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justin timberlake

Album Review: Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience

by Rio Toro

THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE ALBUM COVER AND TRACK LIST REVEALED!

Justin Timberlake:          20/20 Experience

Similar Artists:          Beyonce, The-Dream, Michael Jackson

Genre:          Pop, R&B

Label:          RCA

 

The past six years have been kind to Justin Timberlake. While he was always known as a talented performer with a silky smooth voice, his ambition has grown tenfold to where he is now recognized as a talented actor, producer, and a suit & tie wearing entrepreneur. He is a man who has gradually shifted his image to the point where the clan of haters that spawned against him during his intrepid N’Sync days no longer have means to continue hating him. However, to be an artist who can no longer be reviled is both a blessing and a curse.

Even for those of us who weren’t teenage girls in 2002, ever since the Timberland produced stunner “Cry Me a River”, JT’s appeal has become hard to resist. In 2006 with FutureSex/LoveSounds, JT broke free of being a guilty pleasure act and put out an honest-to-god brilliant record. Music fanatics left and right were coming out and renouncing their love for the singer. His hiatus brought upon further analysis that has led many to feel that FutureSex is one of the quintessential pop albums of the 2000’s. Although his presence in social media never escaped us for more than a moment, (and as funny as some of those SNL skits were) we soon missed hearing him in his pure non-comedic vocal mode. Regardless of whether this album is good or bad, no one should still be questioning whether it is worthy of your attention, like any highly talked about pop album, the question is if this release is worthy when compared to the anticipation and hype surrounding it.

So now that we are listening to the new album, is it really all that big of a deal? Actually, it really isn’t, and that is disappointing for those expecting something profound. Aptly titled the 20/20 experience, the album represents a glimpse into a perfect life — the problem is, perfect can be pretty boring when taken in art form. This dullness is especially apparent from a lyrical standpoint, because while hearing about perfect marriages and soul mates is lovely, it doesn’t quite get under your skin. This would be forgivable if the album was emotive or even catchy enough, but nothing here proves to be grasping on a deeper level. It’s not from a lack of ambition though, as only “That Girl” could be considered a concise radio-friendly pop song. The tracks mostly hover around the 7 minute mark, but unfortunately most are not worthy of their extended time. A few songs do prove to be sprawling spectacles of sound, but it is solely because of the production rather than song writing or vocal performance – both of which are surprisingly lazy.

And yes, this album has ridiculously good production, but would you expect anything less? I mean, just look at the amount of top-notch producers who worked on every track — it almost feels too obvious that this album is incomparably smooth and gorgeous. It doesn’t take away from the experience while listening, but I wish I had something real to hook me in that wouldn’t disintegrate with time like the beats surely will. I’m being a bit too harsh actually; the album’s saving grace comes near the end with the penultimate track “Mirrors”. It is a truly heartfelt and drenching love song that you will wait patiently to hear every time you play the album. While the rest of the songs are a mixture of fun, inventiveness, and sexiness, their most defining characteristic may be that they are hollow.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Pusher Love Girl

2.) Suit & Tie

3.) Don’t Hold the Wall

4.) Strawberry Bubblegum*

5.) Tunnel Vision*

6.) Spaceship Coupe

7.) That Girl*

8.) Let the Groove Get In

9.) Mirrors*

10.) Blue Ocean Floor

* – Album Highlight

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, REVIEWS Tagged With: 20/20 experience, Album Review, justin timberlake

Chatty Talk with Elise – Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z

by Elise Pentz

Diane Lane

Heyyy there & welcome back!!

 

Boohoo!! This is a sad thing, that I definitely didn’t see coming!!  The absolutely adorable Josh Brolin & Diane Lane have decided to call it quits after 9 years of marriage.  So sad, I definitely thought these two would make it work!Diane LaneWe’ve all seen the absolutely stunning Mila Kunis, Charlize Theron, & Kate Moss as the face of Dior.. Well we can add another beauty to the list!  Jennifer Lawrence stuns in the most recent Dior campaign & can we blame Dior for scooping her up? She’s breathtakingly gorgeous! Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself!

