Music Monday | Missy Elliott

Howdy!

When I was thinking about doing the series, I know I wanted to keep it diverse, not because my love of music is all of the place, but it is very important to say that there are women music producers out there. In fact, I decided to talk about two of them that I knew were important to my life and musical journey. However, if you know and love of any other women producers out there, please tell me about them in the comments. I would love to learn more about why you adore them, and of course check out their music too!

A couple of years ago, Missy Elliott was awarded by MTV’s VMAs (Video Music Awards) with the Lifetime Achievement award. Back when MTV did play hours and hours (boy, do I miss those days!) of music videos, you probably saw one or if you were really lucky two Missy Elliott videos within 20-30 minutes of each other. I’d say from 1998 to 2004 is when she was just creating all kinds of stuff. A lot of them included dancing, but she was very known for her crazy antics and style in those days. They all looked fun every single time they appeared on your television screen. I’m sad to say I haven’t seen any of her previous videos, but remembering her others, I know she would continue going down that way for as long as she is allowed.

Missy is most known for her songs and friendship with Timbaland and Aaliyah, but I think it’s important to say that she has worked with all kinds of acts throughout the years! In 2004, when the R&B artist Ciara appeared, especially after watching her first music video for “Goodies” you probably hoped that she’d work with Missy one day. Dancing played a big part in the two artists, but it also just seemed like a great combination because Ciara has that same soft voice that Aaliyah was known for–even though nobody could ever be as good as her–you still hoped that they would work together. So, by the time “1, 2, Step” came out on the radio, it was like the music gods were really hearing our prayers and then it happened again in 2004 with Missy’s track “Lose Control” with Fatman Scoop. It was an awesome sequel to the story of these two big female singers.

Since we’re on the subject of girl power, I think we should discuss the remake of Patti LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” of the film Moulin Rouge in early 2002. Instead of having one singer do the entire song, she produced and worked with four powerhouses of the popular genres of that time. You had the R&B artist Mya to start off and then we move on to Pink, who at the time was a mixture of pop-R&B at the time. Brooklyn’s own Queen rapper Lil’ Kim lended a nice section and gave the song an added flare, and finally Christina Aguilera graced us at the end. I still think this is where she began weaning herself out of the cookie cutter bubblegum pop music. The song itself went on to win lots of awards but I think a lot of people either don’t know and/or forget that Missy Elliott was a huge part of making this happen. I mean, think of it as like the first time The Avengers assembled. Yes, I just did that and I’m not even sorry about it either!

Are you a fan of Missy Elliott? Do you have a favorite music video from over the years? Is there any other artists that you think she should consider working or maybe not collaborating with next? Please give me your thoughts about that down in the comments.

Album Review: “Singular: Act I” by Sabrina Carpenter

After I did the Little Mix review last week, I wondered how many other albums I missed and wanted to talk about on here. So I have found two more albums, this one and another that came out in December that I will be sharing my thoughts on hopefully next week! First, we are going to talk about my increasing love for Sabrina Carpenter. I know the last name Carpenter is fairly infamous in the music industry, but I don’t think Sabrina has any relations to them. Sabrina is an actress along with being a singer. She’s worked on the Disney Channel on shows like, “Austin & Ally,” “Girl Meets World,” and finally “Adventures In Babysitting.”

I’ve been focused on her singing career than her acting, and it was purely by accident. I caught the end of her song “Thumbs” on the radio and thought it wasn’t bad and within a week later I heard another one called, “Why” and it was just continuous, because the final song I heard in 2018 was “Lost Love” with the EDM group Lost Kings. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the tracks, so when I saw that she had released a new album back in November, I was like “I need to check this out right now!” So, if you’d like to join me on this little adventure, you’re more than welcome to it.

The first song is “Almost Love” and I liked the cute popping in the beginning. The “cute” factor never really leaves the beat at all, and I think it makes it a bit annoying. A part of me hates it, but yet I’ve heard it so much lately that I’ve been dancing and humming to it, so it’s a good dance-pop song but has some little things that irritate me. We move on to “Paris” and I will be honest, I thought she had redone The Chainsmokers’s single of “Paris” but after I listened to it, I realized I was wrong but I like it anyways. I like the seductive beat and tone of her voice. I think it gives the message a needed edge. I really enjoy it!

