Critic Sit Down

Before her death, Whitney wrapped her last film Sparkle.  In addition to the movie, Whitney contributed her talent to the movie’s soundtrack on her last recorded song called Celebrate. Produced by R. Kelly, Celebrate is a up-tempo duet featuring Whitney and cast-mate Jordin Sparks.  The movie takes place in Detroit, Michigan during the Motown era, which explains the doo-wop and disco undertones of the song.  Celebrate premiered on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on May 21, 2012 and will be the soundtrack’s first single. It is scheduled for digital download on iTunes on June 5th.

Check out the full version of the song below and discuss with me @billboardcritic

Billboard Music Awards 2012 is set to air on ABC, Live tomorrow night at 8 pm.  Billboard Music Awards is the last award show of the year with the most predictability.  After the MTV Music Awards, American Music Awards and Grammy Awards you can pretty much predict the winners of the Billboard Music Awards, but to make matters even easier, finalists are based on year-end performance charts according to the Nielson data for sales. Essentially meaning, if you look at the Nielson data and ranked it, you already know who the winner is.  Let’s check it out.

Top Artist:
Adele
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne
Katy Perry
Rihanna

In 2011, Billboard named Adele artist of the year. As of May 2012 Adele has sold over 25 million albums and over 25 million digital copies worldwide.

Top Billboard 200 Album:  
Adele – 21
Drake – Take Care
Lady Gaga – Born This Way
Lil Wayne – The Carter IV

Adele’s 21 is the longest running number one album by a female in Billboard history. In the US the album has held the top position longer than any other album since 1985.

Top 100 Song:  
Adele – Rolling in the Deep
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
Maroon 5 & Christina Aguiliera – Moves Like Jagger
Katy Perry & Kanye West – E.T.
Pitbull & Ne-Yo – Give Me Everything

The largest crossover hit in the United States from the past 25 years.  “Rolling in the Deep” propelled Adele to international success.  It was her first number one song in the US, reaching number one for seven weeks on Billboard Hot 100.

Top New Artist:  
Bad Meets Evil
Big Sean
Foster the People
Scotty Mccreery
Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” peaked at number 1 on Billboard Hot 100. He was also selected as Best new Artist on Billboard’s 2011 – The Year in Music catalogue.

Top Duo/Group:                
Coldplay
Lady Antebellum
LMFAO
Maroon 5
The Black Eyed Peas

“Party Rock Anthem” sold over 6.8 million downloads in the U.S. becoming the fastest song in digital history overtaking Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”  Any person that can overtake Adele deserves an award. “Party Rock Anthem” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for six straight weeks.

Top Female Artist:                
Adele
Lady Gaga
Nicki Minaj
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Adele naturally wins this award for the previous stated reasons, but if Billboard wanted to mix it up a bit then they would go with Nicki Minaj

Top Male Artist:                
Justin Bieber
Chris Brown
Drake
Lil Wayne
Brunno Mars

In 2011, Chris Brown released his fourth studio album F.A.M.E., which became his first number one album on the Billboard 200.  Drake is a good contender for this award also, but my bets on Chris. 

But seriously, at the end of the day it’s an award show. Win, lose, or draw it will be a great show. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson, LMFAO, CeeLo Green, Linkin Park, the Wanted, Nelly Furtardo and more will be performing, including a show-closing presentation of Billboard’s Icon Award to Stevie Wonder, who will then perform with Alicia Keys. There will also be tributes to recording artists who left us this year: Whitney Houston, the Beastie Boys’ Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Donna Summer.

Grammy Award winner Melanie Fiona recently debut her sophomore album, The MF Life, on March 20, 2012. If one thing can be said about Melanie, it’s that she doesn’t have to present herself like other cookie cutter artists in the business today. She can literally take you back to a time when what you say is more important than what you look like. With each song, this album pulls the listener deeper and deeper into a vulnerable trance easily surpassing any song on The Bridge. Thriving in a pocket of 60s to 70s soul R&B, her husky, yet sultry voice is remarkably versatile with modes of expression. By constructing one of the most eclectic and honest albums of our decade, Melanie bares her soul and genuine love for real music.  I was fortunate enough to sit down and interview Melanie about The MF Life.

Dee:           When Motown transferred to Universal Republic where were you in the process of releasing your album?

