The 53^rd edition of the Grammy Awards was full of surprises and memorable moments.

The country music group, Lady Antebellum stole the night winning three trophies for Song Of The Year, Best Country Album, and surprise (!), Record Of The Year, for the single that launched them, Need You Now. The trio also won two more Grammys each member, for songwriting categories.

Sunday night (13 February) was equally exciting for the Canadian collective band Arcade Fire, which won the Album Of The Year Grammy for The Suburbs, and gave the final performance of the night, thus ending the show. Importantly enough, the contenders to the much sought-after distinction, were some veterans of the industry and international music figures, such as Eminem (Recovery), Lady Gaga (The Fame Monster) and Katy Perry (Teenage Dream).

Although he led the Grammy nominations with ten nods, the fierce rapper Eminem won only two awards: the Best Rap Album Grammy for his much praised Recovery and Best Rap Solo Performance for Not Afraid. However, it was his performance that showed his true artistry and talent. Gathering great artists to put on an amazing show – Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Adam Levine from Maroon 5, and Skylar Grey – Eminem was still the one artist on that stage you couldn’t take your eyes off. While performing a mash-up between Love The Way You Lie and I Need A Doctor, he came out blazing, in accordance with the décor, and stressing the words with such a passion that can only prove awe-inspiring to the audience.

Eminem & Dr. Dre & Rihanna (Grammy 2011) : Medley

The night proved disappointing for teen sensation Justin Bieber too, as the Grammy for Best New Artist went to jazz singer Esperanza Spalding (shocker!). His disappointment, clearly expressed by Bieber on Monday’s Chelsea Lately edition (14 February), was deeply shared by his “Beliebers” who managed to vandalize Spalding’s Wikipedia Page, writing: “Justin Bieber deserved it; go die in a hole. Who the heck are you anyway?”  We can only say that the “Bieber Fever” continues to manifest strongly.

Other highlights of the night, though they came as no surprise, were the retro-inspired performance of Bruno Mars featuring B.o.B and Janelle Monáe, which showed true showmanship; the ‘egg-xagerated’-as-always performance of Lady Gaga, who made an awkward appearance on the stage – she was carried to the stage encased in a giant egg, from which she hatched, as she started to sing her latest single Born This Way –; and the a tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, performance which starred amazing voices, including Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera. Although the latter delivered an amazing vocal performance, she drew everyone’s comments on her stumble on stage – another embarrassing moment coming just a week after she messed-up the lyrics to the National Anthem at this year’s Super Bowl.

Related articles

• Eminem, Rihanna & Dr. Dre Grammy Awards Performance: Watch Now! (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Grammys 2011: Esperanza Spalding beats Justin Bieber (guardian.co.uk)
• Lady Antebellum Win Song Of The Year Grammy For ‘Need You Now’ (mtv.com)

After going through massive changes in the last year, America’s most popular talent show is back on. As expected, the American Idol tenth season premiere, which aired on January 20, 2011, was joined by some criticism, (unreached) high expectations, drama, new talent and why not? – Some controversy, as well.

With Simon Cowell leaving after being the mean outspoken judge for nine seasons, the show was deprived of one of its greatest assets. So, the producers faced a great challenge: how to make the AI greater and more interesting so as to maintain its viewers and hopefully attract some new ones. The solution at hand seemed to be dropping former judges Kara DioGuardi and Ellen Degeneres, and bring in some new faces – more familiar and experienced figures from the music industry. Thus, they managed to get hold of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and singer, dancer and actress Jennifer Lopez – a great achievement we might say, even though many AI fans were left wondering if the new judges will rise up to the expectations and if the show was still worth seeing with so many changes advertised.

After the first two episodes, filmed during the audition process, Steven proved to be no Simon Cowell, as many people expected him to be. He was kind and almost fatherly to some contestants, but his quirky personality definitely shone through. ‘Jenny from the block’ seemed to have serious difficulties in pronouncing the ‘NO’ word to some hopefuls, but her experience enabled her to give some good advice to contestants who clearly didn’t match the AI contestant profile, ‘Here’s the thing […] the way you sing, and the way you act and the way you’re animated is not for the American Idol. It is for musical, it is for Broadway, that’s where you belong and everybody has their thing’, she said to 25-year-old Ashley Sullivan.

As for long-time AI judge, Randy Jackson, it seems it is his turn to play the bad guy in front of the wannabes. But, simply put it, the show’s gone a bit softer without Cowell. However, it is too early in the season to predict whether the new format is a total failure. In addition, as it has been overly repeated even by nasty Cowell, at the end of the day, the show is not about the judges but about the contestants, their talents and stories, and about fulfilling their dreams; the new producers made sure this message got across by displaying a new slogan: ‘Every Superstar begins with a dream’. And here’s an impressive audition that brought tears to JLo’s eyes, proving that point:

The season premiere also brought in some controversy. While telling his life story, 16-year-old Travis Orlando made some comments about his home borough Bronx being ‘infected’ with drugs and violence, that offended Borough President Ruben Diaz. The latter came out with a statement blasting the show for putting the Bronx in that shameful negative light.

But despite all the controversies and the excitement surrounding the new judges, the tenth season’s premiere ratings dropped 13% (according to Nielsen Co.) compared to last year’s season debut, and continued to drop during the second episode. However, the AI still led in ratings among the prime-time shows from the other networks, to the joy of the FOX executives. Moreover, executive producer of the show Nigel Lythgoe seemed very optimistic, saying that the numbers were ‘45% higher than last year’s finale performance night and 18% higher than the season 9 finale results show’, and that more positive response from the viewers is yet to come, once ‘the talent begins to surface’; ‘There will be more than one star this year’, he stated.

