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[tmarques]

It's still shocking that Mariah no longer seems to have a fanbase that will buy 100k copies of her album, regardless of how it's promoted.

In any way, there's only so much good management can do for an artist. I think her current persona, the aloof, bitchy diva, while entertaining to the initiated, is a huge turn off to the general public. And she needs to get rid of the ridiculous get-ups while she's at it.

 

[JohnDoe]

Hello again

I'd like to share something with you, it's The Dream's Demo for Rihanna's iconic single "Umbrella". I bet a lot of you already heard it, still wanted to share it though.
It's always interesting to listen to Demo songs for pop-stars and then compare to the commercial release. Rihanna and her team made something beautiful out of it and this is what I'll be showing to the next elitist who thinks that picking out the proper songs from demos and making them into full fledged commercial songs (with or without a team) isn't a talent.

 

[Dr. Malik]

It's still shocking that Mariah no longer seems to have a fanbase that will buy 100k copies of her album, regardless of how it's promoted.

In any way, there's only so much good management can do for an artist. I think her current persona, the aloof, bitchy diva, while entertaining to the initiated, is a huge turn off to the general public. And she needs to get rid of the ridiculous get-ups while she's at it.

IA

she is basically over no matter who is managing her

 

[<+)O Robido O(+>]

YAAASSSS
Flawless Remix
Grown Woman
YONCÉ
***Flawless
No Angel
Blue

okrrrrrr
Standing on the Sun
Pretty Hurts
Drunk In Love
Blow
Partition
Ghost

eh
Haunted
Bow Down
XO
Jealous
Rocket
Heaven

qorl.
Mine
Superpower

WTF?!?! Look at your choices. Look at your life.

 

[Touchdown]

IA

she is basically over no matter who is managing her

I don't count out artists with talent though just because of one bad era.

 

[Never Forever]

This Mary J Blige album

I'm having a moment right now

The production is EVERYTHING. I was consistently astounded that something like this came out in 1992. Even now, it feels so futuristic and yet equally timeless. It's so fresh. It's weird, so many of her imitators seem to have leant on the more retro stylings whilst ignoring all the more out-there decisions that set her apart.

I think my favourite track is probably Love No Limit, I love the jazziness and how her vocals are quite a bit lower/sultrier in comparison to the rest of the record. But I loved every second of the entire album, even the answering machine intro and rap interlude. It's a wonderful listen, especially when you pay attention to the lyrics and get into all the self-sacrificing love that she sings about with such experience.

Speaking of, the vocals are oh my god amazing too. I can see where the Hip Hop Soul stuff comes from, she has a very unique style (or had, I think a lot of girls have tried to pastiche it). Her voice even here is incredible, although generally a bit higher than I had the impression it would be. I'm sure I've heard her before and it was deeper, maybe it gets deeper with age.

Still, she manages to pull off all that her image suggests and makes it believable, which is something not a lot of artists manage to do. Lots of people singing on tracks where their personality and life experience don't mesh with what they're peddling.

Thank you Robido for bringing her to my attention. I will begin My Life and the rest of her discography soon.

 

[Yado]

You better stan the highlight of Mary's discography

 

[The Flop]

Sistrine,

Thoughts about this late summer pop bob by Alex & Sierra "Just Kids"

I need their album now!

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Wait until you get into My Life. Mary J Blige is life giving and it sucks that now that she isn't struggling, we rarely get a complete album full of bops like her first 5

 

[WhereAreMahDragonz]

So I bought Jenny Lewis' new album, The Voyager, and it's great.

A few of my favorites:

Head Underwater

She's Not Me

Aloha & The Three Johns

Slippery Slopes

 

[tmarques]

IA

she is basically over no matter who is managing her

To be fair to Mimi, she's reached a status where she'll never be truly "over". And if Cher could make a comeback at the age of 50+, why not Mariah?

 

[Yado]

So I bought Jenny Lewis' new album, The Voyager, and it's great.

A few of my favorites:

Head Underwater

She's Not Me

Aloha & The Three Johns

Slippery Slopes

I love Rilo Kiley and her solo albums since but I just...don't have any interest in this for some reason. Thanks for posting though I'll check them out later.

 

[MIMIC]

Get into this Australian flop, Jessica Mauboy. She has played Eurovision and Glasgow.

Never Be The Same
Been Waiting

She probably has better songs but I don't care enough about her to listen to them but I feel like these two songs are good bops from my motherland so yes please listen

Wow....what a blast from the past; I used to root for her on Australian Idol (back when American Idol just wasn't enough for me). That first song sounds annoying though...but it's because of the auto tune. I hate when they do that to people who can actually sing.