MF:             I was in “Gone and Never Coming Back” world. I was in the studio, I was working on this album, and I had just released “Gone and Never Coming Back.” It all happened so quickly and they were like, “oh okay your going to go over to Republic,” and of course then you need to hurry up and get stuff in and then wait. And everything got put on hold: the album, the single, everything kinda just froze. So I found myself in the position of, “Whoa, Oh My God, what am I gonna do?” I’m out there doing promo, I’m promoting all this stuff but I don’t even know when I’m promoting it for, I don’t even know what I’m promoting. I can’t finalize my album, I can’t do anything yet. So it was a bit of a tuff time for me because I was kinda of like in limbo trying to figure out what I was going to do next. What my next move was, what my next move was going to be with the team and the label so…it was a bit of a crazy time for me there.

Dee:           I read that during that process you actually had the time to add features like Nas and J.Cole to the album.  You said it was a tuff time but do you think it actually helped?

MF:              Absolutely. I really have the belief that nothing happens before it’s time, everything happens on time. Had it not been for that delay, had it not been for the merging, had it not been for the whole regime change of going from Motown to Republic and then settling into that new label situation I wouldn’t have had time really, I think, devote or to say, “How can I take this album to another level? Who can I reach out to? Who’s going to be available?” Because, the fact of the matter is schedules just sometimes don’t permit. It was really cool to be able to then have the time to reach out and get Nas, B.o.B., and J. Cole. It solidified and completed the album. If not, they might have rushed me to put out the album without features so it was a great look.

Dee:           Composition wise, the album is made up of Soul, R&B, there is some Rock elements. What would you say lyrically or thematically this album is about?

MF:              It’s about love. And it’s about the many levels and layers of love because that’s what, I think, we all know, experience, and can relate to. I know that I’ve experienced and I felt I kinda needed to go a little deeper on this album and really put out my best emotions and best storytelling on this album. I really feel like it’s about the ups and downs of love and life. And that’s The MF Life. When it came to the writing and the context it was just, “Where am I at right now?, What am I feeling?, What do I need to say?, What do I need to get off my chest?” and putting those all together for one great story, one body of work.

Dee:            Do you feel that today’s R&B and Soul artists have to work harder to get their music more mainstream or to just get the attention?

MF:             I definitely think it’s harder. I think it’s harder for every artist, that’s why every artist is doing so many ridiculous things to be noticed. There’s just so many things out there that I find people are trying to do to out do the next person so that people will talk about them and pay attention. I feel like, for me I just always try to out do myself in the music.  If I want to be recognized for anything I want to be recognized for the music. And yeah sure, their are people out there that are just like, “You know what you need to do, this is what you need to do,” there’s always going to be people out there, but at the end of the day I ultimately have to answer to myself and I want to feel good about the decisions that I’m making and the music that I’m making. I’m just not very quick to jump on this pop, dance wagon because that’s what everyone’s doing.  I’ll probably do a pop, dance record when no one’s doing pop and dance anymore. That’s how I feel I operate. My music is to be spoken about and enjoyed and to be a conversation piece not necessarily to be in the club. I think it’s supposed to help people more privately than it is publically. It’s suppose to be that quiet conversation I think people have and reflect on and share with the people that they love and will celebrate for a lifetime instead of just a moment.

Dee:            Do you ever see yourself making a return to Caribbean/Reggae music?

MF:              I kinda don’t feel like I’ve left because if you listen to the album there’s always a feel of reggae influence. On this album it’s “Can’t Say I Never Loved You” that has that. And that’s always apart of my shows as well. I think that I will eventually like to do a reggae compilation or a reggae remix version of my songs to my album.

Dee:            The album has been out for about a month now, what are your plans for promotion? Any upcoming projects or tours?

MF:             We’ve got music video’s getting ready to be shot right now. We’re going to be shooting video’s for, “Change the Record,” “Wrong Side of a Love Song,” “This Time.” I would love to shoot a video for all the songs on the album, which I think is important. Also getting a good tour together and getting out there. That’s the key. Getting out there and hearing these song’s live. I think, that’s the best selling feature for myself. I think people get a chance to really see me and get a better sense of who I am. They get to feel these records, get up and laugh, and sing and cry. Other than that, I got stuff I gotta take care of overseas in Europe because that’s also a very strong market for me and I’ve got different songs and different records doing well over there so you know. I’m getting ready to lock in a tour and that’s really the one thing I would love to do because touring is a lot of fun, it’s really straight forward, you know what your getting yourself into everyday and I get to do what I love everyday.

At a recent sold out concert in Washington, D.C., Melanie certainly didn’t fall short of those live performance expectations.  On every song, you felt what she felt, and in essence got to know the real Melanie through her music.  It was as if you plugged your iPod in, closed your eyes and had a good cry for a past love.  Her Alto register was flawless, reminiscent of a young Toni Braxton or Jazmin Sullivan. When she found it necessary to pull out those high notes, they were as genuine as a bruised lover woe at 4am. 

