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Marie who? I am willing to wager a good portion of my savings that majority of readers have not heard of Marié Digby. She’s a singer living in Los Angeles, California. What makes her stand out from the whole wave of pop singers is that she plies her trade in the online world, in communities such as MySpace and YouTube.

Marie Digby is a country/pop/soft rock singer who shot to stardom after she posted homemade videos of her singing on the popular video-sharing website YouTube. Singing acoustic versions of mainstream pop songs like Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ to the soulful ‘You Give Me Something’ by James Morrison to even rock tunes like ‘What I’ve Done’ by Linkin Park, she garnered near-overnight fame. Legions of fans and admirers left many favourable comments and encouragement and also brought about many hits on her MySpace page.

This highly-versatile singer could be seen playing instruments like the acoustic guitar as well as the piano, belting out beautiful cover versions of popular songs. By far, her most popular video was that of her strumming her guitar, singing a cover of ‘Umbrella’ (as attached). This YouTube video attracted 2.4 million views up till the end of 2007.

According to Marie, this was a desperate attempt on her own part to gain some much-needed publicity for her fledgling music career. The record label that she signed for in 2005, Hollywood Records, did not manage to provide her the visibility that she wanted. Fortunately her persistence paid off and shortly, Hollywood Records released a high-quality studio recording of ‘Umbrella’ onto iTunes and other online stores. She also was invited to perform live on ‘Last Call with Carson Daly’ in August 2007, and is now currently on tour, performing at various locations in the United States, much to the delight of her online fans.

A big break for her followed, when her ‘Umbrella’ was played on radio and subsequently featured in an episode of the MTV serial ‘The Hills’. Eventually, her songs were chosen to feature on popular serials like ‘Smallville’ and her self-composed single ‘Say It Again’ was released to American radio stations earlier this year.

The brand of soulful music that Marie Digby delivers can be easily identified with. The melodious crooning of her takes on modern pop songs are a refreshing sight and a joy to hear. It is a welcome and delightful change to the sleaze and glitzy glamour of MTV - it offers a very stripped down insight into a musician’s world. What really impressed me, aside from her excellent vocal ability, was that she was a perfect role model of a musician. She separated herself from the sensationalism and glam, using solely her songwriting and singing skills to impress. Her videos are in sharp contrast with typical MTV music videos. Visit Marie Digby’s MySpace page for snippets of all her songs, do leave a comment of appreciation for a commendable singer/songwriter who focuses on music more than the hype that it brings.

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When you’re talking about a legend in the media industry you’re talking stars that never fail to provide the headlines for many popular tabloid magazines, gossip websites and of course, global newspapers. But when you’re talking about legends in the music industry, that would be the fallen queen, Miss Britney Spears. Ever since she and childhood/long-time beau, Justin Timberlake went on with their decisions to go their separate ways, her life went on a downhill bringing down her multi-billion career down with it. It was obvious she didn’t take the break-up too well considering the hasty marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander which lasted less then 55 hours. Being one of the most biggest-selling female stars in music history, she has been trying to redefine her image from that of innocent teen idol to raunchy sex icon. Her fourth album, In the Zone which was released in November wasn’t well received by media critics but it did however, hit the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. It wasn’t surprising because the singer has sold more than 54 million albums around the world.

Blackout, is her fifth album in total and first album after she decided to take a long career break after her marriage to Kevin Federline of which she had two sons, Sean Preston (2005) & Jayden James (2006). Officially scheduled to be released in November 2007, the album released date was pushed up to October 2007 due to a number of leaked album tracks that were circulating the Internet rapidly. According to the company’s record label it was an attempt to stop song piracy and of course to ensure the success of the lead single. The current awards that the album has received to date are the Billboard Readers’ Choice Album of The Year and holding third place in the Album of The Year category in Virgin Media Music Awards 2007.

Critics have been rather harsh on the album after the disastrous performance at the Video Music Awards (VMAs) earlier on before her album release in 2007. Billboard stated “This is still pop, but the last bits of Spears’ song-and-dance girl veneer are cracking, along with the rest of her public persona.” Newsday titled its review “Save your money” and labeled the album “terrible”. Critic Jim Farber wrote that “If a blow-up sex doll could sing, this is what she’d sound like.” The New York Times panned it calling the album “The electronic beats and bass lines are as thick as Ms. Spears’s voice is thin, and as the album title suggests, the general mood is bracingly unapologetic.” There were many comments about the lack of solid quality vocal elements in the tracks in Blackout. Most critics also said that a majority of the tracks had an overwhelming overdo of studio vocal editing in her voice making her sound annoyingly robot like.