Third is “Hold Tight” featuring Uhmeer. I’ve never heard of this person, but I am always open to new artists! This has a R&B sound to it too, which is strange because the album has been said to prominently be pop/EDM. It’s much slower, has a strong sexy vibe going on but I actually like it! I think Uhmeer’s deep voice is a good contrast to Sabrina’s sweet voice. It just added to the “feel good” vibe that was already going on. Next was “Sue Me” and we’re back on the pop train again. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like this one. It seemed really dull compared to the previous tracks. I didn’t even dance to it after the first verse was over and yes, that’s usually my sign that it’s a good song, but there was nothing with this. So, we move on to “Prfct” which is the word: Perfect, but without the vowels. The only reason why I say that out loud because I was so confused writing it out in my notepad. It was one of those days for me! Anyways, this beat is nice and easy. To me, it’s more sensual than the other way around, but I really like it.

We’re heading to the last three songs of the record. The sixth track is “Bad Time” and this only had Sabrina’s voice in the beginning, so it’s a slow start to the beat itself, but when it does appear it’s a nice real pop sound. I was a bit on the fence about it. I liked the sound, but thought it was a bit overwhelming to really hear the lyrics of the song. That is my only complaint with it. “Mona Lisa” is on now and I thought the moment it started, I thought it was a bit unique. I thought it has 00’s bubblegum pop sound to it. It reminded me of Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera! Honestly, it was refreshing and it actually became one of my favorites of the bunch! And finally the last song is “Diamonds Are Forever” and I really liked this one too. I thought she kind of sounded like another artist I heard recently: Elley Duhe. This has a sensual beat, but she sings it with such sass that it really makes you like it. At least, it did that for me!

Apparently I had some strong expectations to this effort than I thought I did because a part of me felt a bit let down by it. I was on the fence for about half of the tracks on this record and only had one real favorite out of the whole thing. That’s not like me to be like this, so I’m hoping when she releases Act 2 later this year, it’ll be a little bit better!

Have you listened to Sabrina Carpenter’s new album yet? What did you think of it? Do you love it or hate it?

Album Review: “New Blood” by Yellow Claw

Well, back in March, I reviewed Yellow Claw’s new little EP for “Amsterdam Trap House” and I thought that was pretty good, but I wasn’t expecting a whole new album afterwards but I accepted it with open arms though!

Their third album “New Blood” came out on the 22nd of June, and it consists of fifteen songs with various featured singers and other DJs lending samples of beats to collaborate. Now I will admit, there are a lot of people on this, and some that I’ve never heard of before so you’ll have to forgive me there for not having all of my normal pieces of information about them.

So let’s get started on this, because I’m ready to dance on my bed!

We begin this little adventure with “Lost On You” with Phlake. I thought was so pretty! It starts off so slow and what’s interesting is that it never really breaks out of that chill sound, but the tempo does improve a bit towards the choruses. It’s a very romantic song, and for once I actually like it. What’s wrong with me? Second is “Summertime” and San Holo collaborates with the guys for this. I like the mysterious introduction, but I’m always so iffy with a person speaking into a static-y format. I have a hard time figuring out what they’re saying, but I love the beat. That ominous feeling never really goes away, which I enjoyed and I liked the mild build up to the drop, very subtle but keeps it kind of unique for a summertime song really!

Next we have “Both Of Us” with STORi and again, we have this light beginning but since the featured singer has a very mellow voice too, it actually works well. I really like this, because for anyone that likes to listen to EDM on the radio, this is very radio-friendly with kids, the drop isn’t that intense, but the song in general isn’t so heavy that you’re used to hearing in dance music, it’s really good! Fourth is “Villain” with Valentina and I think I’ve heard this before, maybe I’ve played it before the album came out and I’ve forgotten about it, that sounds like something I’d do really! Anywho, it has a mild beat, and I’ve always had an uneasy time with both chill and house music, because at times they can just be so boring, but I don’t want to say this is that by any means, but I just don’t like it as much.

“Crash This Party” with Tabitha Nauser is next and after having a somewhat dull song beforehand, this pretty much makes up for it! It’s so upbeat and dare I say, positive? I really like the drop, and they insert their “Yellow Motherfucking Claw” towards the end of the track, which instantly made me smile, because it’s not a YC song without at least one of their songs having that somewhere in the track! My only complaint is that it’s too short! The other one, as soon as it started it made me jump! I wasn’t expecting that pop in the beginning to “Public Enemy” at all. I actually laughed at myself! Anyways, this has DJ Snake, and you all should know that I love DJ Snake a lot! This doesn’t feature anybody but him, so it’s instrumental and you definitely know I love those the most! This is just the greatest, I can’t describe it any better than that. I have to find the live version of this, because I can imagine crowds going absolutely crazy for this!

