Category Archives: Entertainment

Yoü and I (Single Review) – Lady Gaga


Yoü and I was just announced as the upcoming fourth single off Lady Gaga’s newest album “Born This Way.”

The song continues in the sound departure Lady Gaga has set for herself this era: more Edge of Glory than Judas, if you want – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The soulful, piano-driven, 80’s rock-influenced ballad is about going back to see an old love and not wanting to let that love go. It starts: “It’s been a long time since I came around. It’s been a long time but I’m back in town and this time I’m not leaving without you.”

The lyrics leave nothing to the imagination. It is a highly personal song. Lady Gaga’s fans can easily name the person to whom this song is dedicated: her nebraska guy, who has a bar in New York. “Something, something about this place. Something about lonely nights, and my lipstick on your face. Something, something about my cool Nebraska guy.”

The song is the story of a relationship that started with a long chase: “Something, something about the chase
(Six whole years).” And ended with Lady Gaga not wanting to let him go but had to. Now, two years later, she’s back to her hometown and she’s not leaving without him, despite the relationship being tumultuous. However, she can’t get over the small gestures she loved: “On my birthday you sang me a heart of gold with a guitar humming and no clothes.”

Lady Gaga’s vocal performance on this song is one of her best. She injects the lyrics and melody with energy that takes the whole song to another level. The song could have easily been monotonous, but her nuances and injections here and there elevate it into a breathy and easy-to-listen to track.

The interesting thing about the choice of Yoü and I as a single is that, even though the album has other electropop songs that would become faster and surer hits on radio, Lady Gaga chose this “unconventional” song for pop radio. It could be that seeing the runaway success Adele is currently having, Lady Gaga has realized the electropop age is fading and is slowly trying to get listeners to get accustomed to her new intended sound. If that’s the case, I have hope her upcoming music releases would be even better and show true artistry, not just flashy gimmicks to grab attention.

Deviating away from trends is Lady Gaga’s niche. Yoü and I continues this trend and this time, it just works. The song is great. Whether radio embraces it and turns it into a big hit is another matter entirely. But it’s Lady Gaga so you know the hype will be big. And at the end of the day, a true artist knows they have a clear path to self-expression. I’m glad Lady Gaga is not worried about the risks that her path involves. But the fact of the matter is, Yoü and I wasn’t the only song off Born This Way to go top 10 on iTunes without being a single for no reason. There’s a lot of appeal behind it. Hopefully it will translate into a successful single that will continue in steering Lady Gaga in this direction.

Listen to Yoü and I:

Remind Me (Music Video) – Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood

The awaited video of country music’s most anticipated single of the year so far has just been released.

Set in a desert around sunset, it features Brad Paisley with his guitar and Carrie Underwood with her legs. Yes, the legs are even more important than the guitar. Why? Well, they say pictures speak louder than words. How about three?


And for emphasis:

If you’re still with me, let us proceed.

The treatment of the Remind Me video is different from what anyone expected. Sure, our expectations were high but the more reasonable person of us would have seen coming something along the lines of the result. There was no way Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley would act out the song to the letter.

I mean, if you thought that the whole video would be Carrie and Brad kissing each other endlessly, then you would be delusional. No offense that is.

The end result was the next best thing that could happen without acting out the song: represent the anguish of two lovers who need to be reminded of each other’s love with Carrie and Brad walking towards each other in the desert sunset.

The idea couldn’t be simpler. The slow walk represents the longing, the desert represents the dryness of the relationship. And when they meet, they address each other with sparks in their eyes to be reminded of that love.

However, you can clearly see that Carrie expresses more passion than Brad in their portrayal of the characters. I don’t want to be over analytical, but I think that’s the role they were meant to play and not a lack of acting or dedication. Why? Because I believe that it is more natural for women in situations like this exhibit more passion while men have more restraint.

I can’t say I’m let down but I can see why many fans thought the video would be much more exhuberant. However, let me say this. If any man has a wife/girlfriend with Carrie Underwood’s legs and they need to be reminded to love her, it’s time to go to therapy.

Check out my review of Remind Me. And the lyrics.

Watch the Remind Me video:

Game Of Thrones

I recently finished watching the first season of HBO’s newest series: Game of Thrones, based on the book series “A Song of Fire and Ice” by George R. R. Martin.

The series is a fictional medieval drama, set in the seven kingdoms of Westeros. Each section of those kingdoms is ruled by a different lord, all of whom have to obey the king who sits on the Ivory Throne.

The show’s main protagonists are the Stark family, one of the noble families of the Kingdom, and the rulers of the North. Lord Ned Stark, the father, is soon appointed hand of the king, Robert, when the former hand dies in mysterious circumstances and is, therefore, forced to leave his family and relocate with his two daughters to the kingdom’s capital, leaving his wife and oldest son to care for his people in the North. But in a world where treason is a way of life, where insincerity and lies keep you alive, Ned Stark doesn’t fit – especially when he learns the truth about the king’s son.