The concert was only a few days after The MF Life was released, so not everyone in the audience knew all the songs, but they quietly listened to her love stories — laughed when she laughed, threw up napkins when she chanted “Jump up and wave,” during the Caribbean segment of the show, and chanted her name until she returned to the stage for an encore.  Certainly, Melanie knows her strengths and it definitely shows in her multifaceted performance.

As always, at the end of my interviews, we go into the Rapid Fire segment.  Melanie was a good sport on some of these difficult “think on your feet” questions, and the sound bite below gives you some insight on how she thinks.

Rapid Fire

My MF Life is…Beautiful

My number one reason for waking up in the morning is…my love for my career and what I do.

If I could only pick one song on my iPod it would be…Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough

My greatest inspiration is…Love

Let’s start off by saying Brian McKnight is one of the most talented R&B Male performers to emerge in the 90s. He can sing, produce, arrange, and plays nine instruments. Bottom line, he’s an all around true musician.  With 11 studio albums, 16 Grammy nominations, one would wonder why in the year 2012, Brian McKnight’s music can’t hold a popularity chord to — let’s say, Justin Bieber. 

In today’s music realm you have to fit into a perfect manufactured musician mold.  Some of the greatest artist of yesteryear, including Brian McKnight, can’t get on the same chart listings with Katy Perry, Rihanna, or Justin Bieber, without doing something eccentric and out of their comfort zone.  The music times have changed. We’re more concerned about the next summer dance anthem than the next slow love song, the first time an artist opens a Tumblr account than listening to an entire album from beginning to end and individually selecting the songs YOU like.

Brian McKnight’s preview of “If Your Ready to Learn” doesn’t really fit into any of these categories I’m talking about. He kinda walks the line.  At first thought you think he’s the washed up R&B artist trying to do something on a grand level for publicity – and to a certain extent he is.  For an R&B artist the topic of sex has always had an undertone in music. You might think a song is sexual but for the most part they stick to above the belt words.  Brian McKnight is that R&B guy that’s always talked about love and loving by keeping a sexual undertone, but in this new song the chorus begins, “Let me show you how your pussy works.” After I got over the initial shock of what he’s saying and my mind soared down to reality I actually began to dissect the song.  It’s actually pretty good.  Come to think of it, did I really expect less?  He wrote the song, arranged it, the melody is catchy, it will have people talking and downloading his music (old and new). Damn, an out of the box music strategy that doesn’t compromise the music. Genius.

Madonna’s new single, Girl Gone Wild, definitely brings flashbacks of her iconic song Vogue, but not in a bad rip off way.  You can see elements of Vogue’s concepts in the video, most importantly you see how those concepts have been used for inspiration and have evolved.  All in all I like this video and song is better than Give Me All You Luvin’. Madge may just have a hit on her hands.

I like what Katy Perry did with this cover of Ni**as in Paris.  The arrangement on the chorus and hook were Awww-some.

billboard:

So this happened.

hiphoptoday:

Katy Perry - Ni**as in Paris (Jay & Kanye Cover) (New)

(Source: youtube.com)

SWV (Sisters With Voices) is arguably one of the most successful RnB groups of the 90s. A series of hits include, Weak, Right Here/Human Nature, Downtown and You’re the One.  The group, unfortunately, disbanded in 1998 to pursue solo projects. Now the ladies are back with a new album and new single that features the 90s SWV sound we fell in love with.

The ladies are currently traveling all over the world to promote there new album, I Missed Us, and recently sat down to answer some of my questions.

What are some of the differences in re working with the music industry in the 90s versus working in it today?

Coko: It seemed easier in the 90’s. We had the big machine backing us and there were many major labels back then. Now the majors are disappearing! Also, the Internet has taken over. People don’t go out & buy CD’s like they used to. 

Same question but geared towards Major music labels – what was it like working with them in the 90s versus today?

Lelee: I thought working with a major label was cool. The only thing we really had to worry about is recouping the money back. And when you’re successful it’s easy to do. There was more money to work with as far as packaging an artist and album budgets. Nowadays, you have to come with your own package and make a record with peanuts if you don’t have those industry relationships. The good thing is, you get more on the back end if you do the numbers (if you sell records). Also, working with an independent allows the company to focus on one artist at a time, which is what every artist wants.

Some artists are now touting – “Indie is the new major” meaning independent labels are the new major label. Do you believe that?

Taj: I believe that major labels are unable or unwilling to give artists the budgets or long term contracts that they once did.  Independent labels are able to offer artists a short term deal with more control to do what they want.  Why not roll with them?

What do you think of the music industry in connection with social media?