We move on to, “Fake Chanel” with A$AP Ferg and Creek Boyz. I actually remember listening to this when it came out as a single and I loved it instantly! It’s so interesting how I will listen to rappers that appear on EDM music a lot better than rap music in general. I don’t know how that works either! I really love the beat to this, it’s so sharp and different. The drop is insane! After that banger, we go into “Attention” with Chase and Kalibwoy, which as soon as it started, I thought, “oh yay, this will be softer”. Well, I was half right with that expectation! It is mysterious but I was really intrigued with the second voice, he completely changed the vibe that I originally had going, so that was cool! This, as a whole, is a very different track and I love it!

We have “Bittersweet” featuring Sofia Reyes, who has this sweet little voice and I like the fact that the beat itself doesn’t overpower her. It’s a good song! “To The Max” is next and this has a number of people on it, but the only one that I know is Bok Nero. The others are MC Kekel, Lil Debbie, and MC Gustta. This is good, with a nice simple beat and you have like mixture of voices, but it’s not the best. I also think this was the longest one on the album too. I don’t know I really feel about that so we’re going to move onto “Down On Love” with Moski and Yade Lauren, which I know Yade was featured on another of YC’s songs, “Love & War”. This is pretty mellow, but I like it, at least this has an interesting beat and the singer has gorgeous voice.

We’re almost done. I know, even I’m a little sad about that! There’s “I’ll Be Fine” with Kelsey Gill and she sounds like Zara Larsson! I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it was the first that I thought of when the song started playing. This is pretty good, nothing about it is too much, it could get good radio play on pop oriented stations, so that’s a plus! And we have “Waiting” that has Rochelle in it, and she’s also been a guest on their songs before. I really like the dreamy vibe I got while listening to it. It does have the standard build up and the bass drop is really good, but I liked the original beat better. Surprisingly, I don’t think it needed all of that other stuff, even if they had turned it down. I know I’m starting to scare myself now! Lastly, we have “Another Life” with STORi again. I really like the usage of the piano, it gave it a sense of elegance. The beat is really simple, and we finish in the same way we started, so it’s kind of perfect.

I was kind of impressed with this. I figured since they released an album in the summer, it would sound pretty summer-y in the process, but I never got that vibe as I continued to listen to the songs. You have a good mesh of the heavy bangers that every EDM loves, but if you are in the mood for something softer, then you definitely a few to choose from, so it’s a good batch of music.

Have you listened to Yellow Claw’s new album, “New Blood” yet? What did you think? Do you have any favorite(s)?

Album Review: “America” by Thirty Seconds To Mars

Today I am reviewing an album, that surprisingly, I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I wouldn’t say that I’m like a big Thirty Seconds To Mars fan, but I’m like right in the middle of it. The songs that I’ve listened to, are really good and “Love, Lust, Faith, and Dreams” is probably one of my favorite albums to date, but I still don’t consider myself a really big fan of theirs. Maybe after doing this review, that’ll change, huh?

Thirty Seconds To Mars is a rock band coming out of California. It still surprises me that there are only three guys in it and roughly two of its members play instruments live. What I mean is that, Tomo and Shannon play the guitar and drums respectively and they’re the ones who play the most while on stage. Jared has played guitar live on several songs, but majority of the time he just stands there. This is the reason why I’ve always been amazed in a way, because they always sound like a six piece band since their songs are so jam packed, it doesn’t seem like it was made with only three people! Anyways, their brand new album is called “America” and it was released on the 6th of April.

We start the album off with their first single release, “Walk On Water” and this song was EVERYWHERE after it came out! I’ve seen it on different commercials, mostly on sporting events, which I thought was nice! It has a nice light, but energetic feel to it to match that kind of vibe you’d expect for those types of advertisements. I actually like the song a lot, it’s a nice opening to the album and this cycle! Second is “Dangerous Night” and I have to say, I was less than pleased with this one when I first listened to it. I go back and forth if I really like it, because I liked how it started with only Jared’s very seductive voice. Yes, that’s the word I’m using for this! It’s very mellow, and the tempo and sound changes a bit towards the end, but I’m not meshing with it as I thought I would and I’ve heard it a few times since it came out. Next is “Rescue Me” and even though 30STM are a rock band, they have sort of a pop vibe going on with this album. I have to say, I like this song, it has a soft California rock n roll vibe to it, but it also has this quirky sound on top of it, so it makes it really unique.

