Nick Jonas - Jealous

Nick was a formerly a member of the teen group The Jonas Brothers with his brothers Joe and Kevin. They recently went their separate ways. He recently showcased his new, mature musical direction with "Chains" a few weeks back. "Jealous" is a groovy R&B/Electro-pop track. One could compare the style of the song to that of Miguel's recent material. Nick's falsetto-laden vocals are a joy to listen to. The song has already begun to gain traction on radio just a week after its release. This has serious crossover potential and will be a multiformat smash.

Listen to the song here (YouTube)

Grade: A

Mariah Carey feat Miguel - #Beautiful (Louie Vega remix)

The R&B song has been doing its thing on radio for the last few weeks. Earlier this week, Mariah unveiled one of the rap mixes featuring an added verse by A$ap Rocky. Today she unveiled the first dance remix by Louie Vega, one half of legendary House production team Masters At Work. The R&B song translates perfectly into Louie's style as it has a soulful, laidback feel. However, the melody of the production seems to not match the vocals all that well. It seems a little off. The remix really lacks direction in its edit. The full length version might flow better as it may have additional instrumental buildups, however, this edit just falls short. Mariah and her team must be commended for selecting someone who hasn't done a mainstream remix of this nature in almost 8 years. 

Listen to the mix here (YouTube)

Grade: B-

Mariah Carey feat Miguel - #Beautiful

This is the highly anticipated single from Mariah's upcoming new album. She teams up with sexy R&B singer Miguel who recently smashed with "Adorn." Produced by Mariah herself, Miguel, and Happy Perez, the song is a mature R&B midtempo. It has an early 90s feel, yet with all the recent throwbacks, it will be perfectly at home on radio and it will stand out too. The song ends up being a duet with slightly more of Miguel than Mariah on lead, but it all works. Mariah sings in a full voice versus the sensual whispering she is known for sometimes. Miguel sounds smooth. They complement one another and blend so well. The slightly sexual lyrics are suitable for a song of this nature. Overall, this is an amazing song and is a great taste of what is to come with the new album. R&B is back in a big way.

Listen to the song here:

Buy the song on iTunes here

Grade: A

My thoughts on the 2013 Grammys

In the nearly 6 years I have been writing the blog, I haven't done something like this, but after some asked me to, I decided to jot down my thoughts on this year's Grammy awards ceremony. I noted down everything as it happened live on my iPad and then posted everything uncensored, unfiltered, but with some copy editing so it's coherent. I would have live tweeted it, but I am too much of a perfectionist and it would take substantially longer to articulate my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Here it is: