DancePop Music Review

Alicia on Speed...

2010-01-31T15:28:00.003-06:00

Put It In A Love Song - Alicia Keys feat. Beyonce

Wow! Alicia Keys has recorded a song that's more than 3BPMs! What next? Kylie's jazz record will surface? Who knows what the world is coming to. But seriously...it works. This song is really good and grooves along nicely - and not just because of Beyonce - though she helps it a lot.

Put It In A Love Song isn't really mid-tempo but it's not really up-tempo either. It's somewhere in between, and it makes a really good urban pop song. And don't even get me started on the break down during the bridge and at the end of the song - I can't quit going around and singing it - OK and maybe doing a silly little Beyonce-esque dance too, much to much other half's chagrin.

I've read mixed reviews of the song, but the bad ones are wrong. LOL. This song is worth having because it's just plain ol' good pop. It's not complicated, there are no poetic earth shattering Alicia Keys or Sarah McLachlan type lyrics. It's just something you're really gonna like listening to. And it's nice to see Alicia Keys break out of her mold. Leona and A&R team...please take note!

On the Mraz Train...

2010-01-31T15:20:00.004-06:00

Hey, Soul Sister - Train

Not much to say about this song. I know it's been out for a while, but I just heard it for the first time. And is it just me, or is this a complete rip off of Jason Mraz's, I'm Yours? But as with pop, copying can work very well with artists. Apparently the song has gone platinum and it gave Train their second US top 10 hit.

Who knows, maybe it'll grow on me. I did absolutely love I'm Yours.

Put On Your Pop Shoes...

2010-01-07T17:19:00.003-06:00

Alexandra Burke - Broken Heels

X Factor has churned out some big hits in the UK in recent years - and no one is a better example of that than Alexandra Burke. How come the girl winners seem to be sticking around and the boys tend to fade away?

In any case, Alexandra is trying for her third UK #1 with Broken Heels. And I hope she gets it. I liked Bad Boys OK, but I think Broken Heels is better. It's pretty much pure pop with a hint of dance and R&B - just enough to make the song not cheesy pop. OK, it's close. But it's still really good.

And y'know what else is good? She's not releasing another ballad. That worked to get her the 2008 Christmas #1, and unlike Leona, she's managed to escape that stigma that ballads are all she's good at. Of course, if Leona would get Outta My Head released, that may change a few minds about what Leona is capable of. But I digress...

Of course, Broken Heels may not appeal to the male masses; since it's pretty much, as you can tell by its title, a girl power song. But the girls and the gays should get into Broken Heels easily. And let's face it, that's pop's target audience anyway.

Can't Get This Outta My Head...

2010-01-03T17:39:00.004-06:00

Leona Lewis - Outta My Head

WOW! That's what I have to say about Leona Lewis', "Outta My Head" from her second album Echo. Outta My Head is just absolutely incredible and absolutely PERFECT dance-pop. I said she played it safe with Happy, which while pretty successful in the UK, still didn't perform that great in the US. And I don't know if Outta My Head would fair any better over here, but I think it has a better shot than Happy did. And I think it could be massive in the UK if released at the right time and with the proper promotion.

Outta My Head is what they were looking for when Leona's label released Forgive Me as a pop song to show that Leona could do more than just sing a ballad. Had Outta My Head been released back then, she wouldn't have had to settle for a US flop and a UK #5. OMH would have been HUGE.

OMH starts out a pumpin, fast moving dance-pop song and never quits. Usually songs like this are mainly chorus driven (like Kylie's Like A Drug), but I think Outta My Head catches you in the main verses as well as the chorus. Leona hooks you into this song and never lets go. And if you've just gone through a break up - THIS is your ultimate, power break up song.

I was extremely disappointed when the second single from Echo was I Got You in the US. How stupid can A&R people be sometimes? This was as bad a choice as releasing All I See from Kylie's album X over here. HAPPY DIDN'T WORK. I Got You is just another rehashed version of the SAME thing. It's time to change it up. It's time for Outta My Head to be released - ASAP. I hope the rumors are true that Outta My Head is getting a UK release. I can't wait to see how it does.

