It's been five years since rock god, Lenny Kravitz has released new music and has returned with a single and news of an upcoming album. While the title might possibly be in reference to something in "Star Wars" or "Boogie Nights", the song, "TK421" is clearly Kravitz's call to find freedom in spirituality. This dance-rock track is the first delivery from "Blue Electric Light", the musician's twelfth studio release which will be a double album and due out early in the new year. But Kravitz surprises us even further with the music video for "TK421" which has the almost sixty-year-old artist looking ageless, revealing an impressive physique and plenty of skin.
Here are some new songs from Australian pop artist, Troye Sivan (who makes a startling transformation in the music video); fellow Aussie, Sia; indie pop artist from Britain, PinkPantheress; the latest solo single from Alabama Shakes member, Brittany Howard and a dance track that serves as a shout-out to an Italian fashion house.
The British pop singer, Paloma Faith may be far better known in her home country and throughout Europe, but she is someone that should be paid attention to on this side of globe. "How You Leave a Man", the first single from her upcoming sixth studio album, "The Glorification of Sadness" has been released and is inspired by the end of her decade long relationship. This emotional, power ballad about the painful decision to leave an unfaithful husband behind is what the forty-two-year-old artist claims to be one of her most personal yet.
Rudolph Isley, one of the founding members of the celebrated family r&b group, the Isley Brothers, passed away on October 11th at the age of eighty-four. The trio, with his brothers, O'Kelly and Ronald, had their first hit in 1959 with the single, "Shout", the first of many songs they would go on to write. This was followed by another popular song, "Twist and Shout" and the Isley Brothers were lured to Motown Records in 1966. But they managed to only find charting success with the single, "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" which was written by the label's songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. The brothers chaffed under Motown's controlling creative methods and left the label two years later. The Isleys started their own label, T-Neck Records and altered their sound from smooth soul to funkier r&b, hitting the top-five on the pop and soul charts with "It's Your Thing" in 1969. With younger brothers, Ernie and Marvin and brother-in-law, Chris Jasper joining in 1971, more hits followed for The Isley Brothers with "That Lady", "Fight the Power", "For the Love of You", "Between the Sheets" and soulful covers of rock songs, "Love the One You're With" and "Summer Breeze". O’Kelly Isley passed away from a heart attack in 1986 and Rudolph decided to retire from the group three years later. The Isley Brothers would continue on as a popular musical act but earlier this year, Rudolph sued his brother Ronald with claims that he had sought to cut him out of the trademark for the group. While Ronald was usually the lead singer, Rudolph occasionally provided leading vocals on some songs. Here are a couple of tracks:
After showing off his acting chops in the widely watched yet much maligned HBO series, "The Idol" where he played the creative director for one of the biggest pop acts in the world, Australian pop star, Troye Sivan has returned to his own music career. "Rush" is a breezy, feel good dance track that brings to mind the sounds of 1980’s Pet Shop Boys. Sivan admits this song was partly inspired by that feeling that comes from inhaling poppers which a popular brand is called Rush. This is the first single off of Sivan's upcoming third album, "Something to Give Each Other", due out in October, which he promises will be a celebration of sexy, good times.
Here are some songs I'm into right now including Fall Out Boy's lyrical update of the 1989 Billy Joel classic, "We Didn't Start The Fire":
The actress and singer, Jane Birkin has passed away on July 16th at the age of seventy-six. While she was British born and raised, Birkin first found fame in France after meeting French musician, Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 while they were shooting a film. They fell in love and the couple recorded an album the following year, "Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg" which featured, "Je t'aime… moi non plus", a controversial song at the time due to it’s sexual content. And while it was banned in some countries, the song (originally written by Gainsbourg for French actress, Brigitte Bardot) reached number one in Birkin's native country, the first foreign-language song to do so in the UK. Birkin would go on to record several solo albums (mostly written by Gainsbourg) before their relationship ended in 1980. She would continue to act, appearing in French and English language films such as "Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman", "La Belle Noiseuse", "Death on the Nile", "Evil Under the Sun" and "Jane by Charlotte" which was her final screen appearance in this 2021 docu-drama directed by Birkin's daughter, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. And yes, that handbag by Hermès was created for her in 1984 and the Birkin bag has become a much coveted status symbol.
