CUZ I LOVE YOU

Lizzo is an exciting voice in r&b/hip-hop who hasn't received the proper attention I think she deserves. After releasing some well-received EPs and albums, the thirty year old singer has just dropped her third studio album, "Cuz I Love You" and this record seems like it may help her breakout in a significant way.

She was born Melissa Jefferson and raised in Houston, TX. As a teen, she learned how to play the flute (which she still plays on her records) and performed with her school's band before becoming interested in rap. Lizzo studied music performance at the University of Houston and formed several bands with dreams of stardom. Major success didn't happen during this time and she decided to head to Prince's hometown of Minneapolis with the hope of igniting her music career. She got involved with some indie r&b groups before launching out on her own and releasing her debut album, "Lizzobangers" in 2013.

Lizzo's latest is a collection of sassy hip-hop and classic soul and perfectly captures her unique vision and big personality. Lizzo proudly represents the "big grrrls" and is a strong advocate for body positivity and self love which is certainly stated with her album cover as she appears gloriously nude. Enjoy a few songs from "Cuz I Love You" which includes a sizzling live performance of "Juice" at the 30th annual GLAAD Media Awards, a collaboration with Missy Elliott on "Tempo" and the music video for the title track which is a moving ballad.

And be sure to listen for Lizzo as she provides her voice in the upcoming animated musical, "Ugly Dolls" out in theaters on May 3rd.







And as a bonus, here is a favorite song by Lizzo from a few years ago, "Good As Hell":

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Fresh off his Oscar win for co-writing with Lady Gaga, "Shallow" from the musical-drama, "A Star Is Born", Mark Ronson has returned to creating his own music. "Late Night Feelings" is the British producer/musician's fifth album and he has rounded-up an eclectic group of all female artists to contribute to the project. Some of the talent includes Alicia Keys, Camila Cabello, Angel Olsen and Miley Cyrus who was a part of the first single, "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart", a country-disco track released late last year. The latest single is the title song and features the Swedish vocalist, Lykke Li. It is a shimmering dance track that is elevated by Li's sensual delivery. Look at to the music video for the track and here is Ronson and Cyrus live on "SNL" performing their song:





The one and only Cher was on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last week which spent the entire show paying tribute and honoring her amazing career. The musical based on her life, "The Cher Show" was recently on Broadway and the three actresses who played her plus the real deal came together to perform one of Cher's biggest hits, "If I Could Turn Back Time". It is an epic battle of the Chers and I'm sure I don't have to tell you who is the victor. Take a look:



I wasn't aware that "country rap" was actually a thing but Lil Nas X, at one point, impressively had his twangy trap tune, "Old Town Road" on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop song charts all at the same time. However, Billboard removed the song from the country chart due to it "not having enough elements of today's country music". This move has ignited a serious conversation about what exactly makes something "country music" and how much did race play a part in this decision to remove the song from the chart? Anyway, Miley's daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus loved the song and teamed-up with Lil Nas X for a remix of the track. Have a listen:

Finally I had heard a song on the radio which I thought was a new Adele single. During further investigation, I was surprised to discover that this song, "You Say" was actually from contemporary Christian singer, Lauren Daigle. This song became her third number one on the Hot Christian Songs chart and Daigle's first crossover pop hit. While I do really like the song and admire the inspirational message, it still bothers me how Ms Daigle copies much of Adele's vocal style and production on this record. I guess that's nothing new in the music business but this is just a little too blatant for my taste. Have a listen and judge for yourself:

MY FAVORITE SONGS OF 1981

The year was 1981. After graduating from high school, I had officially become an adult. I was a man-child of eighteen, excited yet apprehensive about of my future. Living in the suburbs and about to attend an art college in the big city of Detroit, I had always wanted to become a great commercial artist. Later in my third year of school, a teacher told me to seriously reconsider my dream of being an artist. Lacking the required self-confidence and being very practical, I eventually decided to drop out of school. This setback forced me to rethink my life plans and hastened my goal to move out of Michigan.

Throughout the disappointments that are inevitable in life, music has always helped me get through and comforted me while I was feeling insecure. The quirky and high-energy sounds of new wave was emerging during this time which I gravitated towards yet this music was not being played on my local radio station. I heard many of these songs on MTV and on a Canadian version called MuchMusic. Here are a few of my favorite songs of this year which covers a wide variety of music of the day:

THE 25 SONGS THAT MATTER RIGHT NOW

For the New York Times magazine's 2019 Music Issue, the focus is on songs that are making a statement right now. The previous issues tried to predict which direction music was heading and now it's about twenty-five current pop songs which explore wistful intimacy, address troubling issues in our society and attempt to ignite conversation about our turbulent times. These diverse artists here, who range from well-known (Bruce Springsteen, Ariana Grande, Weezer) to not-as-well-known (Parquet Courts, Tierra Whack, Sons of Kemet), express their ideas and feelings in a variety of interesting styles and reactions.

Click below to read the article:

The 25 Songs That Matter Right Now

And here are a few songs from this list that I particularly like:

NUMBER ONE FLASHBACK

For this Number One Flashback, we are going back to 1969 when the song that topped the chart during this week was "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" by the 5th Dimension. This was a melody of two songs from the 1967 stage musical, "Hair" that was written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot. This "Champagne Soul" group (which featured Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore, and Ron Townson) had seen the show and loved it and wanted to record the song, "Aquarius". Their producer, Bones Howe however didn't feel there was enough there to do just that one song. So he came up with the idea of combining the record with another tune from the show, "Let The Sunshine In".

This song became an instant success reaching the number one spot in the U.S. for six weeks and sold over a million copies. "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" would win the 5th Dimension two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group.

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

I am sure everyone is familiar with the empowerment anthem, "I Will Survive" made famous by Gloria Gaynor back in 1978. It was released in the glory days of disco and has endured to become a true classic as it was inducted in to the National Recording Registry for preservation and was the only winner of the very short-lived Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording.

While many people love this popular song, I have to admit I've never been much of a fan. I do admire the reassuring lyrics but (and really no shade intended) I think that Gaynor's take of the song is just okay and actually tend to turn the channel when it’s playing on the radio.

There have been several interesting covers of "I Will Survive" that have been made over the years from Diana Ross to alt-rockers, Cake. But my favorite is by Chantay Savage. The r&b vocalist transformed it in to a moving ballad in 1996 and it became a modest success. This version made it to number twelve in the UK, peaked at number twenty-four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top-five on the r&b/hip-hop chart.