Jennifer LaweranceA congratulations is in order for Amber Rose & Wiz Khalifa as they welcomed their baby boy, Sebastian “The Bash” Taylor Thomaz into the world!  Though they haven’t posted any pictures of the baby yet, I am absolutely sure he’s a handsome little fella.  Congratulations!! Who doesn’t love a cute baby??Wiz & Amber Rose BabyJustin Timberlake & Jay-Z just announced a 12 city tour for the summer… YUM! You’re making a huge mistake if you don’t go see this show, I can promise you that I am!! Suit & Tie, what’s not to love???JT Jay Z

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, LIFESTYLE, OPINION, uncategorized Tagged With: Amber Rose, Baby, Christian Dior, Concerts, Diane Lane, Dior, Divorce, jay-z, Jennifer Lawerance, Josh Brolin, justin timberlake, Suit & Tie, Wiz Khalifa

Justin Timberlake returns to SNL March 9th!!!

by Ryan Shea

timberlake_SNL
timberlake_SNL
Credit to BFF TV

 

SNL has been having in many people’s opinions one of their worst seasons in recent years this year.  Many is to blame for this, the obvious being the departure of beloved cast members Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig.  Jason Sudeikis still being there is a big puzzler as he has stated he is ready to go and you can kind of tell he doesn’t want to be there anymore.  Add five new cast members that really just aren’t funny and hosts that we think will be good but turn out to be sort of duds (Jennifer Lawrence, Daniel Craig) and it just really has been bum city.

Who of course to save the day? None other than Justin Timberlake! He will be doing double duty that night as host and musical guest, something that he has done before.  Whereas Justin’s acting abilities on the big screen hasn’t really been taken to many a liking, he has always had rave reviews (and Emmy wins) for his SNL hosting gigs.  Let’s all hope he repeats ones that he has done before, like the “Bring it all into…” whatever this one might be (Omeletteville, Liquorville).  The “Barry Gibb Show” with Jimmy Fallon has got to be one of the funniest ones that they have done in a long time so let’s hope for that too.  Andy Samberg coming back to a digital short? Please.

Watch on March 9th at 11:30 PM on NBC.  NBC is still a network.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, TELEVISION Tagged With: Andy Samberg, barry gibb, Emmy, jennifer lawrence, jimmy fallon, justin timberlake, Kristen Wiig, SNL

Boobs or Snooze; The 2013 Grammy Awards

by Ryan Shea

Katy Perry Grammys

This year’s Grammy awards brought out an array of fashion.  Despite CBS’s comical dress code, the stars still looked hot this year.  CBS sent a notice that the attendees of the Grammy awards should not wear anything revealing; no plunging necklines, side boobs, or butt views.  Although CBS tried to control the fashion, many artists clearly disregarded the networks warnings. This is the 2013 Grammy Fashion review.

One artist who visibly paid no attention to the dress code was Katy Perry.  Perry’s revealing mint green Gucci dress was skin tight and the peep hole at her chest was anything but censored.  Her cleavage was fully exposed!  The dress was unattractive and Katy Perry looked a little undone.  Not her best.

 

Katy Perry Grammys
Katy Perry at the 2013 Grammys

Another artist who ignored the no “bare skin’ rule was Kelly Rowland in Georges Chakra.  The fitted black gown was beautiful and had many, many revealing lines.  If she moved the wrong way all of her naughty parts would have been on display.  Thankfully there were no slips, but it was obvious Rowland was unfazed by the clothing regulations this year.

 

Kelly Rowland Grammys
Kelly Rowland at the 2013 Grammy’s

I have to admit I was slightly let down by the fashion at the Grammy’s this year.  Nothing really astounded me.  That being said, there were a few celebrities whose choice of dress was beautiful and warrants mentioning.