Despite being bombarded by slicing reviews, there have been rather positive says on the album. As reviewed by Digital Spy, “the most danceable, modern and thrilling album that Spears has ever made, the disc where she finally shakes off the last remnants of her Mickey Mouse Club image”. Rolling Stone also went on to give the album three and a half stars out of five and joked that Spears will “continue to crank the best pop booty jams until a social worker cuts off her supply of hits”. This album was ranked at number fifty by Rolling Stone in its annual publication of top 50 albums of 2007.

Personally, I thought that she could have done a lot better to make a real comeback to the music industry. This album spells party, club and dance. The beat of certain tracks are appealing to dance such as her hit single, “Gimme More” and the other one, “Piece of Me”. Basically 90% of the songs in there have playful hints on sexually contents like, “Get Naked (I’ve Got A Plan)”. You wouldn’t call this a very vocal album, thanks to all the background beats and overups, so don’t be too hopeful if you’re expecting something like her third or fourth album. Overall I think she’s trying too hard to be sexy and ends up sounding quite constipated in some tracks but if you’re a Spears kinda person, in for the bass and the beat, I’d say go for it.

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(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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When anyone mentions the American band OneRepublic, the first song which would spring to most minds would be their hit single Apologize, produced in collaboration with producer Timbaland, which broke the records as one of the most successful singles ever released. One would have to agree that this band has came a long way from a lowly beginning within MySpace back in 2004. Dreaming Out Loud is OneRepublic’s debut album, containing “Apologize” and it’s remix version with Timbaland, as well as 11 other pop-rock songs, with another 3, “Hearing Voices”, “Dreaming out loud” and “Something’s not right here” available at certain locations only.

To get the ball rolling, I’m sure many have heard their single “Apologize” before. With that song in mind, I have to say that the rest of the songs within the album bear the same genre and some resemblance to it. I’m no music guru, but they have a heavy emphasis on acoustics and drums as well as the occassional piano. Most of their songs combines this and Ryan Tedder’s(Their lead Vocal) unique voice to craft brlliant songs. For example, the much acclaimed “Apologize” uses the piano as well as the guitars to produce a melodic and addictive beat, providing the platform for this song to be the success it is today.

Despite OneRepublic claiming themselves as a rock band, I personally find “Dreaming out loud” somewhat contradicting it. Most of the album’s songs are more of pop and non-metal, being what I myself would consider “soft” in nature. Their songs all follow one main theme, that would be emotional struggles, relationships and such problems. Another example, “Stop and Stare” is a catchy song relating to the act of trying to move on from something of the past, only realising later that although you try to get away, you would end up being unable to move away from that incident.

Furthermore, I find some of their music extremely repetitive. Perhaps one of the problems with this album is the lack of variety, some of the tracks sound alike, all bearing identical themes, and to put it bluntly, I would get sick of hearing the similar melodies or beats over and over again in several the songs. In addition, one nitpick I noticed is that they like to reuse the chorus repeatedly, for example, in “All fall down”, as well as repetitive lines in “Prodigal”. Sure, in the end, it may produce a great sound, but after sometime, it gets monotonous.

All in all, despite just falling short to the hype and high expectations one would expect after “Apologize” came out some time before the album, I still find the album still containing some solid music, a recommended buy for pop-rock lovers.

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(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
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This band certainly needs no introduction, having formed 11 years ago and since then selling more than 50 million albums and winning 2 Grammies along the way, first known as Xero back in 1996, then as Hybrid Theory, and the band that finally became Linkin Park some time around 1999 is surely one of the most popular rock bands out there. Both of its previous 2 studio albums have been major successes, with Hybrid Theory selling more than 5 million copies and Meteora reaching 6x Platinum. Now, after a 4 year long hiatus of not releasing any studio albums, Linkin Park is finally back with their new album, Minutes to Midnight.

