"Anarchy" by Neon Hitch out 7/22/16

Neon Hitch is a singer/songwriter who is fearless and can’t be boxed in. These traits show up in her music career: her sound is constantly evolving as the artist absorbs new influences and she’s made unconventional choices such as leaving a major record label for a fan sponsored label called We R Neon. Hitch tried to follow the “normal” path for an artist: she got signed by Warner Bros. Records and put out the single ‘Get Over U’ in February of 2011. When nearly four years passed since the artist had been signed and still no full album was released, Hitch took back her freedom and became an independent artist.

It’s tough to say who is more excited for the release of the artist’s first full-length project – Neon or her fans. It looks like third time’s charm after attempts to release albums entitled “Beg Borrow and Steal” and “Eleutheromaniac” were unsuccessful. The latter of the two albums was intended to reach fans in the Fall of 2015, but circumstances out of Hitch’s control prevented that from becoming a reality. Five and a half years of hard work have passed since the artist’s first song release. Finally, the finish line is in sight and on July 22^nd Hitch will release her debut full-length project, “Anarchy.”

The lead single off the album, ‘Please’, will be out July 8^th and will be featured on an episode of WEtv’s Million Dollar Matchmaker. People magazine reports that Hitch will join Farrah Abraham and ‘Human Ken Doll’ Justin Jedlica on the reality show, where matchmaker Patti Stanger will help them to find love. A link to the write-up on the show will be included at the end of this post.

“Anarchy” will contain 13 tracks, including ‘Freedom’ as a bonus track. Hitch’s team reports that the album will be made up of new material because the singer’s sound has evolved so songs intended for “Eleutheromaniac” don’t fit the album. Artists featured on the LP are Collie Buddz, Liam Horne, and Calix.



Thanks for reading. Let me know if you're excited for "Anarchy" and the title of your favorite Neon Hitch song.

https://www.facebook.com/NeonHitchMusic/

http://www.people.com/article/million-dollar-matchmaker-patti-stanger-hardest-cases

Sam Smith Makes History

On February 8th, the date of the 2015 Grammy Awards Ceremony Sam Smith made history for being the first openly gay winner of the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. The singer went home with three additional awards: Best New Artist, Song of The Year (which is awarded to the songwriters), and Record of The Year (which is awarded to the singer, producer, engineer, and mixer). Song and Record of the Year were both for ‘Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)’.

What makes Smith’s Pop Vocal Album win more impressive are the facts that it’s his debut and that the singer co-wrote every song on the album. In an interview with Digital Spy he described the album as being “a diary from a lonely 21-year-old.” As for what inspired the album Smith said, “I fell in love with someone who didn’t love me back, and it made me get into this head space of, ‘Will I ever find a man to love? When will I find love?”

GQ learned Smith’s goal when making the album. “I wanted my first album to appeal to absolutely everybody, which was why I was scared in the beginning about speaking about my sexuality. I was so scared that a few stupid people weren’t going to pick up my record just because I was gay.” With all the success of the album, it looks like he feels more comfortable to speak on his personal life because when accepting the award he said, “I would like to thank the man that this album is about. By breaking my heart, you won me four Grammys.”

All in all it was a momentous occasion for the LGBTQA community; we saw one of our own win a coveted award for his work and the same man acknowledged his sexuality by thanking his muse on national television. Congratulations to Sam Smith – we look forward to hearing from you in the future.


Thanks for reading and feel free to leave me a comment on what you're listening to. The links for the articles I referenced are down below. The picture is from the official Grammys website; there's a link below that will take you to more pictures of Sam Smith. Thanks again for reading, have a good one!

http://www.grammy.com/artist/sam-smith/photos

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/music/201502/sam-smith-new-rat-pack

http://www.digitalspy.com/music/interviews/a573024/sam-smith-interview-im-saying-st-other-artists-would-veer-away-from.html#~p7ks5xrj6paQrg

Don't Look Down by Skylar Grey out July 9th

Just a heads up: this artist has songs that are explicit so listen with caution.

