Five things I’m looking forward to at this year Grammy Awards

1.     Barbra Streisand – She will be honored this year as MusiCares person of the year for her influence in music as well as philanthropy. Stevie Wonder, Leann Rimes, Tony Bennet and the cast of Glee will be there to pay tribute to her. Plus, Babs has promised to grace us with a performance. She has been nominated for her latest number one album “Love is the answer” in “The best traditional pop album” category. A little birdie must have told her that she had already won. Knowing her, that’s the only reason (and that tribute of course) I can think of why she agreed to perform.  I think she will sing “People” and I hope she does- ;o)

2.     Aretha Franklin Tribute-  Two of my favorite singers, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson will take the stage to salute the Queen of soul. Jennifer has sung many of Aretha’s hits at many occasions before and she’s a church-going black mama so she’ll be just fine handling Sista Rie’s materials but I’m interested in how Ms Aguilera will churn out the soulful notes of old-school Rn’B tunes without messing up the lyrics. Will she fumble “P.E. R. E.C. T. S” instead of “R.E.S.P.E.C.T”??? (Sorry, Chris, But I love you! LOL)

3.     Lady GaGa-  This year belongs to The ever-fascinating GaGa. She also had monster hits with “Bad Romance”,“Telephone” and “Alejandro”. Although she won two Grammys last year, it’d be nice to see her take home major Grammys in categories like “Album of the year” and “Best Female Pop Vocal” for “Bad romance”. (The other nominees in the category are quite weak anyway). Plus it’d be interesting what and how she will perform. Her new album is out next month so for sure she will bring it!

4.     Glee Cast-  I’m sure Grammy voters will not give them this prestigious award at this early stage. They are up for (Best group vocals) and (Best compilation Soundtrack album). It nevertheless would be so nice to see them WIN and become Grammy winners!!!!!! Go Glee for World Peace!

5.      Charlie and his Grammy predictions- I’m excited to see whether these artists take home their Grammys or not as I predicted. Here they are- the nominee in red will be the winner (according to me!) but in some cases, not necessarily SHOULD win. 

Album Of The Year

The Suburbs
Arcade Fire

Recovery
Eminem

Need You Now
Lady Antebellum

The Fame Monster
Lady Gaga

Teenage Dream
Katy Perry

Record Of The Year

Nothin' On You
B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars

Love The Way You Lie
Eminem Featuring Rihanna

F*** You
Cee Lo Green

Empire State Of Mind
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Need You Now
Lady Antebellum

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Haven't Met You Yet
Michael Bublé

This Is It
Michael Jackson

Whataya Want From Me (This is my favorite and this should win)
Adam Lambert

Just The Way You Are
Bruno Mars

Half Of My Heart
John Mayer

Best Pop Vocal Album

My World 2.0
Justin Bieber

I Dreamed A Dream
Susan Boyle

The Fame Monster
Lady Gaga

Battle Studies
John Mayer

Teenage Dream
Katy Perry

Best Dance Recording

Rocket
Goldfrapp

In For The Kill
La Roux

Dance In The Dark
Lady Gaga

Only Girl (In The World)
Rihanna

Dancing On My Own
Robyn

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Crazy Love
Michael Bublé

The Greatest Love Songs Of All Time
Barry Manilow

Let It Be Me: Mathis In Nashville
Johnny Mathis

Fly Me To The Moon…The Great American Songbook: Volume V
Rod Stewart

Love Is The Answer
Barbra Streisand

Best New Artist ( I don't like any of these nominees so I really don't care)

Justin Bieber 

Drake

Florence & The Machine

Mumford & Sons

Esperanza Spalding

Janet Jackson LIVE in Jakarta (Concert Review)

Once I touched down from the flight to Jakarta from Bali, I switched on my Blackberry and franticly looked for the text from Michael. There it was and it said “I picked up your ticket.” I thought, “That’s it. It’s on and I’m going” I felt so relieved and overjoyed. This whole thing was a last minute plan and I feared I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. Since this morning I had been on the phone and online trying to get this ticket and among other things that drove me crazy, it surely was not my day but finally…..Whew!  So I immediately hopped on a cab and asked the driver to drive as fast as he could and the destination? “Plenary hall, Jakarta Convention Centre to catch Janet Jackson’s concert”. When I got there at the convention centre, the scene was hectic. Heavy traffic, motorbikes honking and cutting each other, people everywhere, some trying to re-sell the tickets with much higher prices and this long queue that seemed endless for the purpose of security check. (Look at the world we live in right now!) I nevertheless, stood in the line gleefully and patiently waited for what seemed like over an hour (I didn’t mind at all, I knew Janet was in there!!!!) 

