Another month has come and gone and it’s time for another round of my monthly favorites. I’ve decided to incorporate more than just music in my favorites, but not a lot really stood out to me this month, but here’s my list anyway.
First up, the music. I thought I’d have more songs that I loved, but not many were new. This is more of my monthly rotation.
Imagine Dragons, ‘Shots’
Taylor Swift, ‘Style’
Ed Sheeran, ‘Thinking Out Loud’
Ariana Grande, ‘One Last Time’
The Weeknd, ‘Earned It’
Jidenna, ‘Classic Man’
Moving on to TV shows, I finished all 9 seasons of CSI:NY and I absolutely loved the series. I’ve now moved on to CSI: Miami. I’m not as intrigued as I was with the NY series, but I’m not even through the first season so I’ll keep watching. As for other crime shows, my fav, I’ve caught up on Criminal Minds and SVU. SVU is a hit and miss for me and I’m not into as I used to be, but thanks to Netflix I LOVE Criminal Minds.
Lastly, How To Get Away With Murder season finale was AMAZING!!! Scandal was getting a bit tiresome for me, but I like where it is headed. I’m upset that I have to wait until the fall to figure out (WARNING – SPOILER ALERT) who killed Rebecca? I’m shocked as to who killed Lila, but I knew that Sam had something to do with it. No he didn’t do it, but he was surely an accomplice.
Hopefully Scandal will get more intense and I’ll fall in love with more songs than I did this month.
It’s been quite a year in music and for the first time since I’ve started blogging it’s been a slow one. Of course there have been albums released and artists making their way back to the forefront, but it’s been a lackluster year for me which could probably be seen in my reviews. I love to review albums, singles, and videos from artists that I have grown to love over the years. I will not be covering every music accomplishment of the year, just my personal favorites. Also no celeb drama will be included. You can click HERE if interested in what I think about the flood of celeb breakups. Anyway, let’s get into it. As always be sure to click the links as it will lead you to the reviews that I have done. In total I have reviewed 16 albums, 33 singles, and 51 videos; grand total 100. Not to shabby.
Favorite Albums of the Year
I take my time with album reviews and try to connect and find some meaning to the way the artists have compiled the tracks and the overall sound of the project. Some shined, some disappointed, and some made me fall in love again.
While she didn’t release an album this year, JoJo’s Valentine’s Day EP, #LoveJo, can be added to my favs. Her cover of Anita Baker’s, ‘Caught Up In The Rapture’, is one for the books.
Video of the Year
Yes I was on a Sia craze this year and her video gets video of the year for my picks goes to her heartfelt ‘Chandelier’ video, As I stated in my review I envisioned an interpretive dance video for the track and I was so happy for that to be the outcome. I absolutely love it and if she didn’t release anything else that entire year that song and video would really suffice. My other two picks are Janelle Monáe’s sorority inspired video, Electric Lady and Queen Bey’s, ‘7.11.’ (Again, click the links!)
Artists That Didn’t Make It Past Their Lead Single
As I loved both Don’t Kill the Magic and 1000 Forms of Fear, there was nothing played except from the lead singles, Rude’ and ‘Chandelier’, from each compilation respectively. I could see the Issue with Magic! as they released a reggae track yet not much reggae was found on their album. As for Sia, she’s an incognito artist, but her album was absolutely beautiful. Sia is nominated for _ Grammy’s for ‘Chandelier’. Unfortunately ‘Rude’ just might be the greatest thing that happened for Magic! I can’t wait to see them perform in 2015 alongside Maroon 5 on tour.
Songs I Don’t Want to Hear in 2015
The radio has a way of making your ears bleed when they play the same songs on five different stations at the same time in rotation. Two songs that I do NOT want to hear in 2015 are Iggy Azalea’s, ‘Black Widow’, and Ariana Grande’s, ‘Break Free.’ It’s been a great year for those two young ladies, but the radio played out those songs to no end. I thought ‘Fancy’ was bad, but I would rather hear Taylor Swift’,‘Shake It Off’followed by ‘Blank Space’ then ‘All About That Bass’ over and over then to hear ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Break Free’.
Artists I Can’t Wait To Hear From in 2015
Well this one is a no brainer, RIHANNA! There were rumors of her releasing her with studio album as a surprise this year, but I pretty much guarantee that she will be releasing one next year. Hopefully we won;t have to endure an entire year without Rihanna music and that it will hit right around Spring, Summer the latest. I absolutely LOVED Unapologetic (Click HEREfor that review) and it was one of my favorites last year.
Speaking of Rihanna, how could I forget the return of Adele. It’s been nearly 4 years since the release of her multi-platinum album, 21, and I can’t wait to hear more. There’s been rumors of the album being titled ’25’ which makes sense as both her 1st and 2nd album had numeric significance. I just can’t wait to hear more of her amazing voice.