My best dressed this year goes to; Rihanna!

 

Rihanna Grammy's
Rihanna at the 2013 Grammy’s

I must admit I fully expected Rihanna to completely go against the dress code and shock us all, but she decided to keep it tasteful.  The singer rocked a dazzling red Azzedine Alaia gown, sheer panels’ criss-crossed over the chest and haltered on the neck.  The skirt was full and flowing chiffon.  She looked elegant and still made a statement.

Carrie Underwood looked striking last night.  She was put together from head to toe.  The strapless Roberto Cavalli gown hugged her curves and accentuated her toned arms.  The pattern on the dress was elegant and the beading on the skirt was breath taking.

 

Carrie Underwood Grammy's
Carrie Underwood at the 2013 Grammy awards

Faith Hill really surprised me this year.  The knee length frock she wore fit her perfectly and the sheer, embroidered top was lovely.  The lace jacquard on the skirt was so subtle you could barely see it.  This J. Mendel dress looked stunning on Faith Hill.

 

Faith Hill
Faith Hill at the Grammy Awards

And now for my favorite part of the Grammy’s… the WORST DRESSED.  The Grammy’s always brings out some of the most outrageously heinous fashions.  And, oh, they did not disappoint me this year!  I’ll try and narrow it down to my top 5 this year.

#5 – Jennifer Lopez

 

Jennifer Lopez Grammy
Jennifer Lopez at the Grammy’s

 

J.Lo’s dress looked like a hefty bag.  The cut out for her leg to stick through made no sense!

#4 – Nicole Kidman

 

Nicole Kidman Grammy's
Nicole Kidman at the 55th annual Grammy awards

Her dress aged her and the muted colors washed her out.

#3 – Adele

 

Adele Grammy's
Singer Adele at the 55th annual Grammy’s

I feel wretched naming Adele as one of my worst dressed, but the pregnant Grammy winner looked like she was wearing curtains!

#2 – Solange Knowles

 

Solange Knowles Grammy's
Beyonce’s little sister Solange

Beyonce’s younger sister looked like a cracked out Diana Ross.  The sparkly green dress was cheap looking and the orange heels were horrible.

#1 – Ashanti

 

Ashanti Grammy
Ashanti at the 2013 Grammy Awards

Ashanti’s floral dress was too revealing and looked cheap.

Lastly, I want to shout out a few of the men who rocked it last night…

 

Hunter Hayes
Country Cutie Hunter Hayes

Country cutie Hunter Hayes looked handsome in his Hugo Boss black suit.

Justin Timberlake in Tom Ford at the 2013 Grammy awards

 

Justin Timberlake rocked his Tom Ford suit and had all of us ladies swooning.

 

The fashion at the Grammy’s this year was toned down compared to previous years.  No one really amazed me.  I remember tuning into the Grammy’s and being dazzled by the unique costumes the musicians would adorn.  I look forward to the outrageous red carpet and can only hope that next year will be more eventful.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, FASHION, MUSIC, OPINION, REVIEWS, STYLE, TELEVISION, U.S. Tagged With: 2013 grammy awards, 55th annual grammy awards, adele, Annual Grammy Awards, ashanti, best and worst dressed, Carrie Underwood, CBS, dress code, fashion, Fashion Reviews, grammy, grammy awards, Grammy Fashion, Grammy Winners, Grammys, Hunter Hayes, j.lo, Jennifer Lopez, justin timberlake, Katy Perry, kelly, Kelly Rowland, music, nicole kidman, red carpet, Rihanna, solange, solange knowles, television, The Grammy Awards, worst dressed

55th Annual Grammy Awards Live Coverage!

by Michael Tyminski

Source: Wikipedia

8pm Eastern Time tonight, CBS                  

CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

7:30 pm Eastern: Good Evening! Welcome to what will be the first of many Manhattan Digest awards ceremony liveblogs! LL Cool J hosts the ceremony, which starts at 8 pm Eastern time on CBS. This should be an interesting evening tonight, with the Album of the Year award showing a surprisingly rock heavy slate with Mumford and Sons’ Babel, Fun.’s Some Nights, The Black Keys’ El Camino, and Jack White’s Blunderbuss, with Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange being the sole R&B outlier. Personally, I think that Babel and Channel Orange are the clear favorites, with Channel Orange being my pick to win the whole thing.

