American Idol is now down to five ladies and I will argue that it is the best top five in the history of the program and definitely vocally the most talented in Idol’s 12 seasons. Tonight the ladies put it all out on the stage in a divalicious smack down as they covered the great divas including Whitney, Celine, Barbra, Beyonce and of course Mariah which led to a fantastic second half of the show. Now, the first half wasn’t too bad either as the women sang “Songs From the Year they Were Born”, but it paled in comparison to the “Diva” round… So, just which performances overall were the best and which lady is in danger of going home? That is, if any of them actually go home~ hello the “Save” is still supposedly in play…. Take a look at my rankings and predictions below.
American Idol Rankings 4/17/13 ~ the great 1. Angie- “Halo”: I really had trouble trying to decide what was the best performance of the night, but to my shock I’m giving it to Angie’s fantastic interpretation of this Beyonce smash. It wa a daunting task that she handled tremendously and it was easily the best, and my favorite, Angie joint since her original song in Hollywood week. TIE 2. Amber- “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”: Amber gave an insanely perfect vocal on this Barbra Streisand song I’ve never heard of tonight. It was gorgeous and glorious, much like Amber herself. She is so perfect with these jazzy standards that I think perhaps she could do a Norah Jones type record in the future and have a great deal of success. TIE 2. Candice- “When You Believe”: this song had the perfect arc, perfect emotion and the perfect vocal. Candice had me in tears by the end and truly did Whitney and Mariah proud. 4. Candice- “Straight Up”: With fantastic reworking of the # 1 smash from 1989 by original Idol judge Paula Abdul, Candice proved her versatility and song choice savvy. This was another wonderful performance in a season where Candice can simply do no wrong. ~ the good: 5. Amber- “Without You”: I really liked this performance and Amber’s vocals were naturally great. I also enjoyed her vocal choices to differentiate it from Mariah’s version. Really good job. ~ the pretty good 6. Kree- “Have You Ever Been in Love?”: Kree’s take on this Celine Dion hit was quite nice and effortless. I really felt her emotion and longing. However, she hit some off notes for once, but still a solid showing. 7. Kree- “She Talks to Angels”: I really loved the acoustic opening to this Black Crowes cover. However, the rest of the song felt a little route and forced. That said, Kree’s voice was beautiful on it. Maybe I just expected more from it? ~ the decent 8. Angie Miller- “I’ll Stand by You”: while I appreciated the sentiment of the song and her dedication to Boston, Angie really over-performed the song and lost a lot of the meaning for me. She also hit some rather wonky notes along the way. 9. Janelle- “When I Call Your Name”: Janelle’s vocals were really beautiful and lovely on this Vince Gill track. I just wish it wasn’t so boring and surprisingly emotionally disconnected. 10. Janelle- “Dumb Blonde”: while I though it was a fun performance and I love Janelle’s personality, this Dolly Parton cover fell flat. She didn’t have the vocal prowess to make it unique and it felt a little too literal of an interpretation of the song.
Predictions~ Bottom two: Janelle and Amber (only because they seem to be the ones with the smallest fan bases) Going home: Janelle
* BUT ACTUALLY I THINK NO ONE WILL GO HOME~ I think they’ll either activate the “Save” (especially if Amber is the lowest vote getter) or the Producers will just declare it a “No Elimination” week. That happened once before with the Idol Gives Back show in season 6 I believe, so it’s not unprecedented.
So, that’s my take on the Idol women and their Diva ways. I was shocked Angie had my favorite song of the night and a little underwhelmed that the girl I’m still betting will win it all, Kree, had a slightly off night. I was also on the Amber/Candice love train again and I just hope these two divas can go to the top three together. We will see…. And we’ll see who, or if anyone at all, gets sent home tomorrow night on American Idol… featuring a guest appearance by one of their own Idol divas, Clay Aiken!!! hehe,
British boy band One Direction grab their second consecutive # 1 album in less than a year this week as they debut on top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart with their sophomore release Take Me Home. The set sells a big 540,000 copies for the third best debut this year after Mumford & Sons and Taylor Swift. Speaking of Swift, she’s the one who gets booted out of the top spot after three weeks at the summit. Other new albums debuting in the top ten this week include the final Twilight soundtrack and releases from The Weekend, Soundgarden, Green Day, Lana Del Rey and Christina Aguilera whose Lotus becomes her 6th top ten album but opens at a slightly disappointing # 7…. For more on the albums chart and One Direction’s big week, head to Billboard hereand check out the new top ten below.
