For her first foray back to music since her emancipation from a fourteen year long involuntary conservatorship, Britney Spears has come back in a major way with a duet with Sir Elton John. It has been seven years since her well-received ninth studio album, "Glory" that Spears released any new recorded music, largely due to her recent refusal to continue her career while under complete control by her father. "Hold Me Closer" is a dance-pop song that combines elements of John's songs, "Tiny Dancer", "The One" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". John's husband, David Furnish actually suggested this collaboration and it certainly was an inspired idea. While it's wonderful how John has been very supportive in helping Spears get her footing back into music, the song feels like tiny, baby steps forward from both singers. The pop princess and the veteran musician's wispy, over-processed vocals are heavily buried in the dance mix and "Hold Me Closer" is far too similar to John's previous remixed hit with Dua Lipa, "Cold Heart" from last year. It's great that Spears is feeling comfortable to resume her career and this should give her the encouragement to continue but "Hold Me Closer" remains a disappointing endeavor, lacking the fireworks you would have expected from this team-up.
CHAKA KHAN
Chaka Khan has dropped a new song, "Woman Like Me" and it's a very welcome return by this legendary r&b performer. The edgy ballad (produced by Gregg Pagani who also co-wrote it with Francesca Richard and Jeffrey Anderson) is a stirring anthem on female empowerment, a powerful reminder to men that women should mean more to them than just a sexy plaything, deserving their complete admiration and respect. Khan, who has been dazzling us with her sassy, sultry voice since the the mid '70's, first with the funk band, Rufus before venturing out as a solo artist, just signed a deal with SRG-ILS Group to release her music so hopefully a new album is on the horizon.
LOLAHOL
IfLolahol looks familiar, she probably should. She is Lourdes Leon, the oldest child of pop superstar, Madonna who is following her mother into music. Released through her own record label Chemical X, "Lock & Key" is Lolahol's debut single, a dance-club ready tune with Leon providing breathy, sensual vocals. The music video for the song features Lolahol traveling through New York City and moving seductively on the beach that will certainly make her mother proud. And while the twenty-five year old artist doesn't necessarily plan on making music her career, also having interests in modeling and dance, she is curious to see where this will take her.
After the global critical and commercial success of her dazzling, post-disco collection, "What's Your Pleasure?" from 2020 (which certainly helped us get through the pandemic), Jessie Ware is back with some new music. The British artist has just dropped "Free Yourself", another uplifting dance track with Ware teaming up with renowned electro-pop producer and DJ, Stuart Price (Madonna; Kylie Minogue; The Killers; Dua Lipa) for the first time. The music video for "Free Yourself" is set with Ware being a spiritual leader telling her queer congregation to open up and let their freak flag fly wild and proud. This appears to be the first single from Ware's upcoming fifth studio album although no details have been released. She will be in North America this fall on tour, opening up for Harry Styles on some dates and headlining her own concerts. Be sure to check this amazing artist out if you can.
Here are a few new songs with music videos that deliver the perfect summer vibe:
Built around Rick James' 1981 classic, "Super Freak", Nicki Minaj has released another single with "Super Freaky Girl", a slick, playful track that feels reminiscent of her sound from the early days of her career. This is the fourth song that Minaj has dropped this year (following "Do We Have a Problem?", "Bussin" and "We Go Up") yet there is still no word on when her fifth studio album will be released or if any of these songs will actually appear on this record. Two things we do know is that Minaj will be this year's recipient of the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28th which she will appear with a live performance. Minaj will also be a part of a six-part HBO Max docu-series about her life very soon although no exact date has been confirmed.
And finally to honor the memory of Lamont Dozier, one third of the songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who passed away on August 8th at the age of eighty-one. Dozier, along with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, was responsible for helping to shape the Motown sound by writing many of the songs for the soul music label that crossed over to become worldwide pop hits. The Detroit born and raised artist had begun his career as a performer yet didn't find much success. By 1962, he teamed up with The Hollands who also hadn't had much luck as singers to write for the local-based recording company. Their first top-ten pop hits were for Martha & The Vandellas with "Come and Get These Memories", "Heatwave", and "Quicksand". But it wasn't until 1964 when the team got their first number one song with "Where Did Our Love Go?" for a struggling girl group on Motown, The Supremes. Holland–Dozier–Holland would go on to write and produce nine more number one songs for the trio as well as for other artists on the label like Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, the Miracles and The Isley Brothers, eventually amassing twenty-five number one songs during their career.
After the songwriting team left Motown in 1968 over a dispute about profit-sharing and royalties, they founded Invictus and Hot Wax Records which produced hits for acts like Freda Payne, Honey Cone, Chairmen of the Board, and 100 Proof Aged in Soul. Dozier left the Holland brothers in 1973 to work on his own projects, releasing several solo albums as a performer with his most popular charting song being "Trying to Hold on to My Woman" in 1974. He continued to work as a songwriter, returning to the pop charts in 1984 by writing "Invisible", the hit song for British singer, Alison Moyet. He also co-wrote several songs with the British soul group, Simply Red. Dozier teamed up with Phil Collins to write "Two Hearts" for the soundtrack for the 1988 movie, "Buster" (which starred Collins) that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. And Holland–Dozier–Holland were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Here is a very small sample of the music co-created by Lamont Dozier:
I am very sad to hear that Olivia Newton-John, who I consider to be one of our greatest pop singers, has passed away at the age of seventy-three. The British-born, Australian-raised performer was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 and had been bravely been battling against this disease ever since yet sadly succumbed on August 8th.
Performing professionally as a singer since she was a teenager, Newton-John had first joined an all-girl singing group, Sol-Four with some of her fellow classmates which lead to becoming a regular on "The Happy Show", an Australian children's program, where she was billed as "Lovely 'Livvy". It was during her appearance on another television show, "The Go Show" where Olivia met two people who would become very important to her career; Pat Carroll, who would become her singing partner and John Farrar who later became the writer/producer of much of her music.
Newton-John and Carroll went to England and became the singing act, "Pat and Olivia" in 1967 and toured the country. Yet when Carroll's work visa expired, she had to return to Australia and Newton-John reluctantly decided to stay in Britain to continue her music career. It eventually paid off when she met American producer, Don Kirshner in 1970 who hired her to join his band, Toomorrow he created and to star in a sci-fi musical movie featuring the group, much like he had done co-creating the television series, "The Monkees". This film nor the singing group was much of a success yet it did lead to Newton-John being signed to as a solo artist.
Newton-John's debut album, "If Not For You" was released in 1971, a collection of cover songs by contemporary artists of the day. The title track (which was originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan) became Newton-John's first breakthrough single, reaching the top-forty on the US pop and number one on the adult-contemporary chart. This was just the beginning of an extraordinary career with many hits songs on the country, AC and pop charts with "Let Me Be There", "If You Love Me, Let Me Know", "Please Mr. Please", "Have You Ever Been Mellow?", "Something Better to Do", "Sam" and "I Honestly Love You" which became her first number one song in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974.
Then her career soared even further after she was cast in the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, "Grease" in 1978. This musical became the biggest box-office hit of the year and the soundtrack spent twelve non-consecutive weeks at number one and featured three top-five singles; "Hopelessly Devoted to You", "Summer Nights" and "You're the One That I Want", a duet with co-star, John Travolta. She made another movie, "Xanadu", a musical-fantasy in 1980 that was the last feature film appearance by dance legend, Gene Kelly. Despite this movie becoming a major flop, the soundtrack for "Xanadu" was a huge smash with the title track (with Electric Light Orchestra), "Magic" and "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard, the popular British pop star who became a friend and mentor of Newton-John's early in her career.
The following year, Newton-John released the album and single that would become the biggest seller in her career as a solo artist. "Physical" would spend ten weeks at the top of the US pop chart and with "Make a Move On Me" reaching the top-five, the album, "Physical" went on to sell over two million copies. The sexually suggestive song was enhanced by a playful music video that was set in a gym with a funny twist ending. Other hit songs followed with "Heart Attack", "Twist of Fate" (from the soundtrack of "Two of a Kind", a disastrous 1983 movie that reteamed Newton-John and Travolta) and "Soul Kiss" before her popularity on the pop charts cooled down by 1989.
But Newton-John did not slow down, continuing to work over the years with recordings, television appearances, movie roles (including playing a lesbian ex-con country singer in "Sordid Lives" in 2000), tours and a Las Vegas residency. The last single Newton-John released was in January 2021 with "Window in the Wall", a duet with her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi.
Olivia Newton-John may not have ever been a critic's darling as she wrote very little of own material. But no one could deny her amazing gifts as a vocalist and interpreter of songs. Newton-John was an universally adored hitmaker whose voice was warm, nimble and versatile, explaining why she had achieved such outstanding success back and forth between pop, country and easy listening. Always radiating positive energy and a good spirit, Olivia Newton-John was a special and unique presence in popular music with her loss will be incredibly missed forever.
The US Supreme Court's recent overturning of Roe V. Wade has left many Americans frustrated and angry. This disturbing turn of events has inspired many artists to creatively express their feelings about this decision, some through music. Pink had tweeted strongly worded opinions regarding this reversal of abortion rights, then was told by some online trolls to just "shut-up and sing". So the singer promptly went and did just that, writing "Irrelevant" with Ian Fitchuk who produced the track. This protest song pushes back against people telling her that as a woman or entertainer, her thoughts and opinions are not important and feels she has every right to be heard. The music video for "Irrelevant" visually displays various protests from many different movements, ranging from civil rights, LGBTQ, #MeToo as well as a call to end gun violence.
