Once in a blue moon, I do come cross great vocalists whom even from one of my least favorite genres – in this case Hip Hop R&B – I just have to dig it and own the album. A bilingual and an opera trained, this 20 years old singer songwriter of Dominican Republic does have a recorded voice that reminds me of Shakira (especially with that Spanish touch), Mariah Carey (Kat is said to have a 5-octave range), and for some of the songs when she belts out the ending notes – Celine Dion.
However, that is what we hear from the CD. I have been doing some research on DeLuna’s live performance and much like my favorite Hip Hop star Rihanna, there is a certain gap between live acts and what is being recorded. But wait a minute, you may ask. What are you smoking and who are you comparing these artists with?
Some of you may be familiar with Kat Deluna’s first dance hit “Whine Up”. The album “9 Lives” does have some really great tracks but it also has some tracks that I utterly hate. So if you take away the 3 bonus tracks that are the Spanish version of the hit songs from the same album, take away the very first track that is more like an unnecessary intro, and the two songs that can do without – “Am I Dreaming” and “Animal” – the album is only left with 8 solid tracks. The record company has decided to re-release “9 Lives” this time with Akon‘s involvement. Supposedly, “Am I Dreaming” was slated to be the 2nd single. They soon postponed this idea and released “Run the Show” instead. Smart choice I must say. “Run the Show” has the “Whine Up” touch and to be frank, not even artist like Akon is going to save the track that shouldn’t be there.
My grievances to the album execution aside, those 8 tracks are pretty rare finds and these energy charged tracks should be more than enough to give you the extra boost in the morning before you head to work. Click here to view the video of “Run the Show”. If you can purchase track-by-track, do so instead.
From the pop R&B artist who brought us the Nike endorsed upbeat single “S.O.S” and that heart wrenching yet beautifully written “Unfaithfull” comes a new album “Good Girl Gone Bad”. If you have not heard of the song “Unfaithful”, do click onto the link and check it out. It is hard to imagine that a 18 years old girl has the level of maturity to pull that one off. And Rihanna did that beautifully.
I have no idea where Barbados is (okay, I read that it is the most easterly island in the Caribbean and have obtained independence from UK in 1966) but Barbadian singer Rihanna has certainly made her home country proud with her charm and music.
What I love most about “Good Girl Gone Bad” is its strong opening. It is hard not to fall in love with the first five songs of the album at first listen. They are stylishly crafted and make you want to dance. If “Unfaithful” is my favorite track from her previous album “A Girl Like Me”, “Umbrella feat. JAY-Z” has to be the one in this album. In fact, I have never heard the word “umbrella” being sung with such a style. One time, I was out there at the Singapore Botanical Garden and there were two young girls singing happily with the hook from “Umbrella”. And that level of happiness is contagious. Soon I was having the song in my head. If you take a look at the lyrics from Rihanna’s official website, “Umbrella” is a song about two lovers who take an oath together and are determined to stick with one and other through thick and thin. Quite a meaningful song it is.
Out of the first five strong openings, Cynthia likes the fourth track “Breakin’ Dishes” a lot. I can certainly understand why. The beat is unique, the bass-line is powerful, and the melody is funky. As for me, the fifth track “Shut Up And Drive” (her second single after “Umbrella”) has a special place in my heart. “Shut Up And Drive” begins with a sampling from the 80’s rock band New Order’s “Blue Monday” and it sounds interesting to mix 80’s rock sound into today’s pop.
The problem of having such a strong opening in an album is how then to follow it through. The album could become tiring and old if the same style continues. Doing anything different may make it hard to follow the energy through. And perhaps that is why both Cynthia and I feel that the next two songs that are more mellow and with a pure R&B sound fall short of expectation. It is especially disappointing to me when “Hate That I Love You feat. Ne-Yo” (written by the same songwriter who wrote my favorite song “Unfaithful”) does not manage to rekindle the magic of “Unfaithful”.
Then comes the urban and reggae influenced “Sell Me Candy”, “Lemme Get That” (co-written by JAY-Z), and “Rehab” that are produced by Timbaland – the producer who created hit singles for Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, and Nelly Furtado – just to name a few. Out of these three songs that are produced by Timbaland, I enjoy “Rehab” the most. This mellow “Rehab” is co-written by Justin Timberlake and he sings the backing vocals for the song. Just beautiful.
What happens when you put JAY-Z and Ne-Yo together with Stargate as the production team? A powerful slow song with meaningful lyrics on humanity – “Question Existing”. And if Ne-Yo has somewhat disappointed me with that one song in the middle of the album, his work on the last slow track “Good Girl Gone Bad” has certainly fully redeemed himself (okay, that song in question is not that bad … the beat is pretty funky). What a way to close this 45 minutes album.
