R&B force Beyonce was recently interviewed by The Observer’s Caspar Llewellyn Smith where she answered questions concerning a myriad of topics. Amongst the items discussed, the entertainer spoke about the possible direction of her next studio project. Peep an excerpt from the interview below:
Is there anyone left you’d still like to record with?
Oh, where do I begin? There’s so many people I’d like to work with still, but I’d like to maybe go outside of the box. My sister [Solange] has put me on to bands like [indie group] Of Montreal and some other different types of artists. I would love to do something like that on my next album. {Source}
To say that I didn’t expect this would be a blatant lie. Beyonce is one of the few artists who always manage to revamp their appeal with each record; capturing the attention of new audiences with each LP. Undoubtedly, she has the voice to adapt to almost any arrangement, hence further experimentation with acoustic instruments would be a more than manageable feat for her. If the productions sound anything like ‘Disappear’, ‘Irreplaceable’, ‘Satellites’ or ‘Stop Sign’, I would be all ears.
Sam Edit:Hmm…I’m all for artistic experimentation, however some of the slower/stripped-back offerings on ‘I Am…Sasha Fierce’ are among the most boring material Bouncy has ever recorded IMO (2nd only to the added tracks on the ‘B’Day’ re-release). If there’s one thing Ms. Knowles-Carter has established since the start of her career, it’s the epic, grandeur that accompanies her songs (see: ‘Halo’, ‘Listen’, ‘Dangerously In Love’, as well as most of her upbeat cuts). I’d much prefer a building on that, instead of a potentially contrived take on Indie music.
This week’s From The Vault comes in the form two videos because…well..I feel like it LOL!
The first (above) is Blaque‘s 1999 punchy R&B hit ‘Bring It All To Me’. Mentored by the late Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes (hence perhaps the subtle similarities to TLC), the trio served up this killer cut as the 2nd single from their debut LP, which was released the same year. As well as being a great song, I vividly remember really gravitating to the fact that all of the ladies got equal mic / face time and collectively were very promising. While the group have since disbanded, only to re-group to disband again (!), they left us with gems like this, which is alright by me!
The 2nd of our picks this week is UK group Eternal‘s 1997 chart-topping collaboration with BeBe Winans‘I Wanna Be The Only One’. Fronted by power-house vocalist Easther Bennett, the group IMO still stand as the UK’s best female group (vocally) in many-many years. I still blast this song out from time to time, and it sounds as fresh as it did when it first came out. Quality music lives forever!
Pop mega-star Janet Jackson has revealed in an interview The Times newspaper that she is readying a European tour for 2010. It will mark the first time in over 10 years that Jackson, 43, has toured this side of the globe. {Shout out to Hattie Collins who conducted the interview!}
Finally!!!
It’s been too long. After all the label drama and mishandled projects, it’ll be great to see Janet live on our turf again. You already know I’ll be there. Her new team really do seem to be on the ball…
Holding true to our promise of keeping things fresh here at That Grape Juice (v.2.0 baby!), we bring you ‘Cover Star’. Completing our current feature-list (From The Vault, Back In The Beat etc), Cover Star will each week showcase regular folk’s rendition of your favourite tracks. Recent history has shown the web to be the place to discover new talent – talent which is undeniably out there in abundance. So what better way to give shine to undiscovered talent than on your favourite site and mine – That Grape Juice!
This week’s Cover Star is 21 year old Enrico from London who, with a little help from his friends, offers a unique spin on Janet’s ‘Feedback’ (with a vocal nod to Destiny’s Child and Brandy…you’ll see what I mean). Check it out:
I really enjoyed this! From the harmonies (which for the most part were uber on-point) to the arrangements, to the DC3 and Brandy references, to the overall switching up of la Jan’s classic (yes I said it), this was awesome.
Pop phenom Lady GaGa took the stage on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ recently. The singer performed the track ‘Speechless’ from her second studio album ‘The Fame Monster’. The track, which was produced by GaGa herself, was first performed at this year’s American Music Awards in a medley with ‘Bad Romance’ (now at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100). ‘The Fame Monster’ was released earlier this week on November 23rd.
Once again, GaGa delivered a solid performance. All the gimmicks aside, this girl really has a lot of talent and continues to prove why she is a real ‘monster’ on the charts. With showings like this, I sense that 2010 will be another great year for her career.