Whether the ‘new and improved’ format will prove to be a successful approach of the popular talent show, or it will translate into sheer disappointment, we shall find out soon.

Related articles

• `American Idol’ ratings down from last year (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ‘American Idol’ Season 10 recap: Just not the same without Simon Cowell – The Star-Ledger – NJ.com (news.google.com)

With the upcoming Grammy Awards on February 13th, the Grammy Nominations Concert Live!, held on December 1st at Club Nokia, LA, revealed the contenders of the much-sought-after musical distinctions.
The artist who benefited the most from the spotlight was Eminem. With 10 nominations, including one for Album of the Year and one for Record of the Year – for “Love the Way you Lie” in collaboration with Rihanna – and several others in the rap category, Marshall Matters emerged as one of the most appreciated and respected artists in the music industry.
After battling several years with drug addiction, from which he nearly died in 2007, the 38-year-old rapper made his great comeback this year with “Recovery” – his suggestively-called album, centered on his personal struggles. His 10 scores were definitely the show’s highlight, serving as a reminder that talent and a positive mindset prevail, despite whatever personal setbacks a person may have.
On the same note, the artist who ranked second on the number of nominations list is Bruno Mars, with 7 nominations – an achievement which overshadowed, as in Eminem’s case, his recent arrest on a cocaine charge in Las Vegas. Despite the fact that his solo album wasn’t considered for the Grammy nominations because its release date didn’t fall into the eligibility period, Mars was mostly nominated for his successful collaborations on songwriting/production for songs such as Cee Lo Green’s “F***k You” and B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You” – both nominated for record of the Year. He was, however, nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his own single, “Just the Way You Are”, also – interestingly enough, he is up against an interesting mix of fellow contenders: Michael Jackson (“This Is It”), Adam Lambert (“Whataya Want From Me”), Michael Bublé (“Haven’t Met You Yet”), John Mayer (“Half Of My Heart”).
During the event, the Hawaiian singer-songwriter was given the opportunity to prove once again his artistry by singing a beautiful stripped-down rendition of “Just the Way You Are” and joining B.o.B in performing “Nothin’ On You”.

Next in line were Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Lady Antebellum, each receiving six nominations.
As for the Best New Artist title, Justin Bieber and Drake were clearly expected to receive nominations. Things got a little bit more interesting once they were joined in their category by the amazing and much deserving British acts Florence & the Machine and Mumford & Sons, along with jazz artist Esperanza Spalding.

To view the full list of Grammy nominees (in 108 categories) for 2011, head over to Grammy.com. How things will turn up for each of them, we are yet to discover. Meanwhile, the excitement in on!

Related articles

• Eminem and R&B singer Bruno Mars lead Grammy nominees (reuters.com)
• Eminem, Cee Lo, Bruno Mars Lead Grammy Noms (rollingstone.com)

Following Robbie Williams’ return to the group that introduced him to fame, standards are being re-established!

On November 21, 2010, Take That’s latest album released a week earlier, debuted at number one in the British charts. According to the UK’s Official Charts Company, Progress achieved the biggest opening week sales – almost 520,000 copies – of any album in 13 years. Moreover, on the first day of the release (November 15), over 235,000 copies of the album were sold across the UK, making it the fastest selling record of the century. But this doesn’t really come as a surprise since prior to the release day, the album had become the most pre-ordered album of the year.

“This is a phenomenal achievement from an already phenomenally successful band”, stated Martin Talbot, the managing director of the Official Charts Company.

The reunited Take That’s success is with no doubt linked to Robbie’s comeback. Despite voices claiming that the artist’s declining solo career urged him to rejoin his band mates “for good”, one thing is for sure: everyone wanted them back together, and the sales record proves that. The band members themselves seem as thrilled as their fans about the reunion. Performing on ITV’s The X Factor (November 14), for the first time since their split, Gary, Mark, Robbie, Jason and Howard looked really excited and at ease with each other. Calm but smiling, Gary said “It’s been great being back together!”, while Robbie enthused “It feels absolutely magical, fantastic!”

Their lead single, “the Flood”, is just a taste of the new sound featured on the much praised album, literally marking a progress in the band’s life span. And there’s yet more to come from these guys, as they’ve also announced a UK tour for the summer of 2011.

As a side note, we may add that 2010 was the successful boy band reunion year not only in the UK, but in the US, as well. After reuniting earlier this year and delivering some joint performances, The Back Street Boys and The New Kids On The Block raised the excitement bar even higher than usual with their “mash-up” performance at the American Music Awards, last Sunday (November 21). The two bands will also team up to go on a US tour in the summer of 2011.

Amazing moments for boy band fans are yet to come!

While listening to the album for the first time (during work), I thought is such a great album with a good vocal interpretation and a very clear soundtrack. But after listening it more and more I realized that “In Search of Cleo” fails in unity. I feel that there are too many genres, too many ideas. I like every single track, but I dislike the album as a whole. It’s a pity that Gina didn’t try to go more deeply with her legacy of jazz style, for which her voice is made! She loves singing, there is no doubt about that! But she should try to find her very own style, that makes the listener stay very close to the tracks, to find a way to give even more homogeneity between lyrics, soundtrack and her style of singing.

The lyrics taken as an individual part are great. The main theme is about a middle aged woman, who lost her… cat (try to find a synonym for cat), who speaks about her life experience in different moments of life. It may not be Gina’s life, but each song can be one woman’s experience.

“In Search of Cleo” is a must-have album. You’ll listen to it very rare, but you’ll feel the energy that Gina Gershons sends through her voice with every second. You can buy “In Seach of Cleo” here.

More about Gina Gershon:

• Gina Gersons’s Personal Website
• Gina Gersons’s MySpace profile
• Album’s pictures on Flickr