Review: One Republic's Waking Up

OneRepublic's brand new album 'Waking Up' is available TOMORROW (Nov 17)! You can purchase the album or tracks on iTunes at 12 midnight. I had the chance to listen to the album last week and walked away with a few favorite songs. I'll be honest and say I haven't really listen to them before. I know their singles "Apologize" since it was on Timbaland's Shock Value and "Stop And Stare". Ryan Tedder is a good songwriter and has written hits for other major artists, but I never know what to expect from OneRepublic. The sophomore slump is always something that an artist is extremely worried about, but they have nothing to worry about with this album.
You can't listen to this album only once. The first time I heard the album I walked away thinking that was an okay album. Once you listen to it again you can grab your favorite songs. Ryan Tedder's vocals are on point, he has great harmonies. I'm not a woman of many words so I can't really describe why like the songs that I do. If you need an album to put on while you clean, paint or just don't want to hear anything to fast pace or extremely slow. 'Waking Up' can be slow and mellow at times. "Lullaby" describes the song simply by its title. I highly recommend "Secrets", I love the strings in it along with the lyrics. "All the Right Moves" is another track I recommend bringing back to my point about Ryan's harmonies. One cool fact about the album is they featured the orchestra used by Batman and Edward Scissorhands composer Danny Elfman (with whom Tedder has shared ideas).

The tracklist is featured below. Don't forget to grab the album tonight at midnight on iTunes.

1. Made For You
2. All The Right Moves
3. Secrets
4. Everybody Loves Me
5. Missing Persons 1 & 2
6. Good Life
7. All This Time
8. Fear
9. Waking Up
10. Marchin On
11. Lullaby

In celebration of the release, OneRepublic will perform a live, online concert on Today, November 16th, at 5pm PST / 8pm EST. The concert will take place at the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, and visit Ustream.tv

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Critics Review Wale's Attention Deficit

Attention Deficit, the debut album from D.C. rapper Wale, pronounced Wah-Lay, is available today! Get it on iTunes or Amazon.com The debut album includes the hit "Chillin" featuring Lady Gaga and the new single "Pretty Girls" featuring Gucci Mane and Weensey of the Backyard Band. Be sure to check out "Pretty Girls" below!

"With hip-hop continuing to take a creative downturn, Attention: Deficit is a long-overdue stimulus package." - XXL (XL Rating)

"Several excellent mixtapes have won Wale a reputation as a smart lyricist in an age of dumbed-down ringtone rap. He often lives up to that promise on his major-label debut, tossing out deep thoughts and show-offy puns over beats that pay homage to the go-go of his native D.C." - Entertainment Weekly

"It's a stellar offering from a wildly gifted rapper…" - WashingtonPost.com

"With his Lil Wayne-worthy punchlines, Kanye levels of heart, and Hova-approaching fluidities of flow, Wale's not being overly presumptuous when he calls himself the 'past, present, and future of hip-hop.'" – SlantMagazine.com

Take a listen to "Pretty Girls" HERE and share your thoughts. Did you buy the album? What are your favorite songs?

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Kid Cudi's New Album Receives Great Reviews

Don't sleep on Kid Cudi's upcoming release! After a listening party in NYC a couple weeks ago he's already receiving rave reviews!

Rap-Up.com
“Cudi’s day may be coming to an end, but his role in transforming hip-hop begins now.”

ShowingOut.com
“To put it bluntly, Kanye wishes that he could have made this album, one that sounds genuine without a single forced element.”

Roc4Life.com
“It's a better version of 808s & Heartbreak.”

TheUrbanDaily.com/SnarkJacobs
“Epic, obscure, and introspective, Kid Cudi did everything he was supposed to, securing his spot as the new tortured genius.”

AllThatsFab.com
“Definitely an IPOD must!”

DrJays.com
“This is a soundtrack for the 30 and under, quarter-life crises generation, and for anyone struggling to find themselves.”

DJBooth.net
"Man on the Moon: The End of Day rises and falls with the grace and intention of an epic symphonic work"

Man On The Moon: The End Of Day - In Stores

I haven't had the chance to listen to anything yet. If you heard any of his new stuff, don't hesitate to leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Critics Review BEP's The E.N.D.

Critics reviewed Black Eyed Peas newest release, The E.N.D.

