Not the highest quality video, but its all that i can find so far. Skip ahead to 1 minute and watch the opening number. So f*ing good.
The Sing-Off rocks U2
Category Archives: Reality Shows
congrats Nota!
For those who didn’t watch the four episode show “The Sing-Off” you missed out on a great music competition show. I’m hoping they bring it back for a full length season because it was seriously good. Here are a couple performances from the winning group, from Puerto Rico, Nota. And once it is online, I am posting the heck out of the opening number from tonight’s show where the three remaining groups sang U2′s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” because it was off the chain. ya. that’s right. off the chain!
really random friday post.
I’ve been watching that new show The Sing-Off that was airing all week. I’ve heard mixed reviews from those who’ve seen it, but personally, I like it. I’ve always enjoyed acapella groups and a couple of these groups are pretty good, though I’m sure if it comes back for a full season they’ll get some even better ones.
What’s even cooler about this show is that I think they have two of the best judges from any reality music competition yet. They may not be as polarizing as Simon Cowell or as down with 1980′s hiphop lingo as Randy Jackson, but two of the three judges have, wait, what’s it called? oh right, knowledge and appreciation of music and music theory.
Ben Folds and Sean Stockton (of Boyz II Men) are these two judges I’m speaking of and I wish they’d be used (especially Ben Folds) on American Idol. I mean, Ellen is of course a great replacement for the drunk Paula, but she’s a comedian. Ben Folds is funny AND he has an exquisite ear. Instead of acting like Randy Jackson and calling everything “pitchy” he actually explains the differences in tonal harmonics and WHY things sound “pitchy”.
The Sing-Off does have it’s retarded, yet hot as beans, judge as well of course. Nicole Scherzinger (sp?!) of the Pussycat Dolls is the cute one who sits in the middle and just agrees with the dudes on her left and right. Wardrobe needs to show off her cleavage some more though, because she has nothing of use to say.
So. in making this post random, here are songs by each of the judges.
Ben Folds – Zak and Sara
Get Ben Folds’ Rockin’ The Suburbs on amazon mp3
The Pussycat Dolls – Stickwitu
Get The Pussycat Dolls’ PCD on amazon mp3
Boyz II Men – End Of The Road
Get Boyz II Men’s Legacy – The Greatest Hits Collection on amazon mp3
Idol.
It’s almost Christmas and that means it is time for last year’s American Idol contestants to release their debut albums. Since I think Kris Allen (the winner) is kind of a joke who just won because he has dreamy eyes and plays the guitar, I won’t include him in this post. Plus, he was known for playing guitar, and his album is 100% pop instead of being a singer/songwriter thing. Lame.
So, Adam Lambert. The master of the high pitched scream, all sorts of makeup and the most dramatic performances that Idol has ever seen put out his debut album, For Your Entertainment, a week ago and its…decent. The title track is a pretty cool dance track and the closer, which was also on the 2012 soundtrack, is an awesome theatrical style song that ends the album well. My personal favorite, however, is the opening number, which was penned by none other than Justin Hawkins. Yes, the frontman of The Darkness is writing songs for an ex idol contestant. And the theatricalness of The Darkness works perfectly with Lambert’s style. Check it!!!!!
Adam Lambert – Music Again
Get Adam’s debut “For Your Entertainment” on Amazon mp3
Allison Iraheta was the third place contestant…i think. I always liked her though. She was only 16 and could sing with the best of them. She has that raspy rock/pop voice, kinda like Pink. only she is younger. and chubbier. and doesnt give off the impression that she smells weird. I honestly haven’t listened to her album yet, but her song “Scars” is getting great reviews. I think its because teenagers LOVE knowing that everyone around them is in pain. Kids are weird.
Allison Iraheta – Scars
Get Allison’s debut “Just Like You” on Amazon mp3
Idolatry
Kris Allen somehow beat the incredible Adam Lambert to be America’s newest idol. I’m still a little annoyed with America for that vote, but so be it. Now you all are stuck with a completely run of the mill singer/songwriter who brings nothing to the table other than a good cover of The Fray’s cover of Kanye West’s Heartless and a pretty face with a silly “ya, i know i’m hot and all the girls want me” grin.
Here is Mr. Allen’s first single from his upcoming debut album. Sorry, can’t embed it without it playing automatically on a loop.
Thoughts?
http://www.zombalabelgroup.com/krisallen/
Daughtry goes GaGa
Figured I may as well keep the lame reality show posts going by including this video of Chris Daughtry singing “Poker Face” by Lady GaGa.
For those who don’t know, Daughtry came in third place on American Idol a few years ago. I think it was the year when grey-haired Taylor Hicks won the contest with Katherine McPhee being the runner up. It was definitely the season that proved you don’t need to win American Idol to be the most successful of the crew. Both Hicks and McPhee were quickly dropped from their labels after putting out horrible albums that nobody wanted to hear. McPhee even sang some awful song about the greatness of open toed shoes. Seriously people? She was so hot and had a great voice and thats the song you give her? No wonder labels are dying. The only artists from these shows that survive are the ones who actually have some songwriting talent on their own and don’t just take whatever songs are given to them and make a crappy pop track.
Daughtry is not my kind of rock. It is very mainstream, Nickelback-esque music. I don’t own any of his albums, but I do love his voice. This recording from some radio station in Europe shows how raw and talented he is. He takes a run of the mill pop song and actually makes it listenable. Good job Mr. Daughtry, perhaps you have a future in this business.
America Barely Has Talent
I think America’s Got Talent is one of the stupidest shows on television. How can you possibly judge people that do such random things? A break dance team vs a singer vs a guy who throws frisbees to his dog? Retarded. There are actually a few people who show up and have some talent however and mostly I just like seeing the good singers.
This girl was on a week or two ago, though i just saw it online, and I would be surprised if its the last time we see her. I don’t know how far she’ll go on the show (I actually have never watched a season all the way through so I don’t know how it even works) but if this girl doesn’t get picked up by a label and turned into a star, I’d be amazed. She is super cute, super hip and has a tremendous voice and amazing musical style to go with it. Vanessa Carlton meets Avril Lavigne or something. Check it out.
And just for fun, here is another Jonas Brothers song called “Pizza Girl” that I just think is funny. It’s something I could have imagined coming out in the 50′s. Simple, childish pop that sticks in your head.
So I Think I Can’t Dance
I hate to admit it, but yes, I watch So You Think You Can Dance. It’s rather annoying however because I only like the really great dances and I don’t have any sort of background in dance so I don’t know how to judge them. Clearly, they are all much better than me, so unless they fall down and lie screaming on the floor with their leg bent in the wrong direction, it always looks good. The judges always say things about lines and turns and togetherness but it all means nothing to me. There was a dance this past week that was really amazing, however and more so, the song was fantastic. It’s a track from Jason Mraz’s newest album, the one with I’m Yours on it, but the album cut is a studio version that isn’t nearly as good as the acoustic cut used on the show. This one comes from the EP called We Sing that was released prior to the entire album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal things.” It is really an amazing song that touches on the topic of falling in love with one of your good friends and the struggle to turn that friendship into something more romantic. Many of us, including myself, have been in such a situation and this song really gets it right. Check the dance video and the full song below.
So You Think You Can Dance
And here is the entire song.