Lastly, I’m excited to hear more from is Meghan Trainor. When I first saw her ‘All About That Bass’ video on Facebook I thought it would be just another fad, BUT Meghan has soared to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 and can now add Grammy-award nominee to her list of accomplishments and her debut,, hasn’t even been reeled yet. I loved her EP, Title, and I can’t wait to hear her album.
Albums I Need to Listen to at the Top of 2015
There’s two albums in particular that I didn’t get around to listening to upon their releases and that’s Taylor Swift’s, 1989, and J. Cole’s, 2014 Forrest Hills Drive. I’m not sure when I will be doing a review of those too, but expect in sometime in January. Definitely need to give those two a listen. Also congrats to both on their album sales.
Welp, that’s it. It was a long post, but I think I covered my favs. Stay tuned for my follow-up post of some of my favorite songs of 2014. Click HERE if you’re interested in seeing what my non-music favs were of this year and CHEERS to 2015. More reviews to come starting tomorrow.
Billboard have given their Hot 100 chart a new look in a partnership with Samsung. The new look allows readers to listen to the songs individually or as an entire playlist viaSpotifyor Rdioalong with a button to watch the video.You can also share the song via Facebook or Twitter. No worries about being moved to a new page. Everything opens up on the chart and it’s easy to
In addition, in scrolling over the the artists position on the chart, to the left you can see the position of the song the previous week, the peak position, and number of weeks on the chart. There are also chart highlights separated into four categories: ‘Streaming Gainer,’ ‘Digital Gainer,’ ‘Airplay Gainer’, and ‘Hot Shot Debut.’
In sharing on Facebook and Twitter, you can create your own Top 10 based off what’s currently in the top 10 with a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 popup. You can drag the songs and add your name. Once done, share.
Check out the full view HERE and cheers to those who ranked in the top 10 this week. The ladies still rule in the top 5, but the guys are gaining. Only time will tell who.
In other news, Usher covers the latest Billboard cover. Click the pic to the interview excerpt below:
I initially blogged, nearly a month ago, that the ladies had dominated the top 5 of the Hot 100 (CLICK HERE for that post). For the 5th consecutive week the ladies are still ruling over the top 5 and have set a record with the success.
Be sure to click the song titles (in blue) to get to my reviews of the most recent track and to purchase the others click the red links. Enjoy the top 5 videos below:
Last year’s honoree for Billboard’s Woman of the Year was Pink! and this year the honor goes to Taylor Swift. She had quite a feat with her latest album Redand this is great momentum leading up to the release of her new album, 1989 ,in just a few weeks (10.27).
This award began in 2007 and aside from Pink and Taylor Swift other winners include: Reba McEntire, Ciara, Beyoncé, and Katy Perry. Taylor Swift is the first winner to receive the award twice. Her first time was back in 2011.
Taylor is not only earning doubles of this award, but she is the only female artist and fourth overall to have two albums sell 1 million in the first week. The first was Speak Now (2010) and the second her most recent, Red (2012).
Janice Min, co-president and CEO of Guggenheim Media’s Entertainment Group released a statement regarding Taylor’s success over the years (via Billboard):
“As one of the most influential artists of her generation, Taylor Swift has seen incredible success on the Billboard charts. Over the course of her career, she’s charted 60 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 — the most of any female artist since her debut in 2006. We are tremendously excited to be honoring her as the 2014 Billboard Woman of the Year for the second time.”
Taylor is very well deserving of this award and all that she has accomplished. She is about to release her 5th album and has received numerous awards including: 15 AMAs, 11 CMAs, 7 ACMAs, 12 BMAs, and 7 Grammy’s.
Taylor Swift will be honored at the Women in Music Awards, December 12th, in NYC.
Taylor Swift is doing something she’s never done before. Well, you could say two things she’s never done before. Taylor has been storming the Country scene for quite some time dominating with album after album. Her hits include: ‘Love Story’, ‘You Belong With Me’, ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’, ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, ’22’, and countless others. This time around for her new LP she’s going pop and from the first single it has nothing to do with boy troubles. Her album titled, 1989, it set to be released October 27th. You can preorder it on iTunes.
Just as fast as she released her new single, ‘Shake It Off’,the video has been released as well. Taylor Swift is in no way a dancer, but I respect that she likes to take chances. She’s at a point in her career, at the mere age of 24, to have the flexibility to do what she wants musically. Her fans know her for her Country sound, but real fans will stick it out in the long haul.
She has the ballet opener, then the hip hop scene. She clearly likes to shake her stuff and she even attempted a b-boy stance. Then it went into a interpretive dance scene before switching to a futuristic one where she looked a lot like Lady Gaga with the blonde bob and aviator glasses. The funniest scene has to be her ensemble of the cut off shorts, leopard hoodie, and gold chain, huge earrings, and a high bun. Taylor is not one to twerk. Then theres the dancers with the streamers, she didn’t do well at that either. She ends off the outfit changes as a cheerleader outfit which interchanged with that of a cute black ensemble. I love how she didn’t care and just did whatever in this one. It shows that although people might see her as this perfect idol, she’s not and she can be as awkward and horrible dancer as the next person. Overall I like the song.
