Shakira’s Concert in Lebanon

Shakira’s concert in her native country, Lebanon, ended a while ago and while I didn’t go, tweeps are reporting that it was massive – both literally and figuratively.

Described by some as the biggest concert in Lebanese history, Shakira posted this picture of the crowds at the concert, which she dedicated to her father, William Mubarak, from the Lebanese city of Zahle:

While some complained that her set was short, they also said that they danced a lot and had a blast. I’m sure it was a great concert. Until she comes back again (and seeing how lucrative this has been, I’m sure Lebanon will be made a constant fixture on her international tour), did you go the concert? how was it?

Other pictures from the concert:

And this is Shakira dedicating the concert to her father:

1+1 (Single Review) – Beyonce

After the horrid Run The World, Beyonce has unveiled another song off her upcoming album “4”. The song was performed live on the finale of American Idol in what could be described as an emotional performance where Beyonce gave her all to get across the song titled “1+1”.

Don’t let the urban-styled title fool you. This is not a song about math, nor is it about dancing or anything with street-cred. It’s about love, as simple as that. Beyonce’s vocals, though somewhat harsh (as in too overpowered) at some points of the song, are very good, as she usually is on ballads (Halo, If I Were A Boy, Listen are three impeccable songs that come to mind).

Beyonce starts: I don’t much know much about algebra, but I know 1+1 equals two and it’s me and you. That’s all we got when the world is through… because we got nothing but love. It is an interesting approach to the subject matter, to say the least. She later draws a resemblance with guns as well to get her point across before going into deep calls to “make love to [her]”.

Moreover, the song has basic instrumentation: they’re not very complicated, compared to other songs currently released, which leaves more focus on the lyrics and Beyonce to masterfully deliver the song.

1+1 is a song that is confusing to judge. Why so? because as a song in itself, it holds its own. It does its job of delivering the message clearly (and I do mean that literally, Beyonce’s pronunciation is somewhat impeccable) and it shows a different sound that Beyonce is definitely trying to introduce this era. But does it work as her follow-up single, as revealed by Ryan Seacrest on American Idol, to Run The World? Definitely not.

Beyonce is going way off mainstream with her releases so far and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, Adele’s Rolling In The Deep is also not really mainstream and it’s currently the biggest song in the US. So an artist can go on the radio wild-side, so to speak, with good enough material. This is not good enough material. It’s good, but not that good.

And since Beyonce needed a radio-friendly single to help salvage what’s rest of her attempt to have a successful album launch, 1+1 fails at presenting her with a better launch pad for her upcoming work. Moreover, 1+1 does not feel very structured as a song. It’s very hard to see yourself finding this song “catchy” enough, even for a ballad, for you to sing to.

I hope Ryan Seacrest misspoke when he said this is Beyonce’s next single. It’s a good song that should be left where it belongs: as an album cut, on an album that is shaping up to be a huge let-down, both musically and from a marketing perspective, after a great era: I Am Sasha Fierce.

Scotty McCreery Wins American Idol

Scotty McCreery winning American Idol is as surprising as someone finding out China has the world’s biggest population. Yes, it was that predictable.

And even though I voted thirteen times for Lauren Alaina all the way from Lebanon (yes, I outsmarted the American Idol geographical limitation system), it obviously wasn’t enough when you have more than 122 million votes cast for American Idol’s biggest finale, voting-wise, ever!

Both Scotty and Lauren sang with their idols on the finale, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood, respectively. The finale also featured performances by Steven Tyler, U2, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Tony Bennett (who sang with top 3 Haley Reinhart), Judas Priest (who sang with top 4 James Durbin).

I had said before that Lauren needed to win more than Scotty but it doesn’t matter now. Apparently, they’re in a relationship since they went all kissy-kissy after Scotty won, which means Scotty should help Lauren when she tries to crack the country music scene. Win-win situation apparently.

Lauren Alaina, who was sure Scotty will win, said Carrie Underwood told her, prior to their Before He Cheats performance that “no matter what Lauren, you’re a winner and you’re going to be amazing in the country field.”