You may recognize the name Skylar Grey from her many hip hop collaborations: ‘Words I Never Said’ by Lupe Fiasco, ‘I Need A Doctor’by Dr. Dre and Eminem, and ‘Coming Home’ by Diddy Dirty Money. Her biggest success so far has been writing the lyrics to Rihanna’s ‘Love The Way You Lie’, but she’s also a singer in her own right.

Music has always been a big part of Skylar Grey’s life. When she was a kid she sang folk songs with her mom. As she got older she learned to play the piano and write songs. She released one album, “Like Blood Like Honey”, under the name Holly Brook (her given first name and middle name) that was mainly soft, piano driven singer/songwriter music. She was also featured on the song “Where’d You Go” by Fort Minor (the hip hop side project of Link Park member Mike Shinoda).

Unfortunately, her record label was hoping for higher album sales so she was dropped from her record deal. Broke and disillusioned with the music industry, the singer went off to live in a cabin in the woods. Out in the wilderness it is every man or woman for themselves. The singer felt very empowered by being able to do everything for herself; she felt like a new person, which is why she decided to change her name to Skylar Grey.

Grey never stopped writing music when she was in the woods – her cabin in the woods is actually where she wrote the smash song ‘Love The Way You Lie’. After coming out of the seclusion, Grey took her do it yourself attitude with her when she embarked on taking another stab at a career as a solo artist. She says that nobody is going to work as hard for you as you are and she likes to produce her own vocals so she can get them just right.

At first, Grey’s new album was going to be mainly a collaboration between herself and producer Alex Da Kid, who produced ‘Love The Way You Lie’, and was to be titled “Invinsible”. The story behind the album title is that Grey was talking with shock rocker Marilyn Manson about not knowing what to name the album; they discussed the second single ‘Invisible’ and how the album was to be a story of how the singer grew to be who she is now and learned to stop being invisible. Manson suggested that the album title be invincible but spell with an “s” instead of a “c” as a way of combining the words “invisible” and “invincible”. Unfortunately, Grey felt rushed and pressured because of the buzz brought about by ‘Love The Way You Lie’ and her hip hop collaborations; the singer decided to push back the release of her album so that she could take her time crafting the songs. After putting more work into the album and getting rapper Eminem involved in helping produce the album, Grey decided to scrap “Invinsible” and announced that her album would be called “Don’t Look Down”.

‘C’mon Let Me Ride ft Eminem’ is the first single off “Don’t Look Down”; it’s a very cheeky song that shows Skylar’s sarcastic side. The sexual single cover and lyrics put off many fans because they feared that Grey had sold out; it isn’t until the bridge that the singer reveals “I’m just f**king with you… I’m not like the other girls in this town. They make me *retches* in my mouth.”

If ‘C’mon Let Me Ride’ isn’t really your thing then don’t sweat it. Grey and her team know that she has many different sides to her personality so they’ve chosen different singles to release before the album so that you can get a feel for what you’re in for with the full album. The second single is entitled ‘Final Warning’ and its lyrics are inspired by the same tumultuous relationship that lead to her penning ‘Love The Way You Lie”. In the song, Grey is sick of the troubled relationship; she sings “Someone’s gonna get hurt. And it’s not gonna be me.”

The third single, ‘Wear Me Out’, is piano driven and is similar to the music she made under the moniker ‘Holly Brook’ but the addition of the hard hip hop drums distinguishes ‘Wear Me Out’ from the singer’s material as Brook. The lyrics are beautiful and clever but I don’t want to spoil any of them so you’ll have to listen to the song to hear them.

The fourth single “White Suburban” was released on July 2nd. It will be the last song on the album because it is piano driven and has no drums; Grey thought it would be best for last so that the songs flowed together more naturally and also so the song can let you down slowly. As for the lyrics in the song, they take you along for the ride as Grey reminisces about the past; “I knew you before. Took a lifetime to forget. As my eyes meet yours I take all I can get.”