Top Ten Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Take Me Home- One Direction (debut)
2. Red- Taylor Swift (last week~ 1)
3. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2- soundtrack (debut)
4. Trilogy- The Weekend (debut)
5. King Animal- Soundgarden (debut)
6. Merry Christmas Baby- Rod Stewart (lw~ 3)
7. Lotus- Christina Aguilera (debut)
8. Now 44 Compilation- Various Artist (lw~ 2)
9. Dos- Green Day (debut)
10. Paradise- Lana Del Rey (debut)
Over on the Hot 100, Rihanna makes waves as her single “Diamonds” finally unseats Maroon 5‘s “One More Night” after a surprisingly long 9 weeks on top. With her latest chart topper, Rihanna ties Madonna and The Supremes for the fourth most # 1′s in chart history with 12 apiece. (Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and The Beatles are all ahead of them)… We’ll see how long Rihanna can rule as Bruno Mars and The Lumineers are climbing fast. Take a gander at the new top ten below and head to Billboard here for more on all the singles charts.
Top Ten Singles on the Hot 100:
1. “Diamonds”- Rihanna (last week~ 2)
2. “One More NIght”- Maroon 5 (lw~ 1)
3. “Die Young”- Ke$ha (lw~ 3)
4. “Locked Out of Heaven”- Bruno Mars (lw~ 6)
5. “Some Nights”- fun. (lw~ 4)
6. “Let Me Love You (Until You Love Yourself)”- NeYo (lw~8)
7. “Gangnam Style”- Psy (lw~ 5)
8. “Ho Hey”- The Lumineers (lw~ 13)
9. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”- Taylor Swift (lw~ 7)
10. “I Cry”- Flo Rida (lw~ 10)
And one final note belongs to the late great Whitney Houston whose new hits package, I WIll Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston featuring her 11 # 1 songs and more, debuts at # 14 on the Billboard 200 and # 2 on the R&B Albums chart. It is one of several hits albums that should sell well this holiday season including Kelly Clarkson‘s first hits set that will debut next week…. For the moment, please enjoy this incredible live performance of Houston’s #1 smash from 1987 “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” below.
We lost a legend earlier this year with the passing of my favorite vocalist of all time, the most-Awarded female singer of all time, Whitney Houston. While “the voice” has officially been silenced, her legacy lives on with her new Hits collection, I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston out November 13th. Lucky for us, we will get some new music on this collection that will include her 11 # 1 Hits and more. Earlier this fall, I shared the new duet version of her single “I Look to You” with R. Kelly and now we get another new track “Never Give Up”. The inspirational mid-tempo R&B track sounds like it would’ve gone perfectly with the music of her last album, 2009′s I Look to You. The song, written by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael-Cox, will be available for purchase next week at all digital retailers, but you can listen to it below. Enjoy…. And watch for the CBS Whitney special We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Tribute to Whitney Houston featuring performances from Jennifer Hudson, Usher and Celine Dion along with classic Houston clips to air Nov. 16th. For more on all things Whitney, head here and check out “Never Give Up” below.
We lost the woman who many would agree had the best voice in the history of pop music earlier this year with the passing of the iconic Grammy winning Whitney Houston. The singer, actress, producer, and mother to Bobbi Kristina left us far to soon, but she also left a body of work that is simply sensational. And on November 13th, you can celebrate “The Voice” with the release of I Will Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston, a new greatest hits collection. This one will include her 11 # 1 Hot 100 chart toppers (including her record-breaking 7 consecutive # 1′s) plus several top ten smashes and two new recordings. The first is a duet version of her hit “I Look to You” with the song’s writer R.Kelly and the second is a never before released single from the 90′s entitled “Never Give Up”. I’m especially excited for the latter song, and you can hear her new duet below…. The album will be released in a single disc version and a deluxe set. Check out the track list for both albums below and celebrate Whitney on November 13th and watch for her the dvd of her final film Sparkle to hit stores at the end of the year.
