The Alexandra Burke haters must be pissed. Hallelujah is #1 for a 2nd week in a row. Jeff Buckley’s version has tumbled to #7 in the UK chart.
[Screen capture uploaded by me from BBC Radio 1 Site. Chart official as of 28/12/08]
I am sure Simon is chuffed but this is excellent news for Alex, Leona and Bee’s management. The charts this year have been such a mixed bag. I love how you can never predict how the British chart will go.
Charcoalies, I am liking this Rihanna song a lot. Don’t be shocked, I do like songs by other black female artists besides Beyonce.
Baby, Baby: The piano accompanying Rihanna’s 1st verse already signals that this is a ballad. The guitar strums heighten this melancholic tale of being in love when you know it is wrong.
I wonder what Phaedra from Hippolytus by Euripides would say about Rihanna’s accentuated pleas to be released from her pain. Phaedra knows all too well the need to go into Rehab as in the Greek play by Euripides, Aphrodite makes Phaedra fall in love with her stepson, Hippolytus.
Phaedra feels forlorn in love, ashamed of how deeply she has fallen in love with her own stepson, not knowing it was not her fault, but the will of a powerful Goddess.
With a ribbon on it: Rihanna utters:
Next time you want to go and leave, I should let you go and do it
Phaedra should have got Rehab‘ for her love for Hippolytus. Unfortunately, the grief she felt for loving Hippolytus made her leave the earth as she committed suicide because of the supposed shame. She didn’t make it into Rehab in time and feels as Rihanna continues to sing: “I feel so empty and hollow”.
You’re my disease: I think this is the first Rihanna song I have heard in ages where I feel like her voice really works with the song. The melancholic nature of the song, the way it sounds almost gloomy and resigned works well with the low register of her voice. It makes it sound even more emotive because when one is in pain, you don’t want to shout from the top, you whisper or murmur, something which Phaedra does in the play as her speech languishes with her sadness.
It’s like I checked into rehab (Oh): One thing I like to listen out for in songs is the use of echo. Normally, that’s what gets me hooked. The echo and mirror effect of the ‘ohs’ in the chorus work wonderfully, because they act as a lingering reminder of the subject’s pain. Continue reading
7. Alesha Dixon/The Boy Does Nothing
Uploaded by Jay230288. This was the Children in Need performance.
Alesha’s career seems rejuvenated by Strictly Come Dancing, which she won last year. The Boy Does Nothing peaked at #5 in the UK Chart, which was Alesha’s highest ever solo standing in the chart.
Brilliant chart position and it sticks two fingers up to Javine Hylton and Harvey, the latter who was Alesha’s ex husband. The reason it does this (in my view) is because it was co-written by Xenomania, the songwriting group who write Girls Aloud’s songs. Javine missed the cut to be part of Girls Aloud years ago as part of the reality show, Popstars. How sweet is revenge? Go Alesha!
It’s a poppy, fresh and energetic song that makes me want to exercise, so it must be doing something right.
6. Rihanna/Rehab
ph2072, I cannot believe there is a Rihanna song from GGGB that she has released that I actually like. I was always an SOS/Dem Haters girl. Rihanna has improved a lot. I still don’t buy this image change at all, but vocally, she has improved on this song, ph2072.
The endless beats peppering the album version of this song are trademark Timbaland production. The song was written by Justin Timberlake and he also stars in the video.
It’s bizarre sounding song meshed with the lyrics in a way, because the actual instrumental music in the background sounds like a melancholic serenading song, almost like music that would accompany a paean.
I think her voice suits songs that are slower and that have more of a chunkier sound to them. This song is not a ballad but it is more contemplative. So yes, ph2072, your girl is growing on me. Maybe b/c Rehab is mirroring my own life lol.
Rehab entered the UK chart at #24.
5. Madonna/Give it 2 Me
Give it to me, Madonna purrs or commands? Her tone of voice is vague and ambiguous on this song, almost like one is unsure whether she is energetic or commenting.
You’re only here to win, ‘fget what they say, Madge insists. The song has a lot of attitude and is one of the first times I think that Madonna actually sounds comfortable on a song.
I loved this song the first time I heard it. It has this almost snarky tone to it, encased in Pharrell’s heavy drum beats.
Thumbs up from me Madge, all the way in North London. I posted the music video a while ago when the song came out and for some reason, I even loved the song more with the video lol!
Many people on YT where saying that she was too old etc. So what? She is 50 and looks absolutely mindblowing with her figure.