OMG at OMH!!!!!! Download this song IMMEDIATELY!

Some Enjoyable Noise...

2010-01-03T17:27:00.003-06:00

OK so it's been two months since I've posted anything - sorry. I'm back now and hopefully will keep up with reviewing music better. There was about a month there that nothing new that I heard really inspired me to write about...then I found Leona Lewis', "Outta My Head." But that's for my next review. For this review, we'll be checking out the GREATLY underrated Noisettes.

Hailing from the UK, the Noisettes finally hit the mainstream last year with the UK #2, Don't Upset the Rythm. They should have released this as the first single in the US, but instead they went with Never Forget You. I like Never Forget You more, but I think Don't Upset the Rythm would have been more suited for radio in the US - especially since it came with remixes and charted on the club chart here.

So the UK over the past few years has gotten in the groove of somewhat 60s-styled, slower, jazzy, pop music a la Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele. Take those artists and give them a more upbeat, happy sound and you have the Noisettes. They are what Amy Winehouse would sound like if she got sober, started taking happy pills and fell in love.

And it just hit me, that The Noisettes aren't really dance-pop music. But I can't quit listening to Never Forget You. It's something different to stick on your iPod and enjoy. It makes you think of some good times that you once had with someone you loved - or still love. And as your listening to the song, remembering those good times, you just find yourself smiling.

I hope the Noisettes stick around for a long time. And I hope one day the US appreciates music like theirs.

Hopefully We're at 14:59...

2009-11-01T13:09:00.006-06:00

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Good gawd. I am probably the only gay guy who can't wait for Lady Gaga's 15 minutes to be up. Seriously. I'm usually so into trash pop dance songs and usually am so happy for any of them who end up crossing into the mainstream. But I just can't seem to get gaga about Lady Gaga. Maybe it's that her music isn't really that good. And her over-the-top style that's gotten so much attention has been around since Madonna and Kylie and other less-known artists started making music over 2o years ago.

Poker Face was brilliant. Paparazzi was OK at first but then became as annoying as the real paparazzi. And now Bad Romance should just be called Bad Trash Dance Song. It's sung in a deeper, throat voice, in similar style to what Britney has resorted to over the past several years, but at least Brit manages to pull it off most of the time. As much as I'm not a fan, I've heard Lady Gaga sing with just a piano, and she's got a good voice. But she sounds like crap singing the versuses on Bad Romance.

During the chorus, Lady sings in her normal voice and the song seems like it might be OK. Then by the end, it just doesn't hold up. It's plenty forgettable. And it sounds like it's trying to be Just Dance. Neither of which usually bothers me. Forgettable, redone pop can be good. Not in this case though.

I haven't been immune to Lady Gaga's powers - I did love Poker Face. But she hasn't done enough for me to get me on her Lady band wagon either. And Bad Romance just proves to me once more why she's probably going to be here today and gone tomorrow.

While I'm beating down Gaga - Fame Monster, the re-release of The Fame with an extra disc of 8 new songs, called Monster, where Bad Romance comes from is STUPID. Put three more songs on the disc and release a second album totally separate from The Fame. Or is Lady Gaga not that brave? Is she afraid she's just a one album blunder? I would be to if I were her. Then again I'd probably be smart enough to go ahead and release a second album while I was still so popular just in case it wasn't going to last.

Some Second Hand Fun...

2009-10-22T10:52:00.003-05:00

Ke$ha - Tik Tok

A friend of mine sent me an iTunes link to listen to Tik Tok a while back. Little did I know I had already dowloaded the song and while I thought it was a little catchy, I discounted it. Then I heard it again while watching the new Melrose Place. After that...it kind of stuck.

For some reason, I have no idea why, I just love the line, "Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack." I don't drink much, and I certainly don't drink Jack. But it's just funny to imagine a person doing that.

