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Music

Album’s Singles Review: “Good Girl Gone Bad” by Rihanna

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Good Girl Gone Bad (album)
Rihanna already had success with her previous albums “Music of the Sun” and “A Girl Like Me”. But she expanded her popularity as she reached superstardom from simply stardom with her album “Good Girl Gone Bad”. There are less Carribean sound on the album compared to her previous albums. Still, the album have lots of R&B tunes with some dance or EDM songs. It had deluxe edition too which some songs are included here too. The album became a worldwide hit reaching number 2 in United States. While in United Kingdom, it reached number 1 and certified 6x platinum.

Umbrella (ft. Jay-Z)
“Umbrella” was released as the lead single from Rihanna’s “Good Girl Gone Bad”. It is a R&B song which featured Jay-Z who did the rap verses. The song had a lot of cover versions too. It went to number 1 worldwide and has been one of the biggest hits of 2000’s.
Rate: 9.0 out of 10

Shut Up and Drive
“Shut Up and Drive” became the second single from Good Girl Gone Bad” album. There’s a rock influence in the song. It has been successful but not as successful as “Umbrella”. It reached number 15 in US, while it sat at number 5 in UK.
Rate: 7.5 out of 10

Hate That I Love You (ft. Ne-Yo)
“Hate That I Love You” was the official third single of “Good Girl Gone Bad”. It is a R&B love song which became Rihanna’s second top 10 from the album. It featured the co-producer and co-writer of the song, Ne-Yo.
Rate: 8.25 out of 10

Don’t Stop the Music
“Don’t Stop the Music” had became the fourth single from “Good Girl Gone Bad”. The song is a catchy dance track which was one of the early dance tracks before the genre became a trend. It was number worldwide and peaked inside the top 10 in US and UK.
Rate: 8.5 out of 10

Take a Bow
“Take a Bow” was released to support the re-issue of the album called “Gone Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded”. The R&B song became a worldwide hit and peaked at number 1 both in US  and UK.
Rate: 8.5 out of 10

Disturbia
“Disturbia” was also released from the re-issue. It is again an EDM track which became another global hit. It went to number 1 in United States.
Rate: 8.0 out of 10

Rehab (ft. Justim Timberlake)
“Rehab” was the final single from “Good Girl Gone Bad”. It featured Justin Timberlake who had minimal vocals, and one of the song’s co-writer and producer.
Rate: 7.5 out of 10

Credits: Billboard / OCC / Wikipedia

Video from YouTube / RihannaVEVO

Music

Female Artists With Number 1 Albums in US and UK: Avril Lavigne / Britney Spears / Rihanna

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United States- Avril Lavigne seemed to follow the footsteps of fellow Canadian Alanis Morissette as a female rocker. She had success in United States after scoring two number 1 albums. Those albums were “Under My Skin” (her second album, 3x platinum), and ” The Best Damn Thing”. Her most successful LP  which was “Let Go” has been a number 2 hit album and was RIAA certified with 7x platinum.
United Kingdom- Avril Lavigne managed to score three albums to reach number 1 in United Kingdom. Her debut “Let Go” was her first which eventually reached 5x platinum by BPI. Her succeeding albums “Under My Skin” and The Best Damn Thing” went to number 1.

Britney Spears
United States- Britney Spears scored great success in the US for scoring numerous number 1 albums. Her debut album “…Baby One More Time” (14x platinum by RIAA)  became her first number 1 album, followed by the first week million-selling album “Oops… I Did it Again” (her second biggest seller with 10x platinum). She did it again on top with “Britney” and “In the Zone”. After not reaching the top for years, she came back at number 1 with “Circus” and “Femme Fatale”. She had a total of six number 1 albums. She had three releases which failed number 1, but at least secured top 10 positions.
United Kingdom- Britney Spears has been successful in United Kingdom, but she never had a number 1 album in the country. At least, 7 of her albuns went to top 10. Her most successful LP in the country has been “…Baby One More Time” which reached 4x platinum by BPI and peaked at number 2.

Rihanna
United States- Rihanna is currently one of the most relevant and successful female artists around. She had released eight albums, which all of them went to top 10. However, only two of those albums went to number 1, such as “Unapologetic” and her current album “Anti”. Her most successful though has been the number two album “Good Girl Gone Bad” which was certified 3x platinum by RIAA.
United Kingdom- Rihanna consistently achieve success in UK. She had a total of four number 1 albums there with her first “Good Girl Gone Bad”, followed by “Loud”, which both albums were 6x platinum certified by BPI. “Talk That Talk” and “Unapologetic” went to number 1 too. Her current album “Anti” reached number 7.