 

[Ardainian Soldier]

Banks new song Heavy Metal and Reflective

Video is shit but that beat and ha barz

I was late but I'm still bopping and I topped

I'm really liking this song. Now she needs to release the album.

 

[royalan]

Bop. Video kind of sucks and her weave could have been done better. Who ever is her stylist needs to get fired for the super part in the middle of her head. It's not even sitting right, like as if the braid holding the track is some big dooby.

Now sis you know that's mean. Azealia Banks ain't got enough hair on the front of her head for the weave to cling to.

 

[Leona Lewis]

I don't count out artists with talent though just because of one bad era.

MOAIA didn't exactly set the charts alight either.

I agree that her biggest problem is the image she projects, not only in interviews (which are impossible to watch now, even as a lamb) but in the general lethargy of her stage performances too. It's cute to have a dancer on stage hold your hand as you descend a three-step flight of stairs, but now she can't even walk around the stage without a helper. That is, if she even bothers to get up.

It doesn't matter how good the music is if the person singing it is perceived as having a false (Gaga) or bitchy (Xtina) persona. Poor Mariah is perceived as having both, and it's all her fault.

I'm not saying that she has to go back to her Mottola-era meekness, but just compare her spunky frankness last decade to the fatigued "above it all" passivity that she radiates now. Two very similar venues, two very different Mariahs.

I blame Nick. The useless simp has her thinking she's a Disney princess come to life instead of the tough New York chick we all know she is.

 

[Booty Patrol]

It has to be her image. If MJB can still be appealing to a younger audience and clock urban radio hits, why can't Mariah? The Material on Me I Am... Mariah is good enough.

 

[Touchdown]

MOAIA didn't exactly set the charts alight either.

I agree that her biggest problem is the image she projects, not only in interviews (which are impossible to watch now, even as a lamb) but in the general lethargy of her stage performances too. It's cute to have a dancer on stage hold your hand as you descend a three-step flight of stairs, but now she can't even walk around the stage without a helper. That is, if she even bothers to get up.

It doesn't matter how good the music is if the person singing it is perceived as having a false (Gaga) or bitchy (Xtina) persona. Poor Mariah is perceived as having both, and it's all her fault.

I'm not saying that she has to go back to her Mottola-era meekness, but just compare her spunky frankness last decade to the fatigued "above it all" passivity that she radiates now. Two very similar venues, two very different Mariahs.

I blame Nick. The useless simp has her thinking she's a Disney princess come to life instead of the tough New York chick we all know she is.

I've enjoyed her attitude and her interviews lately. She's done it all and seen it all and gives off the aura of I don't give a bleep, and I think she's EARNED that right after all these years. I don't think being non-bitchy would do any good for her at this point.

Look at J-Lo! She's comes off as very likable and the sweetest person of all time in all of her interviews and she's doing even worse sales wise. and she moves around the stage too!!

 

[Leona Lewis]

I've enjoyed her attitude and her interviews lately. She's done it all and seen it all and gives off the aura of I don't give a bleep, and I think she's EARNED that right after all these years. I don't think being non-bitchy would do any good for her at this point.

Look at J-Lo! She's comes off as very likable and the sweetest person of all time in all of her interviews and she's doing even worse sales wise.

JLo's new album is shit though. Her poppier fare still sells well enough. Post-TEoMimi would kill for an On the Floor or a Dance Again.

And maybe Mariah's earned the right to be that way, but it doesn't make it any less insufferable. Rihanna gives off a true IDGAF vibe that is alluring and comes off as genuine. Mariah gives off a "I only give a fuck about myself" vibe that's a lot less endearing.

 

[Touchdown]

JLo's new album is shit though. Her poppier fare still sells well enough. Post-TEoMimi would kill for an On the Floor or a Dance Again.

I was commenting more on their personality difference but yeah you know I won't disagree with you here.

And I also came to the realization last week that I enjoy MIAMTEC more than TEOM as a whole, and it's a right up there with Butterfly now with me.

 

[Nemesis_]

MIAMTEC sounds like a sinister conglomerate in an Japanese anime

 

[royalan]

WHY DIDN'T YOU HOES TELL ME KIMBRA PUT OUT A NEW SONG!?!?!

Miracle

It is everything. My favorite of the new tracks. LOVE when the beat switches halfway through.

This is truly in the running for my Album of the Year. ;___;

 

[Leona Lewis]

And I also came to the realization last week that I enjoy MIAMTEC more than TEOM as a whole, and it's a right up there with Butterfly now with me.

My immediate reaction was also that it was her best album since Butterfly, but a re-listen of TEoM corrected that right quick.

Hearing Circles/Mine Again/If You Only Knew right after her middling ballads in MIAMTEC is a night and day difference. Not to mention the absolute monster bangers that are Shake It Off and It's Like That.