Billie Eilish was in the middle of her world tour in support of her second album, "Happier Than Ever", performing in Manchester, England when she received word of the Supreme Court's decision. She had debuted a new song, "TV" during the concert, which had been written with her brother, Finneas O'Connell. They had written part of the song earlier and after Roe V. Wade was overturned, "TV" was completed to include their distressed thoughts about what has happened to women's rights. The song was recorded along with another new track, "The 30th" but instead of waiting until the next album, they were promptly released as an EP, "Guitar Songs".
Here is a collection of some new music from some of my favorite artists:
And a tribute to William "Poogie" Hart, the smooth lead vocalist for the soul group, The Delfonics who has passed away on July 14th at the age of seventy-seven. With his brother, Wilbert Hart and Randy Cain, the trio enjoyed their biggest success during the late 1960's and early 1970's with the hit singles, "La-La (Means I Love You)", "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love)" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)". Founding member "Poogie" Hart (who had co-written many of the band's songs with their producer, Thom Bell, one of the creators of the "Philadelphia soul" sound) had continued performing with The Delfonics over the years, most recently in 2020.
Muni Long seemed to come out of nowhere earlier this year with her sultry hit single, "Hrs and Hrs" but that is far from accurate. The soul artist has actually been creating music professionally as a singer and songwriter under her real name, Priscilla Renea Harrison since 2009.
Born and raised in Vero Beach, Florida, Priscilla Renea began posting videos on YouTube of herself singing as a teen, performing covers and original material. This lead to her being signed to Capitol Records at twenty-one and she released her debut album, "Jukebox" in 2009. This pop-soul collection had Priscilla Renea writing half of the songs on the record with Soulshock & Karlin and Benny Blanco producing tracks. But the album didn't attract much attention. Despite this disappointment, Priscilla Renea did attract attention for her impressive skills as a songwriter, leading to her writing material for a wide range of musicians in pop (Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Madonna, Kelly Clarkson, Fifth Harmony), r&b (Chris Brown, Chrisette Michele, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey), rock (Train, Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie Puth) and country (Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line).
But she still was not done with trying to perform her own songs and released her second album, "Coloured" in 2018. This album was more personal, with songs involving relationships, childhood trauma and racism in a mix of classic R&B and country. "Coloured" failed to bring much notice to Priscilla Renea as an artist so she decided to try a different approach.
In 2019, Priscilla Renea became "Muni Long" (pronounced "money long"), with a new sexy, fashion-forward image. She dropped several singles before releasing an EP, "Public Displays of Affection" late in 2021. This collection of hip-hop flavored soul featured "Yrs and Yrs" (detailing what she'll do for hours with her partner) and the rest is history. Now Muni Long has just released a follow-up EP, "Public Displays of Affection Too", a five-track collection featuring more intimate, love songs and bass-thumping jams
Jim Seals, one half of the pop-rock duo, Seals & Crofts who had the hits, "Summer Breeze", "Diamond Girl" and "Get Closer" in the '70's, passed away on June 6th at the age of eighty. He had suffered a stroke in 2017 and had been struggling with illness for a period of time afterward.
He was born in Texas to a musical family (with his younger brother, Dan who would find success as part of the the pop-rock duo, England Dan and John Ford Coley and passing away in 2009) and met fellow Texan, Dash Crofts as teens playing in several local bands together. After a move to Los Angeles, the two joined the band, The Champs who had a number one instrumental hit with "Tequila" in 1958.
By 1963, Seals and Crofts along with fellow band members, Jerry Vale and Glen Campbell had left the Champs to form their own band, Glen Campbell and the GCs but they were only together for a couple of years before going their separate ways. Seals and Crofts would join another band, the Dawnbreakers before deciding to just become a musical act together in 1969.
Their first two albums did not receive any attention but then Seals & Crofts signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1971. Although their first album on the label, "Year of Sunday" failed to gain much traction, the duo's follow-up, "Summer Breeze" became a major hit with the title track reaching number six on the pop chart in 1972. The Isley Brothers would do a guitar-driven soul cover in 1974 that also became popular and reached the top-ten on the R&B chart. And another single from the album, "Hummingbird" would be a charting success for Seals & Crofts.
Their next album, "Diamond Girl" would become another hit thanks to the title track and the single, "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)". And their final top-ten hit would be "Get Closer" in 1976 that features vocals by Carolyn Willis of the R&B group, Honey Cone. With their follow-up albums, Seals & Crofts would experiment with their sound (even dabbling in disco) and write music for movies and television. After their 1980 album, "The Longest Road", Seals & Crofts were dropped from their label and then decided to take some time off from working together. The duo would not reunite until 1991, performing a series of concerts. Seals & Crofts didn't come together again until 2004 to record their first album in twenty-four years with "Traces". This would be the final time the duo would work together. Jim Seals is survived by his wife, Ruby (who he married in 1970) and their three children.
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