Sandy's Comin'

So, here in the NY/NJ area, the hurricane is about to hit really hard.  I have no school today!  So, I thought it would be in (almost) everybody's best interest that I create a "storm" playlist.  So here are songs to get you ready for the hurricane:

1. Rock You Like A Hurricane - Scorpion
2. Sandy - Grease
3. Singing In The Rain - Singing In The Rain (Gene Kelly)
4. Umbrella - Rihanna ft. Jay-Z
5. Rock The Boat - Hues Corporation
6. It's Raining Men - Weather Girls
7. Storms - Fleetwood Mac
8. It Never Rains In Southern California - Albert Hammond
9. Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters
10. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Spooktacular

Halloween is a beloved holiday throughout the world.  Children running through the streets and sidewalks with their cute Dorothy and firefighter costumes on demanding candy from everyone just really makes so many happy.  And because Halloween is rapidly approaching, I thought I would create a playlist of the perfect Halloween songs (in no particular order).  Enjoy!

1. Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
2. Disturbia - Rihanna
3. I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
4. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
5. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
6. Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
7. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr.
8. Thriller - Michael Jackson
9. Boris the Spider - The Who
10. This is Halloween - The Citizens of Halloween
11. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
12. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
13. Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
14. Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne
15. Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
16. Halloween Theme - John Carpenter
17. Monster - Lady Gaga

Jump to the Rhythm

Jordan Pruitt was signed to a record label when she was just 14. The now 21-year-old was just recently on The Voice but was voted off. She is currently signed to Jonas Records and is set to release her third album some time this year. I am going to say that I have been a huge fan of hers for a very long time, especially since we have the same first name. Her first major single, Outside Looking In, was released in 2006 and her voice in that song sounds flawless. Her voice in every song is flawless, actually. She is one of those singers whose songs I love to belt out to in my house. Since I am a big fan of hers, when she followed me on Twitter, I screamed and cried. If you don't know who she is, please check her out! You won't regret it!!!

American Music Awards

So many people love watching award shows.  The upcoming American Music Awards on November 18, you may want to tune in if you like Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguilera,  and/or Linkin Park.  Officials released today that those four will be performing at the 40th annual AMAs.  Nicki Minaj is up for four awards, Taylor Swift is up for favorite female country artist, and Linkin Park is a nominee for alternative artist.  Tune in on ABC on November 18.

Red

Taylor Swift's new album Red is now available!  In previous posts, I have touched upon the fact that her fourth album is not as country as Tay has made herself appear.  
The record has sixteen tracks including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble.".  It is currently Number One in Music on amazon.com.
For those of you who didn't like Taylor Swift because of her country music, I actually recommend this album to you because it isn't country.  Her lyrics are kind of the same as those on her previous albums, so if you are one who likes her for the lyrics, that didn't really change.  
So, ladies and gentlemen, I recommend purchasing this new album if you are looking for something new to listen to, or even if you don't like her.

New Ten

The iTunes "Top 10" charts have changed quite a lot in the past week:

1. Gangnam Style - PSY
2. Die Young - Ke$ha
3. Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
4. One More Night - Maroon 5
5. I Knew You Were Trouble. - Taylor Swift
6. Some Nights - Fun.
7. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
8. Diamonds - Rihanna
9. I Cry - Flo Rida
10. State of Grace - Taylor Swift

I'm just going to take a minute to talk about the new songs that have made it onto the charts.

Now, I don't want to sound picky or anything, but that new Bruno Mars song...not a huge fan.  I loved when Bruno Mars released "Just The Way You Are" and "Marry You".  That was a great song.  But I disliked every song after that more and more.  I don't want my opinion to shape yours, so if you like Bruno Mars you may very well like his new song "Locked Out of Heaven" and if you don't like him, just listen to the song and see what you think.  I'd love to hear your opinion on the song.

"I Cry" by Flo Rida sounds just like "Club Can't Handle Me".  The beat sounds like a party beat and the lyrics sound like party lyrics...if that makes sense.

And last but not least, another song from Taylor Swift's new album Red called "State of Grace" and yes, it still has that pop star sound instead of country star sound.

Little Mixer

Being the huge fan of England that I am, Little Mix is definitely on my "favorite bands" list.  In 2011, Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock auditioned for X Factor UK as solo artists. When none of them made it past bootcamp, singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos put the girls together as a group and they made it on to the live shows.  The girls, ages 19-21, won the eighth season of the show, being the first group to win X Factor.  "DNA" is the second single off their new album DNA (available in the UK November 19) following their previous hit single, "Wings".  Yesterday, Little Mix's music video for their new song was released on youtube.com/LittleMixVEVO and vevo.com.  Here it is!

Electric Light Orchestra

It has arrived! My parents bought ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra" from Amazon. The album contains different and new versions of certain songs, and knowing how talented ELO is, the new versions should not be a fail.