Coko: I think it’s great! It’s really popular and something that people read every day. So, it’s a great way for people to hear about you and what you’re working on. Sometimes they can be a little mean and cruel but it comes with the territory, I guess.  

 There have been rumors of a new album for years, why now? 

Taj: We decided that the time was right.  Mass Appeal/E1 felt that we still had some life left in our career and decided to give us a shot.  We don’t plan to let them down. 

 With “Co-Sign” you kept the 90’s SWV’s sound, why was that so important? 

Coko: It was very important for us to stay true to who we are. I don’t think our fans would be pleased if we changed our sound to sound like what’s out right now. SWV is classic! 

Do you think SWV can pick back up where you left off? 

Taj: I know that SWV can pick up where we left off because we have.  We’ve been touring since 2005, now we have a new album to put in our show.

The new album, I Missed Us, what does the title mean? What is the album about? Any features?

Lelee: I Missed Us is a song on our album about a relationship, but we realized it can mean so many other things for many people. A relationship is a relationship and when you’re a part of something or someone for so long, whether a marriage, a friendship, etc., you missed what’s now gone.  We (SWV) realized that we really missed “us” being together as a group. After trying so many names that was the one we all agreed on. Coko thought of it because that’s one of her favorite songs on the records.

Currently SWV’s new single, Co-Sign, has peaked at #67 on the Billboard RnB/Hip Hop charts.  The music video was just released yesterday, their first since 1997’s Rain. We can expect the new album, I Missed Us, to hit shelves on April 17, 2012.

Adele - Effortless sweeping!

(Source: nickneyime)

R.I.P Whitney Houston

If there’s any solace to her passing, it is that people will revisit recordings, videos and films to rediscover the majesty of her work.

Give Me All Your Lovin’ - Madonna ft. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj

One word - Lackluster.  Lackluster is defined by dictionary.com as lacking in vitality, force, or conviction; uninspired.  I wouldn’t say it was totally uninspired but it was certainly uninspiring, especially for MADONNA! Like, are you kidding? She’s freaking MADONNA!  I hope the Superbowl Half Time performance is much better than this.

Donald Cortez “Don” Cornelius was able to break down racial barriers and broaden the reach of the African American culture through music.  Before Robert Johnson brought us BET and before Michael Jackson found his way to MTV, Soul Train was our pioneering outlet.

Soul Train began in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV, after securing a sponsorship deal with Sears, Roebuck and Co., as a live show airing weekday afternoons.  To date, it is the longest-running, first-run, nationally syndicated program in television history with over 1,100 episodes produced between October 1971 to March 2006.

During this time Soul Train not only became known as the place to hear the latest and greatest songs by well-known African-American artists, but also for cues about the latest fashion and dance trends.  It also provided a unique window into the African-American culture. By doing this it garnered comparison to another show that shared some similarities and became known to outside cultures as a “black American Bandstand.”

With the recent passing of Don Cornelius one thing we will always remember is his smooth, deep voice mouthing his famous catchphrase, “… and you can bet your last money, it’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I’m Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!”

RIP – Don Cornelius

I’m always excited right before I meet an artist for an interview.  Tonight, January 21st at Blues Ally in Georgetown, DC is no different. It’s 7:45 pm and unbeknownst to the audience downstairs, Syleena is beginning a performance of her own, warm-ups. Mainstream music listeners remember Syleena from her hit feature on Kanye West’s song “All Falls Down.” Her fans know she’s still active in music, has a new album and is currently on tour. About 10 mins before she hits the stage we sit down for our interview.

All of your albums are chapters. What do the chapters mean and represent?
They represent the different stages of my life.

Your current album is Ch. 5: Underrated – Can you elaborate on why that was chosen as the title?
Just because I think that that’s the stage of my life I am right now.

And you have three singles out for the album right now?
Yes, three. A Boss, Angry Girl, and Like Thorns leaked so that’s kind of unofficial.

Syl Johnson - What did your father think about you getting into singing?  Did he finally accept your passion for music?
He was unsupportive when I was younger. At 15 he started to take interest in me and my father’s actually been the biggest motivation of my career, just because he’s so strong and he’s stayed in it so long – he’s 80 – and he’s still doing it.

Who are your soul music inspirations? Who do you strive to be like, have a career like?
I love Mary J. Blige. I would love to mimic her career. I think she has an awesome, solid career. Uncompromising. She’s herself, she get’s to be herself and I think it’s awesome. Whether she’s thin, not thin, she’s always Mary and I love and admire her for that.