Another storyline taking place in the show happens at the far North of Westeros where Lord Stark’s bastard son (yes, he is referred to as such in the series) joins the Night’s Watch, a brotherhood that protects the built barrier in that location against “The Others” that exist beyond it.

Moreover, in the neighboring realm of Essos, the two remaining members of House Targaryen strike a deal with vicious barbarians in order to reclaim the Iron Throne, which was taken away from them when king Robert took charge and exiled them. Princess Daenerys soon finds herself leaving the fragility of her former life and assuming the firm role of Khalissi, head queen of the barbarians and my favorite character. But her family heritage remains in her blood, making her a hybrid between both cultures, and another claimant to the Iron Throne.

This is Khalissi:

Game of Thrones is, in the bigger sense, the game between the different Lords to claim the Iron Throne. It is a show about power struggles and about the basic human nature quality of striving for more power. It showcases how badly some people handle the power given to them and the cruelty that may arise when such people reach powerful positions.

The show is highly engaging. And at ten episodes for the first season, proceeds rather quickly with its plot. One of its strong points is its ability to focus on the many storylines taking place without it getting stuck on one of them. Moreover, there’s an impeccable element of professionalism in the series: the cinematography, art direction, locations… everything is chosen with the utmost consideration of details, making the series beautiful to look at as well.

Game of Thrones is, as every HBO production I’ve watched, a raunchy series. The episodes are filled with many sex scenes where more than basic human anatomy is revealed. However, unlike other TV shows where such scenes are only used for shock-effect, in Game of Thrones, they serve the plot and are, at some points, pivotal moment for the plot’s advancement and serve as a way to reveal hidden motives with many characters.

All in all, Game of Thrones is a highly recommended series. You will enjoy it even if you’re not even remotely interested in medieval shows or blood and gore (yes, there are way too many bloody scenes of decapitations and the like). However, it remains a show with an impeccable storyline that feels more cinematic than TV-like. The makers’ decision to translate the books into a TV series, not a movie, is a great decision and will allow them to remain true to the books and include more and more details that we, as viewers, would have missed otherwise.

Carrie Underwood and Adele?

Adele

Imagine the possibilities…

Adele standing in one of her black dresses next to Carrie Underwood, each holding their microphone in a way that says: it’s just us and our music, giving out the best we can.

And then imagine those two voices fusing together on a song. Are you tearing up yet? You should be.

As my good friend Elia said yesterday, when two girls are singing a duet, it’s more of a sing off. Each one wants to top the other vocally. Now imagine a sing off between Carrie Underwood and Adele, this generation’s strongest vocalists by far. Yes, no one can even come close. Make that sing off friendly, playful and empowering and the result is something that, even while still in theory, is eargasm inducing.

And the fact of the matter is, it just might be a possibility that these two great voices will merge on Carrie’s fourth album. The clues are rather weak at this point but hints do exist.

They’ve both been complimenting each other a lot in the media lately with Carrie calling Adele one of the people she loves listening to and the same with Adele.

If anything, experience has taught us that whenever two artists start to “flirt” in the media, that means they’re cooking up something. In this case, one would hope this theory applies because there would be nothing better in the world than hearing those two vocal powerhouses hitting every single note on a brilliant song.

And if you think having them sing a duet is too greedy, I can settle for one of them writing a song while the other sings it. Any Adele – Carrie Underwood combination in today’s music climate is sure to deliver a song of epic proportions.

No, I’m not hyping this. It’s still a rumor more in the realms of theory. But hopefully someone out there listens and becomes some sort of catalyst in bringing these two together.

In the meantime, I leave you with live performances by each artist, just so you see the magnitude of talent we’re dealing with.

R.I.P Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment a few hours ago.

Is anyone surprised?

The 27 year old Grammy-winning singer has been “battling” substance abuse for years now. But can you really call it battling if she never seriously sought out to make herself better?

They say death should be revered. But how can you pay tribute to someone who had it coming for such a long time that when the news of her death broke out, no one was shocked.

It’s sad to see such a talent go to waste especially that this talent has only given the world only two critically-acclaimed albums: 2003’s Frank and 2006’s Back To Black. Now that Winehouse is gone, many of her unreleased tracks will find their way to be marketed. It’s the way it is with artists whose lives are so troubled that they cannot maintain a regular album release schedule.

There will definitely be a Greatest Hits album by the year’s end to celebrate this young woman’s untimely passing. Let’s make a few dollars off of her. That won’t hurt anyone, right?

Back To Black is #1 on iTunes as of now. At least her label is starting to rack in the dough.

Amy Winehouse had a story to tell. Her life could have served as a great source for music about anguish, need and pain. Her death is like cutting a novel short indefinitely.

I guess Amy shouldn’t have said no, no to rehab and gone. Her greatest achievement will remain introducing a sound to the music industry that allowed people like Adele to make a breakthrough. For that, we’ll all be thankful.

Here’s hoping her last moments were fade to white. But at the end of the day, her death was a lifestyle choice.