Rihanna on Vogue Cover

(source of photo: billboard.com)

Music icon Rihanna lands on the cover of Vogue's November 2012 issue.  The 24-year-old star speaks about everything in her spread, from Chris Brown to her music.  She looks very different from her April 2011 cover of Vogue, in which she had long red hair.  The magazine hits newsstands at the end of the month.  Her new album "Unapologetic" comes out November 19.

It's Only Rock 'N' Roll

(photo: vanityfair.tumblr.com)

The Rolling Stones are back!  They announced earlier today that they would be performing four concerts in the UK and US for their 50th anniversary.  The first two concerts will be November 25 and 29 at the O2 in London and December 13 and 15 at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.  They have reunited to perform live for the first time in five years.  Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts will all be there to perform.  If you really love the Rolling Stones and don't live anywhere near New Jersey or London, the Dec. 15 concert will later be available on pay per view.

Stand Behind the Music

I am in love with British singer/songwriter Cher Lloyd.  She was on season 7 of the X Factor and placed fourth on the show.  She soon after was signed by Simon Cowell because of her talent.  I got her album the first week it came out, the beginning of this month, and I love every song.  Most of her songs involve her rapping, but the raps are not at all offensive in any way.  My current favorite song is "Behind the Music", hence the picture above.  I highly recommend buying her album!!

Beauty and a Beat

How can anybody forget about "Bieber Fever"?  His first two albums were very good.  They had a teen-pop sound to them, but the Biebs is growing up.  His most recent album, Believe, which was released this past June, has a very different sound.  He's going for a little bit of a rap/hip-hop sound this time around with featured artists Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Big Sean, and Drake.  But the one I will be focusing on for now is Nicki Minaj.  Nicki Minaj is one of the biggest female rappers of the current time and has several hits like "Starships" and "Super Bass".  On Bieber's album, she sings with him "Beauty and a Beat", written by famous song-writers Max Martin, Anton Zaslavski, Justin Bieber, Savan Kotecha, and Nicki Minaj (source: wikipedia.com).  The music video for the song was released on October 12 on vevo.com and youtube.com/JustinBieberVEVO.  Here's a look:

Tell me what you think of Bieber's new song compared to his previous songs!

Top 10. It's a good start.

We'll start off this blog with the top singles of the moment.  There's no doubt that certain singers and bands make it to the top of the charts because they have crazy and obsessed fans (I'm not going to lie, I am one of them) but the songs are usually then loved by a lot of other people (most of the time).  Here are the latest chart toppers (source: iTunes):

1.  I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift
2.  Gangnam Style - PSY
3.  Skyfall - ADELE
4.  One More Night - Maroon 5
5.  Some Night - Fun.
6.  Die Young - Ke$ha
7.  We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
8.  Diamonds - Rihanna
9.  Too Close - Alex Clare
10.  Live While We're Young - One Direction

I've never been a huge country fan, but I do have to say that I do like the sound of Taylor Swift's new album.  "I Knew You Were Trouble" does not really have a country sound to it.  It sounds more like pop which probably explains why I like it.  I have been hearing a lot of people complaining about Tay's new album because it's not country,  but if the music is good, just enjoy it for what it is!

"Gangnam Style" is the perfect party song with a great beat and if you really want to know the song, learn the dance moves.  And no, I do not understand anything he is saying except for "hey sexy lady" but honestly, it's not a song you necessarily want to sing-along to, just dance along to.

"Skyfall" is the song Adele sings for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  The song definitely sounds like Adele and does in fact sound like a James Bond song.  Let's think back to "Goldfinger".  Shirley Bassey's voice was perfect for the song, and this is exactly what the new James Bond song is.  Adele fits the "James Bond" voice very well.

If you like Maroon 5, you may or may not agree that "One More Night" has a little bit of a different sound than their previous work.  Of course it still sounds like a Maroon 5 song, but the sound is a tiny bit different.

Fun.'s new song is very similar to their previous hit single, "We Are Young".  The instrumentals in the number-five song, "Some Night" sound similar and I have to say, this song is not that bad.

Ke$ha is back!  For those who love Ke$ha, you should absolutely like the new song, "Die Young" as it has the same sound as the songs from her previous two albums.  Her theme is definitely the same...party, party, party.

"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" also has the "poppy" sound that "I Knew You Were Trouble" has.  Are you getting rid of your country ties for good, Taylor?

Rihanna's "Diamonds" has more lyrics than dance breaks than her previous singles, which is why this song is not at all that bad.  I'm not saying "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" were bad songs, because they weren't, but they, to me, didn't really sound like Rihanna.  It sounds a little bit like the classic Rihanna from 2007.

To be completely honest, I do not really know who Alex Clare is.  The new song, "Too Close", for those who are unaware, is featured in the "Internet Explorer" commercial.  If you still don't know what I'm speaking about, if you are a fan of Neon Trees or Florence + The Machine, this song is for you.

And last but not least, One Direction's new song, "Live While We're Young" from their sophomore album, Take Me Home.  LWWY is just as catchy and upbeat as the British band's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful".  Whether you like 1D or not, this song is bound to get you happy and dancing.