Tik Tok is a great party song. It's the kind of song that gets everyone moving and can get you in a really fun mood. It's the type of song that you'd listen to while you were getting ready to go out. Tik Tok can set the stage and get you pumped up. I just imagine a bunch of friends driving around at night in L.A. listening to this song. The track has a hint of urban, a hint of electro and a hint of pop. It's urban-electro-pop trash that's works pretty well.

Now, do I think this is a song that we'll be listening to several years from now? Probably not. And do I think that Ke$ha has a long solo career ahead of her? I'm not so sure about that based on Tik Tok and the other song of hers I heard on Melrose Place called Boots and Boys. For now though, we'll enjoy Tik Tok; it's plenty fun and worth having.

And while her solo career may be unlcear, Ke$ha has certainly made a career of guesting on records - Flo Rida's Round Round, Pitbull's Girls and Taio Cruz's upcoming UK single Dirty Picture. So at least she's got that just in case. In the meantime, Tik Tok seems to be working pretty well so far. At the time this is being written, Tik Tok is up to #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. I didn't see it in the Club Play chart yet, but I have a feeling that is coming.

About a Sugababe

2009-10-15T12:02:00.005-05:00

About a Girl - Sugababes

I've never liked a song so much that I was so disappointed in. When Keisha Buchanon said that the second single from the Sugababes upcoming album Sweet 7 was going to be a classic Sugababes stomper (I'm paraphrasing), she was right on the money. Unfortunately, the official version released won't feature Keisha, since she was outsted from the group in September.

Since Keisha was the last original member of the trio, is it really the Sugababes any more? No, it's not. So About a Girl should actually be credited to a female trio under a new name. Extremely, very disappointing for the 'babes.

Nonetheless, About a Girl is dance pop tune that's just about perfect. It starts off moving and never stops with its Oh Oh Ha Hayee Oh Oh hook and beats that you just can't help but move to. About a Girl is along the lines of Push the Button. You hear it and immediately know it's the Sugababes and realize why they are brilliant pop stars. Red One, who seems to be every where right now, produced this track and did a great job.

I think About a Girl is actually what the Sugababes where trying to acheive when they released Girls in 2007. That song was good, but it was pretty much panned on the Internet - though it reached #3 in the UK charts. I liked it at the time, but don't listen to it much when I'm playing past Sugababes' hits. So I wonder how good could it have really been? I'm glad they're back to recording and releasing songs worthy of the Sugababes name - even if they aren't really the Sugababes any more.

About a Girl is so Sugababes, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a pretty big UK hit even with the change in the line up. The test will be when subsequent singles are released and what they sound like - not to mention when the first Sugababes album without Keisha is released on November 23 in the UK. I also read that About a Girl was going to be the first Sugababes single released in the US since 2003's Hole in the Head.

As perfect as it is, I'm not sure About a Girl is the perfect song to release in the US to break the Sugababes. About a Girl is still pretty Euro, so I can't decide if Get Sexy (the 'babes previous single and UK #2) might be better to try to grab attention for this otherwise "new" group to America. I guess only time will tell.

By the way, you can find the Keisha version of About a Girl on the Internet ripped from the when the song first debuted on Radio One. And it's pretty high quality. I prefer this version to the official one that will be released with Jade Ewan's vocals. But I have to admit the song is so good, it works with either Keisha or Jade's voice.

Click here to watch the video.

You may not have heard...

2009-10-15T11:18:00.004-05:00

...but you should take a listen to:

Love Letter From Japan - The Bird and The Bee

The Fear - Lily Allen

Killer On The Dancefloor - Private

Into The Nightlife - Cyndi Lauper

Work (Freemasons Mix Edit) - Kelly Rowland

Lucky Number "3"

2009-10-07T15:19:00.002-05:00

3 - Britney Spears

Three has always been my lucky number - I was even born on 3/3. So I was really excited to learn that Britney's new single was called, "3." And when I heard 3, I was even more excited. So far, 3 is my favorite single that Britney has released since the absolutely brilliant Toxic (Kylie - why did you turn this song down!?! LOL).

