Brandy Starts 2016 Right With New Music, "Beggin' & Pleadin'"

Yes, Brandy, this is how you celebrate the new year: With a fresh sound and an exciting surprise release!

Beggin' & Pleadin' is serving up some Deep South Blues, with a dirty guitar lick and one of the Diva's best vocals to date! The trademark runs and layered harmonies have been reigned in significantly, and her tone kept solidified and within a narrower range throughout. Some may moan that her wings have been clipped, but to me the vocal is so much more focused and effective for it. There's no distractions or busyness, just raw emotion.

Celine Dion Not So Successfully Attempts Adele's "Hello"

When people lazily throw out the word "overrated" when speaking about Adele, the easiest way I find to help them see that this isn't quite fair is to show them someone else singing her material. After all, if she was overrated, surely anyone could do what she does.

Natalie Cole Passes Away At The Age Of 65

A death is never a good thing, but to start the new year with a report of one is just awful.

January 1st 2016 marked the day that the news of Natalie Cole's passing reached me*. The Diva, who was responsible for a number of classics, such as This Will Be and Inseparable, was 65 at the time of her death from congestive heart failure.

Diva Devotee's Albums Of The Year 2015

The end of the year is here, so you know what that means! A chance to run down my top five albums of 2015! This year I'm going to keep it simple with just an image, a favourite song from each, and a few words to sum up each set. This has nothing to do with sales, chart performance or what anyone else thinks. I'm going on what I like and what I listened to most in 2015.

Definitely more so than last year, I feel this will be a difficult task! We had some good releases in 2015!

Aretha Franklin Brings Kennedy Center Honors To Their Feet With "Natural Woman" Rendition

In a year of not so great Aretha Franklin performances, this one of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, recorded at the Kennedy Center Honors comes as a redeeming closer to 2015 for the Diva.

Singing before a host of stars, including the American President, Aretha gave us a vocal that finally saw her break free from the curse that kept her channelling a forever boiling kettle and back delivering measured and musically astute performances. Sure, she wasn't scaling old heights (no sh*t, Sherlock, she's 73) but the voice was sounding mighty good.

[Open Post] Happy Holidays, 2015

Happy Holidays, people!!

Whatever you're doing, I hope you're full of good cheer and merriment. Since there won't be a post for Lord knows how long, I thought I'd give anyone around a space to talk about whatever!

[Watch] Mariah Carey Sleighs With Hallmark "Merriest Christmas" Special

Mariah Carey is clearly working on restoring that voice. Praise Saint Cecilia!

Not only has she been showing it off live at her concerts at the Beacon Theatre this month, but she also had it out in force during the taping of her Hallmark special, Merriest Christmas.