But Camouflage is easily her best track since Outside tbh. And Dedicated is her best collaboration since Breakdown. The rest of the album just didn't hold up for me though.

 

[Mau ®]

MIAMTEC sounds like a sinister conglomerate in an Japanese anime

lol I'm happy I'm not the only one.

 

[Leona Lewis]

lol I'm happy I'm not the only one.

WHY DIDN'T YOU HOES TELL ME KIMBRA PUT OUT A NEW SONG!?!?!

Miracle

It is everything. My favorite of the new tracks. LOVE when the beat switches halfway through.

This is truly in the running for my Album of the Year. ;___;

Yes, very Jazzanova/4hero.

 

[royalan]

...dudes in the Kimbra thread getting me heated.

 

[Nemesis_]

not DOATEC
vnbruibvdcsknj

 

[Dr. Malik]

Kimbra still a ting?

 

[Leona Lewis]

Kimbra still a ting?

I wrote her off when I suspected she'd become another acoustic Starbucks darling (sorry, Gotye ruined my life), but she's done enough to become a ting for me.

For the general populace though? She's that girl who sounds like Katy Perry.

shame

 

[Vitanimus]

not DOATEC
vnbruibvdcsknj

kween

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

I'm officially perched for Ariana Grande album. This is a weird comparison, but the more I listen to her, I can't really put her above any indie singers such as Jhene Aiko. Like, they are vastly different vocally, but Ariana sings so safe. I listen to some of the clips off the album and it barely sounded like she was really pushing it but staying within a comfortable range. Despite the fact that she does have more, I find her singing just like these indie girls. This is what weirdly has me perched for her album.

 

[Touchdown]

My immediate reaction was also that it was her best album since Butterfly, but a re-listen of TEoM corrected that right quick.

Hearing Circles/Mine Again/If You Only Knew right after her middling ballads in MIAMTEC is a night and day difference. Not to mention the absolute monster bangers that are Shake It Off and It's Like That.

But Camouflage is easily her best track since Outside tbh. And Dedicated is her best collaboration since Breakdown. The rest of the album just didn't hold up for me though.

Although I appreciate both, Circles and If You Only Knew bore me to death.

kween

Oh.

 

[Dr. Malik]

I'm officially perched for Ariana Grande album. This is a weird comparison, but the more I listen to her, I can't really put her above any indie singers such as Jhene Aiko. Like, they are vastly different vocally, but Ariana sings so safe. I listen to some of the clips off the album and it barely sounded like she was really pushing it but staying within a comfortable range. Despite the fact that she does have more, I find her singing just like these indie girls. This is what weirdly has me perched for her album.

..... What?

 

[Leona Lewis]

..... What?

 

[Booty Patrol]

I think he's saying that Ariana is, vocally, capable of more but keeps it safe so she's no better than Jhene Aiko, Tinashe, or FKA Twigs, the girls maligned by PopGAF for being 'thin voiced', despite releasing better music than Ariana.

But that's just my interpretation.

 

[Leona Lewis]

He's wrong though, because Problem is her worst case yet of straining her voice beyond its comfortable range.

I'm officially perched anyway, though. This year is sad.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

I think he's saying that Ariana is, vocally, capable of more but keeps it safe so she's no better than Jhene Aiko, Tinashe, or FKA Twigs, the girls maligned by PopGAF for being 'thin voiced', despite releasing better music than Ariana.

But that's just my interpretation.

This is what I was trying to say but I just couldn't type it out correctly. Like, from what I've heard, despite Problem being the song she really puts the most in, the rest of it just sounds safe. I'm perched to be wrong though, that's why i'm perched for the album. The songs sound good, but so...Ariana. I guess she has a signature sound right now.

 

[<+)O Robido O(+>]

You know, as I make these posts it occurs to me that the early 90's seem to be the last time when the music industry was interested in putting out "good music." The R&B genre was just filthy with talented individuals making good music.

Anywho, in 1995 a young Prince stan took to the stage with an ode to marijuana and slayed the scene.

D'Angelo's expertise and ability to play various instruments, including drums, saxophone, guitar, bass, and keyboards, aided him in the recording of Brown Sugar, as most of the album's instrumentation and production were credited to his name. In a 1995 interview, he discussed the influence that musician Prince had on his approach to recording the album, stating "I was one of those guys who read the album credits and I realized that Prince was a true artist. He wrote, produced, and performed, and that's the way I wanted to do it."

I thought the first single was cute. The second single was a cover of "Cruisin'" by Smoky Robinson, and it slayed. By the 3rd single, "Lady," I was sold, and bought an album I still listen to today.

Get into it kids.