Anyway, if you take a little bit of Flo Rida, Usher's "Yeah" and mix it with another really good Britney single, Piece of Me, then you get Brit Brit's latest offering with 3. And it reallly works. She's finally stepped away from doing too much R&B influenced pop and gone back to dance pop with a little bit of urban influence - and you know what? It really works.

3 is a floorfiller of a track that you just can't help but groove too. Now of course there's the contraversial part of 3, and that's it's subject matter. But if you just put the dirtyness aside and enjoy the song for the great dance pop that it is, it's easy to hear how good it is to have Britney back to just fun, simple dance pop that isn't trying too much to go for adds on urban radio - but just grooves along like a good dance pop song should.

You may not have heard...KYLIE kicks off North American Tour!

2009-09-30T10:15:00.005-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with Kylie Minogue. Uh no, I'm not just fan. It really is an obsession - but a healthy one. LOL!

I've flown to Europe twice to see her, along with my friend Ira and my mom, not just once but twice. Today, Kylie kicks off her first ever North American tour in Oakland, California. On Sunday, my other half, Ira and my mom will be in Los Angeles to catch this amazing Kylie event. Whoop!

In honor of Kylie, our "You may not have heard...but you should take a listen to..." will be dedicated to Kylie. Many people in North America think that Kylie has only had two hits - The Loco-Motion and Can't Get You Out of My Head. But in fact she is the biggest selling female artist in the UK since 1988 - and the second biggest female selling artist of all time there - Madonna being the first.

Where Madonna has been labeled the Queen of Pop, Kylie is known as the Princess of Pop everywhere in the world but in America.

I Should Be So Lucky - 1988 - Kylie's first UK single

Hand On Your Heart - 1989

What Do I Have To Do? - 1991

Confide In Me - 1994

Some Kind of Bliss - 1998

Did It Again - 1998 - Check out this video where four Kylie's fight each other!

Spinning Around - 2000

Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head - 2001 - Live performance of an awesome remix of Can't Get You Out of My Head mixed with Blue Monday in the background.

Slow - 2003

I Believe In You - 2004 - Kylie's brilliant collaboration with the Scissor Sisters

2 Hearts - 2007

Wow! - 2007

Cheryl, is this really an A-side or perhaps a really good B-side?

2009-09-21T10:43:00.007-05:00

Fight For This Love - Cheryl Cole

OK, so I've been wanting to review this song for a few weeks now. But the problem was I wanted to see the video first AND I wasn't quite really sure what I thought of it. Some days I liked it, some days it wasn't my favorite. Then I read on a thread that someone said the song was bland. And it hit me, that was probably somewhat true. BUT please keep reading; it's not all bad, I promise.

Anyone from the UK will know that Cheryl Cole is from the amazing girl band Girls Aloud - who had 20 top 10 hits in a row and put out some amazing music before deciding to take a year off to do solo projects. Fight For This Love is a decent pop song, but it wouldn't have been quite good enough to release as a Girls Aloud single. It actually would have been a fantastic B-side.

If it were a b-side, then you would have lowered your expectations a little and then you would have been pleasantly surprised by FFTL. That's probably how it should have gone. But since they decided to lead off with Fight as an A side, we'll have to make do. As I said before, Fight For This Love is a decent pop song; but I'm just not sure it would be a big hit without Cole's name attached to it.

Watch the video below and take a listen. It's slightly urban-dance-pop, but it doesn't stray too much from Cheryl's roots so that you don't recognize the kind of music she's famous for.

All that being said, it is good enough to get you wondering what the rest of her debut solo album will sound like...can't wait!!!

Cheryl Cole - Fight for This Love (Official Video) HQ
Uploaded by wonderful-life1989. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

You may not have heard...

2009-09-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

...but you should take a listen to:

(in honor of Cheryl Cole's new single, we'll review some of Girls Aloud's hit songs...)