Now that you have a pretty good idea of what Skylar Grey is all about, you should pick up her album “Don’t Look Down”, which will be released on July 9^th. If you’re interested in a deluxe version of the album, Target has 2 exclusive bonus tracks on their version of the album. The bonus tracks are entitled ‘Weirdo’ and ‘Beautiful Nightmare’.

Let me know what you think of Skylar Grey – what is your favorite song that she’s released? Also feel free to let me know which albums you’re looking forward to hearing in the coming months. Thanks for reading and, as always, comment responsibly.

Take care,

Nico Black

Skylar Grey’s website: http://www.skylargreymusic.com/tour/

Skylar Grey’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkylarGrey

Skylar Grey’s Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkylarGreyVEVO

Between by Frankmusik Out June 8th

Frankmusik (born Vincent Frank) is an Electronic Pop singer/songwriter/producer who is originally from Britain. The musician names Erasure as a musical influence – and he even got the privilege of touring with the band as well as producing “Tomorrow’s World”, which was released in 2011. What makes this musician special is his dedication to his craft and his willingness to give music away for free; Frankmusik is constantly working on new material so he has an abundance of songs to choose from when making an album – and rather than locking those songs away in a metaphoric vault, he puts them up online for his devoted fans to listen to. Frankmusik has two albums under his belt and is set to release his third effort, “Between”, on June 8^th. “Between” will be the musician’s first full-length album as an independent artist.

Frankmusik’s first and second albums were released through Island Records. His first album, “Complete Me”, was created in his native UK and was released in August of 2009. Frankmusik released three singles from “Complete Me”: ‘3 Little Words’, ‘Better Off As Two’, and ‘Confusion Girl’. In December of the same year, an acoustic version of the album was released with the name “Completely Me”.

Before the creation of his second album, Frankmusik moved to Los Angeles, California. Upon moving to the States, Frankmusik also got signed to Cherrytree Records. When asked about the move, the musician said that he wanted to take risks and have new experiences so that he could create a work that is different from his first album. The resulting album, “Do It In The AM”, was co-produced by the founder of Cherrytree Records, Martin Kierszenbaum (aka Cherry Cherry Boom Boom), and features label-mates Natalia Kills, Colette Carr, and Far East Movement. Because of this partnership and the influence that American music and culture had on the musician, the resulting album had more of a Pop sound to it; this lead to fans of “Complete Me” to cry foul and claim that the musician had ‘sold out’. On September 26^th 2011, three days after the release of “Do It In The AM”, there was an announcement that 13 songs which didn’t make the cut for the album had been compiled into “The Voyage Collection”. Anyone who had purchased a copy of “Do It In The AM” could download the songs from the official Frankmusik website. Unfortunately, these downloads are no longer available due to Frankmusik and Island Records parting ways.

In January of 2012, the musician changed his stage name to Vincent Did It. One EP, “The SOPA Opera EP”, was released (for free) under this moniker before he went back to being known as Frankmusik. Prior to the conception and release of his third album, Frankmusik released a free six song EP on his website, which is entitled the “Far From Over EP”. “Between” was originally supposed to be released in April, but there was more work to be done on the album so the release date was pushed back. Later, Frankmusik shared with fans that the music video for the album’s lead single, ‘Chasing Shadows’, would hit the Internet on May 9^th. In an update on the creation of the music video, the musician shard that because he is an independent musician, he didn’t have the funds to make an elaborate video – or even get the proper permits to receive permission to shoot a video on the property that he wanted to shoot on. In this behind the scenes video, the musician also explains that he and the video crew were kicked off of the property – but luckily not before they captured some good footage.

 

Frankmusik’s third album, “Between” will be released on June 8^th worldwide via iTunes. It will consist of 12 songs including ‘How Do We Know’, a duet with singer Cara Salimando. Cara Salimando will also be performing the duet with Frankmusik at the album launch parties on June 8^th at Pianos in New York, NY. On May 25^th, Frankmusik embarked on a twenty-four date US headlining tour known as the “Between States” tour. As an independent artist, the musician doesn’t have much money to be touring the country so he is camping out between tour dates. That’s dedication right there. Three days ago, Frankmusik began a tour diary via his official Facebook page so that fans could be up to date on what goes on between shows.