Sidebar: She has great shoulder pads and she can sing! That is such a rare combination in today’s music industry…
Check out episode 5 of Monica‘s BET reality show ‘Still Standing’ (below), which aired last night. We’re really loving the positivity that is this show…plus Monica’s new music is sounding HOT! Roll on January for the new album…
R&B star Fantasia features in the latest issue of Upscale magazine. As well as serving up a fierce photoshoot (courtesy of noted photographer Derek Blanks), the immensely talented vocalist talks in the feature about her new VH1 reality show (which begins in January), her relationships with her daughter, her mother, her ex rapper Young Dro and her father (who controversially filed a lawsuit against her). Check out more pics below {Spotted at The YBF!}
This week’s edition of Best You Never Heard features little known gems by Jennifer Hudson, The-Dream, Stevie Wonder and Brandy.
———————————-
Jennifer Hudson – Invisible
As seemingly one of the few who didn’t wholesomely enjoy Jennifer Hudson‘s 2008 self-titled debut, for me ‘Invisible’ – alongside lead single ‘Spotlight’ – stood far and above the rest of the album’s material. Produced by The Underdogs, the anthem-esque mid-tempo ballad is delivered with such conviction, rawness, emotion that one can’t help but ‘feel’ what Ms. Hudson is singing – the testament IMO to a great song and a an even better singer. Awesome track.
Listen:
———————————-
The-Dream – She Needs My Love
2007 saw the emergence of songwriter The-Dream into the limelight with his smashing debut LP ‘Love/Hate’. Full to the brim with box-fresh hits, the album is best described as one of those where almost every track could have viably been a single – especially the steamy ‘She Needs My Love’. Put simply, the song is audio-fire! From the catchy hooks, to Dream’s trademark layered vocal arrangements, to the production (sparse cowbell driven verses which launch into a rousing chorus), this still goes hard today.
Listen:
———————————-
Stevie Wonder – So What The Fuss
The legendary Stevie Wonder served up more of his classic brilliance, this time with a modern twist, with 2005’s ‘So What The Fuss’ (lifted from his ‘A Time To Love’ LP). Featuring Prince on bass and EnVogue on background vocals, this raw slice of funk re-positioned Stevie as a legend whose new music can stand effortlessly beside today’s chart-topping hits, whilst preserving the high quality we’ve come to expect from him.
Listen:
———————————-
Brandy – Camouflage
R&B vocalist Brandy served up one of, if not ‘the’, best album of her career in 2008 with the release of the criminally underrated ‘Human’ record. Despite its lack of commercial success, the album will be best remembered IMO as serving up track after track of sheer brilliance – especially ‘Camouflage’. Produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins and penned by Claude Kelly, Ms. Norwood entered new territory with this markedly Pop, organic guitar-heavy cut. Yet she manages to ride the track flawlessly, really capturing the essence of what the song is about – a celebration of human fragility and imperfectness. Great track.
Colombian entertainer Shakira gave a performance of her new song ‘Give It Up To Me’ on Fox’s ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ last evening. The Timbaland-produced single has thus far peaked at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #29 on the Pop 100. Shakira’s 3rd English album, ‘She Wolf’, debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200 with 80, 000 copies sold.
It’s really refreshing to see Shakira diversifying her dance skills and experimenting with step dancing. As she said in our interview earlier this week, she really enjoys adapting to new challenges and improving her craft as a performer; a drive that is blatantly absent amongst many of the ‘artists’ on the charts today. However, it was painful to watch her struggle to mime in time with her backtrack. I personally have no problems with singers who lip-sync during their hectic promotional tours (I can think of a few who should never be allowed to ‘sing’ live), especially if there is choreography involved. Nonetheless, it is important that the performances are seamless (see Beyonce’s ‘Singe Ladies’ performance on ‘The Tyra Banks Show’).
Check out episode 4 of Monica‘s BET reality show ‘Still Standing’, which aired last week. Enjoy the episode below and hold tight for episode 5 which will be up later in the week.
The legendary Whitney Houston performed on the finale of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars a few hours ago, offering a rendition of current single ‘Million Dollar Bill’ (which you can watch above), as well as her classic ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ (below). Scroll down for our take each showing…
Nippy has certainly had better live outings vocally, and really could have done without that performance of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’. That said, ‘Million Dollar Bill’ wasn’t bad…I rather enjoyed it in fact. I’m assuming she’ll be resting her voice over the Holiday period for her upcoming tour which kicks off early next year.
R&B crooner Usher has supposedly been hard at work on his forthcoming album ‘Raymond vs. Raymond’. One of the tracks emerging from his studio sessions is ‘In My Bag‘ which features none other than T.I. Usher’s new album has been postponed indefinitely, with most speculating that it will be released some time in 2010.
This is a nice song but nothing to become overly excited about. Usher serves up his usual swag but I must admit that T.I. really stole the show with his verse on this one; the track might as well have been his with Usher only chiming in on the chorus. Either way, it’s a good album track but I doubt it will prove single worthy.