Girls Aloud - Sound of the Underground
Girls Aloud - Biology
Girls Aloud - The Promise
Girls Aloud - Call the Shots
Girls Aloud - Untouchable
Girls Aloud - The Show
Girls Aloud - Sexy No No No
Girls Aloud - Jump
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer
Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind

Some of these are actually available on US iTunes - the songs, not the videos unfortunately. The songs that are not available can usually be found at the blog sites listed below. Or you can email me, and I can get the song to you if it's not available for purchase.

Where to find the music...

2009-09-19T15:03:00.003-05:00

A lof the music I review isn't available in the US - or isn't available over here yet. Of course I encourage everyone to check out iTunes to see if the songs I review are available for purchase, if you're interested in having the song.

But until the industry not-so-geniuses figure out that we live in a globalized society, and perhaps music should follow the same lead, here's where you can get your hands on some the foreign releases...

http://www.toxicstrut.net/poptastic/

http://www.thehypefactor.com/

http://www.popmusicuniverse.net/

http://www.gimmemore0304.com/

http://www.hardcandymusic.com/

http://remixes-galore.com/

http://www.remixarchive.net/

http://www.dirrtyremixes.com/

http://smchblog.blogspot.com/

Is it Saturday Yet?

2009-09-16T23:22:00.004-05:00

Forever Is Over - The Saturdays

After a very successful debut album, Chasing Lights, The Saturdays are back with a brand new single, Forever is Over - taken from upcoming album Colonial Masses. Where the singles from Chasing Lights were pretty much pure pop and dance-pop, Forever is Over takes a slightly more edgier sound.

Think back to when Kelly Clarkson's bitterness songs were still good and not quite as annoying yet. Then take that and mix it with Girls Aloud and a hint of Sugababes' About You Now. The result is a new Saturdays' single that sees the group take a step forward without completely leaving the pop genre or their fans behind. Pure pop fans might need a little time for this song to grow on them - it is a bit different from previous Saturdays' offerings. But after a few listens even the most die hard pop fan or Saturdays fan will realize what a pop gem this song is.

That being said, I do hope that the Saturdays have some songs on their new album that are reminescent of Chasing Lights, but good for them for not being afraid to offer something a little different just to shake things up.

Click here to watch the video.

It's Time for a Party!

2009-09-14T19:56:00.005-05:00

Celebration - Madonna

Madonna's latest single, Celebration, comes out in the UK this week and has actually been out in the US for several weeks now. But so far, it's only peaked at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 - though it's the #1 dance song. That means that more people should be listening to this song and buying it.

When Celebration was reviewed over at Pop Trash Addicts, some considered it a Dannii Minogue rip off. I guess I can see that; but to me, the song reminds me of Madonna's early days back when Holiday was released. And maybe that was intentional to take the music direction back a little bit and update it with today's dance sound. If so, that was a good idea. Because let's face it, Madonna's records haven't exactly been flying off the shelves. Hard Candy, which was recorded to appeal to the US market - where Confessions On a Dancefloor was much more suited to overseas markets - became Madge's only official studio album not to make platinum status (1 million copies in the US). "Hi there Madonna, this is Kylie. Did you not see what happened when I went from Fever to Body Language?"

Like Kylie, I hope Madonna has learned her lesson. Trying to boost sales by urbanizing your pop for the American market doesn't tend to work unless you've established yourself as an urban-pop artist from the beginning. But I digress, back to Celebration. Even though this isn't the greatest of all Madonna songs, it's refreshing to hear Madonna get back to her roots some and put out a pure dance-pop single. It's not ground breaking, but it's worth having. It is afterall - Madonna.

The video uses the Benny Benassi remix. You can download the album version and the remixes from iTunes.

You May Not Have Heard...

2009-09-13T18:56:00.002-05:00

...But You Should Take a Listen to:

She Ain't Got - La Toya

Love Comes - Bananarama

In For The Kill - La Roux

Patron Tequila - Paradiso Girls

2 Hearts - Kylie Minogue

Backstreet Drivers...