Then I got in and saw giant posters of “Janet Jackson: Number Ones (up close and personal)”. I almost peed in my pants and couldn’t stop grinning. I joined my friend, Michael in the silver B section for which we paid 900, 000 rupiah which is over 90USD each. The highest ticket price for the night was 5 million rupiah (500USD), followed by 300USD, 150USD and ours at the bottom. (I believe that’s quite a lot for a concert but believe me the concert was 90% full. There’s so much wealth in Jakarta.) Soon after, the moment we all paid so much for had arrived: Miss Jackson came out in a futuristic metallic outfit (the entrance wasn't as spectacular as I expected) and started singing her medley of hits that included “Pleasure Principal”, “Alright”, “Nasty”, “Control”, “What have you done for me lately” and the recent “Feedback” which brought the audience (55% GLBTQ in my honest humble opinion) to their feet cheering with thunderous applause. Janet looked amazing and she performed tirelessly for this first segment of the show but as it was a medley-type performance, some of the fan favorites were cut very short and she pretty much improvised her moves and only joined the dancers during some of the dance breaks. After that she left us with a huge TV screen displaying her previous TV and film works (“Fame”, “Poetic Justice”, “Nutty Professor II”, “Why did I get married” to name a few) which went on for about 15 minutes.

By the time she came back, she was in a glittery gown exposing her beautiful big bosoms that caused a national hysteria in America during one Super Bowl event not so long ago, sitting pretty and ready to serenade us with some slow jams. She sang her classics such as “Let’s wait a while”, “Come back to me” and all of us fans responded devotedly by singing along but by the time the piano intro to my most favorite Janet song “Again” came on, I went totally nuts. Yes, I completely lost it because it reminded me of those days as a kid with MTV on and that song would play and how I would sing along on top of my lungs without even knowing what it means. And there she was singing the song live right in front of me. That was indeed “THE MOMENT”, a dream come true for me. What a great song! This Oscar-nominated number-one hit is also one of the very few songs that stretches Ms Jackson’s vocals and she did it even better live. The crowd was in tears and so was I. After that, she changed her outfit yet again and returned to what she does best, sing & dance simultaneously. The late great Aaliyah, Ciara and even Beyonce’ can only wish to do what Janet did in her prime and still is doing today to some extent. Her endless flow of energy, at the age of 44, is simply remarkable.  My friend, Michael and I danced and sang along to songs like “Doesn’t really matter”, “Miss you much”, “That’s the way love goes” (the sexiest song ever!!!!) and “All for you”. We screamed Janet and squealed like school girls. It was fun!

Later on the audience was treated to the rock-themed segment of her show in which she sang some of her classics with rock edge like “Black Cat”(my least favorite Janet song and Michael agreed with me too!), “If” (Yes, she did that crazy dance break as precise as she did 15 years ago. Love it!!!) , “Scream” the duet with her brother Michael and the iconic “Rhythm Nation” as a conclusion. Of course, the crowd went wild and asked her to come back on stage for encore.  Yes, she did with her fifth and final outfit of the show, a beautiful white outfit with shoulder pads. After she performed her latest single “Make Me” (which is quite upbeat and slowly growing on me), just as I expected she closed the show with her global number-one hit “Together Again”. The crowd’s response was amazing, the whole stadium jumping with joy and singing along the lyrics, “everywhere I go, every smile I see, I know you are there smiling back at me.”

Janet’s concert, on the whole, was spectacular. We walked out feeling satisfied. We felt that she’s such a phenomenal performer and she gave her all (although I was a bit disappointed that she did not interact with the crowd that much apart from occasional “Jakarta”, “I love you “and “How you doing”). I also did expect the production to be bigger than it was but then again, to quote Janet- “I will be as up close and personal as possible. These concerts are not about special effects. This is a love affair between me and those of you who have supported me and my work for all these years. I’ll be singing and dancing from my heart.” There were some parts she lip-synced understandably due to the high demands of dancing and singing all at once but at least not like Britney who lip-syncs in entirety. I personally am glad to have caught her on this tour knowing she doesn’t tour Asia that much and this was indeed a great opportunity for her die-hard Asian fans. We love you, Janet!

