Category: Music

Video: This Loud Morning – Behind the Scenes with David Cook

While we ever so patiently wait for the release of David Cook’s sophomore album, This Loud Morning, check out a new behind the scenes video!

Is it June 28, yet?

The Voice: Yeah, I Think I Like It!

I finally got a chance to sit down late last week and watch the full premiere of The Voice. Aaaaaaaaand I love it! The overall talent level is phenomenal. The coaches are HONEST with the contestants, especially the ones that they wound up not picking for their teams.

Honestly, the coaches for me, especially Adam Levine, were the big draw to this show, but I’m definitely going to continue to watch not only for the fabulous bickering between Adam and Blake Shelton, but because these singers are amazing.

I do like that the coaches have to legitimately put in the time with their contestants to help better their chances at possibly winning the competition and actually having a singing career.  Plus,  the competition between the coaches is so catty, I just love it. I thought Christina Aguilera was going to poke Adam’s eyes out over getting a particular singer on his team.

I cannot wait for tonight’s blind auditions, so we can finally get the competition going! Watch out American Idol, The Voice is trying to steal my heart! Time to step your game up!

BTW, Go Team Adam!

‘Glee’ Music Preview >> “Go Your Own Way”

Glee is all new tomorrow night featuring the music of Fleetwood Mac, in the latest episode entitled, “Rumours.”

Check out Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) singing “Go Your Own Way,” while making eyes at Finn (Cory Monteith) below!

Raise your hand if you think Rachel and Finn will get back together by the end of the season!

o/

Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Kris Allen Talks With Idol 360

Kris Allen is kicking off a 3-city tour with Music Empowers & Berklee City Music Network tonight in New York, plus stops in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. in support of keeping music programs in schools.

Idol 360 had one of my favorite people interview Kris, the one and only Annie from “Annie On Idol!”

Check out Idol 360’s interview with Kris below!

Video Source: Idol 360

Idol Wired >> One Last Growl

You know, I was all set to praise how wonderful this season’s American Idol Top 5 is, especially since for the first time since season seven, two girls are in the mix. I mean, it seemed like nothing could get in the way of the best possible Top 5 that we could have with the remaining contestants. And then this happened.

Are you kidding me? Casey Abrams goes home, instead of Jacob Lusk, who was predicted by most Idol fans to be heading home. I’m not going to hide the fact that I’m disappointed. Was Casey going to win? Probably not. But, I can tolerate his personality and his performances a lot more than Jacob’s.

Let’s face it, the ship sailed on me ever becoming a fan of Jacob a couple weeks ago when he boldly told America, “If I end up in the bottom three, it won’t be because I sang the song bad, it won’t be because I sang the song wrong, it will be because everybody in America wasn’t ready to look at themselves in the mirror.”

Sorry bro, I’m totally over you being on this show.

After last night’s Idol results, my Twitter feed was full of angry fans wondering who in the world is voting for Jacob? Personally I don’t care who you vote for, that’s your decision. My hope is that people are only voting for one contestant, instead of splitting their votes among several contestants, because that is how you take part in eliminating someone that had at the very least one more week left. Just sayin’.

I have to say that Casey definitely went out with class, and had put on quite the show during his final Idol performance of “I Put A Spell On You.” Plus, how adorable was he when finished the song off by singing directly to Haley Reinhart? I’m on board with Team Caley!

Moving on, next week the Top 5 will each sing two songs; one current song and one song from the 1960’s.

So Idol fans, what did you think of last nights results? Did the right person go home? And what would you like to hear the contestants sing next week?

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

Idol Wired >> Everyone’s In It to Win It

I never thought I would ever make the following statement this season, but I thought each of the remaining contestants actually did pretty good last night. Who knew that “Carole King Night” on American Idol would bring out the best in the contestants? I surely didn’t.

Let’s just go down the line and start with Jacob Lusk, who sang “Uh Oh Not My Baby” last night. Other than the last note getting kind of weird at the end, I thought this was the best Jacob has sounded all season. I don’t think singing first last night is going to do him any favors, in fact, it will probably send him packing tonight. And taking a nose-dive into Steve Urkel’s closet wasn’t help him out either. What in the world was that outfit? Definitely plaid gone wrong.

Following Jacob up was Lauren Alaina, who sang “Where You Lead,” which once upon a time served as the theme song to the show Gilmore Girls. What was it with the outfits last night? Lauren looked tragic. I thought her vocals were alright. I think this was a great song choice for Lauren, but I think she needs to let go and stop trying to please the judges. And if anyone else’s voice would have cracked trying to push for a high note, they would have been called out for it in a in a non-loving fashion…last season, anyways.

Continue reading Idol Wired >> Everyone’s In It to Win It

Idol Party Preview >> Kris Allen & Matthew Morrison Talk About “Still Got Tonight”

Check out a preview of Jim Cantiello’s interview with Kris Allen and Glee’s Matthew Morrison via Skype, which aired earlier today on MTV’s The Seven.

Jim’s interview with Kris & Matthew will air in it’s entirety tomorrow on Idol Party Live on MTV.com at 12 p.m. EST/ 9 a.m. PST.

Don’t forget to tune in!