First of all, this album sounds very different from previous Linkin Park albums. The band has indeed strayed away from the nu metal sounds that many fans have come to know and love. Sure there’ll still be a few songs that are still similar to the older Linkin Park songs that many fans of Hybrid Theory will surely enjoy as they’re familiar with such sounds: Given Up, What I’ve done, No More Sorrow, and to a certain extent Bleed It Out and In Pieces. Many fans will definitely be able to relate to these songs as they’re pretty similar to the Linkin Park they’ve been listening to for the past 9 years.

However, almost all the other songs on this album is drastically different from the usual Linkin Park song: Shadow of the Day sounds like it could have been from Maroon 5, Valentine’s Day just gets boring after awhile, In Between sounds like Matchbox Twenty, while Leave Out All The Rest and The Little Things That Give You Away almost sound like they could have been from Westlife or Backstreet Boys, except it has Chester’s vocals. Yes, this album has definitely slowed down a lot as compared to previous Linkin Park albums, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Even the slower songs sound pretty good and were definitely unexpected from LP.

However, while casual listeners will like Minutes to Midnight as almost every song is really great, Linkin Park fans might not be as easily impressed. Many of them have grown accustomed to the good old rock sounds that they have managed to produce time after time in their previous 2 albums. Many of them are obviously dissatisfied with this album, seeing as how it only has a 3.5/5 rating on the iTunes Store, with many reviewers there expressing how disappointed they are with this album, with one of them even proclaiming it as being “pretty fricking emo”.

All in all, if you’re a hardcore Linkin Park fan, stay away from this album, though you should already have gotten it by now. For those of you who miraculously haven’t but are planning to get it soon anyway, be warned that there are only a few songs on this album that will satisfy your cravings for a new Linkin Park album. For the rest of us who aren’t as concerned about how Linkin Park actually sounds as a band but are rather just concerned about finding good music, go and get this album now.

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(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Since they formed under the name of “Kara’s Flowers” back in 1995, the band that soon became Maroon 5 has come a long way in the music industry and have definitely left a mark. Be it in the form of chart topping songs (She Will Be Loved) or controversial music videos (This Love) and lyrics (Harder to Breathe), Maroon 5 has definitely gained a sizable fan base with its soul-influenced rock music.

Their second latest album was released just last month, titled It Won’t Be Soon Before Long. In just this one month, it has already sold more than 1.4 million copies and has reached the top of both the UK and US charts. After listening to the album, I’m sure almost anyone will agree that they deserve such a spot.

To start things off, the first track If I Never See Your Face Again is a pretty face paced song that will get your head bobbing up and down to the beat. The second track is one of the singles in this album: Makes Me Wonder. It’s a slightly techno, but it fits in nicely with the overall rhythm and lyrics of the song, which is what made this song reach the top of the Worldwide, UK and US charts. If I had to pick one song out of the entire album, I’d say that Makes Me Wonder is my favourite one. The third song, Little of Your Time, doesn’t slow things down one bit and might get some people dancing even. Following that, Wake Up Song follows the style of This Love, placing a heavy emphasis on the rhythm with the drums. The fifth song, Won’t Go Home Without You, is slower than the previous songs, and has a style that’s similar to She Will Be Loved, however I think that it’s better than She WIll be Loved, but of course that might just be because of the fact that I’ve listened to She Will Be Loved one too many times.

The sixth song, Nothing Lasts Forever is once again a slower song whose style is pretty similar to the song before it. However, the next song, Can’t Stop, immediately speeds things up once again with a fast paced rhythm. However, the next 2 songs, Goodnight Goodnight and Not Falling Apart are slower songs once again, with Kiwi increasing the pace of the album for one last time after that, the remaining three songs, Better That We Break, Back At Your Door and Infatuation (Bonus Track) then slowly finish off the album.

On the whole, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long is a great album, with a nice balance of both fast and slow songs that will cater to the preferences of everyone. In my opinion, it is definitely an improvement over Songs About Jane, their previous album. However, some of their classics like This Love and She Will Be Loved might still be preferred by some of Maroon 5’s fans, and it’s not hard to understand why as those songs were definitely hard to beat. However, anyone who even remotely liked the first album will definitely not be disappointed by this one. For those of you who still haven’t heard of Maroon 5 (I doubt there are many), it’s time to come out from the rock that you’ve been hiding under and go get this album as most people will be able to appreciate their songs.

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(3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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