Scotty McCreery was loyal to the country genre since day one. He captivated audiences with his audition (my twitter timeline, filled with Country music loyalists was raving about him) and week by week, even when challenged with other genres, he made those songs his own, adding a country twist to them. Is it my cup of tea? sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the majority of those millions that voted like him, apparently.

After winning, and the need to constantly smile for camera snapshots coming in from everywhere, Scotty was asked by Carrie Underwood if his cheeks had started hurting yet. But apparently, he won’t be smiling for long. Why? the poor thing has an exam tomorrow. Talk about something raining on your parade.

Either way, I, for one, was happy with an all country finale since that’s my favorite genre. And whoever won would have been a good addition to the genre. They’re both very young with lots to give. Let’s wish them prosperous careers. Whose career am I more excited for, though? Lauren Alaina.

This Is Country Music (Album Review) – Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley is not one of the leading figures in country music for no reason. He has always pushed the envelope of the genre with his music, introducing issues that were usually not discussed in song and making the umbrella of the country music genre even wider, engulfing more themes.

On his last album, “American Saturday Night”, Brad dealt with social issues we all live through but don’t really consider, such as looking at the younger generation and seeing all of the advances they have and we lacked (the song in question is Welcome To The Future).

He doesn’t stray far from that in This Is Country Music, an album that starts with the song of the same name where Brad says country music is the only genre where the word “cancer” is mentioned in a song and goes on into a segue of country music classics (Stand By Your Man, Take Me Home Country Roads, etc…)

On Old Alabama, Brad tells the story of a date with a girl whose idea of a perfect date is not one that involves high-end meals but a simple drive around in a truck listening to Alabama. It’s the song for everyone whose woman is not a high-maintenance gal. The country band Alabama is featured on it.

A Man Don’t Have To Die is a haunting song about the hardships in life and is probably one of the album’s highlights. It starts by describing a priest telling people that hell exists. Brad then comes in to say that we don’t need the priest to tell us this because some of us go things in life that make our life a living hell: when you get fired, when you find out you’re all alone in life, etc… “you don’t have to die to go to hell”.

Camouflage is a smart song, which would have fitted nicely with Brad’s previous album, saying how camouflage is Brad’s favorite color: makes you fit in where you can’t, makes you irresistible for a redneck girl…

And the comes Remind Me, the duet with Carrie Underwood. To say this song is brilliant would be an understatement. It is about a couple rekindling their romance and it is just perfect. You’d expect a song with such a theme to be sadder somehow but it confuses you by being a mid-tempo power ballad. The lyrics are top notch, even the repetition of the words “remind me” don’t come off as grating because it blends very well in the overall body of work. Brad holds his own next to the soaring vocals of Carrie Underwood, making for another – if not the – album highlight. You can check out my full Remind Me review here.

On Working On A Tan, Brad describes a girl soaking in the sun, doing exactly what the title says. Meanwhile, the boys are at the gym working out, wanting to go to the beach just because she’s there working on a tan, with everyone’s tongues hanging out but she doesn’t give a damn.

Love Her Like She’s Leaving is another ballad, featuring Don Henley, that starts with a couple’s wedding and how he’ll never forget how the bride’s uncle told him to “love her like she’s leaving, like it’s all gonna end if he don’t”. Definitely another album highlight, an absolutely brilliant song.

One Of Those Lives is the story of one of those days where you think everything’s going wrong: you rush out and there’s traffic, get chewed by the boss. And then you receive a phone call that your friend’s little boy had a cancer relapse only realizing that while you had one of those days, the boy has had one of those lives. If you don’t feel compassion when you hear this, you need to listen again. An amazing ballad.

On Toothbrush, Brad paints a family portrait that all starts with a toothbrush: it all starts with a toothbursh, a splash of after-shave before leaving for a first date… long kiss goodnight… ultimately leading to a marriage and some kids. Brad sings that everything starts as a little thing, needing room to grow. It all starts with a toothbrush.

Be The Lake is the dirty joke song Brad loves to have on every album. On his previous album, American Saturday Night, it was Water (Daytona beach on spring break/ Eighteen girls up on stage/ White t-shirts about to sprayed with water). On Be The Lake, the girl is swimming and Brad is wishing he could be the lake that she’s swimming in.