"Brown Sugar"
"Alright"
"Jonz in My Bonz"
"Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine"
"Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker"
"Smooth"
"Cruisin'"
"When We Get By"
"Lady"
"Higher"

His second album was... okay. I've included the album cover for the thirsty thots in the house, as well as the Untitled video. #GetIntoThoseCakes

"Send It On"
"Spanish Joint"
"Greatdayindamornin' / Booty"
"Untitled (How Does It Feel)"
--------------------------------
I don't remember how I got into SWV's first album. But I do remember wearing it out. Coco and the girls did the damn thing. I think the opening song of this album is my favorite SWV track, well that and "Rain."

"Anything"
"I'm So into You"
"Right Here"
"Weak"
"You're Always On My Mind"
"Downtown"
"Coming Home"
"Give It To Me"
"Blak Pudd'n" #Cackle
"It's About Time"
"Think You're Gonna Like It"
"That's What I Need"
"SWV (In The House)"
"Weak (A Cappella)" #JoJoHew
Bonus:
"You're the One"
"Use Your Heart"
"Use Your Heart (Interlude)"
"Someone"
"Lose My Cool"
"Can We"
"Rain"
-------------------------------------------------------------
Before she was a bankrupt reality TV star, Toni Braxton had an actual music career, and she slayed on a pretty consistent basis. Her first album was pretty good. Have at it.

"Another Sad Love Song"
"Breathe Again"
"Seven Whole Days" #YaaaasBitch
"Love Affair"
"Candlelight"
"Spending My Time with You"
"Love Shoulda Brought You Home"
"I Belong to You"
"How Many Ways"
"You Mean the World to Me"
"Best Friend"
"Breathe Again" (Reprise)
-------------------------------------------------
My mother, purveyor of all things ratchet, got me into Adina Howard. I enjoyed her first single well enough, but that's where my interest ended. My mother, however, played this CD nonstop, so I had no choice but get into it or be pressed. Rob is never pressed!

Adina can carry a tune, and has a couple of bops. I was surprised, and so shall you.

"You Got Me Humpin'"
"Freak Like Me"
"If We Make Love Tonight"
"I Wants Ta Eat"
"You Can Be My Nigga"
"It's All About You"
"Let's Go To Da Sugarshack"
"Do You Wanna Ride?"
"You Don't Have To Cry" #Mmhmm
"My Up And Down"
"Horny For Your Love"
"Coolin' In The Studio"
"Baby Come Over"

 

[royalan]

Sistren, Chill in that Kimbra thread. lol

Rash know he wrong for that (hence, why no response to my last post directed at him), but let's not go too hard and risk getting banned.

 

[Touchdown]

Sistren, Chill in that Kimbra thread. lol

Rash know he wrong for that (hence, why no response to my last post directed at him), but let's not go too hard and risk getting banned.

<3

 

[Booty Patrol]

He's wrong though, because Problem is her worst case yet of straining her voice beyond its comfortable range.

I'm officially perched anyway, though. This year is sad.

Oh, well in that case, you're right. I guess that's why she said she was scared of the song.

"Once we wrote it and recorded it, I was like, 'Hmm, I'm kind of scared of this.' It started to intimidate me a little because it felt different for me and it was such a risk with the whispers," she said. "It took me a lot of time. I had to separate myself from it for a while. For a couple months I didn't even listen to it."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ariana-grande-problem-bieber-horror-films

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

So In that case, her playing it safe is good for her. I don't hate it, and she probably needs more training to combat that, but so far, it's good as is.

As usual, Rob's Artist Spotlight selection for tonight is again, off the meters. Toni, D'Angelo (who is so critically acclaimed in R&B today ) and SWV #YAS.

Never listen to Adina so will bookmark that. Thanks sis!

 

[Dr. Malik]

straining her voice beyond its comfortable range.

 

[Aguila]

omf, she looks like a desperate hooker

 

[Yado]

 

[<+)O Robido O(+>]

omf, she looks like a desperate hooker

Hasn't she always?

 

[Leona Lewis]

I think I ignore the boys sometimes. So without further ado, Leona's five most recent spectestiscular iTunes purchases.

SHINee - Dream Girl

Sir Sly - Gold

Snoop Dogg - Bad 4 Me

Sam Smith - I've Told You Now

Ásgeir - King And Cross

Get your life to some Y-chromosomed quality.

 

[Nemesis_]

Hasn't she always?

Let her in, you know it to be true

 

[<+)O Robido O(+>]

These dramatic readings of Beyonce songs have me cackling.
The Beyoncelogues: Irreplaceable
The Beyoncelogues: Single Ladies
The Beyoncelogues: If I Were A Boy
The Beyoncelogues: Best Thing I Never Had
The Beyoncelogues: Mine

Superfruit did a Katy Perry version.

 

[WhereAreMahDragonz]

Why am I just now discovering Tove Lo?

Let me stan.