November 30, 2007

on Leave a Comment

Grammy Special on CBS Tonight



There will be a special airing on CBS tonight at 8PM featuring 25 of the greatest Grammy performances as chosen by the fans.

Watch the 50 videos that were in contention.
on Leave a Comment

t.A.T.u. - White Robe (Russian Version)

Russian female duo t.A.T.u. are no strangers to controversy, whether it be their lyrics, photoshoots or their music videos. Their next studio album, tentatively titled Waste Management will be released in 2008 along with a movie in which the girls will appear. Their latest music video for the Russian version of "White Robe" premiered yesterday. This is a censored version. A director's cut featuring some more footage will be made available later on.
on Leave a Comment

Rihanna - 7 out of 7

Rihanna recently mentioned her aspirations to be just as successful and iconic as Madonna is, and she has already shown some similarities. She has managed have 7 consecutive number one hits out of 7 singles that charted. Her 8th, "Breaking Dishes" has just debuted. Could she break Kristine W's record of 9 weeks? Let's wait and see.

DANCING IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT:
Rihanna's latest dance single, "Shup Up and Drive" (SRP/Def Jam), shifts into first place on Hot Dance Club Play, giving the singer from Barbados her seventh chart-topper on this list. Rihanna now has a perfect record of seven out of seven No. 1 hits, stretching from her debut release, "Pon De Replay" in 2005, to her current song.

Rihanna is tied for second place with Janet Jackson and Madonna among artists with the longest strings of No. 1 hits on the Club Play chart. Jackson's streak began with a remix of "When I Think of You" in 1986 and ran through a remix of "Alright" in 1990, covering a period of three years, seven months and two weeks.

Madonna has two separate runs of consecutive seven No. 1 singles on the Club Play chart. From a remix of "Causing a Commotion" in 1987 to "Justify My love" in 1991, Madonna took three years, two months and three weeks to line up her first run of seven No. 1s. Her second string began in 1999 with "Nothing Really Matters" and ended in 2001 with "Impressive Instant," taking two years, eight months and one week.

Rihanna's seven chart-toppers were assembled in record time -- just two years and two months. Her latest single, "Breakin' Dishes," enters the chart at No. 40 this week. Should it become Rihanna's eighth No. 1 in a row, it will catapult her into second place all by herself. She'll need two more No. 1 hits to surpass the record-holder. Kristine W's first nine chart entries all spent time in the penthouse. The run began with "Feel What You Want" in 1994 and ended with "The Wonder of It All" in 2005. Kristine W's seventh No. 1 was "Fly Again" in 2003, which means it took her nine years, four months and one week to collect her first seven chart-toppers.

Here is a summary of Rihanna's seven No. 1 hits:

"Pon De Replay," one week (2005)
"SOS," one week (2006)
"Unfaithful," one week (2006)
"We Ride," one week (2007)
"Umbrella," two weeks (2007)
"Don't Stop the Music," one week (2007)
"Shut Up and Drive," one week (2007)

November 29, 2007

on Leave a Comment

Cascada - What Hurts The Most

While the Rascal Flatts version of this song continues to garner plenty of airplay on Country and AC stations, this one never truly crossed over to Pop. German Dance act Cascada has covered "What Hurts The Most" as a Dance track nearly a year after remixer Lenny Bertoldo and singer Lyle did. It did fairly well on the Dance Radio chart. Their version was a fixture on the in-store playlist at the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing stores earlier this year.

Vocalist Natalie Horler does a great job on this one, as usual. The "jump up" production style that has been characterist of most previous Cascada releases is here too, but it gives the track the "oomph" it needs. There are plenty of remixes on both the import and domestic releases. The milder mixes by Fugitive (on the UK release) and Spencer & Hill (on the U.S. and several other ones) are quite enjoyable. They are not quite as in-your-face and are a bit more subdued. Both are quite lovely. Yanou's Candlelight version is also very well-done too. The U.S. iTunes release contains all of those mixes. There's something for everyone. Check out the video.