At the end of “All Falls Down,” the song you did with Kanye West he says, “Syleena, your just like a safe belt, you save my life!” What did he mean?
It was 6 o’clock in the morning and he needed clearance for the Lauryn Hill sample and she wouldn’t give it to him.  And so, I came in to sing that hook for him and I ended up saving his deadline because he was going to have to push his album if he hadn’t gotten it done.

Can you talk about your split with Jive Music?
We fell out of love.  It was like a relationship and we broke up.  We just both understood that the relationship wasn’t productive. They weren’t gonna do what they were suppose to do and I didn’t want to be there if they weren’t gonna do what they were suppose to do.  So it was kinda like well, if you’re not gonna d what you’re suppose to do, then let me go.

This was right after Ch. 3 at your highest peak coming off all your features and you think they should have used that hype to promote that album?
Um, they definitely should have and they drop the ball on that, in my opinion. And you know it’s just, not knowing what to do with soul artist. And I’m not the only artist on that label that they did that to. Joe was on the label and they did the same thing to him. Raheem DeVaghn, the list goes on. Raheem’s success is because of him. I think that he was strong within his own hustle, in his own creativity, that’s how he did well for himself. It had nothing to do with Jive Records, in my opinion.  I don’t think that for any of their black artists they understand that it takes a while. But I think it was the President at that time that had kind of a radio mindset where if you didn’t have a radio hit you weren’t going to do well because he worked in radio before he became the President. So I think they meant well and they tried to the best of their ability. I don’t think they were maliciously behind the scenes, like ‘we gonna sabotage’ because that would be stupid, why would they want to loose money. I just think they did not know how to get us to where we needed to be.

What’s does the future have in store for Syleena?
Working Ch 5.  And some more interesting cool things that I’m not at liberty to talk about, but there going to be cool – I can tell you that!

If I could do anything or be anything in the world I would be…a Billionaire

If I only had one song in my iPod it would be…We Must Pray by J. Moss

Music is…my life

My latest and greatest inspiration is…my children

I had to stick around for the performance to see a different side of Syleena. I think she held back a lot during our interview and I wanted to see her in her own element; on stage, where most artists feel at home.

The Performance

Her voice hit’s you hard! It’s piercing, soulful, and inspiring. Her singing told me more about her than any question I could have asked during our interview. She seems to really enjoy the stage. Maybe it’s something she can control or because she does it every night. Whatever the reason, you can’t sing or write like that unless you’ve been through a lot of tuff situations in your life.  I would have liked to explore that during our interview but I’m happy I at least get to sit back and explore it now, through her music. Another thing I noticed during her performance is her connection to the audience.  She’s a great storyteller, warm, approachable and cool - so much fun to look at on stage.

She performed her current singles, A Boss and Little Things. But for me,the impersonation segment of the show, where she so cleverly let her background singers shine, was the best moment of the concert.  They did impersonations of Dave Hollister, Jazmine Sullivan, and John Legend with Syleena wrapping up the segment with her own spot-on impersonations of Tina Turner, Lauryn Hill, and the legendary Etta James.

All in all it was a great live concert, but by the end I was left with unanswered questions.  What’s happening to soul music?  Why aren’t these artists more mainstream? Why isn’t Syleena more mainstream?  Why have we traded in real talent for auto-tune?  These are all questions I can’t answer today but as I walked away from Blues Ally at 10:05 pm I know one thing, Syleena Johnson is truly…Underrated.

Want to know more about Syleena Johnson? Check out these links below:

Twitter - @syleena_johnson

Facebook – Syleena Johnson Official

Purchase Ch.5: Underrated on iTunes and in stores at Best Buy, FYE and Walmart

Why Stop Now - Busta Rhymes ft. Chris Brown

This is his first single off the upcoming album, Extinction.Level.Event.2 (E.L.E. 2) and also the first single from Cash Money Records.  Busta is continuing the end of world inspiration first seen off of opus E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front.

Announced today, singer/songwriter Ne-Yo is moving from Def Jam to Motown Records.  In addition to his roster, he will be bringing his imprint, Compound Entertainment, and take on a creative role as Senor VP of A&R.

In that role, Ne-Yo will serve as a mentor and producer to the label’s artists and also discover and sign new talent.  He will mark his debut as a Motown artist with his fifth studio album, slated for a summer release.

I think this is a good move for Ne-Yo.  If given a chance and enough leeway he can stare the soul RnB label back to glory.

bwlivingwell:

firstfamily:

“The First Lady covers the February 2012 issue of More magazine, which includes a cover story on her White House mentoring program.

“Michelle Obama Gets Personal” [More] ”

story via Mrs-O.com

images via More Magazine

stunning!

FLOTUS