And finally, I would like to honor the legacy of the legendary crooner, Tony Bennett, who we lost on July 21st at the age of ninety-six. Since his first number-one hit, "Because of You" in 1951 and his popular, signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in 1962, the New York born and raised vocalist kept the sounds of jazz and traditional pop alive and well, even when it fell out of favor. Bennett successfully found relevance again with the MTV Generation in the late 1980s and 1990s without ever having to alter his music. He teamed-up with many contemporary artists, most notably Lady Gaga, and Tony Bennett was cool once again. Here is a highlight of Bennett performing duets with some of his biggest fans: Judy Garland, k.d.Lang (who recorded an album with him, "A Wonderful World" in 2002), Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga (who recorded two albums with Bennett which included his final album, "Love For Sale" in 2021).
Another year has come and gone and during that time, I have shared the music that I have loved throughout. Here is a small collection of songs that were some of my favorites that I didn't get a chance to highlight:
While Taylor Swift had planned to spend the summer on a worldwide tour to promote her last album, "Lover" released last year, a nasty virus got in the way of her concert plans. With plenty of time on her hands (much like the rest of us), the singer spent the last few months creating new music and what came out of that is her eighth studio album, "Folklore". This collection does not feature the inflated, synth-pop production of her previous records. Yet it is also not a clear return to her early country music roots.
The album offers something a little different; low-key and mature songs that look at our complicated, turbulent times that plays best to her strengths which is vivid songwriting. Swift uses classic folklore, which are stories that blur the lines between truth and fiction, to create songs that are far less self-referential than her music in the past. I must admit I've never been a huge fan of Swift's (more of an admirer) but I must say that I really enjoyed "Folklore" and think this is the thirty-year old superstar's strongest album to date.
And clearly many others seem to agree. "Folklore" has broken streaming records with Swift having the biggest opening day for an album by a female artist on Spotify and the album has sold 1.3 million copies globally on its first day on July 24th. Swift has stated that the album "started with imagery" so the videos are just as important to express her ideas as the music for "Folklore". She even got behind the camera to direct the clip for the first single, "Cardigan".
KYLIE MINOGUE
After dipping her toes in to some down-home, country-pop with her last album, "Golden" in 2018, Kylie Minogue seems ready to get back to what she's best known for; dance-flavored, pop music. And the title of her upcoming fifteenth studio album says it all: "Disco". The fifty-two year old, down-under pop diva has just dropped the first single, "Say Something" and it is definitely a shimmering dance floor banger. The song (co-written by Minogue with Ash Howes and producers, Jonathan Green and Richard "Biff" Stannard) is about the never-ending quest for love and is just what we need to hear right now. Minogue worked on the album (due out on November 6th) while in quarantine and even learned how to record and engineer her vocals on her own using music software in order to help get the record completed.
And here are a few videos of new music I'm enjoying right now:
Calvin Harris is on fire this year and seems like he's unable to make a wrong move. After some great collaborations with Dua Lipa and Sam Smith, the DJ turned producer has just dropped two new tracks with former Fifth Harmony member, Normani. One is "Checklist" that features WizKid and has a dance hall beat while "Slow Down" is a mid-tempo dance floor banger. They are both great songs and will definitely help give Normani an even bigger profile after her top-ten hit duet with Khalid with "Love Lies":
Here is some Chaka Khan, past and present. First, we go back to 1986 with "Love of a Lifetime", a song written and produced for her by Scritti Politti, a hot British band at the time who was best known for the hit, "Perfect Way". This song was a not a big success but I loved it. In the music video, what I find notable is Chaka's neon-colored hair which was long before it became trendy like today. And we have a new song, "Keep Reachin'", a funky jam for the recent Netflix documentary on Quincy Jones. Mark Ronson produced the track and together with Chaka's soaring vocals, it features the spirit of the legendary music maker.
