It’s beyond me why this took so long, but Alicia Keys has announced her new single from her album, Girl On Fire, “Tears Always Win.” The song was helped put together by Jeff Bhasker and Bruno Mars. After releasing videos for “New Day” and “The Fire We Make (featuring Maxwell)” Keys keeps the momentum going with yet another release.
So far since its release Girl On Fire has only sold 669k. If Alicia plays her cards right I’m sure she can push the album to platinum status. Personally Alicia should have never dissed “New Day” for “Girl On Fire,” because “Tears Always Win” would have be a great follow up. Hopefully everything works out because Girl On Fire is an amazing album! You can listen to “Tears Always Win” below:
01. Summers’ 02. Beware Of Smiles 03. Sirens 04. Of All Kind 05. Gods 06. Lake By The Ocean 07. Hostage
With these 7 tracks, Maxwell is set to shift the R&B world's eyes back on him - four years after his last album. Summers' minimalist artwork is also revealed above.
I would be lying if I said I had high hops for R&B in 2012, but to my surprise I was proven wrong about all the doubts I had for the dying genre. R&B music made its much-needed mark in 2012. With releases from Miguel, Frank Ocean, Keyshia Cole, Brandy, and Alicia Keys all dropped albums that gave new hope to R&B fans all around the world like myself. Rather then jump ship like most R&B artist have done to try to stay relevant with Pop releases and subpar material, which most failed to chart. These artist stuck true to their roots and released quality material. It’s now 2013 and there are some very highly anticipated album dropping this year from both R&B and Hip-Hop acts. So which R&B acts are the ones to watch this year? Well, I'll gladly give you a run down.
Kicking off our list is none other than Tamar Braxton. For those unaware of who Tamar is she is the youngest sister of Toni Braxton if you didn’t put the connection together by their last names. On February 12, Braxton will be releasing her second studio album titled Love and War in over 10 years. Lead by lead single "Love and War," which debuted at number 57 on Billboard Hot 100. I expect this album to a very solid effort from her since she has a very strong roster of songwriters and producers behind her. Plus her husband is Vincent Herbert who manages Lady Gaga.
Chris Brown! Our boy Chris is now working on the follow-up to his album Fortune, which came and went on the charts. His new album is currently still titled Carpe Diem. As of right now its unclear who he is working with and who’s on it, but he has said that fans should expect to hear new music from him this year. Personally I think Brown needs to just take a nice break from the music scene. Dropping generic dance styled songs with auto-tune just isn’t cutting it anymore. Chris needs live life and allow himself to grow into the talented artist I know he can be. His album F.A.M.E. was a solid body of work and the right direction so I hope he continues to show growth from that album to this new one.
Yes, there is a God because Maxwell has confirmed his anticipated follow up to his last album Blacksummers’ night. Maxwell’s new album is titled SUMMERS’ and is set for a winter debut. Saying I'm excited about this album would be an understatement. Maxwell is a tremendously talented artist and one of the reasons why neo soul became so popular. Maxwell recently collaborated for the first time in his career with Alicia Keys on “Fire We Make” off her album Girl On Fire. With his runs, riffs, tone, and passionate singing (melts) I’m looking forward to this album.
This spring the legendary icon and vocal gymnast that is Mariah Carey will be releasing her 14th studio album. Yes, her 14th album, which is far more then most artist have today (unless your Rihanna who drops one every season of the year) and have album been certified diamond, platinum, and one gold. Last summer Mariah dropped her buzz single “Triumphant (Get‘ Em),” which featured Meek Mill and Rick Ross. In a recent interview with YouKnowIGotSoul, Bryan Michael Cox shared that along with Jermaine Dupri they have a total of 10 songs recorded with Mariah. I assume Mariah will release her 1st single once American Idol kicks off January 16th at 8pm on FOX. Get that free promo girl!
Let me just say you don’t book the Super Bowl halftime show and sign a 50 million dollar deal with Pepsi to contribute to your album budget and not have something under your sleeve. I’m convinced Beyonce has a massive 1st single on her hands because she is pulling out all the stops for her return. King Bey has enlisted Hit-Boy, Kanye West, Miguel, The-Dream, Pharrell, Ne-Yo and Ryan Tedder to contribute to her upcoming 5th studio album. Beyonce’s untitled documentary with HBO will reportedly feature footage of her recording the album, which will air February 16th. I’ll just say this now I believe Beyonce will just completely own the music scene this year. This women is about to breath life back into the game I tell you! Expect to see Beyonce’s album drop around the spring with a single set to debut before Super Bowl.
I'm back at it with my Top 5 Songs of The Week. This week is was pretty easy for me for some reason, I listened to all the songs and these 5 jumped out at me right away. So that being said lets get to the list.
I know I don't put these in any type of order but this song is my number one song of the week, and I might add it to next week's list just because it's that damn cold. Alicia and Maxwell are two of the most amazing singers of our generations and them together just furthered that belief for me.
The Boy Illinois is getting ready to release his next project 'The Memiors Of Gilbert Gaston' and he has two dope single leading up to that release in early December.
Big Boi did it again. So far from the songs that have dropped from Big Boi he has taken full advantage of the features he has. T.I. and Ludacris killed this, the beat is hard as hell, Big Boi did his things as usual, and he even added a thought provoking sample at the end. 'Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors' is going to NICE.
T.I. is a two time winner this week. It's hard to see any song with Andre 3000 on it not being in the top songs of the week, and I am not going to test that theory. T.I. spit a solid verse and 3k did something that he doesn't often do by letting us into his personal life when mentioning the apologizes to his mother, Big Boi, and "Baby Mother".
The Dream to me is real hit or miss. I really liked his first album but hated his second. This song reminds me of the music from his first album so I'm hoping this album will continue down this path and be a hit overall.
So that's this weeks list from me hope you all enjoy. Always feel free to comment with your thoughts and opinions. Til next week, two fingers to the side(that's peace to you don't get it).
For all of our UK readers if you love Alicia Keys then you’re in luck! The ever so talented Keys has recently announced her UK dates for her Girl On Fire Tour. The tour kicks off May 18th in Liverpool at the Echo Arena. See tour dates below:
May 18 – Liverpool – Echo Arena
May 19 – Newcastle – Metro Radio Arena
May 24 – Manchester – Manchester Arena
May 25 – Birmingham – NIA Arena
May 28 – Nottingham, Nottingham – Capital FM Arena
May 30 – London – O2 Arena
You should also know that Alicia’s album Girl On Fire will be released next week on the 26th. If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out her collaboration with Maxwell on ‘Fire We Made’ off the new album.
