[Listen] Lea Michele Teams Up With Sia Furler On "Battlefields"

Is it wrong that I can't hear Lea Michele's voice without my mind immediately concocting some Glee scenario- starring her character Rachel- to accompany it? For instance, listening to new song Battlefield, I immediately pictured the Diva in the Glee music room, facing her classmates, singing it with moist eyes, gesticulating arms and planted legs, while the camera circled slowly around her (something kinda like this).  Just me then?

Anyway, Battlefields is actually sitting right with me on first listen, with its simplicity working greatly in its favor. Lea doesn't need a full on production to rouse, or elicit an emotional response from this listener - perhaps due to her clear annunciation and acting chops- so its nice to not have too much distraction going on in the track. The wailing Sia backing vocals- she wrote the track- that ghost the song, but really comes in at 3.30, were also doing good things to me.

(Mental note: must do that pesky Sia vocal profile!!)

Mariah Carey Gifts 2013 With A Medley Of Greatest Hits Before It Passes

Would you expect the first post of 2014- Happy New Year, btw- to be anything but one featuring the Diva ultimately responsible for this blog even existing! Yes, the year starts off with a Mariah Carey post! Where my lambs at!

[Free For All Friday]

Better late than never, right?

If you don't know the score, here be the rules:

• Try not to get too perverted-this site still needs to basically be "safe for work".
• If somebody starts a controversial subject, try keeping it civil when dealing with it. If things get out of hand please flag the conversation.
• It would be nice if it stuck to music, but it's not a requirement! So talk about news, current events, how you're getting your hair done next time you hit the hairdresser! Whateves, really!
• No nasty comments aimed at other users.

Inappropriate hugs to all y'all, and wishing you an awesome weekend!

[Open Post] Merry Christmas!

I am totally hotlinking that animated snow thingy from Google- watch me get shut down!! I did however make that Christmas pudding, so consider it fair game for you to pinch that, Sergey! It's good right? (Anyone wishing to shade my mad skills, please attach a drawing of a pudding, done by thine own fair hands, before proceeding!! )

Anyway, the reason for this post is OBVIOUSLY to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope you're all surrounded by loved ones and are being spoilt rotten, but it's naive of me to assume everyone is so fortunate (my own dad is working tomorrow!). Also, not everyone celebrates the holiday, so it might just be a regular ol' day for yourself.

So to anyone about, please feel free to use the comments to chat or leave messages about whatever you like. I'll try logging on at some point tomorrow to say hi- but I'm guessing I'll be very drunk. Also, I'd love for any of you passing by on the fly- who are celebrating- to let me know how badly your Christmas is going- family fights/drunken relatives/ burnt turkey, that kinda stuff ! I'm a fiend for Drama!

Inappropriate hugs to everyone!

Tamar Braxton Performs "Silent Night" @ The Queen Latifah Show

If you're familiar with the Christmas carol Silent Night, I implore you to do yourself a favour, and forget its melody before you watch the video below- maybe try hitting your head against the wall. Why? Well, Tamar Braxton's rendition, recorded for the The Queen Latifah Show, plays so fast and loose with the melody that you'd be hard pressed to have guessed what she was singing if not for the lyric.

Aside from that, the performance, backed solely by a Spanish guitar (fifty thousand million billion internet points to anyone who gets that reference), did show that Tamar's voice is defintetly on the mend; with most parts of it- aside from the low notes- sounding strong. Contrast to the lower end, she seemed to have no problems entering the head-voice, so I would have loved to have heard her explore that part of the range a bit more. Also, did anyone else think she sounded like Beyonce at around 1.05?

This was a somewhat experimental/ freestyle version of Silent night, and I can't  knock Tamar for it. After all, so many Divas have recorded versions of the classic- who could forget the "Duelling Divas" post dedicated to that fact- that the only way she wasn't going to draw comparisons to others was by trying something totally different. She did look nervous as hell doing it, though!