Jimmy Fallon’s interview with Cee Lo Green was a bit by-the-numbers last night (they covered “Fuck/Forget You,” Gwyneth Paltrow, the Grammy performance). But things looked up when conversation turned to The Voice — and particularly when the topic of Green and fellow coach Christina Aguilera’s unreleased collaboration came up. Watch below.
Christina’s just like the best to me,” Cee Lo said about Xtina. “We did a song together, a few years ago. It actually was supposed to make the Burlesque soundtrack, but it didn’t make it. I’ve been seeing people tweeting about it lately, so I guess they’re going to release it.”
A Cee Lo and Christina collab? (Lady) Killer! And at least that’s more than he offered on the resident country crooner on The Voice. “I had never heard of Blake Shelton,” Green admitted. “But I warmed up to him pretty quickly.”
Showing posts with label Josh Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh Green. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
[NEWS] NBC FINDS IT'S SINGING 'VOICE,' AND IT'S A HIT
NBC is humming a rare tune of relief as newest singing competition The Voice provides a desperately needed boost to the fourth-place network.The 10-week series premiered with 11.8 million viewers on April 26, then climbed to 12.6 million last week, echoing the word-of-mouth lift experienced by previous reality hits.
More impressive is the show's appeal to young-adult viewers sought by advertisers: In that measure, the show ranked third last week, just 10% below Thursday's American Idol.
This, for a show assembled in just four months, overcoming "huge skepticism" based on "the incumbency of that monster franchise" Idol, says NBC reality chief Paul Telegdy.
"Something buzzworthy and growing week to week is a shot in the arm they definitely need," says analyst Sam Armando of Chicago ad firm SMGx. And the show's early promise, coupled with a growing Idol, potentially dilutes prospects for Simon Cowell's long-gestating The X Factor, which is due on Fox this fall.
Why is The Voice (Tuesday night, 10 ET/PT) hitting high notes? "The coaches have huge fan bases, the chemistry between the coaches is incredible, there's a level of singing that is really high quality, and the elements within the show are really surprising," says executive producer Mark Burnett (Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice).
As on X Factor, the judges double as mentors (here they're called coaches), so they're both sizing up and rooting for contestants. The choice of four from separate genres —Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Maroon 5's Adam Levine — marks a deliberate attempt to broaden the show's appeal, Burnett says.
But the coaches were concerned about copying Idol's template. "They said, 'We don't want to be on a show where you deliberately bring out people who can't sing to make comedy out of it.' It's a friendly competition without any need to feel mean, and it works," Burnett says.
Previous episodes featured "blind" auditions, in which contestants sang as the coaches listened with their backs turned. Those who liked the singer pushed a red button that turned their chairs around; if more than one did so, the singer got to choose which team to join.
Tonight marks the start of a four-week "battle" round, with one-hour episodes in a later, less competitive time slot. Each week, two of each coach's eight team members compete in a duet, and the coach must eliminate one of them. In acquiring rights to Dutch hit The Voice of Holland, "this was the phase of the competition that sold us on the format," Telegdy says.
The show begins four weeks of possibly longer live episodes June 7. Remaining team members will be cut both by viewer votes and coaches. The winner among sole survivors from each team will be revealed on the June 29 finale. The prize: $100,000 and a recording contract.
Source: USA TODAY
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Album review: Christina Aguilera’s ‘Bionic’ delivers what its title promises — and then some
How’s this for a pop-music revolution? A multiplatinum-level superstar returns to the scene with her first studio album in four years, and she’s got more on her agenda than shifting an easy million units. To be sure, Christina Aguilera has no intention of letting her star dim without a fight, and she opens and closes Bionic (her new album, due next week) with state-of-the-art boasting to remind us that once, many pop eons ago, she was second only to Britney Spears among hit-making divas. But she clearly isn’t willing to sell her soul in order to line her coffers with more gold and platinum. This is the least overtly mainstream music of her career so far, and even if the failure of the treading-water first single didn’t hint at her endangered commercial fortunes, chart success would not be a given.Forget “Not Myself Tonight” — if you haven’t already. It was not a wise choice for the first single, and fortunately, it’s Bionic’s weakest moment. The electro numbers on the first half of the album emphasize sound over song, accentuating the cybernetic aspect of the definition of “bionic,” with synthetic beats and occasionally processed vocals, which is initially jarring since Aguilera is one singer who definitely doesn’t need any AutoTune assist.
The artificial clamor would have been disastrous if Aguilera and her parade of producers — oh, how I miss the good old days of one album, one producer — didn’t push the sonic boundaries of modern pop with such an appealing wall of sound. Tracks like “Glam” and “Prima Donna,” as well as the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-explosive opening title track, “Elastic Love” (co-written by M.I.A.) and “Woohoo” (the second single, which should have been the first), may not have melodies or hooks that burrow themselves into your memory after one listen, but they are among the most interesting music Aguilera has recorded. There are 18 tracks in all — including three interludes — and one of the most remarkable things about Bionic is that for such a long album, it goes by as quickly as it does.
Lyrically, she’s not breaking new ground: “Desnudate” (that would be “get naked” in Spanish), is punctuated with cool electro horns and incongruously followed by “Glam,” a ’90s-style ode to catwalking that warns “don’t let the clothes wear you.” Yawn. But the best thing about the electro-pop numbers is that Aguilera doesn’t beg comparisons to Lady Gaga or Britney or even Madonna, but rather conjures aural memories of Berlin’s Terri Nunn and Missing Persons’ Dale Bozzio as well as S Club 7’s Rachel Stevens (don’t laugh — check out Stevens’ brilliant, overlooked 2005 album Come and Get It, and see what I mean). I’m not saying the songs are ’80s retro because they aren’t. The most impressive thing about the album’s first half is that it recalls ’80s new-wave queens while simultaneously sounding of the moment and futuristic. Who knows what Aguilera’s longtime fans will think? Who cares? Well, she probably does, but that’s clearly not her primary concern. Like Rihanna’s Rated R, Bionic works because Aguilera’s not going after the easy hit.
Vocally, she occasionally still comes across like a show off, huffing, puffing and thumping her chest, as if to say, “I may be little but I can blow.” But for surprisingly long stretches, Aguilera keeps the vocal pyrotechnics in check, emphasizing subtlety over bombast, and on the ballads (more on them later), allowing her vulnerability to show. Attacking the electro pop with oversinging would have defeated the purpose, as in this kind of music, the vocals are supposed to blend into the mix as another “instrument,” enhancing, complementing the music but not overpowering it.
“All I Need,” “I Am” and “You Lost Me,” a trio of stunning ballads well past the album’s midway point, stress the “human” in the super-human aspect of “bionic,” and benefit most from Aguilera’s lighter vocal approach. Unlike pop’s biggest recent female arrivals (Gaga, Ke$ha and Katy Perry), Aguilera can sell a traditional ballad, and she could have gone to Ryan Tedder and commissioned her own “Bleeding Love,” “Halo” or “Battlefield.” Instead she teamed up with frequent Zero 7 collaborator Sia Furler and produced her best down-tempo songs since “Beautiful.” “I Am,” in particular, is 3:55 of chamber pop that expands on the self-acceptance theme of “Beautiful.” It sounds unlike anything on the radio right now and should eventually be a single. Aguilera makes her boldest Bionic impression here, and she doesn’t once raise her voice.
These tracks are so gorgeous that it’s almost a disappointment when “I Hate Boys” raises the tempo again, and the three electro tracks that close the album are a bit of a letdown because one wishes Aguilera had spent more time exploring her vulnerable side. Fewer collaborators (maybe an entire Aguilera/Furler/Linda Perry affair) and a non ballad or two that push pop’s limits without sacrificing songcraft — think “Get Mine, Get Yours” from Stripped, or “Candyman” from Back to Basics — would have made Bionic closer to great than merely good. Still, it’s Aguilera’s best album, and even if morphing into the six million dollar woman has cost her some soul, she ultimately proves that she still has a strong, beating heart.
Source: Truleslant
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