This week in music - 7th Feb 2010

This week has shown us the good, bad and ugly sides of the music industry. Beginning on a good note, at the time of going to press it is estimated that sales of the ‘Helping Haiti ‘ charity single are likely to top 500,000 by the end of the week, demonstrating the positive and transformative power that music can have. There is no challenge for the number one position this week, with Owl City's 'Fireflies' selling approximately 10% of the sales of 'Everybody Hurts'. More money will be raised with the US all-star charity single remake of ‘We are the World’, originally released in 1985 in aid of African famine relief. The lineup is a who’s who of A-list music stars including L'il Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, Pink and Barbra Streisand. Their efforts – also expected to raise millions for Haiti – will be played for the first time during coverage of the Vancouver winter Olympics next week before being released worldwide. Music lovers internationally are excitedly awaiting the outcome of this massive collaborative effort, whilst also contributing to the most worthy of causes. Definitely the good side of the music industry.

The bad side of the industry was exposed when two of our biggest major labels Warner Music and EMI revealed that they are on the brink of collapse. Warner, whose artists include Jay-Z, Green day, Madonna and Muse, made a loss of £10.9 million in the last 3 months of 2009 alone. EMI, home of Robbie Williams and Coldplay, said it had recorded a net loss of 1.6 billion pounds for last year. The overwhelming reason, of course, is a drop in record sales. Please let these figures be a message to all of you out there who download your music illegally. I know it’s tempting, but if everyone keeps doing it then there really will no longer be a music industry for all of us to love. And those of us who want to make a career in music will not have any prospects of doing so. It really is a very sorry state of affairs.

Now to the ugly – well it’s pretty obvious isn’t it? Jedward’s debut single, a hideous cover mashup entitled “Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)” – Freddie Mercury will be turning in his grave – very verySusan Boyle. nearly reached the number 1 spot in our UK top 40. They entered at number 2 begging the question, are many British citizens tone-deaf? Or taste-deaf? I guess they must be, following the success of the stunningly below average

Finally my tip for the week... Sky Ferreira.

17 year-old LA singer-songwriter and straight-up party girl Sky Ferreira made Michael JacksonBloodshy and Avant (Britney), Paul Epworth (Annie) and Dallas Austin (Sugababes) for her debut album. She’s rumoured to have a similar vocal range to Mariah Carey, and yet her MySpace tracks are not in any way showy. They are just cool. Like Sky. Every article describes her as this decades’ teen Lolita and it’s easy to see why – when it comes to Sky, precocious is an understatement. However, when you are in your mid-teens and writing songs for the likes of Britney Spears and Whitney Houston, counting artists such as Katy Perry as your best buds, and being jetted around the world to record your own debut album, being mature for your age doesn’t seem to hurt. Expect big things from Sky in the coming year. cry when she was just 11 years old. This is not because she says ‘I’m not trying to have a clean image, but I open my books not my legs” (although let’s face it, it could well have been in Michael’s case) but because of her lovely, hypnotic voice. She’s been very busy working with producers such as

Sky Ferreira - the next big thing?

This week in music - 1st Feb 2010

Last week saw the music industry’s biggest event of the year – the Grammy awards. Big winners were Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Despite a very shaky vocal performance during the awards itself, 20 year old Swift’s seemingly unstoppable rise was later solidified by winning the ultimate Grammy-accolade, ‘Album of the year’ for “Fearless”. The internet has since been rife with backlash, with claims that someone whose live performances are often described as inconsistent should not then trump artists such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga, who both delivered fantastic performances on the night. However, I think we are forgetting something that Taylor herself pointed out in her acceptance speech – that her record label allowed her to write every song on her album. This is something of a rarity, not forgetting that these songs were written by a girl in her late teens. The Grammy’s, in my opinion, were recognizing Swift’s song writing ability which is way beyond her years – and she sure can pen a hit. With her album sales topping 10 million, I think the bloggers need to pipe down – these figures speak for themselves. Shouldn’t they be more concerned that the biggest selling female artist in the US at the moment is Ke$ha, who not only shouts her way through her album, but somehow justifies including a chorus to an upcoming single with lyrics, “D-I-N-O-S-A You are a dinosaur, O-L-D M-A-N Your just an old man, Hitting on me what? You need a cat scan”. I mean, come on people. And she can’t even spell dinosaur.

My tip of the week this week is... Avery Storm. Those of you who are RnB and hip-hop fans would probably recognize Avery’s,well frankly, amazing voice, which has featured on many other artists’ tracks, including hits from Rick Ross, Nelly, and most notably, “Nasty Girl”, the Notorious B.I.G. all-star tribute. Over the past 5 years or so, Avery has repeatedly leaked mixtapes on the internet, which as far as I’m concerned, were full of hit singles, but somehow did not get the recognition they deserved. Currently signed to Nelly’s label Derrty Ent, and working with a who’s who of the best in the business, 2010 may finally be the year that the world gets to hear more of Avery Storm.

Avery Storm - the next big thing?