Here is the newest single, "Money" by the hottest artist in hip-hop/rap right now, Cardi B and a couple of music videos that I find interesting:
Finally, we close with that '80's boy band, Duran Duran, who managed to deliver plenty of style and substance. When this British band first began, they were much closer aligned musically with the new-wave/new romantic scene before the 1982 album "Rio" and the music video for their smash, "Hungry Like The Wolf" helped pushed them in to the mainstream. While I liked their more commercial sound, I really enjoyed their early records. Let's look back on two of my favorite Duran Duran songs, "Planet Earth" and "Girls On Film" from 1981 with both of the music videos featuring adventurous and sensual imagery that would became a staple of the MTV generation:
Sugababes have had six number one singles, eighteen top-ten hits and have sold over seven million records. I'm sure many of you that are American might be asking, "Who are Sugababes?" Well, they were a very popular British female pop act formed in 1998 who not only had this incredible success in their native country but also throughout much of the rest of the world with the notable exception of the U.S. where they never charted. There have been singers that have come and gone in this trio but the most popular line-up included Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Heidi Range. With all of the founding members gone by 2011, Sugababes eventually faded away and ended. For American ears, enjoy a brief sample of the best of Sugababes:
Here are a few new songs I'm enjoying right now:
If this new song by Céline Dion called "Ashes" makes you think of her classic love ballad from the movie, "Titanic", well, it's actually intentional. David Leitch, the director of the upcoming sequel to the smash, comedic super-hero movie, "Deadpool", explains that they wanted a highly melodramatic song for the film and approached the singer to perform the track. And she delivers some remarkably beautiful vocals, taking this ballad to incredible heights. It will be interesting to see how this will be used in the movie but I'm sure it will be both moving and hilarious. Leitch also directed the music video which features an interpretive dancing Deadpool. Be sure to check out the very funny ending of this clip:
Finally, one band from the past I've been thinking about recently are Fine Young Cannibals, a British group, lead by the distinctive vocals of Roland Gift, who had worldwide success throughout much of the '80's and had such hits as "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing" which both reached the top of the U.S. pop chart. Taking their name from a little-seen 1960 Natalie Wood movie, bassist, David Steele and guitarist, Andy Cox had left the ska band, The Beat (The English Beat in the U.S.) and came together with Gift who had departed his ska outfit, Akrlykz in 1984. The trio released their self-titled debut the following year and found international success with the singles, "Johnny Come Home" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" . The glaring exception was in America where the group only achieved a cult following. But that all changed with their next album. "The Raw and Cooked" that brought Fine Young Cannibals to everyone's attention in 1989 and the album went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. But by 1992, the group had disbanded and each moved on to other less high-profile musical directions. Let's take a look back to the sounds of Fine Young Cannibals:
I really try to avoid making my political views public but the election of that vile man to the highest office in the country has made me realize I cannot and must not remain silent. I think he's completely unfit for President, I do not support most of his outrageous agenda and I strongly believe he is not concerned about the best interests of a majority of the people he's supposed to be representing. I know I am not alone in this point of view just from the incredible number of people out in the streets protesting the day after the inauguration. Many artists have been inspired to create music to peacefully protest this new administration and to inform them we will not be ignored or pushed around.
I am sharing a few of my favorite songs from a variety of different musicians who are all very concerned about not only the future of this nation but of the entire planet.
Also be sure to check out the Our First 100 Days Campaign which will release a protest song every day over the first one hundred of this presidency. Click below to make a donation to get a subscription with proceeds going to a variety of charities to aide in their fight against the sure-to-be damaging policies of this administration.
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