Credits: Billboard / OCC / Wikipedia

Music

Billboard’s Facebook Page has Favoritism?

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There are lot of people who liked the page of Billboard are whining about posting series of their articles focused in certain artists.

Looking back when Beyonce had broken records after releasing an album by surprised. Lots of articles from their websites are posted on Facebook. I wonder why they couldn’t post an article about her since what’s written in different articles are almost the same. They even predict artists who can possibly do the same. Of course, anti-Beyonce are so fed up of those posts.

Taylor Swift as always been a subject in Billboard articles too, which were shared in social media. When her album “1989” was released, almost everyday, there were number of new posts about the album. Whatever Taylor Swift posts on Twitter or Instagram, Billboard raves for it. Even her charitied or even every step she do, Billboard makes it a big news. How about haters of Taylor, they whine about it makes them hate, hate, hate, hate not just Taylor, rather Billboard too.

When Justin Bieber came back, well, Billboard treated him like a king. He surfaced the Billboard page. Either he is here or there. His new pictures on Twitter and Instagram, you don’t have to check his social media accounts, just go to Billboard, it’s always there.

When Adele released her new single then “Hello”, it is all over the news. Either  it goes to number one, it breaks record, it reached a billion views on YouTube, her TV appearances, etc. What more when it broke records as the fastest selling album ever? From the first day of released to its full week of release, sales and predictions was always updated daily.

Recently, we saw Rihanna’s new release. So “Anti” album trended. Her new song and her new video for “Work” also trended.

Now, Ariana Grande is the center of their attention. She did a great impression of different artists on Fallon. She performed on SNL. Now, she has a new song which is now trending.

So what more will trend on Billboard? Let’s see what they got again.

Credits: Billboard

Music

Battle of Same Song Titles: Sheena Easton vs Lady Gaga / Amy Winehouse vs Rihanna

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There were tons of songs with the same titles and the battle continues. This time, it’s girl power as female singers are battling it out for the same song titles.

Sheena Easton vs Lady Gaga
“Telephone” / “Telefone”
Sheena Easton is one of the very successful female singers during 1980’s. She came out with this song which was spelled “Telefone”, using “f” instead of “ph”. It also had in parenthesis  (Long Distance Love Affair). Still, she still fits for this battle with Lady Gaga. The song is about being in a long distance relationship solely depending on the telephone as their communication. The song became a dance hit in 1980’s and reached the US top 10.

Lady Gaga has paired with another superstar, Beyonce. Their team-up in this song has became worldwide successful after reaching the top ten and number in many countries worldwide. In the US, it reached number 3 according to Billboard. While it reached number one in the UK.

Verdict:
Sheena Easton- Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)
Melody and Lyrics- 3.5 / Success- 3.0 = 6.5

Lady Gaga and Beyonce- Telephone
Melody and Lyrics- 3.25 / Success- 3.75 = 7.0

Winner: Lady Gaga and Beyonce won by 0.50 points against Sheena Easton for the “Telephone” battle.

Amy Winehouse vs Rihanna
Amy Winehouse brought this song about after her experiences. She is vocal about her drug addiction, which led to this song. The song became her most succesful song which also led to her very successful album “Back to Black”. It went to top 10 in many countries including US and UK.

Rihanna did her “Rehab” song but not a literal rehab which was co-penned by Justin Timberlake, which he also appeared in the music video. The song became a top 20 hit in many countries.

Verdict:
Amy Winehouse- Rehab
Melody and Lyrics- 3.25 / Success- 3.25 = 6.5

Rihanna- Rehab
Melody and Lyrics – 3.0 / Success- 3.0= 6.0

Winner: Amy Winehouse trumped Rihanna to win the “Rehab” battle.

Credits to Wikipedia / Billboard

Music

Song Reviews: Beyonce, Zayn, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Future

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There are tons of new songs recently and here are my reviews with those songs:

Beyonce- Formation
It’s been quite a long time since Beyonce released a single. It seems she is back with this new song “Formation” which has been highly controversial. The song which talks about discrimination against black people, Louisiana, police brutality, etc. received backlash as well as its music video. She is even accused of being a racist. The song’s structure is hip-hop and R&B and reminds me of her own song “7/11” and I don’t think the sound is something new compared to her other songs.
Rating: 6.75 out of 10

Zayn- Pillowtalk
Finally, Zayn got to release his first ever single as a solo artist after almost one year of leaving One Direction. The song is about in a relationship which feels like a paradise and warzone, according to its lyrics, which simply means the relationship is strained. Zayn finally got to take control of his own sound which is R&B with electronic sound.
Rating: 8 out of 10