This week in music - 23rd Jan 2010

This week we saw a rare all-star musical event that will go down in history with the likes of Live Aid and Live 8 – the “Hope for Haiti” concert, raising $58 million for quake-stricken Haiti. Performers included Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, U2, Jay-Z and Shakira, with the standout performance coming from the ever-flawless Beyonce, singing an acoustic rendition of her smash-hit ‘Halo’. A further highlight came from newcomer Matt Morris, who performed Leonard Cohen’s (no, not Alexandra Burke’s) ‘Hallelujah’ together with Justin Timberlake. Morris’ heartfelt and pure vocals soared over the rousing classic, prompting many viewers, I’m sure, to run to their computers and Google who this unknown was, and why we hadn’t heard of him until now. In case you were wondering, Morris is signed to Timberlake’s record label, having grown up starring in “the Mickey Mouse Club” together, alongside the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. All performances are now available to purchase on iTunes, and I would thoroughly recommend giving Morris a listen.

It was also announced that Simon Cowell, at the request of Gordon Brown, is co-ordinating a charity single to help raise further funds for those in Haiti. The single will be an all-star cover version of REM’s heart-wrenching classic ‘Everybody Hurts’ – a choice which, in my opinion, doesn’t deliver the message of hope that should come out of a venture like this. Yes, it definitely pulls on our heartstrings, but a song with a more positive tone could potentially appeal to a greater audience. The initial acts announced - Leona Lewis, JLS, Cheryl Cole and Rod Stewart - were certainly sub-par, bearing in mind Cowell’s worldwide celebrity status – it was recently reported that he was the most famous person on the planet, beating God (!) to the number one spot. However, since then, reports have tentatively suggested that the list now includes: Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi, Wyclef Jean, Take That, Mika, James Blunt, and Michael Buble.

On a cheerier note, “girl power” fans around the world– myself included of course – will be rejoicing with the news that a stage production based on the Spice Girls and their music is being created by Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer, with the help of music mogul Simon Fuller, who used to manage the girl group. It’s working title is ‘Viva Forever’. Craymer said she planned to "create a unique celebration of the band and its music, with its own flavour and joyful message". I can’t wait.

I will leave you with my tip for the week... Theophilus London. This Brookylnite’s sound is so fresh that he made it on to half of the ‘Sound of 2010’ lists with only one track and a few beats up on his MySpace page. Having performed at Mark Ronson recent NYE bash, and been billed to performed at this year’s Pre-Grammy party in LA, Theophilus is one to watch – he is destined for huge things. Check out his track “Humdrum town” on www.myspace.com/theophiluslondon

Theophilus London - the next big thing?

Cheryl Cole at the Brits - 16th Feb 2010

Weak? Limp? Lifeless? Cheryl Cole’s Performance at this year’s BRIT awards.

The big news in music this week was, of course, the BRIT awards 2010. The big winner of the night was an emotional Lady Gaga, who deservedly picked up 3 awards. The major low point of the night – and I feel guilty as I write this– was Cheryl Cole’s literally shocking performance of her number one single “Fight for this love” (which by the way, contains probably my favourite worst lyric of all time – “Now every day ain’ gon’ be no pic-nic”). My feelings of affection and overwhelming sympathy for Cheryl - who according to backstage sources was tearful and emotional throughout the day following the revelation that her husband, footballer Ashley Cole, had been involved in yet more scandal by ‘sex texting’ other ladies – by no means outweighed my utter disbelief that Cheryl Cole...Cheryl Cole!!! had been chosen to represent the British contingent at our national awards show. This, in contrast to the American musical legends like Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga who took the stage, showing us Brits what music is really all about, how it should be done. Cheryl’s performance can only be deemed an embarrassment.  Whilst the American contingent performed live – we would expect nothing less - Cheryl (like her X-factor associates JLS) attempted to mime her way through the performance. But to no avail. Cheryl’s lips were moving totally out of sync with the backing track and we could hear her recorded vocals 2 or 3 seconds before she started miming the line she was singing. She was lucky that the edge was taken off by the sympathetic audience, aware that the lyrics “You’ve got to fight for this love, if it’s worth having it’s worth fighting for” must have been excruciatingly painful to perform to the nation. Only days previously, Cheryl proved how personal those lyrics were to her by telling Hello! Magazine, “If it’s worth fighting for then fight. And in the case of me and my husband, it’s worth it.” As she left the stage, host Peter Kay quipped, “You’ve got to fight for this love - never a truer word spoken”. It was an awkward watch.

Cheryl does not have a strong voice. This is why I am literally baffled to relate to you that a friend working at Cheryl’s record label Universal Records, home to artists such as the Kaiser Chiefs, Jack Johnson, Scissor Sisters, the Saturdays, and Lil Wayne, revealed to me that they have made Cheryl a global priority for 2010. This means that not only is Cheryl being set up for global domination, she is also receiving one of the biggest budgets that the label has to offer. When you take a step back and realise that Cheryl unfortunately struggles to hold a tune, this really is one of the most baffling stories within the music industry right now. I don’t know about you, but I think Cheryl should stick to presenting (and to Girls Aloud). Performances like her one at the Brits will only serve to tarnish her otherwise pretty sparkling reputation.

Weak? Limp? Lifeless?