Eastwood is a song featuring the directing/acting legend Clint Eastwood. It starts off by Brad’s little boy asking: “hey, what about western?” to which Clint replies: “You want western? Well, this is western!” before pure western music, taken out of a cowboy movie, starts playing. Eastwood is mostly an instrumental track, with Brad, a very strong guitarist, bringing it while Clint Eastwood whistles in the background. It ends by Brad telling Clint: “good job,” the latter replying: “thanks Brad, now I’ve tried everything.”

New Favorite Memory is about a couple going through many scenarios, each time ending with the man telling the woman to stop so he could let it sink it, his favorite memory of her. It is a ballad about a tender love that holds nothing back.

Don’t Drink The Water is a conversation between two guys (the other one being country star Blake Shelton) about going down to Mexico for a vacation. They have some sweet ladies that are more than glad to meet you – but don’t dare to drink the water there.

I Do Now is a song about a man regretting the mistakes he did with his wife. How he’d give anything to go back in time somehow so he wouldn’t break her heart and the vows he made to her and tell her, right in the moment he said I do, that “I do now”.

The last song on the album, Life’s Railway To Heaven, is more on the Christian-side of things where Brad, along with Sheryl Crow and Carl Jackson sing, to a prominent banjo and fiddle background, “blessed the savior that will guide us till we reach that blissful shore, where the angels wait to join us in God’s praise forevermore”.

Brad Paisley, one of country music’s superstars, has the bar set very high for him whenever he wants to release anything. And he hits the bar and more with his eighth album, This Is Country Music. The album serves as a book, each song being a chapter. It’s very cohesive and entertaining. Some said the album could do without a few tracks. But when you look at the collective work that this album presents, you can’t but feel that is is complete as is. How so? When you listen to the album’s first single, many themes are brought up, saying that country music tackles all of these issues. The album serves as a way to tackle the issues that the first single presents. Many have said it is not Brad’s best single – and I agree. But it serves its purpose of being introductory to an album that shows what is country music.

What’s great about this album is that it is real without being pretentious. It doesn’t set out to be the best album ever made, even for Brad’s fans, and it doesn’t include songs that you need to over-analyze to understand. It’s an album about life, freedom, marriage, love, as simple as it may be.

Brad’s fans will love this. Those who are apprehensive will find themselves tapping their toes to some of the songs but everyone will find a song to which they can relate because, at the end of the day, this is country music and it tells the story of your life.

American Idol 10 – Lauren Alaina & Scotty McCreery

I haven’t followed American Idol closely this season so I decided to sit out becoming a supporter of a candidate as long as possible. However, the finale is getting nearer and I’ve finally chosen the person I choose to support: Lauren Alaina.

With an all country music finale, I honestly couldn’t be happier. Scotty McCreery is a great performer and he has a brilliant twang to his voice. I can see him get far. But Scotty doesn’t need to win to be able to crack the country music scene.

Country music is known to be a mostly male-dominated business. People get too excited when they see two songs by females artists together in the top 10, let alone when a female artist gets a series of number one singles, something which is very natural when a male artist is involved. So Scotty, if he chooses the proper songs, will definitely be successful in the business. He’s already getting radio stations to talk about him. They’re going crazy for McCreery.

Lauren Alaina, however, needs to win if she wants to make it in that business. Sure, you have the exceptions (Kelly Pickler, anyone? though it’s not like she’s smashing records left and right) but with the hype from being the second female country artist to win American Idol, it should be enough to get her first single to do well on radio, giving her enough momentum to launch. If she becomes simply an American Idol runner up, she’d be at a serious disadvantage.

I see both of them having great careers. But in the country music scene, Scotty, at least to me, is a rehash of already present country artists. How many Josh Turners, Kenny Chesneys, Tim McGraws and Jason Aldeans do you want?

Lauren Alaina, however, is different. She has the potential to add something to the genre: another successful female to shuffle the competition. And the fact that no female has won American Idol since its seventh season is a rather daunting fact.

It’s interesting to note, however, that both of them are still very young and have plenty of room to grow. Lauren and Scotty are only 16 years old. Are they ready to enter such a brutal genre at this time? I’m not too sure about that. Let’s just wait and see.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with my favorite Lauren Alaina performances: