Is it just me, or can nobody believe Michael Jackson is actually dead. I am not some crazy fan who is in denial, in fact I have only got slightly into him since he passed away, but I don’t think it has really hit home for me, and perhaps a huge majority of music fans around the globe.

If this was a publicity stunt, then my goodness isn’t he clever. His family and cronies have made an absolute killing since his death, which has no doubt paid off all the debts he owed from quite a ridiculous spending spree. I mean the dude had a theme park, like, come on!

But when his brother (Jermaine, Tito, Janet i don’t know who it was or don’t really care) spoke to the press announcing the death of his brother my suspicions were no more. You have to be one sick mother****** to lie about something like that, which put my queries to bed.

But somehow I just can’t accept it in my mind. Of course, I adore music and everything part of it, and perhaps Jackson has had quite possibly the biggest influence since the likes of Elvis and The Beatles. But they aren’t dead to me. Presley and Lennon will always be alive, because their music will live on forever, and I have no doubt in my mind Jacksons will too. He may very well exceed them.

Turn on the radio and listen to what is labelled RnB over the last 5-10 years and every ballad, melody, beat, or dance is all over inspired by Jackson. He was ahead of his time. He set the standard that quite frankly nobody will ever meet.

So, in conclusion, as a music lover, I can never admit he has gone. Maybe physically, but he will always be here/there. His contribution to music was spectacular, and although I’m not his biggest fan, it was only right for me to wish him to rest in peace, and thank him for his input.

If you haven’t check out Colbie’s music, than you must do, its just lovely. People often talk about music that can let you literally drift away into the horizon on a small boat in some beautiful Caribbean setting, ahhhh do you feel relaxed? That is her music.
Colbie grew up in California and went from being an aspiring R&B/Folk singer to a pop sensation thanks to, surprise surprise, Myspace! Growing up she gave piano lessons a try, but was hardly inspired, until she was 11 years of age, and heard Lauryn Hill sing in that rubbish movie Sister Act 2 (no offense if you actually like that movie, it just didn’t do it for me). From that moment onwards she wished to be a singer, and started getting lessons.

At the age of 15, music producer Mikal Blue met her in a random twist of fate, and asked to work with her. Mikal had previously worked with the likes of Carrie Underwood, and so it was no doubt she was in good hands. They cultivated a professional relationship, and started to write some material. When Colbie hit 19, she picked up an acoustic guitar and started to record. From that moment onwards she was set for a blossoming career.

As the collaboration expanded, artist Jason Reeves was brought on board to lend his expertise to what appeared like a very solid artist, at such a young age. The trio began work on her debut album Coco, which apparently includes melodies in her songs that Colbie wrote whilst in her bathroom because it had “good acoustics.” Random.

After finishing a handful of songs, she posted them onto her MySpace page, and generated hardly any response for the first few months. Colbie then stuck “Bubbly” onto her list of songs, and to her astonishment, she was receiving several thousand hits a day, and a large number of friend requests. The song launched her career. Rolling Stone magazine highlighted her as one of MySpace’s top female artists! With over 100,000 friends to add to her roster, Universal Records signed her to their label and released Coco her debut.

Coco is a superb debut for an artist of Colbie’s style. She can easily be placed under the Taylor Swift umbrella, but why do people make this mistake? Taylor is a country singer, Colbie (although branded pop) is relaxing, chilled acoustic music. Her strongest songs are Realize and Midnight Bottle in my opinion, but it is relaxing, smooth, innocent music.

There is no sense of superficial, label influenced music or lyrics in her work, and thats what I love about her. She roams free with her material. She has returned with her new album, Breakthrough, which contains the track Falling For You, which has a very amusing video. Check it out, shes just so lovely.

Just when we believed we were free of cheesy covers and Barbie and Ken girl and boy bands, America seems to have thrown us a whole new breed. Musicals are musicals, but there has never been anything quite like Glee.

One of the most popular shows in the USA, a Golden Globe winner, and when advertised in the UK, we thought we were going to be blessed with a charming new comedy when we saw all the adverts coming soon, most of which consisted of the lead character being hit in the face with a “slushy.”

But if you have seen the program, it really is completely dire. Atrocious is not the word. For some reason tacky and cheesy seems to go so well in the States, surely a nation trying to move as FAR away from that image as possible.

Glee club is where students at high school all hang out and sing together. Sounds harmless doesn’t it? The fact they do it with a lame fake smile on their face, and prance around as if its cool is another thing. It’s so poor. Whats worse is, they are taking good songs and spreading their Glee disease all over it.

Rehab, Gold Digger, and most notably Don’t Stop Believing are just some of the songs that have been infected by the Gleek’s for an audience who seem to love the show which is also “a musical.” I watched one episode and wanted to vomit. I found myself seeing the Teacher of the Glee class who looks like a slightly older retarded Justin Timberlake who is married/engaged and is in love with a woman who works at the school where they both work. There is a scene where OMT (Old man Timberlake) goes with this woman to help her buy a wedding dress. Soon as she puts it on, yep, you guessed it, they start dancing and she sings “I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT…I COULD HAVE DAAANCED ALL NIGHT!”WTF?!?!? It was the most awkward unfunny, uninteresting thing to occur.

As for the young Jewish girl who is the lead character. She was dating a guy in the same episode of the same faith, and who was in the same class. They were very much in love, and were holding hands, hugging kissing, and literally one scene later, she breaks up with him for no reason what so ever. How does the guy take it? “Whatever, I don’t need you I’m an absolute stud(c***) and I don’t need this.” THERE WAS NO REASON TO BREAK UP, AS THEY WERE ALL OVER EACHOTHER 3 MINUTES EARLIER! WHAT BULLSHIT!

But the biggest joke is watching them dance around and sing. That is the ludicrous thing about the show. That they THINK they look cool, inspiring people all over. I find it funny that they try so hard. I find it a bigger disappointment at how pathetic a program it is, and how huge a following it is receiving.

Here is an example of just how atrocious it is. A good British song made into a lollipop American piece of garbage;

Glee - Smile

In conclusion, as music lovers we get told “OH HAVE YOU SEEN GLEE?” which is no different to “OH YOU SING, HAVE YOU GONE ONTO THE XFACTOR?” Piss off.

Sorry, why has this douchebag been allowed to produce an album, its not even worth reviewing? Did you know he started his musical career as a classically trained penis, sorry, pianist.

I mean, anyone will know he was quite promising with his early stuff such as Run It, and he was doing very well in his follow up Forever. “Lovey Dovey, Kiss Kiss,” it was tolerable, well done Chris…but something happened. He started dating Rihanna, and we all know where that ended up.

From an array of different TV spots, and interviews I am absolutely gobsmacked that he is still going to be producing music. Are young girls (his only fans) going to bop their head to the sound of a guy that bit, strangled, smacked and abused his former partner whilst screaming “I am going to kill you.”

Why would you entertain his music? How can you forgive somebody like that, and lets be honest he wasn’t that great anyway, so why the hell give him the time of day.

I am not even going to link it, if you like autotuned, crappy R&B with rubbish beats, offbeat bass, and just cheesy lyrics like in Transform (into Optimus Prime you dickhead?) then by all means, you do your thang.

I know what you are thinking. Who the hell is Mr Hudson, and why is he everywhere? Whats he doing with Kanye West? Whats his story? Just who the hell is he? Kanye West described him as “one of the only artists that could possibly rival me musically.” Taylor Swift has posters of Mr Hudson all over her walls…probably. But seriously enough games, who is this guy?

I heard of Mr Hudson for the very first time when I went to see Kanye West live, he was the support act. It was a strange act I thought to be supporting Kanye. He performed with his bands which are called “The Library.” At first glance, you would assume he would be an American artist, and they probably met hanging out in Los Angeles. Wrong, he is from Birmingham (UK) and some of the band members were from Highgate and Muswell Hill London, near to where I grew up. It was very surprising. I scratched my head. What is this guy about?

Mr Hudson (formerly Mr Hudson and The Library) released an album called a Tale of Two Cities, based on the members of the band being from Birmingham and London. Their music is very unique. Its mellow, yet slightly funky. They have a wide array of musical influences from Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Andre 3000 to The Police (is it just me, or does Ben Hudson sound dangerously similar to Sting?).