2009-09-13T18:19:00.015-05:00

Straight Through My Heart - Backstreet Boys

Yeah, you read that right - the Backstreet Boys. In boyband years, they're like 150. But kudos to them for being driven and able to come back and put together some sucessful music - even if it is only mildly successful compared to what they had in the late 90's.
Their latest, "Straight Through My Heart," is produced by RedOne who seems to be everywhere right now - Lady Gaga, Sugababes, Shakira, Little Boots - the list goes on and on. Kylie - please take note as you work on your next album.

Straight Through My Heart is very Backstreet Boys, very dance-pop and overall a pretty good song. The backing track almost reminds me a little of Kelly Osbourne's 2005 dance-pop song, "One Word" (an amazing song). STMH follows the boyband pop song formula to a T. So if you typically like boyband music, you'll like this song. If you don't, then why are you reading this? LOL. Actually, they could have just titled Straight Through My Heart, "As Long As You Love Me 2009."

Now all that being said, I hope this is the last of the dance-pop love songs that uses bleeding to describe not being able to escape love. It's kind of gross when you think about it - "Straight through my heart , single bullet, got me, can't stop the bleeding..." We got this not too long ago from Leona Lewis', "Bleeding Love." "You cut me open and keep bleeding keep, keep bleeding love." Seriously, I think writers are watching too much Grey's Anatomy or they are missing E.R. - and the for sure they need to stay away from Court TV. Otherwise, next we'll have Jesse McCartney duetting with Miley Cyrus on "My Love Blood Splatters."

Click here to check out the video.

Welcome!

2009-09-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

OK, so I've been using my Facebook status to post mini-reviews of new songs. And it's been suggested more than once that I open my own blog to review this new music. Now, I don't know if this is because my friends on Facebook are tired of getting unsolicited music reviews or if they really think that I might put up a good blog - haha.

I tend to like dance/pop music, so that's what the concentration of songs I review will be. I also have a tendency to like music from overseas - from the UK and Australia. Of course, that's because those countries are much more into dance/pop music than America.

FINALLY! The new KYLIE is here!

2009-09-11T10:55:00.008-05:00

Chiggy Wiggy - Kylie Minogue & Sonu Nigam

Well, we've been waiting for new Kylie for a while now. Her last single The One was a bit of a disappointment. Not the song itself mind you. But the way it was handled. It was going to be released, then it was pulled, then it was released as a digital-only single. And for a fourth single from an album, that of course meant a very low chart position and not much attention in the music world.

But Kylie has been getting some media attention for a little while now because she's been recruited by the Bollywood world and has done a single for forthcoming movie Blue - the biggest budgeted Bollywood movie ever. Of course, since the success of Slumdog Millionaire, it's no stretch to expect Bollywood is getting more money and more attention. A. R. Rahmen who composed the music for Slumdog also composed the music for Blue.

And that brings us to Chiggy Wiggy. Kylie duets with Sonu Nigam on this Bollywood pop single, and it's actually kind of catchy. Kylie fans will like that it's more "poppy" than her most previous singles from X. While the singles may have been good, they were not exactly what Kylie fans were hoping for after Kylie's four-year haitus. But Chiggy Wiggy brings Kylie back to plain ol' simple pop music. But then here's the draw back - the simple pop doesn't last the entire song - and this is the part that Kylie fans may not like so much; the last part of the song turns from Indian-influenced pop to pure Indian music sung in a different language. Nothing wrong with that. It's just not as mainstream as typical Kylie. And the foreign language part goes on just a little bit too long.

Also, let's not even get started on the fact that "Chiggy Wiggy" is a just little bit cheesy for a song. But that being said, it's still not a bad song and it is catchy - something absolutely essential for a good pop song.

Promo Video and Full Length Soundtrack versions below:

Robbie's Back...

2009-09-10T12:11:00.002-05:00

Bodies - Robbie Williams

Those in America won't automatically know who "Robbie" is by first name only. Well, they may not even know who Robbie Williams is when they hear his last name too. But of course, the rest of the word knows that Robbie Williams is the guy who sells albums so well that when he releases an album that goes double platinum (Rudebox) that means it was considered a flop.