Insert the instrumental of Ludacris’ Money Maker. Music’s richest, highest paid musicians of the past year, has been released in a recent Billboard article. The ranking is based off:
…is based on the artist’s share of revenue as opposed to total dollars generated by each artist in the ranking
To learn more about the current ranking, click here.
So, who tops thus years list? Ms. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift ranks #1 with $39.6 million and this isn’t her first year doing so. In 2012 she topped the list with $35.7 million.
Here’s who else made the top 10.
2. Kenny Chesney | $32.9 mil.
3. Justin Timberlake | 31.4 mil.
4. Bon Jovi | 29.4 mil.
5. The Rolling Stones | 26. 2 mil.
6. Beyonce | $24.4 mil.
7. Maroon 5 } $22.2 mil.
8. Luke Bryan } $22.1 mil.
9. P!nk | $20 mil.
10. Fleetwood Mac | 19.1 mil.
Country artists have sure dominated this list with 3 of the artists being in the top 10. Swift along with Beyonce, P!nk, and Rihanna (#20) are the only female solo acts to have made the list this year. Although not many ladies rank, they have been topping the list for the past 5 years:
The 56th Annual Grammys will be airing this Sunday (1/26/14) & I wanted to highlight some of the nominees and the progression of their careers.
Taylor Swift is nominated for 4 Grammy awards and she has already received 7 in her career thus far. Basically anything she’s nominated for she gets and her music, although I wasn’t a fan of the bubble gum and lollipops initially, I respect her drive and creativity. Here’s the song that changed my mind on Taylor no matter how much I tried NOT to like her music.
At first she was singing about how that special guy would always be her prince charming know matter who he might be with on her tracks ‘Love Story’ and ‘You Belong With Me’ (Fearless, 2008). Now she’s over the whole ‘love’ thing on her album Red, singing about how boys are trouble and once she’s done she’s done, insert ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.’
Congrats to Taylor on her domination not only in Country music, but in Pop as well.
Shawn Corey Carter better known as Jay Z is nominated for 9 Grammys having won 17 so far in his career. Jay Z has become an icon in the Hip Hop community and since 2003 has expanded his popularity with his high popularized romance with wife Beyoncé. It all began with 1996s, Reasonable Doubt.
Nearly 20 years since the release of his debut album he’s now at a point in his career where he’s considered ‘old.’ Not old in being in his 40s, but old in the game, yet he seems to release some of the freshest music. His recent work, Magna Carta…Holy Grail spanned the huge hit ‘Holy Grail’ which features Justin Timberlake and my personal fav from the album ‘Tom Ford.’
Rihanna who is Jay Z’s biggest investment to date is nominated for having won 6 so far. I never thought that her career would have excelled to the level it has after ‘Pon De Replay’ (Music of the Sun, 2005).
Rihanna has put out 7 albums in less than decade. Her sound has evolved with her age. Good Girl Gone Bad (2008) was the turning point and she really crossed over with the track ‘Umbrella.’ Her sound is clearly a reflection of her life being that she draws from personal experience. Now she’s a no holds barred artist that does what she wants. Her album, Unapologetic, is my favorite compilation that she has released thus far. With tracks like ‘Diamonds,’ ‘Stay,’ ‘No Love Allowed,’ she serenades each track with her unique voice and you can hear the passion and realness in the music. She’s let fans in to all aspects of her personal life and that’s something to commend.
In the beginning it was all about honing in on her sound, but now she’s her own woman and is putting out real music now. You might not like her voice, her fashion, her risky behavior, but there’s no denying that Rihanna is one of the hardest workers in the business at her age.
Next up is Mr. Robin Thicke who is nominated for 3 Grammys, the first Grammy nods he’s had in his career. He is somewhat of a vet in the industry, but his work has been overlooked.His partner in crime from the beginning of his career has been Pharrell. They teamed up on the first track I ever remember hearing from him, ‘Wanna Love You Girl’ (The Evolution of Robin Thicke, 2006).
His sound hasn’t drifted at all from what he began. He’s a love song making guy. Every song he’s made has been a long the lines of that. ‘Blurred Lines’ is that track that very few people have in their careers to push them to the next level.
Despite the controversy of the song from the video to the actual production, there’s no denying that this song was a hit. Not a complete fan of the entire album, but ‘Blurred Lines’ was definitely the song of the summer. I’m glad he was able to get that push.
Congrats to all the nominees.
56th Annual Grammy Awards — January 26, 2014 — Live CBS 8pm (EST)
chaoticcritic.wordpress.com 