and while the rap verse by Nas is one of his weakest rhymes recently (just because it sounds like he did it last minute), is persuasive and social commentary for those who aren't knee deep in politics but know what's going on. Stone's voice sounds particulary expressive here.

A review of Colour Me Free! wouldn't be complete without mentioning the beauty of "You Got the Love". Throughout the song, Stone's give off Michael Jackson, which makes the song feel like a B-side, or bonus track from Off the Wall or even a Jacksons album. In light of first anniversary of his death coming this year, this audible reflection is poignant. The track is clearly Gospel inspired and is not cheesy, not overboard, but fantastic.

The song that has brought Stone back a little limelight in the U.S. is the duet "Stalemate" with Jamie Hartman. It's a lovesick jam and it's interesting to hear Stone sing a mid-tempo duet, as she has collaborated with artists before, but not usually in this classic format. Hartman has a kind of scratchy, whiny voice, but eventually his vocals delve right into it. This song was performed with heart on The Wendy Williams Show in March and is another great one off the album.

Overall, Joss Stone is back, even if her return is bit quieter than when Introducing Joss Stone came out in 2007. Let's hope she tours soon for this albums as the cuts here are too good to be missed. Joss Stone has been creating the kind of deep music a twentysomething is definitely capable of, and that Christina Aguilera still thinks she is conveying when she continues to sing stupid lines like "I'm kissing on the boys and the girls" on her new single "Not Myself Tonight". Maybe Aguilera should take note, and stick with songs that really have something to say, as she too has an admirable vocal talent, and sounds better that way. Stone has continued her streak of soul music for the millennium that's both accesible and passionate, and because she is now coloured free, she made one of the most underrated albums of 2009, and a talent to be re-introduced to. Here's hoping it gets more recognition, or at least the fans get a copy real soon.

This album gets: three stars and half stars

original post written with peace, love and hair grease

Live performance of "Stalemate" with Hartman, and interview, on The Wendy Williams Show

New Kid Sister video + Monica album review

"Daydreaming" by Kid Sister featuring Cee-Lo, is the second official single from her ignored, fun-filled album Ultraviolet, that came out last year. She has better selections (like "Big N Bad" or "Get Fresh") on the album, but some people who've heard all twelve tracks, really liked this song, and it is nice and mellow in comparison to the rest of the album's mostly jarring techno beats.

While it's all about Nicki Minaj in terms of whose hot in female rapper land (and rightfully so), Kid Sister is also a name to know and Ultraviolet, though took way too long to come out was a good album (y'all remember "Pro Nails" right?)

If you're in NYC or can get there without hassle, Kid Sister will be performing at Webster Hall April 9th, with co-headliner DJ Rusko!

Be smart and head over to Webster Hall's website to send in your e-mail and get $1 pass that works before midnight! Word!

ALBUM: Still Standing by Monica

reviewed by Shardae Jobson

In 1995, Monica came unto the music scene as the more vocally superior teen singer to the super popular and raspy voiced Brandy. With her debut single "Don't Take It Personal", naturally, the two were always pitted against each other in pop media, but it's safe to say that both were one of two music darlings of the '90s. They've had some downs in their career, but someof their latest tunes have been their strongest yet. Monica's last album The Makings of Me was a dud (with the exception of the hilarious bonus track "Sideline Ho"), but her newest release "Still Standing" is good. The production is current while still sounding like the Monica many of us grew up with and bought an album from such as Miss Thang or The Boy is Mine.

The title track "Still Standing", declares her strength and return as an artist, but we've heard this kind of song before. The subject of talking about how much stronger you are this time around is a popular theme in contemporary R&B, but it is the song "One in a Lifetime" where Monica really begins to shine. Her voice is fresh and natural, the lyrics are sweet and relatable. This is the Monica we've all been waiting for since her career downturn. We know she can sing and when she shows it, she reminds us that she still vocally one of the best R&B singers around. Her sound is clearly different from some of new and established names in her field, as she stays to a more low-key and convesational tone. Monica doesn't disappoint when she sticks to beats that don't try too hard or cover up her resilient, high strung chops. Just check out her barely minute cameo in the R&B Remix of the 2001 charity single "What's Going On"--she steals it. She should have been giving a whole verse.

The album as a whole showcases a voice that whether the beats be club inspired (though there's little of that here) or smooth, the words sad or hopeful, she always does sound confident. Still Standing may come across as an obvious title (again artists love titles that harken back to their reborn self-esteem) in this case, it's good to see that both feet our on the ground. None of the songs are particulary deep, but the music still delivers. Another standout is "Stay or Go" about the affect of an emotional rollercoaster in an relationship. Monica, we feel you.

"Everything to Me" was chosen as the lead single, and while having a ballad to bring back any singer into the spotlight may be tricky with everyone Gaga obsessed or making throwaway, catchy music like Ke$ha, it was a success because we know Monica, again, we know this girl for being a singer. On the track "If You Were My Man" even before hearing Miss Elliot's cameo, it is clear she produced it. It's a little '80s, a lil' cheese-tastic, not bad, but don't be surprised to see yourself repeating the first four instead.

The song "Mirror" feels like part two of "Still Standing" and is actually more emotive than the former. Continuoning on with the theme of self-discovery and self-respect, "Here I Am" is classic Monica for being fabolously tough. It has sing-along embellishes of "yeah, yeah, yeah" that you almost wish would go on through the whole three minutes and forty-four seonds, and is the one track that rivals "Everything to Me" as the best one on Still Standing. The last song "Believing in Me" is admirable, and there's a sincere song for the fellas "Superman" which is lovely for us who've ever felt like they've been in love with a man, or hell, anybody for that matter, ("Superwoman" maybe?), and what a wonderful feeling that is.

Still Standing is relatively simple and is what makes it pleasant . Monica doesn't need gimmicks. Her album is full of indepedent mid-tempo jams and songs of love present or gone south. Her music comeback started with the duet "Trust" with Keyshia Cole, and even on that track, you can see she's much sassier than listeners and fans sometimes expect. Sure the album at times feels like it could have been more in creative, but when counting the unfortunate events of the past and present in her life, and the joyous birth of her new sons, Monica has found common ground as a great singer and a strong woman. There are definitely some songs to like here. Monica fans will like Still Standing.

This album gets: three stars

original post written with peace, love and hair grease