Christina Aguilera is back and wants us to believe she’s better than ever! Following a very public divorce, a flop debut film, a flop album, and a series of flop-tastic public appearances consisting of a DUI arrest, flubbing the lyrics to the ‘National Anthem’ live, and that infamous red fluid that flowed down her leg at Etta James‘ funeral—to say that the past two years have been a struggle for the former Mouseketeer would be putting it mildly. Much like her runs, both Aguilera’s personal and professional lives have hit a series of bum notes, however, ‘Lotus’ seems intent to present the veteran Pop Star in a new light. A light which makes it clear she’s eager to put the past behind her and claw her way back to the top.

Similar to one of her earlier idols, Madonna, Christina’s music is ever evolving. From the Bubblegum Pop of her debut, to the raw R&B of ‘Stripped’, and all the way to the icy Electro-Pop of ‘Bionic’, Aguilera is without question one of the most versatile singers of her generation, second only to Beyonce, so it’s no wonder why this LP is one of the most anticipated releases of the year!

Read Mikey‘s full track-by-track review of ‘Lotus’ after the jump and sound-off below!

Read the rest of this entry »

I hate the current generation of pop music. For the most part I see it as a drunken American frat boy at a club in Europe deciding to defecate on a DJ’s turntables. So while I suffer through watered down pop music diluted with raver urine, I somehow completely dismiss the first pop album this millennium that makes me feel like a teenager in the 80’s. Thanks God for Jacques (The Prophet), for I was pulled into the light of days past. A time where pop music both had style and substance, social commentary, experimentation, and acts that actually had… oh what’s the wor… TALENT! May I introduce everyone to Agnes Carlsson…(Wait is that Leona Lewis?)

Read the rest of this entry »

Although Leona Lewis was suppose to drop her ‘Glassheart’ album A YEAR AGO, the day has finally arrived where the project finally arrived in UK stores this morning (October 15th). The album is executively produced by Fraser T Smith, who has taken on a large portion of the album’s creative process. However, she’s teamed up with new and previous producers including Naughty Boy, Rodney Jerkins and Ryan Tedder, as well as UK’s finest Emeli Sandé. Still deciding on whether to purchase the album this week? Read what to expect from it below.

Read the rest of this entry »

After a four year hiatus, Brandy is back with her sixth studio album, ‘Two Eleven’. The album title tributes two significant dates in her life; her birthday, and the day that one of her idols, Whitney Houston passed away. The album (out on October 16th) serves as the follow-up to 2008′s ‘Human’, and she’s worked with some top notch producers. Some of those include hitmakers Sean Garrett and Bangladesh, as well as Mario Winans, The Bizness, Rico Love and Jim Jonsin, just to name the few. Today we review the album which drops in Stateside stores this week.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is the day!

Monica releases her album ‘New Life’, so it is now available to purchase. But the question I ask is, where is the switching of tempo on this album? It was basically ballad after ballad, slow cuts lifted from previous albums and then merged into a new project.

The album features production and songwriting from Rico Love, Polow da Don, Missy Elliott, Salaam Remi and Monica’s usual game players such as Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, to name the few.

Monica takes us through an emotional journey on this album. She looks back on painful passages of her past (reminders of lost love), while looking forward to a positive new future (with L.A. Laker husband Shannon Brown).

If this album was marked on consistency, it would get full marks, but a cohesive album is not always a good thing. I think ‘New Life’ is still a good R&B album. It just lacked variety. Though samey (and a bit boring and forgettable) in its production, Monica’s vocals are nice, and the album is well produced.

Here, I present you with my track-by-track album review.

Read the rest of this entry »

At a quick glance Lana Del Rey‘s icy persona is that of a chain smoking, 60′s B-moive Hollywood starlet on the verge of a breakdown. Born to multi-millionaire Rob Grant in 1986, Elizabeth Grant released her self titled debut in January of 2010. However, it failed to ignite interest in her as an artist, let alone achieve any significant record sales. Determined to make it big, Grant xeroxed a page straight out of Lady Gaga‘s book by ditching all comprehensible traces of relatability and going Pop. (Coincidentally both Grant and Gaga share the same label, Interscope.)

After losing the girl-next-door image she [allegedly] bought a brand new pair of pouty smackers, called Daddy for a wardrobe upgrade, and released the YouTube viral hit “Video Games” in June of 2011. Six months later, Lana Del Rey served up her sophomore album ‘Born To Die’, becoming Amy Winehouse‘s successor as the newest offbeat, fun to love hot mess ‘it girl’ of Pop. Musically, she’s the hottest topic of 2012 thus far with the type of buzz rivaling Lady Gaga’s 2008 debut. Her notoriety is what makes her personality work as an artist and only adds to the fascination. Does ‘Born To Die’ warrant the hype? Read the full review after the jump and sound off below!

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a while since I wrote an album review and it’s high time I cut out the laziness and got back into the groove of it.

I just could not turn my back on Rihanna‘s new album ‘Talk That Talk’, especially one as finely produced as this one. I think VH1 may have overexaggerated when they said the album is the dirtiest pop record since Madonna‘s ‘Erotica’. Rihanna certainly had her flirtatious and sexual moments here and there but the album’s main concept was love, not sex.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kelly Rowland’s ‘Here I Am’ was supposed to be her magnus opus, meant to thrust her out of Beyonce’s shadow and into the spotlight. It was to supposed to establish her as a marketable artist with mass commercial appeal, outside of past girl group nostalgia. It was supposed to cement her as dance-pop’s resident commander and dancefloor diva. Instead ‘Here I Am’ is a collection of b-side, hopeful-singles that fail to paint Kelly as a viable solo star. The 40 minute album boasts a mere ten tracks, six of which are over a year old, four bonus tracks and three co-written by Kelly herself. Featuring all-star productions from C. “Tricky” Stewart, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and RedOne, it took two years to record ‘Here I Am’. With that being said it’s almost scary to believe that these were the best of the best.

The success of ‘When Love Takes Over’ gave Kelly, as well as Motown, a false sense of accomplishment and security to promote her as an electro-pop siren. They took the single’s overwhelming success as a sign Kelly had finally “arrived”, when in reality she was just an interchangeable production variable in the mix—”the female vocal”.  Despite many singles being released in 2010, it was a very quiet year on Billboard and radio for Kelly. In a predictable change of direction: dance was out, urban was in. Resulting in a sonically disjointed body of work.

Unwrap the full review after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the return of Beyonce. Beyonce’s “4” set to be released June 28^th sprang an early leak and we couldn’t be happier. Though seemingly, a quiet era promotion wise for the self-proclaimed “King B”(you usually gag from the force feeding of her material by now) things over at Beyonce’s camp seem to have suffered a major blow without Daddy Matt running ship. Does the music suffer a slump though? Check out the track by track review below…

Read the rest of this entry »