Rebecca Ferguson's new single Too Good To Lose once again shows off her stunning vocals. This is her second single from her debut album, Heaven. The 25 year old X Factor runner up wrote the songs herself as is a true example of REAL talent that has come from The X Factor. Not only beautiful, her lyrics and melodies are really likable and catchy. Here is the new single, sung live, which was released last week
Florence and The Machine have caught my attention recently, and are my latest obsession. So, naturally I thought I would do some investigating.
The lead singer, Florence Welsh, born 1986 (only three years older than me) and is known for her dark, intense but catchy songs, fiery red hair and her wild and daring outfits. She has been compared to Kate Bush in vocal style, but I think she is utterly original and has such great talent.
Florence and The Machine consist of various musicians, including bass guitar, drum and percussion, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar and even the harp. They started by playing smaller gigs in the London music scene, and proceeded to playing bigger gigs at Shoreditch festival in 2007, then playing Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and Bestival in 2008.
They released their debut album 'Lungs' on 6th July 2009, which was number two in the UK chart for a total of five consistent weeks. It went on to win Mastercard British Album award at the 2010 BRIT awards, and Florence was nominated Best New Artist, and won Best British Album.
Florence says, " I hope that my music has some of the big themes- sex, death, love, violence- that will still be part of the human story in 200 years time."
She split up with long term boyfriend Stuart Hammond, a literary editor, and began watching all of the gorgeous Ryan Gosling films. He is famous for being in The Notebook. We all know we've been there.
The Breakup with Stuart inspired her to make the hit album 'Lungs'.
Burt, she wasn't always a confident person, as the Daily Mail's interview with her reveals, "I was so awkward in my own skin. I used to hide behind my hair because I was so ridiculously self-conscious." (dailymail.co.uk)
It just goes to show, how famous stars in the music industry were once just as insecure as the rest of us when they we were growing up.
"I dyed my hair red when I was ten and when I was 11- my my goth period- I dyed it black and I was really into witchcraft. I made mini shrines in my bedroom with candles and tried to cast spells to make the boy in the next class fall in love with me." (dailymail.co,uk) Maybe we all didn't go to these extremes.
'Lungs' sold over 100,000 copies in the UK, a great success. They released the lead single "Kiss with a fist." which is a typical example of what this band do, dark lyrics contrasted with happy melodies.
The second song 'Dog days are over' is another great song, really catchy and has yet again haunting vocals with plenty of the essential reverb effect on her voice. You'll know it when you hear it, I can guarantee it. Unless you never watch TV, or listen to the radio. Another great catchy single is 'Rabbit heart (raise it up)'. Another track you will most definitely have heard around.
The fourth single released was 'Drumming' which is a really moving track, using unusual and powerful percussion and instruments such as the bass, piano, organ, violin, cello, viola and harp. This is definitely at the top as one of my favourites.
The next single to be released was the cover of Candi Staton's 1986 'You've got the love." a classic, and I really like their take on it too. She performed this at the BRIT awards joined by Duzzee Rascal rapping, and they released the remix the next day, 'You've got the Dirtee love". Although they are a very unlikely collaboration it seems to really work.
'Cosmic love" was released in July 2010 which featured in several American TV series, including The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl. I love their use of harp in this track its absolutely stunning.
In September they announced they were re-releasing 'Lungs' and releasing the album 'Between two lungs' which includes many remixes, live performances including those from the itunes festival, and the collaboration with Dizzee Rascal.
'Heavy in your arms' was the first single on this album, which played in The Twilight Saga; Eclipse in June 2010 credits and was out on the Twilight album. Remember those haunting vocals now? It's one of the darker tracks in their fantastic collection.
Their latest album 'Ceremonials' was released last month (31st October 2011) is made up of 12 songs. My favourite on the album is the beautiful and mesmerizing 'What the water gave me.' (released in August). It was an instant hit on itunes, and drew in an incredible 1.5 million views in only two days. The song was apparently inspired by the famous novelist Virginia Woolf's suicide. Her voice is perfect in this song, and really inspires me as a singer with its stripped down sections, and unusual key and tone. I also really love the unusual instrumentation, and the arty video is enchanting. Take a look, and if you haven't heard this song yet, be prepared to be blown away:
I can see Florence and The Machine are going to be inspiring and a great new influence on the melodies in Honeygene. Her vocals are delicate, and certainly send shivers down your spine.
Finally, I need to put the clip of Florence and The Machine performing on X factor on Sunday evening with their new single 'Shake it out' (released September 2011) I really like it, and her dress is incredible. She has great stage presence, and her voice is great live. I cannot believed its taken me this long to discover this amazing talent. A real find.
So if you haven't got their albums go download them NOW you will not regret it, every track takes you through an emotional journey and leaves you wishing you could make music like this.
Bruno Mars released his debut album ‘Doo Wops and Hoologans’ in October 2010 and it has had some great reviews. From a producer to a new artist, Bruno has done very well for himself.
I did however, stumble upon this review from The Guardian, by Alexis Petridis, who gave Bruno a pitiful and unwarranted 2/5 stars for his debut album ‘Doo Wops and Hooligans’ which I thought was most unfair.
Looking at other album reviews online i.e play.com customers have given him a more rightful 5/5 calling Bruno a “brilliant songwriter” and “a good album full of catchy songs” which I have to completely agree with. The album consists of 10, catchy tunes with upbeat songs such as ‘Marry you’ which I can see as another big single, and more contrasting moodier songs such as ‘Talking to the moon’ which is one of my personnel favourites. His lyrics are deep, whilst his melodies are beautiful and some send chills down my spine. Here is a youtube video created by an obvious fan, Have a listen, see what you think..
Another favourite on the album is ‘Liquor store blues’ featuring Damian Marley. Of course, due to the reggae style and Jamaican sections from Mr Junior Marley himself, I found these two artists the perfect combination. It also shows Bruno’s diverse use of genres from pop, reggae, to mo-town, R & B, rock, soul, blues and hip hop. There is a definite mix of chilled laid back songs on the album, such as ‘Our first time’ and more lively Jason Mraz type style tunes such as “The Lazy song” which all in all, makes a satisfying and well made album come alive. His voice is stunning, as I continue to emphasize, with the amazing number one singles of ‘Grenade’ and ‘Just the way you are’ beginning the album. Also finishing the album is Bruno’s collaboration with Cee-Lo Green and B.o.B which I think is another brilliant, extremely catchy track. Great voices, great melodies and some great beats. Please check this great song out. Now.
I think Bruno Mars is a great new artist; he is upcoming star and songwriter. I would like to give this album, a well deserved 5 out of 5. The only fault I can find is that I want more!
Here is the incredible album track list:
1. Grenade
2. Just The Way You Are
3. Our First Time
4. Runaway Baby
5. The Lazy Song
6. Marry you
7. Talking to the Moon
8. Liquor Store Blues f. Damian Marley
9. Count On Me
10. The Other Side f. Cee-Lo Green & B.o.B