Rihanna ft. Drake- Work
Rihanna is finally back with a single for her new album “Anti”. The song which she collaborated again with Drake after some singles they released in the past already accessed the top 5 in many territories. The song wasn’t just as good as her past carrier single songs, though it is catchy. The phrase “work, work, work, work, …” was just too overused.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Flo Rida- My House
The song may be released a few months ago but it just gaining a momentum at this moment as it finally reached the US top 5. The song is a mid-tempo R&B hip-hop song and it is undeniably catchy.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Future ft. The Weeknd- Low Life
Rapper Future this time collaborated with R&B singer The Weeknd and the song sounds like exactly the fusion of the two artists. The song which is in slow-tempo is something you can hear from old records of The Weeknd.
Rating: 8 out of 10

Music

Female Singers Who Were Featured in Several Singles

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Female singers oftentimes used to fill a song especially in love songs or rap/sung singles. Some of these female artists has been in demand. Check them below:

Beyonce
Beyonce has been featured a number of times in songs. In her discography, she has been featured more than 10 times. The most popular song which she was featured was Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” which hit number one in some countries. Her collaboration with hubby Jay-Z, “03 Bonnie and Clyde” was a top 10 hit in many countries.

Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson’s career is still going on its 4th decade and she scored a lot of her own hits. However, she has been featured more than 10 times in songs too, which the most notable ones were Michael Jackson’s “Scream” and “What It’s Gonna Be” with rapper Busta Rhymes.

 

Christina Aguilera
There’s a time when Christina Aguilera was featured in one song to another. Aside from her own hits, she has scored hits along with other singers’ own singles. Her memorable songs as featured artists were Ricky Martin’s “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely” and “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5, which the latter is a number one hit worldwide.

Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez had a string of hits worldwide as her own, but she had more than 10 singles as featured artist. Most of these songs were from fellow Latinos, but her biggest featured single was “Control Myself” by LL Cool J.

Alicia Keys
With her talent and success with her career, Alicia Keys was often invited to duet with other artists. She had more than 10 songs which she shared her vocals with and the biggest hit was Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”.

Rihanna
Rihanna had a lot of number one hits already as a solo artist. She also had hits as solo artists and most of the songs she was featured were hits or had charted. Some of these songs even went to number 1. The most successful collaboration she was featured was both a song Eminem, “Love the Way You Lie” and “The Monster”.

Ashanti
During the early days of her singing career, she had hit songs as featured artist and most of these songs went to the top 10. She was featured in more than 10 songs and the most popular were Ja Rule’s singles “Always on Time” and “Mesmerize”, and the other song which is “What’s Luv?” by Fat Joe.

Some facts from Wikipedia

Music

Trends and Cliches in Mainstream Music (Since 2010)

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Since 2010, there are a lot of changes in music industry and we also witnessed how album sales went down. Though, we saw the success and record breaking success of Adele as the most successful artist in this era. Here are some of the trends and cliches in music industry since 2010:

Electronic dance music (EDM)
Electronic dance music continued to dominate all the genres. We heard successful records from David Guetta, Avicci, Calvin Harris, Zedd, and a lot more. Even most pop stars and even R&B singers sung a lot of dance music, showing how popular the genre is. Some of them were Rihanna, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Britney Spears, Usher, and a lot more.

Music crossover to pop
There were a lot of artists who changed or tried other genres which led to their notable success, though some did not succeed. Maroon 5 may already had pop hits before 2010, however, they became full time pop band with their 2012 album “Overexposed” and their recent “V”. Taylor Swift is the most successful in crossing over to pop. She gave a taste of pop tunes in her partly pop, partly country album “Red”. With her latest album “1989”, she became a fully-pledged pop star.

Formerly teen stars going sexy
There were a lot young stars before 2010 who took the “good girl, gone bad” route. Miley Cyrus became the most controversial who went naked in “Wrecking Ball”, magazine covers, parties and the raunchy performance on VMA 2013. Selena Gomez also went naked in her current album cover “Revival” and music video. Demi Lovato also went sexier on her new album “Confident”.

Million selling first week
It seems the phenomenon during first half of 2000s is happening since 2010 despite the sales are going down with albums. Taylor Swift has the most nunber of albums to reach the million threshold. Her third studip release “Speak Now” reached over 1.04 million on its first week according to Soundscan. Her fourth album “Red” sold higher with 1.21 million, while her recent and current album exceeded 1.28 million. But the recordbreaker and fastest among all was Adele’s “25”, which exceeded 3.38 million.