Check out ‘Chasing Shadows’ and after June 8^th, check out “Between” as well. Let me know what you think about Frankmusik. What are you favorite songs that he’s released? Also feel free to let me know which albums you’re looking forward to hearing in the coming months. Thank you for reading and comment responsibly.

Take care,

Nico Black

Frankmusik’s website: http://www.frankmusik.com/

Frankmusik’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankmusik

Frankmusik’s Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FRANKMUSIKUK?feature=watch

Frankmusik’s Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/frankmusik

“Between” track listing: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151581792182777&set=a.10150129344187777.289670.33761052776&type=1&relevant_count=1

(Click ‘Open Photo Viewer’ for a bigger picture)

“Between States” Tour: https://www.facebook.com/frankmusik/app_123966167614127

  

Cara Salimando’s Youtube channels: http://www.youtube.com/user/carasalimando  & http://www.youtube.com/user/CaraSalimandoVEVO

Demi by Demi Lovato Out May 14th

On May 14^th, Demi Lovato will release her 4^th studio album “Demi”. The album title reflects the more personal nature of this collection of songs. “Demi” is the follow up to “Unbroken”, which was the singer’s first release after entering rehab for self-harm and an eating disorder. “Unbroken” was a bit more adult than her previous albums – most notably on the track ‘For The Love Of A Daughter’, which is about her estranged father. The album also had more soulful R&B influences (such as ‘Like A Star’) and included a collaboration with Timbaland and Missy Elliott (‘All Night Long’).

“Demi” was recorded when Lovato wasn’t busy judging/mentoring on the X Factor US. You could say that even when recording music, Lovato is a mentor – the singer has continued being candid about her personal struggles and hopes that by being honest about them, she can encourage her fans to talk about their own problems and be inspired by her story. This is a continued theme from "Unbroken" whose lead single, 'Skyscraper', was about standing tall even when everything is a mess. 

The lead single, ‘Heart Attack’, is about being afraid to fall in love due to past heartbreak. The song utilizes both acoustic guitar and electronic sounds and effects. The music video for ‘Heart Attack’ features the singer covered from fingertips to elbows in black paint. In a behind the scenes video about the making of the music video, the singer explained that the black paint is symbolic of the pain left over from having your heart broken.

To get her fans (known as Lovatics) excited about the release of her new album, Lovato employed a Twitter campaign in which fans would tweet a hash tag on her official site to unlock songs so they can listen to them before May 14^th. At the time of posting this article, all of the songs off the album are available for streaming on Lovato’s website so go check them out! You can also visit her Youtube channel if you prefer to listen to the songs that way.

Let me know what you think about Demi by Demi Lovato. What is your favorite song off the album? What albums are you looking forward to hearing in the coming months? Thank you for reading. I hope you discovered some new music or new facts about musicians you already know and love. I hope you are all having a good week. Take care!

Comment responsibly,

Nico Black

Demi Lovato’s website:

http://www.lovaticsspeeduptime.com/

(going to demilovato.com will redirect you to the above site)

Demi Lovato’s Youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DemiLovatoVEVO

Nocturnes by Little Boots Out May 5th

           Little Boots is the stage name of British Electronic/Pop artist Victoria Hesketh. Her debut album “Hands” was released in 2009; for “Hands”, Little Boots worked with songwriter/producer Greg Kurstin on a number of tracks as well as Lady Gaga collaborator, RedOne, on the track entitled ‘Remedy’. Some of Kurstin’s work includes songs for P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, Lily Allen, Marina And The Diamonds, and many more singers.