Grade: A-
on Leave a Comment

Enur - Calabria 2007

The familiar sax sample has made regular appearances in clubland for the last 5 years. It most notably was used in the official mashup "Destination Calabria" by Alex Gaudino and Crystal Waters. The song did pretty well on the European charts and did only slightly well on the Dance radio chart here. Signed to Ultra Records in the U.S., this mishmash of Reggae, Rap, Hip Hop and Dance has already begun to get considerable airplay. Pop and Rhythmic stations are jumping on board and giving this one prime exposure. Mega station Z100 has championed this one and the other stations are following. "Calabria 2007" also features a somewhat scandalous video that is worth noting as well.

Miami-based rapper Pitbull has gotten into the act and has recorded a track called "The Anthem" that also contains the ubiquitous sax sample. It almost sounds like the familiar Latin drum beat used in Bob Sinclar's "Rock This Party" from last year. This one could be huge in clubs with the right remix. Although, all is really needed here is an extended version.

Overall, the "Calabria 2007" track would work well in the clubs as it would be a floorfiller, but maybe not so much on the radio, but it's doing well. The vocals could grate on your last nerve after a short time.

Grade: C+ (for "Calabria 2007")

Grade: B+ (for the Pitbull track)
on Leave a Comment

Janet Jackson--New album coming soon

Hot on the heels of the commercial and critical disappointment that was 20 Y.O., a new album, on a new label will be released in the early part of 2008.

November 27, 2007, 11:05 AM ET
Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter

Janet Jackson's as-yet-untitled debut album for Island Def Jam will be released in February. The artist is also prepping a worldwide tour to promote the follow-up to 2006's "20 Y.O." In addition, Jackson has signed with the William Morris Agency for representation in all areas.

Jackson comes to the company after a starring role in Tyler Perry's hit "Why Did I Get Married?" She will be repped by a team of agents led by Dave Wirtschafter and Charles King that will run across multiple divisions of the agency, including film, touring, licensing and merchandising, television, theater, publishing and new technology.

Jackson said she was attracted to the agency because of its long history. She continues to be repped by managers Johnny Wright and Kenneth Crear as well as attorney Don Passman.

As for Jackson's new album, it is being executive produced by Def Jam CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid rather than Jackson's boyfriend, Island Urban president Jermaine Dupri.


Dupri is working on Mariah Carey's new album, which should be out next spring. "We're going to make it seem like we're in competition to see who's going to have the biggest album of the year," he told Billboard in July.

on Leave a Comment

Justin Timberlake - FutureSexLoveSounds re-release

After selling pretty well and earning several major awards, some had wondered if a re-release would ever happen. It did happen on November 27. In addition to the regular album, there are several additional remixes and a DVD. Noticeably missing are "Pose" and "Boutique In Heaven" which were bonus tracks on certain editions of the album when the initial release occurred in 2006. Remixes (read: non-Dance) are included for "Until The End Of Time" (now featuring additional vocals by Beyoncé Knowles), "Sexy Ladies" (now featuring 50 Cent), and "Sexyback" (featuring Missy Elliott and Timbaland). That's all, well, for the audio portion of the program. The DVD includes music videos for "Sexyback", "My Love", "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around", "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows"

The question on most of our minds is: Who will buy this re-release? This is definitely for fans who collect anything and everything Justin. However, this is perfect for those who did not purchase the album the first time around. Is this re-release really worth purchasing? Yes and no. For the same reasons. Though, the music videos for this era are just amazing.

Grade: A+ (for the original release of the album)
Grade: B- (for the re-release)
on Leave a Comment

An open letter to the readers of this blog

Dear Blog Readers,

I apologize for not having updated for like the last hundred years. LOL. I had been super busy with a day job. Now that I have been set free. LOL again. I will try to keep this blog as updated as I can.

The re-launch of the blog will happen tomorrow.

Thanks for understanding.

-Disco Cowboy
 
© Sweet Muzik
Designed by BlogThietKe Cooperated with Duy Pham
Released under Creative Commons 3.0 CC BY-NC 3.0
Posts RSSComments RSS
Back to top