The band have been very popular with associating some very famous acts. They have supported the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mika, Groove Armada, and played in festivals such as The Big Chill, Glastonbury, T in the Park, and Bestival. In late 2008 Kanye West was the latest act the band would support. Kanye immediately fell in love with their style of music.

Its very difficult to explain what their music off the first album is. It is very London. London is fashionable to the Americans. He wails his voice like that of Sting, but the album is a curious mixture of hip hop, grime, and contemporary jazz. Seeing them live was interesting, they have a lot of energy in their performances. They are without a doubt a very unique group, and a very random one in fact, to grab the attention of Mr West, who signed them to his record label G.O.O.D. Music.

Since befriending West, Mr Hudson (the band too) are far more exposed. Ben has been working with the likes of Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, has featured on Kanyes and Jay-Zs albums and is grabbing the attention of the rap and rnb elite. His futuristic synthesizer sound, and what is becoming familiar (Sting style) voice is expanding over the music scene. His track Supernova ft Kanye West was a massive hit earlier in 2009 and is the first track on the new album Straight No Chaser, which is completely different to the first album, and its entirely produced by Kanye.

“I wanted to make a mainstream record, not structured or ornate,” he explains. “The first album feels like an Escher drawing, all these layers and you don’t know where you’re going at any point. The way the songs are written and produced on this one is much more direct. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s straight, no chaser.” So now you know.

At the age of 22, Paolo Nutini isn’t your average pop or rock star. With his talents and his good looks you would imagine he would be as marketable as Chris Brown, Rihanna or any other of those young successful artists. Although he is, he has kept a low profile, and has a fan base that reflects his music. I believe its an acquired taste to enjoy his music, if you don’t its understandable, go listen to James Morrison or something. Paolo in my opinion, beats that genre (if he was to be categorized into it) hands down.

Paolo Nutini (for those who don’t actually know) is from Scotland, and his father is of Italian descent. He was destined to take over the family fish and chip shop business until he left school to become a roadie for a band named Speedway. After being inspired to sing from a young age, he got his big break when he was a stand in for an act in Scotland. He then travelled to London and became a regular performer in the Bedford Pub in Balham (where he was still too young to even drink). It was then that in 2005 shortly after his 18th Birthday that he signed to a label and recorded one of my favourite albums Ive always enjoyed These Streets.

When I first heard the album I just loved it. Unlike James Morrison (who emerged around the same time) Nutini seemed to be in a different league, and lets be honest, less cheesy. The entire album is just brilliant, different, and mature for a guy who was 18 when he recorded the album. The songs Last Request and Loving
You are personal favourites of mine, the guy is very talented.
I hardly listen to the radio, but I assume Morrison on the more commercial radio stations receives far more airplay than Paolo.

But that isn’t here or there. Paolo is a master class musician and lyricist, which is why his new album is just simply a breath of fresh air.

“Sunny Side Up” pushed boundaries, and you get the feeling that you are not listening, to an Artist, you are listening to Music. Its great music. There echoes of Bob Dylan in the song Candy, and I feel im watching the Disneys Jungle Book, when I first heard Pencil in the Lead. Thats right, Paolo has incorporated harmonicas, Trumpets and Tubas, and a swing jazz/funk feel to some of his tracks. These Streets was a little too mellow, but Sunny Side Up maintains the same tone throughout the record.
I do not know of another 22 year old singer songwriter that is writing lyrics and music as well and as unique Paolo. Benny Goodman (the King of Swing) would probably be gobsmacked that in 2009 an artist is maintaining that swing aspect to popular music, and that artist be so young. Clearly he is very versatile. I am not suggesting he is in a genre of his own, but he is establishing himself into an artist who is simply running free doing whatever he feels sounds good to him.

Rarely, very very rarely does an artist so young, so inexperienced has this freedom to experiment to do what he feels is necessary. He isn’t speaking the words of his manager, agent etc, he is a classic musician, who is in a studio, and being told, “hey, have fun young man.” Unlike Morrison who had to incorporate Nelly Furtado, to help sell records. I don’t think Paolo has ever done any duet at all. Although he would be great, there is certainly no rush. Get Sunny Side Up as its just a really cool album. And apologies to James Morrison fans. Some person once said James was better, I felt there was no competition. Think about it like, if Louis Armstrong was young and Scottish.