Just look at this still from video:
Give it 2 Me, I’d be singing that too if my thighs looked like hers. The song peaked at #7.
4. Leona Lewis/Forgive Me
[image found here @ wikipedia]
The song peaked at #5 in the UK Chart. I actually really didn’t like it when I first heard it. Learning it was Akon’s brainchild didn’t help either. In fact, it is grower of a song. And Leona singing an uptempo song and not a ballad? It was refreshing to hear such a powerful voice sound playful especially when she belts:
And I need a man
Those cute injections of spunk and personality sound good on Leona, whose goodhearted nature sees her singing ballads only. She sounds good on this song, as always!
3. Keri Hilson/Return the Favour
…Feelin’ alright boy, I feel just fine!
I loved this song the moment I heard it first. Again, Timbaland’s production is really good here, matching her vocalisation’s nicely but it was more how the lyrics were phrased that I liked:
–Think with your body, let it out!
I don’t even know why I like that line, but I just do 
Maybe because the lyrics of the song are very ambiguous. Is she talking about under the belt favours or does she mean emotionally?
2. Britney Spears/Womaniser
[Image found here @ wikipedia]
The comeback single for Britney and what a song it is. The female issues it touches on could be a whole other post for me but I will leave it at that. It was a great choice for a song, sounded like an epic Britney song. The song peaked at #3 in the UK chart.
1. Beyonce Knowles/Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
[image found here @ wikipedia]
If you like, if you like, then you shouldda…..
Bee steps back into the ring, except she will not be chewing opponents ears of like Mike Tyson. Audacious lyrics backed by a repetitive, almost chant like instrumental makes this song memorable not forgetting the dance moves, even when does a Kongolese style Ndombolo gyration at 0.50seconds in the video.
Conclusion: That concludes my 7 favourite songs of the year. I hope 2009 will bring more memorable songs for us all. Which songs did you like?
…is this week’s #1 in the UK singles chart – the last #1 for 2008.
So, I have to amend my previous post about an elite group of 4 black female singers who achieved #1 songs.
Now, we have 5 black female singers who achieved #1s, which is of course excellent. So in alphabetical order, the elite women are:
Alexandra has got the fastest selling single ever, with 576K of downloaded and CD single sold. This is an incredible feat and I am thrilled for her. I am so happy she got to the top with all the bandwagon haters who wanted Jeff Buckley to the top instead, because they thought his was definitive. At the end of the day, her song was an interpretation and so was Buckley’s – let the girl have her moment: she worked for it and she deserves it.
What now?: One reason why I think Leona’s career has blossomed is because they took their while crafting her album. They didn’t rush out singles; they just slowly worked on it. I think this is the route they need to take with Alex as well. I think there has been a lot of talk about the comparisons between Leona and Alex. As far as I am concerned, there are no comparisons.
Both girls can be just as successful! Why is there an idea that only one person can be successful? Leona and Alex are not the same and they have very different voices. Leona’s track Forgive Me was an attempt to show that she could do uptempo and she can, but her shyness makes her endearing. Alex on the other hand can do uptempos but she also needs to reign in her personality but I still love both girls.
Future…: It’s odd – I will be the first person to profess that I love R&B pop music. More importantly, I am a follow of black female R&B vocalists; I just have this feeling about Alex. I hope I am not wrong but I think if they market her properly in an uptempo manner, ie, her first single, she could be great. Sometimes, it’s all down to management and thinking of ideas of how to make someone successful. Alexandra has stacks of personality which is something that may have hurt Leon, who won last year but whose career hasn’t been as meteoric.
I did feel bad for Leon, because he was a sweet guy but it just proves that the music business seems more and more like a lottery and hard work mixed together. Hopefully, Alexandra has the right ticket for next year.
[Image: Alexandra Burke Official Site]
Bought my copy of I am…Sasha Fierce today at HMV in the shopping centre at Walthamstow. Bee was #3 in the chart at the time. I used my cheapo £5 webcam to take this capture of the video anthology I also bought which was £6! I am doing more Bee posts about my Beyonce blog cos I don’t want my stannisms to scare anyone off but I love this woman….LOL. Continue reading
I really like this girl. I do actually think she is quite talented. Yes, the video is derivative but before anyone says she is copying Ri-bot, stand back because Ri-bot is the queen of derivative with wanting to be the black Madonna and all that bullshit.
Now back to Keri — she already placed herself on the map as a talented songwriter.Britney’s best song in my opinion was Gimme More and Keri Hilson co-wrote that so clearly something is going right.
0.00 – 0.20: Love that single earring she is wearing! Continue reading