That being said, I’m here mostly to look at the show in terms of its’ presentation than to heavily critique the award choices themselves. The Grammy’s are known mostly for being the safest show on the February awards season, often only garnering attention for a killer performance (such as Elton John and Eminem’s killer performance of  “Stan” in 2001), or some truly horrendous fashion calls (see Jennifer Lopez’s infamous green dress from the 2000 show). The latter is under intense scrutiny this year, as earlier this week CBS standards and practices sent out a letter vilifying the use of thongs or costumes that allow for exposed “breasts and buttocks”, singling out that earth-shattering corrupter of morals: the thong. Needless to say, my gut instinct is telling me that someone is going to find a way to defy this (odds on favorite here? Rihanna).

I would love for tonight to be a dialogue as we all react to the show together (and get different opinions at the same time), so feel free to use the comments section below and get involved in the conversation! Stay tuned to Manhattan Digest for more updates as the ceremony unfolds!

 

Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)
Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)

7:45 p.m.: Some early updates from the red carpet. Generally speaking it looks like the artists are complying with the S+P guidelines, with only a handful of particularly deep plunging necklines (including Miranda Lambert and Ashanti). Similarly the men seem pretty buttoned up, with a surprisingly large number of skinny ties. I think Taylor Swift’s dress was pretty impressive from a fashion standpoint. Conversely, Adele’s floral print design leaves a lot to be desired.

For me though, the highlight of the red carpet was Jennifer Lopez’s angry shrieks of protest after Ryan Seacrest noted that her dress was skirting the lines of what CBS was allowing screaming “I’m just showing a little leg and a little shoulder!”.

 

7:57 p.m.: Three minutes to the curtain and a large number of the awards have been given off camera already. Notable award winners included Gotye (who won two awards including Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Duo/Group Pop Performance – the latter with Kimbra for “Somebody that I Used to Know”), Skrillex (who also wont two awards for Best Dance Album and Best Dance Recording both for Bangarang), Rihanna (for her video for “We Found Love”), and Taylor Swift (for Best Song Written for Visual Media ).

Additionally it was announced on the red carpet that Ms. Swift will be the opening performance tonight, so expect to see her on your TV screens sometime in the next few minutes.

8:15 PM: And on cue we open with a weird man on a bike with a torch to introduce Taylor Swift who opens the show with “We are Never (Getting Back Together)” in a very sideshow circus vibe that involved a boyfriend strapped to a carnival wheel, trapeze artists, fire spinners and a large amount of pyrotechnics. The performance itself was pretty mediocre in spite of the spectacle, but it seemed like a fine way to amp up the crowd for tonight’s show.

Afterwords, we see our first appearance of show host, LL Cool J. He devotes his somewhat meandering opening monologue discussing music as a vehicle for bringing people together before pitching it to Eddie Sheeran and Elton John to perform Sheeran’s song “A Team”. I love Elton John as much as anyone, but it seemed like he was off for most of the song and it adversely affected the vocal harmonies. I did enjoy the off in the crowd staging aspect that they used, as it seemed to highlight the “lighter song” vibe that one gets when listening to “A-team”.

Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)
Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)

8:27 PM: LL  Cool J asks us to use #Grammys when talking about tonight’s show before kicking it to J-Lo and Pitbull (with a split screen to the infamous green dress from 2000) with Pitbull fawning over J Lo before announcing the nominees for best solo pop performance:

The nominees are:
“Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “Set Fire to the Rain” (Adele), “Wide Awake” (Katy Perry), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen) and “Where Have You Been?” (Rihanna)

AND THE WINNER: Set Fire to the Rain by Adele.

Adele gives a very brief speech (in which she called back to last year’s six wins) before Neil Patrick Harris enters to introduce Fun. (whom have six nominations this evening). Fun. then took the opportunity to play “Carry On.”, which started a little slow but picked up once the instruments kicked in. Once it built, we got a performance with a very strong cinematic vibe, including the obligatory downpour towards the end. One thing did bother me about the performance however, and that is why frontman Nate Ruess wore those Capris?

8:48 PM: Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer appear to introduce Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. The duo play a couple of country tracks in “Over You” and “Home”. Their performance was perfectly fine and fairly low key compared to the immediately preceding performance before cutting to LL Cool J on American Bandstand in an awkward transition. LL then takes the opportunity to pay tribute to Dick Clark.

LL Cool J then makes an another abrupt transition, introducing Miguel and Wiz Khalifa, whom perform “Adorn” . The performance was sizzling, with Miguel showing off his pipes and performing the standard issue R and B theatrics. From there, our performer then announced the nominees for…wait for it…best country solo performance (because that made sense to me too right?)

The nominees for best country solo performance:
“Home” (Dierks Bentley), “Springsteen” (Eric Church), “Cost of Living” (Ronnie Dunn), “Wanted (Hunter Hayes), “Over (Blake Shelton), and “Blown Away” (Carrie Underwood)

AND THE WINNER IS: “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood.

8:58 PM: LL Plugs social media again before telling everyone in the Northeast to stay warm and kicking it to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, whom are presenting song of the year.

The nominees are: “Adorn” (Miguel), “The A-Team” (Ed Sheeran), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen), “We are Young” (Fun. Feat Janelle Monae), and “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson).

AND YOUR WINNER: “We Are Young” by (the now completely dry) Fun.

Nate Ruess gives a speech that has the first real crack of the night in “I don’t know what we’re thinking writing this chorus, now that we’re in HD and you can see our faces, we are clearly not young.”. They then thank Jay-Z (who mouths a “You’re Welcome” from the crowd) and Chick Corea before the orchestra kicks in to introduce Johnny Depp. I want them to win more awards now because they are clearly the only people so far who have not taken this awards show too seriously tonight.

Depp is there to introduce Mumford and Sons in 20 words or less. They play their hit “I will wait” in front of a large display of lights and had an excellent performance aside from some sound issues that seemed to keep the backing vocals from coming through, though the remainder of the sound was very impressive.

Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)
Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)

9:15 PM: We return to Ellen Degeneres and Beyonce (in a pantsuit tonight) whom do a shticky introuction for Justin Timberlake, whom is here to perform “Suit and Tie”. The screen goes black and white, which is probably not a right call because it makes Justin Timberlake look disturbingly like Rick Astley. Jay-Z then climbs on stage to perform his verse. The screen then goes color befor Justin does a new song with a full orchestra and band (Update: The song is titled “Pusher Love Girl”). All internet memes aside, the performance is excellent and realizing the irony in saying this about someone whose only a few years older than myself, he still clearly has it.

Following that performance, we next see presenters Kelly Rowland and Nas, whom announce the nominees for a new category: Best Urban Contemporary Album

Fortune (Chris Brown), Kaliedoscope Dream (Miguel), Channel Orange (Frank Ocean)

AND THE WINNER: Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

9:30 PM: 

During the commercial, we saw a hard release date for Justin Timberlake’s new album, which will drop on March 19th.

Dave Grohl and Pauley Perette (Abby from NCIS) whom are here to announce that Dan Auerbach won producer of the year earlier in the day, before presenting the award for best Rock Performance

“Hold On” (Alabama Shakes), “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Charlie Brown” (Coldplay), “I Will Wait”, (Mumford and Sons) and

“We take care of our own” (Bruce Springsteen).