Perhaps for some, it is not a question of whether or not to get this album but should or should you not spend the extra money and get the Collector’s Limited Edition. This special edition comes with an entry pass for 2 to Powerhouse with a catch – for ladies only. But the good thing is that this pass works on weekends and weekends only (Fri/Sat before 11pm). This is way better than the entry pass to The Boiler Room from the Bon Jovi Lost Highway album that only works on weekdays. Entry pass aside, this special edition comes with an additional CD that contains over 78 minutes of 12 remixes including S.O.S. as well as two previously unreleased songs “Cry” and “Haunted” – both remixed by Steve Mac. Steve Mac’s work is probably my favorite amongst the rest of the remix teams. Though it is strange to hear the song “Umbrella” being spanned at a much faster speed, I can imagine those who enjoy disco and trance music may like this CD.
Below is the video clip of her first single “Umbrella”. If you like it, you may try out her second single my favorite “Shut Up And Dance” and Cynthia’s favorite “Breakin’ Dishes”.
I have this mentality when it comes to purchasing CDs. A legacy that is probably dated back in my days in UK. If there are three of more hit songs I like from an album, the album is worth buying. It is because the cost of one CD was roughly the same as three singles and I did buy singles back then.
When “Deja Vu” first released, I was like: ya, that is cool and I love the new upbeat and trendy sound. “Ring The Alarm” is even more extreme than “Deja Vu”. Part of me finds the song odd while part of me secretly likes it. But two is still not enough to persuade me to buy an album. Then came “Irreplaceable”, a slow ballad with the melody and line that instantly hook onto me (“to the left, to the left, everything you own in the box to the left“). But still, I don’t usually buy Hip Hop albums so I gave it a pass.
Then recently Beyonce released a deluxe edition that comes with an additional set of new songs as well as a DVD. One of the new songs “Beautiful Liar” sung by Beyonce and Shakira sounds okay (if only they could lose that line calling each other by names). It was “Listen” (featured below and from the motion picture “Dreamgirls”) that got me jump out of my chair. The video is emotional and I have got goose pimples all over me every time I watch that video (those watery eyes …). I could not find the version from the deluxe edition in YouTube (without the flashback to the movie that can be a distraction but for the curious minds, here is the link) but I manage to find this live performance. Check out the improvisation towards the end. That was out of the world I am telling you.
Randy Jackson from American Idol often uses Beyonce’s unique improvisation as reference to some of the contestants. Beyonce’s new album has pushed her vocal ability to a new height. There are some slow songs that I particularly like from within the album such as “Flaws And All”, “If”, and “Amor Gitano” that I don’t have time to dig them out from YouTube. Having sung all the praises, I have to admit that some songs in this album are quite hard to accept. Cynthia has found this album towards the noisy part. I wish Beyonce could make more songs that sound like “Listen”. Is she the trend setter like she inspired to be? Only time can tell.
Edit: Found a Korea singer Yangpa gave a rendition of “Listen” live. Pretty interesting stuff.
I seldom purchase Hip-Hop albums. Love the genre when I am in a club. Just somehow, Hip-Hop music get dated fast. Couple of months ago I first heard of Akon’s single “Smack That feat. Eminem” and I was like … wow, that was different. And who would have forgotten the lyrics of the chorus “Smack that all on the floor. Smack that give me some more. Smack that ’till you get sore. Smack that oh-oooh!”?
I have this perception of Akon’s music is somewhere between suggestive (like “Smack That”) to pornographic (like “I Wanna Love You feat. Snoop Dogg”). “I Wanna Love You” is a great chill out Hip-Hop song that the melody is memorable, the singing is soothing, and Snoop Dogg’s rapping blends well with the song. If you examine the lyrics (as broadcast in radios), “I see you windin’ and grindin’ up on the floor. I know you see me lookin’ at you and you already know. I wanna love you, you already know. I wanna love you, you already know”, it is pretty harmless. However, if you listen to the original version, the word “love” is replaced by “f**k” and “on the floor” with “at the pole”. Suddenly, ah-ha!, the lyrics makes sense.
For the record, I did not buy this album, Cynthia did (which I am glad). Though “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You” are both the famous tracks from Konvicted, I find the rest of the songs – different from these two – more pleasant to listen to. Especially from the content point of view (less suggestive and not pornographic at all). Take his third single “Don’t Matter” for instance, it is a great song about a love relationship between two people that is not approved by the rest of the world. “Konvicted” is packed with songs that keeps me interested throughout. A good Hip Hop album.
This is the video for “Don’t Matter” – one of my favourite track in the album.
The following video is “I Wanna Love You feat. Snoop Dogg”. Please take note that it comes with a “Parental Advisory – Explicit Content” sticker and the video maybe deem offensive to you. If in doubt, please don’t view.