Fourth track is “One Track Mind” and I thought this was really great. The beat makes it really sexy and I thought Jared’s low and slow voice makes it that much better! This features rapper A$AP Rocky in it, and I thought he gave it a different edge that in a way, it didn’t need, but I’m glad he was added to the ending result. Plus, can we just talk about the guitar solo at the last too? Good god. I seriously thought it couldn’t get any better, but I guess I was wrong? Next we have an instrumental called “Monolith” and they are kind of known to have a little break in their albums, a breathing and thinking time in between the songs. This one very in your face, cinematic worthy track! You know how I am. It also conducts as an intro to the song behind it, which is titled “Love Is Madness” and it features Halsey in it. The song has a bit of a drumline vibe going on, but it’s sexy and smooth too. I really wasn’t expecting it to be like that, but I love it anyways!

We move on to the seventh song, “Great Wide Open” and this starts off really slow and you kind of get that it’s going to sound maybe like a 80’s ballad, they’re not acoustic enough to be a straight slow song, but they’re not so upbeat where you feel like jumping up and down a thousand times, it’s the perfect medium. I really like it. After that, we have “Hail To The Victor” and I’m happy to say this one is very different, I had seen that it was produced by Yellow Claw, but didn’t think it would sound like that! However, I don’t hate it. The song has a nice, dark, but mellow bass drop to it. It’s very unique and I really enjoy it! Ninth track is “Dawn Will Rise” and since I try to guess how a song will sound whenever I see the title of it, I was thinking that it would be really out of the box vibe and I wasn’t wrong with my guess. I don’t really like the autotone of Jared’s voice, but overall I like the exotic/electronica sound to it!

We’re almost done, “Remedy” is next and this is definitely considered an acoustic ballad, but I am confused because that doesn’t sound like Jared at all. I really like it, but I would like to know who the vocalist is, Shannon or Tomo? If anybody knows, please comment below with the answer! Thank you in advance. Next is “Live Like A Dream” and again, it has this sort of soft rock but climbing introduction that I feel like 30STM are getting better at producing with the more songs they include it in, so thank you Shannon for that build up! This song in general has another feature that they’re kind of known for, they like to add choirs into their songs, but this one is giving me “Closer To The Edge” vibes. I don’t consider it a bad thing, but that’s what I keep thinking of while listening to it. Last song is “Rider” and we have another slow beginning, but the sound does kind of “explode” in a way. If you’re going to end an album, you should always leave with a bang and I think it is a good song to use.

You’re probably thinking about why I said that they have a pop sound going on, like that they’re sounding like Maroon 5, but I’m not saying that by any means. The band is taking a gentle approach to it, and they’re not going too far with it. To be quite honest, I really don’t care if they want to incorporate some of the mainstream music into their stuff. I just want to hear something different from those pop-rock bands and right now, Thirty Seconds are doing a good job at keeping themselves separate from the pack. Overall, I thought this was a really good album. I’m not really surprised by the songs itself, because I know they make good music, I’m more shocked that I ended up liking almost every track. I think I will grow into “Dangerous Night” the more I listen to it, so don’t worry about it.

Have you listened to Thirty Seconds To Mars’s new album? If you have, what were some of your thoughts that you had? Do you have any favorites yet?

Favorite Dance Films!

Howdy!

I’m back with another list of films. This time, we are going to be discussing my favorite dance movies. I will say this, I have a lot. I actually wrote out a few movies one night on my To Do List pad, and I only had like four movies and then before I went to work on this post, I went on Google and realized “wow, I missed quite a few!” so it grew to like eight movies total!

I was going to open it up a little bit and add the singing aspect of it, but I figured we’d be here forever, so if you’d like to see that list, just let me know!

Dirty Dancing (1987) – Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes

Okay, first off if you are going to have a “favorite dance movie” list, Dirty Dancing has to be somewhere on that list, whether it’s at the top or somewhere in the middle is up to you, but it has got to be on this list in general!

I actually wasn’t introduced to this movie until later on in my preteen years! I think I saw it the same time frame I watched Grease for the first time. I love both of them just as much, but Dirty Dancing is probably my favorite though. This is such a sexy, but fun movie! I think I had more of a crush on Jennifer than I ever did for Patrick! As you’ll find out in this post, I like both ballet and ballroom dancing and I’m happy to say I enjoyed both before watching the dancing competitions on TV! And yes, I watched and absolutely loved that Jennifer went on Dancing With The Stars a few years ago!

Center Stage (2000) – Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Peter Gallagher, Ethan Stiefel

I want to say that Center Stage was probably second dancing movie I ever was introduced to, but I cannot figure out who showed it to me, because I think I was still in middle school when I watched it the first time, but I think I might’ve watched it on Oxygen one afternoon and ended up liking it a lot. This has happened once before with Where The Heart Is. 

