Music Review: New Madonna Singles Sound Promising

After a few studio demos leaked from her upcoming 13th album Rebel Heart, Madonna took it upon herself to release six studio cuts from the album.

Accounting for about a third of the 19 tracks on the set, the release of six songs comes after the Queen of Pop called the leak of the demos as "artistic rape" and "terrorism".

From the sounds of it, Madonna is making a much better album than her last one, MDNA, with more club fun and the ability to keep growing as one of the staples of modern pop.

The songs were made available on YouTube, iTunes, and other online music stores and streaming services.

Rebel Heart goes on sale on March 10.

Living for Love- What was supposed to be the first official single released in February, "Living for Love" is a typical Madonna pop song, full of love, spunk and fun. A nice blend of modern club music and a throwback to 90's pop (i.e. Robin S., Cece Peniston, Corona).

Track-by-Track Album Review: Maroon 5's Latest ,"V', Underwhelms.

 
Maroon 5's fifth album, appropriately named V, is a better album than their last effort, Overexposed, which played, awkwardly, with elements of SKA and reggae, but they're both still bad. The latest plays with more electronic beats but in a muted way, which is sometimes enjoyable and good. V is a regular Maroon 5 album as far as content, a set of love songs that verge on being bi-polar with how much singer Adam Levine wants someone then doesn't, and on songs that are forgettable as soon as their over.

Here's a track-by-track review of the standard edition release.

Maps- The album's lead single and opener is one of the best things on this album. The good lyrics are delivered beautifully by Levine's voice, yet this fun opener is a false start to another underwhelming album.

Animals- Levine howls on this stalkerish/creepy track about animal tendencies to (sexually) attack a girl. And that's enough of that...

It Was Always You- Slightly techno with scents of the electroc/pop funk of the '80s, "It Was Always You" isn't bad, but you forget why you like it.

Album review: 'Artpop'- 2013: A Gaga Odyssey

In the two-and-a-half years since her last album Born This Way, Lady Gaga must have watched Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "A Clockwork Orange" on repeat for a long while. For starters, on the Artpop album cover she looks like one of the sculptures of the girls in the Korovo Milk Bar, and the album on the whole sounds like it's a voyage to space, to a faraway planet where dance music rules and inhibitions are left at the door.

Artpop is Gaga's weirdest, most experimental album to date, and it shows the "progression" she has made from party girl to all out crazy girl playing with all of the knobs in the studio. Since her first album, The Fame, came out five years, she's donned more personas than Roger from "American Dad!" On Artpop, Gaga takes us through her own musical stargate sequence as she tries to find herself, and it's not the most pleasant journey.

Music Monday: Looking back at Amy Winehouse/Back To Black

It’s been a year since Amy Winehouse left the world so suddenly. While she appeared to get her life back together, she succumbed to old demons and passed at the age of 27 (joining the infamous celebrity ‘27 club’).

            Winehouse left the world with a soulful, heartfelt repertoire that paved the way for fellow British acts to international stardom, including Duffy, Leona Lewis, and the biggest British act of this generation, Adele.  

            The short time Winehouse spent in the music industry is remarkable, considering she only released two albums, but contributed with so many other notable acts (including Tony Bennett, winning a posthumous Grammy this year for her duet with him).

Music Monday: P!nk roars back with new single, album news.

 
It's been two years since P!nk has put out any new material when she released "F***** Perfect" and "Raise Your Glass" as singles from her greatest hits album. But now she's back with a single from her latest album due out in September.

"Blow Me (One Last Kiss)," from her upcoming sixth studio album The Truth About Love, is a typical P!nk track, complete with roaring vocals and vengeful lyrics about moving on from your significant other. Can't say it's good or bad, it's just P!nk.

Similar to previous songs in mood and composition, "Blow Me" is almost like the prequel to her other hit "U + Ur Hand," where both are about leaving without regret and a guy being stuck on his own. Tired of fighting? Call it off, P!nk style.

It's a good track to sing along with, but that one part in the chorus sounds like the old cassette tapes that whirred loudly when you sped rewound it while it was playing. Or like when the tape would spit out all over the cartridge when it malfunctioned. Oh, memories of the '90s.

Anyway, it's good to see P!nk back doing what she does best, kicking ass and not caring! The Truth About Love will be released September 18.

Maroon 5's latest is definitely 'Overexposed'

            Following their barely successful third album, Hands All Over, Maroon 5 has returned with Overexposed, an album that is overexposed with too much generic pop sounds and nothing solely original.

            The band’s release of the number one hit "Moves Like Jagger” was their last album’s most successful single, but it came at the expense of it being a re-issue. With an infectious whistle and a fun beat, “Moves” probably sucked a lot of originality and star power from this once wildly original band.

            Overexposed starts off with a forgetful, reggae-scented track called “One More Night,” and serves as the second single on the album. The second track, and first single, “Payphone,” featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa, is one of the better tracks on the album, but still tends to get annoying after a while.

I think it’s because singer Adam Levine has a high voice and some of the notes he hits are just too extravagant for my liking. It’s definitely not a bad song, but with radio overkill for the past two months, it’s just a bit much.

After “Payphone,” the album plays around with a different medley of sounds and genres without a clear focus on what this band is trying to do. It’s been 10 years since their debut album, Songs About Jane, came out, and the band has definitely lost their rocker edge since then.

Take the track “Lucky Strike.” It’s a pretty good track with a nice tempo, but it sounds so boy band-ish to me. The “oh oh oh’s” of the chorus sounds like the constant chanting of any song by the British group The Wanted, but teeters on the verge of the Nickelodeon stupidity of Big Time Rush.

The band also recycles some disco and pop moods on the tracks “Tickets,” “Doin’ Dirt,” and “Lady Killer,” all of which are pretty forgetful. “Tickets” even sounded like a rejected ABBA track from way back when.

Alas, there were some highlights on the album like the soothing “Daylight.” A track about not wanting to leave your loved one when morning comes around, it stood out strongly from everything else on the album. Levine’s vocals are more restrained and tolerable than a few other songs on here, and the lyrics are beautiful.

“And when the daylight comes I'll have to go, but tonight I'm gonna hold you so close. Cause in the daylight we'll be on our own, but tonight I need to hold you so close,” Levine sings passionately.

Where all the other songs felt almost endless, this is the one I wish were longer.

“Sad,” evokes an almost hokey Billy Joel vibe, with its strong lyrics and sole piano accompaniment.  I think this is the strongest track for Levine’s vocals, which showcases his lower register while balancing with his usual high notes.

I got a sense of Adele’s album 21 on this track. With heartbreaking lyrics about regret over losing a loved one, it sounds like the cousin track to her hit “Someone Like You.” It’s definitely another highlight of the album.

While the album’s opening was forgetful, it’s bookend, “Beautiful Goodbye,” was just that, beautiful. “Beautiful” sounds like something you would listen to on a Caribbean island, with some nice rhythms and a vintage record sound underlying the background. It also reminded me of Bruno Mars’ song “The Lazy Song.”

While definitely not the worst album of the year, it might be one of the worst for Maroon 5. Overexposed is an album where the intrigue of it was propelled by “Payphone,” but won’t prosper beyond that.