I WIll Always Love You: The Best of Whitney Houston
1. You Give Good Love
2. Saving All My Love For You
3. How Will I Know? [Remastered]
4. Greatest Love Of All
5. I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Remastered]
6. Didn’t We Almost Have It All?
7. So Emotional [Remastered]
8. Where Do Broken Hearts Go?
9. I’m Your Baby Tonight
10. All The Man That I Need
11. I Will Always Love You
12. I’m Every Woman
13. I Have Nothing [Remastered]
14. Exhale (Shoop Shoop)
15. I Believe In You And Me [Film Version]
16. My Love Is Your Love
17. I Look To You (With R. Kelly)
18. Never Give Up (Unreleased Song)
Deluxe Version (2nd disc)
1. Love Will Save The Day
2. One Moment In Time [Remastered]
3. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (With Aretha Franklin)
4. My Name Is Not Susan
5. I Belong To You
6. Run To You
7. Queen Of The Night [Radio Edit]
8. Count On Me (With CeCe Winans)
9. Step By Step
10. It’s Not Right But It’s Okay
11. I Learned From The Best
12. If I Told You That
13. Heartbreak Hotel (Featuring Kelly Price & Faith Evans)
14. Million Dollar Bill
And here’s her new duet version of “I Look to You” with R. Kelly
* And here’s some interesting tidbits… Hit songs missing from both versions of I Will Always Love You include “Hold Me” (her hit debut duet with Teddy Pendergrass), “Miracle” (a # 9 hit from 1991), her iconic top ten hit version of “The Star Spangled Banner”, “When You Believe” (her Oscar-winning hit duet with Mariah Carey), “We Didn’t Know” (her R&B hit duet with Stevie Wonder),”Why Does It Hurt So Bad?” (her top 30 hit from Waiting to Exhale), “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” (her comeback anthem and the remix was a # 1 dance hit) and no songs from her 2002 album Just Whitney.
Glee is back this Thursday with another tribute episode. After taking on Madonna, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, the show takes on another superstar diva… Britney Spears. Yes, it’s Britney 2.0…. Glee will tackle 8 more Spears hits including the iconic “Oops… I Did It Again”, the lovely ballad “Everytime” plus two more # 1 hits “Womanizer” and “Hold It Against Me”. Now, I have your first look at this week’s new episode with the full video for “Hold” below. (And for full music previews of the show’s songs, head to mjsbigbloghere.) Enjoy and watch the rejuvenated season 4 of Glee Thursday on Fox following Britney herself on The X Factor.
Glee “Hold It Against Me”- Brittany (Heather Morris)
Earlier this year, we lost what I consider to be the best singer of the pop music age, Grammy winning icon, Whitney Houston, aka “The Voice”. She was gone too soon and we will all miss her. Today, would’ve been her 49th birthday and so I wish her a very special Happy Birthday Whitney!
Houston was such an accomplished singer and performer that the Guiness Book of World Records names her as the most awarded singer in history. Well deserved I say… And she still has some music on the way for us. The soundtrack to her final film, Sparkle, is out now and the film hits theaters next week. It features the Adult R&B and AC hit “Celebrate” a duet with co-star Jordin Sparks and her version of the gospel classic “His Eye on the Sparrow”… And today, her record company announced they will be releasing an all new Greatest Hits collection of Whitney songs this fall. The album will likely include her 11 # 1 singles (7 of which hit the top consecutively, a record which still stands today) and her 23 top ten singles. I can’t wait. When the full track listing and information are release, I will let you know. In the meantime, let’s all wish Whitney a Happy Birthday and please enjoy her very appropriate Olympic anthem from 1988 below, “One Moment in Time” which I say is arguably her best vocal ever.
Whitney Houston “One Moment in Time” (live at the 1989 Grammys)
The late great Grammy winning superstar Whitney Houston’s final film Sparklehits theaters on August 17th and the soundtrack features her final musical recordings. The first single from the film is the awesome duet “Celebrate” by Houston and the film’s other star Jordin Sparks. The singer play mother and daughter in the film which tells the story about a singer’s rise to fame in the Motown era and her family. You can see their chemistry in the first trailer I posted a few months back and you can hear how great they sound on their new single which is already top 20 at Urban AC radio, top 30 at AC radio and about to hit top 40 on the R & B charts. Now, the video for the single has hit the web, and in it, Sparks and her films costars pay tribute to Houston. Check out the uplifting and fun video below and watch for the Sparkle soundtrack to hit stores in August.
I’ve been waiting for the next hilarious girl comedy following last year’s brilliant Oscar nominated Bridesmaids. Lots of pundits and bloggers and studio execs have been looking for the next one too. However, all they had to do was check out the trailer for this fall’s musical comedy Pitch Perfectand the search would’ve been over. Check out the trailer for the film below. It looks like a riot and it stars Bridesmaids own scene stealer Rebel Wilson plus Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (who also sang up a storm in the wonderful indie Camp), Hairspray‘s Brittany Snow, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), Anna Camp (The Good Wife), and the amazing duo of Elizabeth Banks (who’s also a producer on the film) and John Michael Higgins (who I had the pleasure of working with on Kath & Kim). The comedy revolves around the rivalry between a capella singing groups in college and follows a wave a music films hitting theaters this year including this weekend’s Rock of Ages, August’s Sparkle with Jordin Sparks and the late great Whitney Houston and the sure-fire Oscar contender Les Miserables with Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman out at Christmas… So, get out your pitch-pipe and get ready to giggle when Pitch Perfect hits theaters on October 5th.
