Sunday, November 15th 2009

From The Vault: Dreamgirls Medley At Oscars 2007

This week’s classic From The Vault video is the Dreamgirls (movie adaptation) cast’s electrifying performance at the 2007 Academy Awards (Oscars). Capping off a hugely successful run for the movie, Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce, Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson lit up the stage with a rousing medley from the film, which included ‘Love You I Do’, ‘Listen’ and ‘Patience’. Check out their performance above.

Watching this back really reminded me why I had this on replay at the time. They blew the roof off that arena! Particularly great to swatch was the inter-weaving of each of their songs, more specifically seeing Beyonce take on ‘Love You I Do’ and Jennifer deliver ‘Listen’. Anika and Keith did the damn thing on ‘Patience’ too, with Anika really (and finally) getting her shine with her vocal-runs at the end. Great performance!

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, November 8th 2009

From The Vault: Deborah Cox – ‘Who Do You Love’

This week’s classic From The Vault clip comes courtesy of Deborah Cox’s 1995 smash ‘Who Do You Love’. Lifted from Deborah’s self-titled LP, which dropped the same year, the song launched the Canadian singer into worldwide conciousness, after many years of trying to break onto the music scene.

I vividly remember being 7 years old and jamming to this song back in the day (yes, I knew my music way back then!!! LOL). It’s a shame Deborah doesn’t get the kudos she deserves, yet one can remain thankful for the gems she has blessed us with – this being one of her best IMO.

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, November 1st 2009

From The Vault: Ciara – ‘Promise’

This week sees the return of our weekly throwback feature, From The Vault. Journeying back to 2006, Ciara’s ‘Promise’ video serves as this week’s top pick. Lifted from her Platinum selling sophomore LP ‘Ciara: The Evolution’, the cut and its accompanying video saw the self-styled ‘tomboy’, expand her resume to include ‘sexy siren’.

Impressed already by the fact the song’s producer Polow Da Don managed to bring out the best in the singer on a ‘slow jam’ (considering her vocals were never her strongest feat), I was wholly sold on Ms. Harris when the Diane Martel directed video premiered. Put simply, one of, if not the best, modern examples of a video capturing the core essence of a song; this was sexy, sultry, mature and above all the best visual depiction possible of Ciara taking it to that next level. I mean a fully (and awesomely) choreographed video for a ballad…who else does that?! I remember being in awe of this video for the longest; so much so that it was a little difficult to swallow the fact that the album it resided on wasn’t that good (aside from ‘So Hard’, ‘Like A Boy’ and a few others). Here’s hoping she serves up the goodies (no pun intended) on her upcoming 4th album…

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

7 Comments

Sunday, September 6th 2009

From The Vault: Gabrielle – ‘Dreams’

This week’s From The Vault pick, Gabrielle’s 1993 smash ‘Dreams’, will no doubt resonate with our UK visitors that bit more. The British songstress delivered a classic with this one if there ever was one. I was 5 when this came out and to think it still goes hard today. Love it. Check it:

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Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, August 23rd 2009

From The Vault: Kandi – ‘Don’t Think I’m Not’

This week’s From The Vault journey’s back to the year 2000, when former Xscape member Kandi released her first solo single ‘Don’t Think I’m Not’. Lifted from her criminally underrated LP ‘Hey Kandi’, this saw the writer of female anthems such as ‘No Scrubs’ drop her own declaration of independence. A great track, which still goes hard today – some 9 years later (damn, times goes fast!):

Some of you may be wondering why the hell Kandi is standing still for most of the video. Well, it turns out she sprained her ankle just before the video was set to shoot. Having learned all the choreography and whatnot, the accident meant she had to appear in the vid in a reduced role. Still a great vid all the same. You learn something new everyday lol…

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Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, August 16th 2009

From The Vault: Mary J. Blige – ‘Be Without You’

This week’s classic From The Vault video is Mary J. Blige’s 2005 international smash ‘Be Without’. A return to form for the future Hall-of-Famer, the song serves as one of those that sound as fresh today as it did when it was first released – IMO one her all-time best. It’s not often singers who have been in the industry for so long manage to add to their list of career-defining hits so late into their career, something I feel really is a testament to just how great both this song and Mary J are. Enjoy:

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Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, August 9th 2009

From The Vault: Mariah Carey Performs ‘We Belong Together & Fly Like A Bird’ At Grammy’s 2006

Our classic From The Vault feature this week revisits Mariah Carey’s rousing performance of ‘We Belong Together & Fly Like A Bird’ at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Though a fan of Mariah’s earlier work, it’s these two songs in particular that stand as her all-time best IMO. After the record-breaking success of ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, the album which these were lifted from, this performance was everything it needed to be – rousing, emotive and vocally stunning. Check it out:

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Some of you question why I go in on Mariah at times; well, one only has to compare performances like this that actually ‘move’ you to the lazy, ‘going-through-the-motions’ type performances we see from ol’ Mimi these days. Yes, some parts of this were lipsynched (the latter belting), yet it almost didn’t matter because she sounded great on the live parts. I mean she was singing with such conviction that the live and lipsynched parts blended seamlessly.

Many of the 2009 Mariah defenders will tout the idea that she doesn’t need to go-all out performance-wise or that her vocals are still ahead of the rest or that her sales entitle her to perform however she wants. I can’t say I agree; I feel Mariah has become too complacent, but that’s a whole other post!

For now, though, I’ll enjoy awesome performances like this and hope there’s more to come along these lines from Mariah…

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, August 2nd 2009

From The Vault: Notorious B.I.G. (ft. Puff Daddy & Mase) – ‘Mo’ Money, Mo Problems’

This week’s classic From The Vault video is Notiorious B.I.G’s 1997 posthumous smash ‘Mo’ Money, Mo Problems’ featuring Puff Daddy, Mase and Kelly Price. Check it out:

Ahh…great song, great video. These were the days when Bad Boy really were on top; og how the times have changed, though.

Tidbit: Diddy’s dancing forever cracks me up LOL.

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Posted By: Sam

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Sunday, July 26th 2009

From The Vault: Patra – ‘Scent of Attraction (ft. Aaron Hall)’

This week’s classic From The Vault video is Patra and Aaron Hall’s sensual 1995 duet ‘Scent of Attraction’. The song serves as the Jamaican star’s biggest crossover US hits. Check it out:

This brings back memories! I vividly remember being about 7 years in the school playground singing Aaron’s part at the top of my lungs, being totally unaware that the lyrics were very…’adult’ LOL LOL. Being a music lover for as long as I can remember (largely thanks to my older sister who listened to this and so much more), this really takes me back to a great period in my life and more generally a great period in music (the 90′s). Good stuff.

Your thoughts?