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “Born This Way”

This week’s music from Glee was quite the eclectic mix, but supplied the perfect soundtrack for the “Born This Way” episode.

Glee really brought it with the music this week. I truly enjoyed every track, but the absolute standout for me was the mash-up of West Side Story’s “I’m Pretty” with TLC’s “Unpretty,” which was sung by Lea Michele (Rachel) and Dianna Agron (Quinn).

I usually am not a huge fan of Agron’s vocals, but this mash-up really worked for her. “Unpretty” needs a soft and vulnerable vocal to make it work, and I thought she pulled it off well. I really enjoyed the contrast of her voice with Michele’s and the interchanging “I feel pretty” lines. Both ladies sound fantastic, and it was nice to hear a duet from them.

Cory Monteith (Finn) took on Sammy Davis Jr.’s “I’ve Gotta Be Me.” After listening to this track, I found this to be the best that Monteith has sounded vocally all season. It’s a very clean vocal from him, and his personality is infused throughout the song. I was taken aback a little bit when I saw this song on the track listing this week, but after seeing the episode last night, the song was a great choice for not only Monteith’s voice, but the overall theme of the “Born This Way” episode.

One of my very favorite songs, “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane was sang by Darren Criss (Blaine) and the Dalton Academy Warblers. Seriously, what can’t this dude sing? Criss has a way of emotionally connecting to every song that he sings. With “Somewhere Only We Know,” the listening audience gets to hear a very vulnerable and sincere vocal performance from him. I definitely think Glee did this song justice. And of course, shout out to the Tufts University Beezlebubs for the great backing vocals.

Chris Colfer (Kurt) returns to the solo spotlight with “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from Broadway’s Sunset Boulevard. Colfer’s vocals on this track are just stunning. The track is truly just absolute ear candy. I am hoping since Colfer’s character has now returned to the New Directions that we will be treated to a couple more solos before the season’s end.

When I found out that Glee was planning on using Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” for this episode, I thought the song was just too new to utilize for the show. But, what do I know anyway, since this song fit this week’s episode like a glove. With Colfer, Amber Riley (Mercedes) and Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) on lead vocals, Gaga’s “Born This Way” was hit with a dose of attitude and sass – Glee-style. I am all for uptempo group numbers, and “Born This Way” delivers in a big way.

I think this week’s bundle of Glee music may just be the best of the season, if not a close second after the music from the episode “Never Been Kissed.” Hats off to Glee’s music producers and music supervisors; the song choices and overall production were very much on point this week.

The music from “Born This Way” is available now on iTunes.

Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.

Music Review >> Glee Cast – “A Night of Neglect”

Last week Glee returned with four new tracks to try and make us forget that the show had been on hiatus for a month. The new tracks also marked the return of guest star, Charice.

Charice (Sunshine Corazon) took on the Eric Carmen power balled, “All By Myself.” At the beginning of the season I was wasn’t initially blown away by any means by Charice’s voice, but after listening to the full studio track of “All By Myself,” I now understand why this girl is kind of big deal.

Charice’s vocals on this track are absolutely flawless. Her voice really embraces that feeling loneliness and desperation of the lyrics. Seriously, the girl’s voice gave me chills. If there’s one song from “A Night of Neglect” that is a must-download, it is definitely “All By Myself.”

Gwyneth Paltrow (Holly Holiday) also lent her voice to the music from Glee last week, and took on Adele’s “Turning Tables.” I think we can all agree that this wasn’t an ideal song choice for Paltrow. Adele’s latest album 21 is probably the best thing to come out of the music world so far this year. Having said that, I knew at some point Glee would try to tackle one of her songs.

I think Paltrow gave the song a good old fashioned try, but came up short because she simply doesn’t have the chops to pull this song off. I thought her voice sounded really good in the verses and as it slowly builds up into the chorus. It was her singing in the chorus itself that made the song kind of unbearable to listen to. Paltrow’s falsetto is not one of her strongest vocal features, and I wish that the Glee music producers had adjusted the key in the song that would have been more complimentary to Paltrow’s voice and not as grating on my ears.

I was thrilled to see a track sung by Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) in last week’s bundle of Glee music. Ushkowitz took on Lykke Li’s “I Follow Rivers.” It is seriously such a shame that Ushkowitz’s voice is not utilized more on this show. She has a fantastic tone to her voice that really is the balance between Lea Michele’s (Rachel) stellar vocals and Dianna Agron’s (Quinn) somewhat lackluster vocals.

I really thought that “I Follow Rivers” really fit Ushkowitz’s voice nicely. I am not familiar with Lykke Li’s catalogue of music, so I can’t really make any kind of comparison, but my ears were in favor of what they heard while I was listening to the track.

The last track to come out of last week’s episode of Glee was Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way,” which was sung by Amber Riley (Mercedes). This was my other favorite track of the week. I really thought Riley sounds just fabulous on this song. It’s a little dialed back at parts, which I liked. We all know that Riley is capable of hitting some big notes, but it’s nice to hear her have a really nice vocal without as many embellishments upstaging her talent.

The songs from Glee’s “A Night of Neglect” were an interesting mix of songs. After being on hiatus for so long, I guess I expected a song that would really stand out of the pack, and the closest they came to delivering that was with Charice’s “All By Myself.”

Glee airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.