MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM. . .

OLIVIA DEAN

Olivia Dean has had a very good year. The twenty-six year old British pop singer made a huge impact over the last twelve months with a collection of worldwide hits; "Nice To each Other", "Man I Need", "So Easy (To Fall In Love)" and recently dazzled with her live performance on "Saturday Night Live". To cap off this impressive run, attention has been brought to her version of the Nat "King" Cole holiday classic, "The Christmas Song". Originally recorded by Dean back in 2021, the young vocalist beautifully captures the spirit of this lovely song. Here she is performing the song live at Westminster Abbey with a full orchestra.

BRYAN ADAMS

The Canadian rocker, Bryan Adams has just released an original holiday single, "California Christmas". Adams (who co-wrote the song with his long-time music partner, Jim Vallance) is surrounded by a group of fellow Canadian artists, Alessia Cara, Barenaked Ladies, Alan Doyle and The Sheepdogs to help him record this rocking X-mas tune live. "California Christmas" clearly expresses a desire to have a sunny and warm holiday season that is unique to the West Coast.



MEGHAN TRAINOR

"Gifts For Me" is a new Christmas song from pop artist, Meghan Trainor. This amusing single was inspired by Trainor not being exactly thrilled with some of the Christmas gifts she had received from her husband, actor Daryl Sabara. So she figured it will better to just buy gifts for herself, especially since she'll know that they'll be perfect (and won't have to be exchanged). The singer, best known for her number one hit single, "All About The Bass", had released a holiday album, "A Very Trainor Christmas" five years ago and wanted to add something special and fun for this upcoming season.

NEW SOUNDS

OLIVIA DEAN

Olivia Dean, the British neo-soul singer, is back with the follow-up to her 2023 acclaimed debut, "Messy". She began to seriously pursue music at sixteen, teaching herself how to play the guitar, piano and writing songs. Dean went on to release two EPs which brought her attention and now her latest album, "The Art of Loving" is now out. This collection of alt-r&b offers her perspective on different forms of love and intimacy, revealing the now twenty-six year old performer's growth as an artist. The guitar-driven first single, "Nice To Each Other", which has recently reached the top-ten on the Billboard Global chart, simply asks the question "What if we were just nice to each other?" in a relationship. Now the latest single, "Man I Need" has become another world-wide hit. Dean will open for Sabrina Carpenter on some dates as well as her own The Art of Loving Live tour which will begin next year.





RAYE

The British singer, Raye has been using her big, soulful voice to reinvigorate pop music. Born Rachel Keen and raised in South London, Raye had been interested in pursing music since she was a child. After briefly attending the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology and dropping out due to feeling creatively stifled, she went off on her own to make it into music. At seventeen, Raye received notice for her self-released EP in 2014 and kept on recording and making connections in the industry. Her big breakthrough came in 2022 with "Escapism", a trip-hop styled pop song that clicked across the globe including the US. Now Raye is preparing to release her second album. The first single, "Where Is My Husband!" captures a retro girl group sound merged with hip-hop beats. Raye had also teamed with producer/musician, Mark Ronson last summer for the original song, "Suzanne" that was part of the APxMusic programme to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Swiss watchmaker, Audemars Piguet.





KHALID

The pop-soul vocalist, Khalid has been making music professionally since he was teenager with his single, "Location" becoming a top twenty hit back in 2016. More hits followed for the El Paso, TX native with "Young Dumb & Broke", "Love Lies" (with Normani), "Eastside", "Better" and "Talk". But last year Khalid came out as gay after being outed. This has not changed anything for the singer except that now he no longer feels a need not to be completely honest as an artist. He has just released a new single, "Out of Body" from his upcoming fourth album, "After the Sun Goes Down". For the music video for this dance song, Khalid moves seductively with his male dancers, feeling much freer to generate a smoldering sensuality that he's not been able to reveal before. 

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Kylie Minogue had released the album, "Disco" late in 2020, in part, to serve as inspiration to get people back on the dance floor after spending most of the year in isolation. And this fifteenth studio album has gone on to become one of Minogue's most popular, leading to a sequel of sorts with "Disco: Guest List Edition" which includes remixes of the singles from the album and new dance songs with duets featuring Jessie Ware, Years & Years and the disco legend, Gloria Gaynor. The music video for the latest single, "Can't Stop Writing Songs About You" with Gaynor has just been released, with these two dancing queens helping to bring a disco to life.



Here is a highlight of some interesting songs that I love :

If you may recall, New Kids of the Block (which is probably not a great name for a group whose members are now in their fifties) was a pop boy-band, made up of Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood, who were wildly popular in the late '80's and early '90's with such songs as "You Got It (The Right Stuff)", "Step by Step" and "Hangin' Tough" before disbanding in 1994. They first reunited fourteen years later and have continued to come together over the years to tour. Now NKOTB plans to hit the road this summer with another Mixtape Tour that will include other musical acts that were popular during their time; Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley, and En Vogue. And to help get people in the mood, the band has released a new song and video, "Bring Back the Time" that features their tour mates. This fun clip has the musicians spoofing music videos of different artists from the height of the MTV era. Let's see how many of these you will remember:

And the former member of the British boy-band, One Direction, Harry Styles has just dropped some new music. After the incredible success of his first two solo albums, fans have been anxiously waiting to hear what he will do next and Styles does not disappoint. The twenty-eight year old musician has been greatly inspired by the music from the past and with "As It Was", he delivers an '80's new wave vibe. Written by Styles with Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson (who also co-produced), the song is an introspective look at change and a feeling of loneliness. "As It Was" broke Spotify’s single-day streaming record by a male artist with 16.1 million streams in its first 24 hours. This is the first track off of Styles' upcoming album, "Harry's House" due out in May.