AND THE WINNER: “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys

Following that, Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys perform “Room on Fire” and “Daylight”. While Maroon 5’s performance of Daylight was fine, “Girl on Fire” felt a little flat at points. This was a bit troubling as if there are two vocal artists who not only can, but are expected to let their vocals soar, it’s Adam Levine and Alicia Keys.

Kaley Cuoco and Keith Urban next came out to introduce the award for “Best Pop Vocal Album”. The nominees were:

Stronger (Kelly Clarkson), Ceremonials (Florence and the Machine), Some Nights (Fun.). Overexposed (Maroon 5), and The Truth About Love (Pink).

AND THE WINNER: Stronger by Kelly Clarkson

Kelly comes up and wings an acceptance speech, where she mentions being “stuck to Miranda Lambert” and expressed interest in working with Miguel. It was truly spontaneous and very welcome in this very overstuffed and seemingly overscripted show.

9:55 PM:  After a performance from Rihanna that had shades of Adele’s performance of “Someone Like You” from last year, Carly Rae Jespen and Ne-Yo come out to present the award for best Rap/Sung collaboration

“Wild Ones” (Flo-Rida f. Sia), “Tonight” (John Legend f. Ludacris), “Cherry Wine ‘ (Nas f. Amy Winehouse), “Talk that Talk” (Rihanna f. Jay Z), and “No Church in the Wild” (Jay-Z/Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean and the Dream)

AND THE WINNER: No Church in the Wild by Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and the Dream.

In a classy move, Jay-Z gave most of the speech to Frank Ocean and the Dream, whom both give quick shout outs. Jay-Z on the other hand, simply thanks “The swap meet, because that’s where he (The Dream) got that hat.”

10:02 PM: The Lifetime Achievement award was announced with The Temptations, Carole King, Ravi Shankar, Patty Page, Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, and Lightning Hopkins amongst the recipients.

After the break, Kat Dennings comes out to introduce the Black Keys, Dr. John, and the New Orleans Preservation Hall Band. All parties involved come out rocking, performing the Black Keys’ hit “Lonely Boy”. While I am typically not a fan of brass instruments in Rock Music. Adding to the proceedings was Dr. John, whom was dressed about as outlandishly as one could possibly be on a grammy stage, in full Hoodoo gear. It was a great performance, I do with it would have highlighted Dr. John a little more.
This was then followed up by Kelly Clarkson performing a medley including “Tennessee Waltz”, “Natural Woman”, in order to honor Patti Page and Carole King. This then segued into the nominations for best country album.

The nominees are: Uncaged (Zac Brown Band), Hunter Hayes (Hunter Hayes), Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran (Jamey Johnson), For the Record (Miranda Lambert), The Time Jumpers (The Time Jumpers)

AND THE WINNER: The Zac Brown Band’s Uncaged.

Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)
Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)

10:13 PM:  We now get the Grammy’s tribute to Bob Marley with Bruno Mars, Sting, Damian and Ziggy Marley. The tribute started with Bruno Mars, who performed his hit single “Locked out of Heaven”. After the first chorus Sting came out in a fun moment as “Locked out of Heaven” is really Bruno Mars’ attempt at writing a police song. This then segued into The Police’s “Walking on the Moon”. This performance has been the best of the show so far, as Bruno hung out there with Sting and didn’t look out of place, though it looked like Sting initially hindered by the fact that “Locked out” was sped up.

Midway through the performance, Rihanna, Damian and Ziggy Marley came out and performed “Could You be Loved”. This actually created a largeness to the performance that made it feel more worthy of the Grammy stage, eclipsing even Rihanna’s prior appearance 15 minutes earlier.