            “Hands” spawned the singles ‘New In Town’, ‘Remedy’, and ‘Earthquake’. ‘New In Town’ is a feel good song that contains the lyrics, “I don’t have a lot of money but we’ll be fine. No, I don’t have a penny, but I’ll show you a real good time.” The party continues with ‘Remedy’ as the singer dances to the music that is the cure for your poison. ‘Earthquake’ is a bit of a departure from the party and is about the unraveling of a relationship. I love the irony that if you didn’t pay attention to the lyrics you would think that ‘Earthquake’ is a happy upbeat song.

            After soul searching via DJ gigs and working in the studio, Little Boots created a sound that she says is a better representation of the person she has become. The new album has a bit more of a Disco sound than a Dance/Pop sound but it is still very catchy and it still sounds like Little Boots.

            Preceding the album or even the announcement of the release date and album title, the singer released the songs ‘Shake’, ‘Every Night I Say A Prayer’, and ‘Headphones’. With the releases of ‘Shake’ and ‘Every Night I Say A Prayer’, Little Boots released mixtapes featuring the songs – “Shake Until Your Heart Breaks” and “Into The Future” respectively. You can listen to and download these mixtapes on the singer’s Soundcloud page. Out of the three songs, ‘Every Night I Say a Prayer’ has the most Disco influence in its sound. Because of this and the fact that ‘Shake’ has a long musical intro before the first verse, ‘Headphones’ is the most accessible and instantly likeable of the three songs. The music video for ‘Headphones’ is simple, but very fun and it shows that you don’t need crazy sets or special effects to make a good music video. It’s definitely worth a watch because it makes me smile.

            On May 5^th, Little Boots will release her second album, which she has entitled “Nocturnes” because of the important role that the night plays in this group of songs. The album will have ten songs, the first of which, ‘Motorway’, is available as a free download on the singer’s official website. Listeners also have the chance to listen to or purchase the next single, ‘Broken Record’, before the release of “Nocturnes”. Upon viewing the track listing for the album, you may notice that ‘Headphones’ is absent. I’m not sure what the reason was for leaving the song off the album, but what I do know is that we live in the digital age so luckily we can still buy the song.

            I hope that I’ve gotten another person excited for the release of “Nocturnes” on May 5^th – if I haven’t then I hope I’ve at least introduced you to a song that you like. At the bottom of the page are links to the Little Boots sites that I mentioned above – her official site, her Soundcloud account, as well as her Youtube account. Let me know what you think about the music of Little Boots and let me know if there are any albums that you can’t wait to get your hands on this year.

Take care,

Nico Black

Little Boots’ Official site:

http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk/

Little Boots’ Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/littleboots

Little Boots’ Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/littlebootsvideos

2013 Music Preview: Updated

Sorry folks. I took a bit of a break from reality and therefore I did not blog about the albums that I said I would blog about. In the meantime, they have been released so it’d be a bit silly for me to go on ahead and write about why I’m excited to hear them because I already have heard them.

Because of this, I have decided to add more albums to my list to make up for my absence. Below, I have crossed out the albums that have already been released and I have added albums to my list and have typed them in bold font so it is easy to tell which albums are being added.

Here is my updated list of albums that I am looking forward to hearing in the coming year:

Utopia EP by Kerli (March 19)

Paramore by Paramore (April 9)

Saving Rock And Roll by Fall Out Boy (April 15)

Nocturnes by Little Boots (May 5)

Demi by Demi Lovato (May 14)

Don’t Look Down by Skylar Grey (July 9)

Portrait of A Chameleon by Blake Lewis (Spring)

Trouble by Natalia Kills

TBA by Bridget Kelly

The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae

Between by Frankmusik

TBA by The Pretty Reckless

TBA by Aria Grande

            Again, I am very sorry that I’ve fallen behind yet again in my blogging. One day I hope to become more consistent; until then, don’t hold your breath for a blog post and bear with me as best as you can. Thank you to anyone who has read any of these posts so far – I appreciate you more than you know. As always, feel free to let me know what you think about the artists I post about and feel free to give me suggestions of music to listen to. Thanks again.

 Comment responsibly,

Nico Black