Soundtracks
Soundtrack albums did well since 2010. “Frozen” is the most successful which became very successful in 2014. Other successful soundtracks were “Fifty Shades of Grey”, Pitch Perfect 1 and 2, “Furious 7”, “Glee” albums, and a lot more.

Retro music
It seems retro and old music is incorporated in music of some pop stars. Meghan Trainor is known for her pop, soul and doo wop sound on her “Title” album. Charlie Puth incorporated Motown sound on his music, and the 80’s sound on Carly Rae Jepsen’s sound on her “Emotions” LP.

Surprise releases of albums
Beyonce broke record for releasing surprise album and went to number 1 with massive sales. Other artists followed suit which included Drake.

Credits to Wikipedia, Billboard, Soundscan

Music

Yearend Special: Top Female Artists 2015

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Female artists played a big part in music this year. Despite male singers dominated the music charts more this year, some female singers did very well and as the year started, a female singer led the charts. The 10 top female artists this year below:

Taylor Swift
The year started with Taylor Swift dominating the music scene as “1989” is still the top album. She also had 5 top ten singles this year which included 2 chart-topping songs.

Meghan Trainor
Meghan released her debut LP as the year started which quickly reached number 1 including US and UK. She did big with “All About that Bass” late last year but she followed with 3 more hits this year.

Adele
Her comeback was announced this last quarter but she easily topped all of the female artists. Her “25” LP effortlessly outsold all of the albums from any artists this year in just few weeks, while “Hello” is one of the biggest songs.

Ellie Goulding
British singer Ellie Goulding scored his biggest hit ever with “Love Me Like You Do” and had a comeback collaboration with Calvin Harris. She just scored her latest top 5 album called “Delirium”.

Rihanna
Her new album “Anti” may not have released yet, but she is one of the most anticipated for a comeback this year. Apart from the “Home” soundtrack, she already released 2 top 20 hits, the folk influenced “FourFiveSeconds” which settled in top 5 worldwide and another explicit top 20 hit.

Selena Gomez
After taking a new sound with top 10 hit “The Heart Wants What It Wants”, she further incorporated a great new sound with “Revival” which recently topped the charts which already had two top 20 hits including the sultry “Good for You”.

Sia
“Chandelier” extended its success in the charts this year followed by the electro-pop “Elastic Heart”. He had numerous Grammy nominations this year.

Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato also infused a new sound and has gone sexier. Her summer track “Cool for the Summer” did well in the charts globally as well as number 2 LP “Confident”.

Jessie J
With the success of “Bang Bang” with two successful artists, Jessie J continued her streak with a contribution for “Pitch Perfect 2” soundtrack.

Madonna
Madonna is back as she topped the dance music scene. Her album though failed a top debut as it peaked at 2nd.

Some facts from Wikipedia

Music, TV Shows

Recap: Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 2 (December 6, 2015)

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It’s the last episode of Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 2 before the finale next week. Last night, it has been a great episode from five celebrity performers who did very well with their performances. Three remaining celebrities performed tonight and they all did very well too.

Sam Concepcion as Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake
“Love Never Felt So Good”
It might be said that Sam’s style might resemble with the two icons but it is never easy. Dancing like the two icons and singing like them is such a difficult job but Sam did very well again in this performance.

Myrtle Sarosa as Nicki Minaj and Rihanna
“Fly”
For the first time, Myrtle rapped and she did extremely well. She rapped like the rap queen though not too convinced with Rihanna. But Nicki Minaj impersonation is enough for me to say it is a great performance.

Eric Nicolas as Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole
Eric did a decent performance as father and daughter, Nat King and Natalie Cole. The voices are okay, it’s just that the impersonation wasn’t given too much justice.

This week has been the best episodes (with last night) so far from Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 2. Every performances were entertaining and exciting.
My top 10 for all the performances:
1. Michael Pangilinan
2. Sam Concepcion
3. Denise Laurel
4. Myrtle Sarosa
5. KZ Tandingan
6. Kakai Bautista
7. Kean Cipriano
8. Eric Nicolas

The results this week:
1. Michael Pangilinan
2. KZ Tandingan
3. Denise Laurel
4. Sam Concepcion
5. Myrtle Sarosa
6. Kakai Bautista
7. Kean Cipriano
8. Eric Nicolas

Since it’s the last episode, the top four would be announced. Nevertheless, there’s a tie so 5 celebrities will be go for the finals. Here are the top 5 celebrities who made to the finals:
Sam Concepcion
Kean Cipriano
KZ Tandingan
Michael Pangilinan (tie)
Denise Laurel (tie)

Congratulations to all who made it to the top 5 and of course to Michael Pangilinan who was this week’s winner.

Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 2 Finale will be next Saturday and Sunday night on ABS-CBN 2.