10:30 PM: LL introduces The Lumineers, whom perform their hit single “Ho Hey”. The performance seemed perfectly servicable, and it seems like they have fixed the microphone problems from earlier. This then swept into Jack White’s performance of “Love Interruption”. After the completion of “Love Interruption.” Jack then exploded into “Freedom at 21”, giving the perfect loud kick after two quieter songs.

Katy Perry is now out to present the Best New Artist award. She marvels at the dedication it takes to get to that point before offering a little solace for those who didn’t win, saying: “I didn’t even get nominated for best new artist, but now I have my own eyelash line!”

The nominees are: Alabama Shakes, Fun., Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers, Frank Ocean

AND THE WINNER: Fun. (Fun has taken two Grammys tonight, I think they are now very much in the discussion for Album of the Year).

I think this one is a little bit of a shocker, I was pretty sure Frank Ocean was going to be a mortal lock for this one.

Hour three right now seems to have been a lot kinder to this show than the first two hours.

Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)
Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)

10:45 PM: And apparently I jinxed everyone (sorry!).

Hunter Hayes is out to sing (I wasn’t impressed, but I’m not a country guy) before introducing Carrie Underwood, who then sung two of her songs. Carrie’s vocals did not feel particularly impressive, but the lighting for this was particularly impressive as they used Carrie’s dress as a proxy for a projection screen, allowing for a neat visual that worked out superbly.

After this, Prince made a rare appearance to present Record of the Year, looking like a hybrid of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Puff Daddy.

The Nominees are:
“Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “We are Young” (Fun.),“Somebody That I Used to Know” (Gotye f. Kimbra), “Thinking About You” (Frank Ocean), “We are never ever Getting Back Together” (Taylor Swift).

AND THE WINNER: “Somebody That I used to Know” by Gotye f. Kimbra.

11:04 PM: We come back to “Take Five” (no introduction, but it’s one of my favorite Jazz songs of all time, so uh, I know it…and now you do too.) for what I’m assuming is the tribute to Dave Brubeck as performed by Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Kenny Garrett.

Neal Portnow and Ryan Seacrest (who’s now the honorary chairman of the Grammy Foundation) are out to introduce Justin Timberlake. Mr. Timberlake comes out to shill for the Grammy Foundation and the new “music educator” award.

We now get the in Memorian Montage, which includes Dave Brubeck, Donna Summer, Andy Williams, Chuck Brown, Robin Gibb, Patti Page, Davy Jones , Dick Clark, Fontella Bass, Hal David, Marvin Hamlish, Richard Adler, Andy Griffith, Ravi Shankar, Adam Yauch (Adrock of the Beastie Boys), Levon Helm and others. Looking back at that last sentence, it seems like every genre of music took a heavy loss in 2012.

This then leads to a tribute to Levon Helm fronted by Elton John, Zac Brown, Mumford and Sons, T-Bone Burnett, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes as they played “The Weight”. This performance had a looser jam band performance due to the larger nature of this collaboration. Elton seemed a lot stronger in this performance than his earlier performance with Eddie Sheeran. This performance is easily in the upper echelon of performances tonight.

11:18 PM: We return to Juanes paying tribute to Elton John singing “Your Song” in English and Spanish in a very intimate acoustic vibe before kicking it to Frank Ocean, who’s performing his single “Forrest Gump”. They start with a cool visual effect where Frank is running on a video screen before completing his run up a hill to his keyboard in person. Frank wrenched a ton of emotion into this one and it created an excellent and haunting performance

We’re down to one last award, Album of the Year, and Adele is here to award it after making a quick crack about she got knocked up after winning Album of the Year last year.

The Nominees are:

El Camino (The Black Keys), Channel ORANGE (Frank Ocean), Blunderbuss (Jack White), Some Nights (Fun.),Babel (Mumford and Sons)

AND YOUR WINNER: Babel by Mumford and Sons.

A pretty deserving winner and one of my favorites from earlier. They managed to spread the love around somewhat with only Jack White not making the winner’s podium during the course of the show tonight.