This one introduced me to the dark sides of ballet, between the concerns of the dancers weight and limited space in different companies, after finishing it I remember thinking to myself “maybe it is a good thing I’m disabled!” I’ve always loved all kinds of dance, but ballet is at the top, even though I’ve never seen a real show or know any of the meanings or stories of the ballets besides The Nutcracker.

Save The Last Dance (2001) – Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Fredro Starr

I remember my mom told me about this movie when I was little, her words were “it has a big car explosion in it” and when I did eventually watch it with her, butt explosion wasn’t as big as she had explained. However, I ended up loving the story so much that I didn’t really care! Everything about it was brilliant for somebody at my age, because I learned about loyalty, standing up for myself, and seeing passed somebody else’s differences. I don’t understand racism and I still hate that I see specks of it everyday and I feel very ashamed of my ancestors who ever owned slaves centuries ago.

You Got Served (2004) – Omarion, Marques Houston, Steve Harvey, Jennifer Freeman, Meagan Good

You know you’ve seen a movie too many times in your life, when you don’t need to look up anything about that certain film because you know everything about it! I was addicted to this movie when I was like 13 or 15 years old. I watched that DVD so many times that I think by the time I started my sophomore year, it stopped working for me, and the same goes for the soundtrack too!

After getting into STLD, I figured this one would grab me and never let me go too! I loved the atmosphere of it, the dances were so crazy and yes, the last battle is probably the best of the movie. I usually always cry while watching it but it is so sweet!

Take The Lead (2006) – Antonio Banderas, Alfre Woodard, Rob Brown, Yaya DeCosta, Laura Bernati

This is the second movie that I got into that involved ballroom dancing, but I think it showed you more of the styles than Dirty Dancing. I thought it was an interesting film the first time I watched it, as high schoolers are fairly difficult to “break” as they don’t like to listen and generally hate dancing with a partner. It takes a very patient and clever person to make this happen!

Fun fact: Yaya DeCosta was a contestant on America’s Next Top Model a couple of years before this came out. I really loved her in this movie and she looked beautiful in that purple dress! And yes, Jenna Dewan is in this film too! She plays the character “Sasha” and has that big dance with the boys at the end. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes.

Step Up (2006) – Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Mario, Drew Sidora,

Oh yes! We have to talk about Step Up! I feel like Dirty Dancing was probably the ultimate dance movie in the late 80’s whereas Step Up became the best of the best of dance movies for the younger generations! Since I’ve seen both probably in the four years between each one, don’t ask me which movie I love the most, because I cannot answer it honestly!

It still shocks me that Channing and Jenna got married and had a kid after meeting on this movie, like holy crap! You got to see the love blossom in this movie and it actually makes me want to believe in love, but then after I finish it, my black heart comes back around and reminds me why I don’t believe in it.

Update: Four days after I officially finished on this post, it was announced that they were separating and I’ve been very sad about ever since.

Burlesque (2010) – Christina Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Eric Dane

I love Burlesque! In 2015, my mom, Aunt Laurie, nana, and I went out to do some Christmas shopping at Dollar Store and my mom found the DVD, she pointed it out and asked if I wanted to get it, but somehow we never got it. I’m still stumped about it honestly, because she knows how much I loved it that why didn’t she just get for me anyways? It also wasn’t even that expensive either!

I know there are some scenes that were very corny, and seemed like they were taken from Coyote Ugly, but I really enjoyed it. I never knew about burlesque before watching the film and afterwards all I wanted to do was learn all about it, so that’s why I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to the form of performing! I really loved Cher and Christina Aguilera’s characters, but I really loved Kristen Bell as the bad girl “Nikki” she made me laugh and feel sorry for her. Oh and Stanley Tucci plays a good gay guy too!

Footloose (2011) – Julianne Hough, Kenny Wormald, Miles Teller, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell

Last one, is Footloose and I must apologize for anyone who thought I would be discussing the original version, but I have never seen it! In 2011, my mom, sister and I went to see it in theaters and we really enjoyed it a lot. I was so glad to see Julianne Hough as the title lead, and I remember Kenny from the second installment of Center Stage that came out in 2005 I think. Oh, and we LOVED Miles as “Willard” he was such a fun character! Even my dad liked him after we rented the movie for a weekend.

If you haven’t seen any of these movies, you definitely look into them, because they’re all very good in their way! And every single film has a great soundtrack too. There are a few movies that I may not watch as much anymore but I still listen to the soundtrack almost every other day.

Are you a fan of dance films too? Did I put any of them on this list? Let me know below!