Now he's back with "Bodies," which is supposed to be his "comeback" single - of course, I'm not convinced you need a "comeback" when you've had a double platinum album that spawned three top 20 hits including two top 10's.

Bodies is awesome. That's all there is to it. Compared to some of the other big-name singles that have recently been released or that are starting to impact radio, Bodies may in fact be the best. It's forward thinking while maintaining all the elements to keep it a good pop song. Robbie didn't exactly play it safe, nor did he do an exact repeat of what he's already done - a la Leona Lewis and her latest, Happy.

Bodies also relates to what I would imagine to be some of Robbie's biggest fans - the women and the gays. A song about wanting a perfect self image? Now that's perfect.

Leona...Yooouuuuu'rrrre SAFE!

2009-09-09T15:05:00.003-05:00

Happy - Leona Lewis

Those who know baseball know that YOU'RE SAFE! is something you definately want to hear. But that may not be what you want to hear from a pop artist - then again it may. Us fans of Stock/Aitken/Waterman know that using the same formula over and over again can really work. That's what Leona Lewis has done with Happy. It's just a continuation of Bleeding Love - or maybe it's even the prequal. Either way, it's the same song. Ryan Tedder who is responsible for Leona's massive worldwide hit, "Bleeding Love," has rehashed the same old formula once again for her. I guess since the uptempo song, "Forgive Me," didn't really work for Leona in the US, though it hit #5 in the UK, it was back to trying what works best.

The result is what we get with Happy. As Popjustice put it, it's slow, it's speeds up, it's slow, it speeds up. But it never gets past mid-tempo - just like Bleeding Love and Better in Time (which was far superior to Bleeding Love).

Don't ask me why I'm writing this in sort of a negative connotation. I've never had problems with artists playing it safe before. I guess I just expected more - and that was dumb. I absolutely love Hand on Your Heart by Kylie and that could have just as easily been track 11 from Kylie instead of song 1 from Enjoy Yourself.

All in all, Happy is a good song. And it was probably smart to play it safe - esepcially if Leona is making a go at the US market again. The song is worth having. Just don't expect to be listening to it five years from now. Oh, and please, please let Jason Nevins do some remixes for it. He did a great job with Bleeding Love and Better in Time.

WTF Whitney?

2009-09-08T15:29:00.006-05:00

I Look To You, Million Dollar Bill - Whitney Houston

We've waited years and years and years, and even wondered if it would really happen, for Whitney Houston's comeback. And now we have it! But after hearing the "buzz" single, the title track for Whitney's new album, "I Look To You," she can just go back to where she was all these years. I fell asleep listening to it the first time. It's boring. There's nothing to it. It's bland. Did I mention it was boring? I read they weren't worried about trying to match where music was today, they just wanted to get back to Houston's roots and put out music that was relevant to her and her style. Uh, they missed. They missed with both I Look To You and with the first "official" single - really the second, but they're calling it the first since I Look To You has yet to crack the top 40 in the US - Million Dollar Bill.

I guess you could compare I Look To You to All the Man that I Need or Run to You. And though I wasn't a fan of All the Man...the song still got stuck in my head, and I still listened to it when playing the I'm Your Baby Tonight CD. Run to You was also kind of boring, but I didn't change the radio station when it came on. Of course I didn't stop listening to I Look To You either - because it had put me to sleep.

As for Million Dollar Bill...it just sounds cheap. It sounds like something you'd hear out of your local recording studio that let's anyone come in, record a CD and pay for a little mixing. It doesn't sound like a track that came out of Arista Records and from big names like Alicia Keys (lyrics) and Swizz Beatz (production).

That being said...the Freemasons Mix is MUCH better. This remix gives the song some life and actually makes it worth listening to. Skip the album version. Go for the Freemasons mix or the Freemasons mix edit if you want a shorter version.