11:42 PM: We’re down to the grand finale, a performance by LL Cool J, Chuck D, Tom Morello, Travis Barker, and DJ Z-Trip, whom performed “Whaddup”, which was a fun way to end the show if only because Chuck D’s voice IS rap to me, and LL was game. It was a pretty solid performance and I would kill to see the single, though it would not have killed CBS not to stick fee plugs in the middle of the song.

My Final Thoughts: This year’s Grammy ceremony felt a little overstuffed with tons of abrupt transitions and sequences and with a little bit of breathing room we could have cut some of the weaker performances (notably the lacking Maroon 5/Alicia Keys collaboration and Hunter Hayes’ introduction of an introduction). Additionally, at times the show had a somber, joyless feel at points during a night that should be the biggest party for the music industry of the year. That being said, what you expected to deliver did deliver (the Marley and Levon Helms’ tributes, as well your Album of the Year candidates’ performances), so check out those seven performances.

Also some enjoyable moments I didn’t get to point out amid the I Love Lucy Conveyor Belt pace of the show:

  • Taylor Swift was rocking out to EVERYTHING. I’m not sure why, but this is really amusing to me.
  • The full extent of Kelly Clarkson’s gushing about R+B artist Miguel
  • Once the show hit hour three and it slowed down a little bit, it seemed like the show was able to gel a little more as the orchestra wasn’t cutting off awards speeches at the 30 second mark as it did for Fun.’s first speech

Final Verdict: If you haven’t seen the whole show, it’s probably not worth watching all three hours. You owe it to yourself to YouTube up the Marley tribute though, and I would probably check out Fun.’s , Jack White’s, and the Black Keys’ performances as well. LL Cool J was passable as a host, but the role of host honestly felt superfluous with the rapid pace that the show took.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION, TELEVISION Tagged With: 55th Grammy Awards, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, CBS, Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Faith Hill, Frank Ocean, Fun., Gotye, Hunter Hayes, Jack White, jay-z, Jennifer Lopez, justin timberlake, Kaley Cuoco, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Live Coverage, LL Cool J, Maroon 5, Mumford and Sons, nas, Neal Patrick Harris, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, The Lumineers, Tim McGraw, TV

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis top, J Tim gains on Billboard

by Ryan Shea

Macklemore++Ryan+Lewis+png
Macklemore++Ryan+Lewis+png
Credit to last.fm

 

Two hip-hop songs emerge as victorious on the Billboard Hot 100 in a rather stale and non-movement week otherwise.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” featuring Wanz shot to number one this week, dethroning Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven” which spent a total of six weeks in the top spot, according to Billboard today.  This is the first number one song for the duo, and it only took sixteen weeks to get to this spot.  This is a relatively short time for an artist largely unknown in the typical top 40, poppish type songs that always seem to carry the number one spot, and a unique song as well.  This is the first time also where a song about a thrift shop is number one.  Yes, that is accurate.

Much of the reason why this song has hit number one is it’s gain in digital sales and that it currently sits at number one on streaming songs with 1.68 million in one week. Streaming pretty much means being placed on apps like Spotify and Rhapsody to name a few.  This was a problem for Taylor Swift, where her record label refuses to put her song “I Knew You Were Trouble” on streaming.  It sits at number five even though it was a huge success in radio and digital sales.

Justin Timberlake, who has had a triumphant return to music after a seven year hiatus, sees his song “Suit & Tie” skyrocket from number 84 last week to number four this week.  The song features hip-hop legend Jay-Z and has been met with quite mixed reviews since it’s release.  It opened on the digital songs chart with 315,000 copies beating his previous best for “Sexyback” by nearly 100,000 copies.  Expect it to linger in the top ten for quite sometime.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, MUSIC Tagged With: jay-z, justin timberlake, macklemore, ryan lewis, suit and tie, thrift shop

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