A few days ago, I gave you your first listen to new music from the late great Whitney Houston with her duet with Jordin Sparks, “Celebration”. The song will be included on the soundtrack to their new film Sparkledue in theaters August 17th. Now, we another new track has hit the web with Houston’s beautiful version of the Gospel classic “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. Take a listen below!
All season long on American Idol, Jessica Sanchez has been the premiere singer with pristine and perfect vocals and wonderful performances. Tonight on the finale, she did it again. With three tremendous performances, she absolutely schooled her competitor and the likely front-runner affable, southern guy Phillip Phillips. While both of these singers have good futures ahead of them, only one truly deserves to win the crown and only one is likely to become a pop superstar. That one is Jessica. The question is… can she actually win? Despite out-performing and easily out-singing Phillip throughout out the race, the white guy with a guitar has remained the fan favorite and has a huge tween girl/soccer mom (and probably some gay guys too) following because of his looks and charm. He is just the kind of guy who has won this show for the past four years (David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee Dewyze, Scotty McCreery) despite whether he’s worthy or not. Did he deserve to be in the finals in my opinion? No, maybe top five, but that’s it. However, we all know my opinion differs from America all the time or Carly Smithson, Adam Lambert, Crystal Bowersox and Pia Toscano would’ve been Idol winners…. So, just what is going to happen with tomorrow’s results? Let’s take a look at my rankings of the performances and my predictions below.
American Idol Season 11 Finale Performance Rankings~ 1. Jessica- “The Prayer”: with easily the best and most spine tingling vocal, Jessica blew me away with this gorgeous rendition of her song that was her “Contestant Favorite” choice. It was a simple heartfelt performance that soared into the heavens. I have no idea why the moronic judges were not on their feet… (Oh yeah, it was probably because it wasn’t in the script the producers clearly gave them for the night). 2. Jessica- “I Have Nothing”: with another powerhouse vocal, Jessica slayed the Whitney Houston classic from 1994′s The Bodyguard that was Idol creator Simon Fuller’s song choice. It was dramatic, flawless and fierce. This girl is amazing. 3. Phillip- “Home”: this was one of Phillip’s best performances of the season. Was it a get out of your seat moment, as it was for the judges? Absolutely not. The drummers and production were a rip off of winner Dewyze’s finale performance and the song was a total Mumford & Sons clone. Now, that’s actually a good thing because it sounded good on the whole. It just was no winning moment in my eyes… Oh and J.Lo, you’re a moron if you don’t know songs that sound like that. Just listen to the artists Randy mentioned right before your comments (Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes) or turn on the radio or watch the Grammys, hello! 4. Jessica- “Change Nothing”: with her assigned single song, Jessica gave another strong performance. She added a nice R&B swagger to this generic pop ballad that made it stand out from several other finale ballads in the past (Ahem, Jordin Sparks‘ “This is My Now” anyone?).. It was so frustrating to hear the judges rip apart Jessica for the song when it wasn’t her choice. Judge the singer not the song, especially when she wasn’t responsible for it. And she sang the song great! 5. Phillip- “Stand by Me”: Phillip’s song from Fuller was the Ben E. King classic and it was much better than I thought it was going to be. That said, it was just kinda blah. 6. Phillip- “Movin’ Out”: why on Earth did Phillip pick this Billy Joel song that he destroyed and ruined the first time for an encore? It was just as un-melodic and annoyingly- Dave Matthews-y as before. And yet, the judges praised it? Are they nuts? … Um, yes they are.
Predictions~ Will win: Phillip Should win: Jessica
So, I still think Phillip will win. I just hope I’m wrong because any rational person would agree that Jessica should and deserves to win. As my roommate Dave said, if only people voted with their ears instead of their eyes, then Jessica would be a shoo-in…. However, she may have to settle for being the better singer who ends up having the bigger career than the winner ala Adam Lambert (who just debuted at # 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart with his second release, Trespassing, by the way!) and Clay Aiken… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. She still has a shot. I think both singers have rabid fan bases and Jessica could pull an upset. I know I’m voting for her. Are you? Let me know below and watch the results show tomorrow night on Fox.
And for further proof Jessica SHOULD win, watch her sing “The Prayer” one more time… Hello, goosies!!!!!
American Idol is now down to five ladies and I will argue that it is the best top five in the history of the program and definitely vocally the most talented in Idol’s 12 seasons. Tonight the ladies put it all out on the stage in a divalicious smack down as they covered the great divas including Whitney, Celine, Barbra, Beyonce and of course Mariah which led to a fantastic second half of the show. Now, the first half wasn’t too bad either as the women sang “Songs From the Year they Were Born”, but it paled in comparison to the “Diva” round… So, just which performances overall were the best and which lady is in danger of going home? That is, if any of them actually go home~ hello the “Save” is still supposedly in play…. Take a look at my rankings and predictions below.