Christina Aguilera's The Star Spangled Banner 2011

Ok... First of all, I'm not an American but I always get uber-excited whenever or whoever sings the vocally-challenging national anthem, "the star-spangled banner" at sporting events especially the annual super bowl. From Aretha Franklin to Beyonce, divas of different generations have tried belting this anthem out at this prestigious event over the years but my most favorite rendition so far is still by the incomparable Whitney Houston in 1991. This year, the anthem was performed by one of my favorite singers, agreed by many as the voice of our generation, Christina Aguilera. Noted for her incredible vocal range and powerful belts, it's a surprise that the 5-times Grammy winner, who had performed this anthem numerous times at events like this (Most recently at the NBA 2010) still somehow managed to mess up the lyrics and fuck up the vocals. I mean, I have seen Christina Aguilera live, I own all her albums and I'm very impressed with the way she sings but c'mon, this is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!. Obviously her focus here is to out-sing the people who had sung this song before and to reach as many high notes as possible. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead she repeated the "What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming" line twice instead of "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?" And her vocals, especially the last "brave" note, so hoarse and completely over-sung, were so embarrassingly bad that they alone could easily make a hard-core fan like me run and hide under the covers of Gaga's bed sheets. See it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SM9vMad208&feature=related

Regine Velasquez "Fantasy" (album review)

The latest album from the Filipino diva, Regine Velasquez is a 2-Disc set called “Fantasy” featuring 12 original cuts on Disc 1 and 10 covers on Disc 2. Just like her 2008 platinum-selling effort “Low Key” (My most favorite album by Regine), “Fantasy” is heavy on the slow-tempo tracks and sweet ballads. Regine’s die-hard fans are more than satisfied as the diva spoils them with the set that includes many songs, good and “not so good”, 22 tracks in total which by today’s standard is considered a rarity. The best selling artist of all time in the Philippines, known in the region for her signature high-belted notes, tries to create big vocal moments with songs such as “What about love”, the over-dramatic “Been waiting” and Paul Davis cover “I go crazy” but she’s at her best when she sings sweet and tender in a soft whispery tone as heard on songs like “You don’t know” and “Falling in love at a coffee shop”, two of my favorites from this album. Regine, in my humble personal opinion, should drop this over-singing technique and focus more on interpreting the song’s lyrics. Less is definitely more and her ability to reach these powerful crazy notes sometimes does more damage than good to the songs. The perfect example of this here is “Papa, don’t preach” in which she unnecessarily slows down the song’s tempo and pours out constant screaming and wailing towards the end, trying way too hard to stray from the upbeat Madonna-original. The result is appalling. Yes, appalling is the word. However, not all her covers are bad, actually her covers of Eagle’s “Love will keep us alive” and America’s “Always” are quite decent and she successfully refrains herself from reaching to the top of her lungs on these numbers. There are some OPMs (original Pilipino music) as well. “Fairytale”, “Funny one” written for her husband Ogie Alcasid and “S.M.I.L.E” are all good but hearing a 41 year old woman singing  “you’re my Bieber fever, you’re my Ashton  Kutcher, I’m going Lady Ga Ga for you” on the track called “True Romance”  is, let’s face it, a bit embarrassing. “Fantasy” nevertheless will be on my iPod for the weeks to come as I’m one devoted fan.  And by the way, I love the cover art: (as you can see) Regine looks smoking hot!

"Rolling in the deep" (Adele)

I am so in love with this new song from Adele! “Rolling in the deep” is the infectious first single from her eagerly-awaited sophomore album “21” (Her debut album was called “19” and earned her two Grammys in 2009).Her unique delivery and smoking hot vocals are beautifully displayed on this track. With progressive drum beats, thumping piano, hand claps, haunting back-ground vocals, the soaring chorus and her bold lyrics expressing love, loss and anguish, she sings: Baby, I have no story to be told, 
But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn, 
Think of me in the depths of your despair, 
Make a home down there as mine sure won't be shared)
Awwww, welcome back, Adele!!!!