Entertainment Weekly: When the group’s glitchy future-funk beats sync up with Fergie’s unabashedly feminine melodies, as on the sweetly insidious “Meet Me Halfway,” they find pure Top 40 nirvana. B

Los Angeles Times: As always, Fergie’s performances provide the most interest throughout the album. More than the rappers Taboo and Apl.de.ap, whose spotlight turns are always competent but downplayed, or Will, who clings to an Everyman persona that belies his role as the group’s Wizard of Oz, Fergie embraces the essential cartoonishness of being a Pea. 2.5 out of 5

SPIN: With will.i.am and Fergie now White House VIPs, the Peas hone their post-millennial party anthems to an even more piquantly peppy sheen. On the single “I Gotta Feeling,” you can almost hear the corporate scrilla changing hands in time to the indelible hook. 2.5 out of 5

The Guardian (U.K.): Many of these electro-pop-rap tracks sound as though they were recorded with DJs in mind, rather than fans. Songs stop and start; Fergie’s voice, as bombastic as Mariah Carey’s, fades in and out; the male Peas drop raps apparently at random. Just don’t expect to love it immediately.
3 out of 5

Newsday: The Peas stretch a handful of times—excelling on the unifying world-beat anthem “One Tribe” and failing on “Now Generation,” the new millennium’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” which struggles with Fergie screaming, “I want it now!” like a kid jonesing for ice cream. The E.N.D. may not be great, but it will be popular. B

The Associated Press: Listening to The E.N.D., it’s clear to see the group’s break did them good: It may be the Peas’ best album yet.

Disagree with the critics? Share your thoughts on the album or a specific song.

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Billboard Reviews "Wanted" By Jessie James

Billboard.com reviewed Jessie James' debut single:

Pull out all the sex appeal from Carrie Underwood in "Before He Cheats," throw on a Pussycat Dolls beat and infuse some powerhouse Christina Aguilera vocals, and it's nearly Jessie James' "Wanted." The Nashville-based singer's first single has a forceful bang and a slight Southern twang, tapping into Pink and Kelly Clarkson territory with its slamming rock vibe. Mitch Allan (Daughtry, Faith Hill) constructed an alluring rock song with some parts country, some parts hip-hop. James crafted the track with a hot pop/rock team of songwriters: Allan, Kara DioGuardi and David Hodges; paired with her convincing vocals and swagger, she's got what it takes to make a name for herself. —Michael Menachem

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Critics Review Eminem's Relapse

Entertainment Weekly: Though a smattering of other celebrity goofs (Kim Kardashian, Sarah Palin) feel both dated and beneath him, Relapse’s real resonance comes from the fragile, harrowing genius that lies behind that painted-on grin. A-

Rolling Stone: By letting Dr. Dre take over the low-end-funk production, and rhyming about things he actually cares about, he comes up with a more painful, honest, and vital record than anyone could have expected at this late date, up there with The Eminem Show or maybe even better. 4 out of 5

Chicago Tribune: Has the pathological smart-aleck finally become a self-parody? He admits as much in “Same Song and Dance.” But the funniest and most honest moment arrives just as the album fades. It depicts Eminem (as the character Ken Kaniff) at another rehab meeting, trying out an X-rated soft-shoe routine on another audience, which quickly abandons him. 1 out of 5

Chicago Sun-Times: Mostly crafted by his old mentor and producer, Dr. Dre, the music is just as stale and predictable, full of Dre’s overrated bubblegum hooks and cheesy gothic ambience. The one exception is the Middle Eastern flavor of “Bagpipes from Baghdad,” but Eminem blows the opportunity to offer a sequel/update to the track that remains his finest moment with more throw-away lines about Mariah Carey. 1 out of 4

SPIN: Relapse is really just another overlong summer blockbuster. We sit through it, then go look at pictures of kittens on the Internet, and wait until our souls snap back into place. Eminem has made the world that crushed him a little less fun for us too. 2 out of 5

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Critics Review Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World

Keri Hilson's debut album, In A Perfect World, was reviewed let's see what critics think:

Entertainment Weekly: [Keri Hilson] gracefully emerges from behind the scenes with In a Perfect World…, a seductive debut CD full of slick, radio-friendly cuts. B+

The New York Times: The excellent “Slow Dance” sounds like a mid-1980s Prince ballad, sparkly and psychedelic, and the album’s high point, “Alienated,” is an alluring cloud-covered plea to an ex in which Ms. Hilson alternates between singing and a sort of whispered rap.

Los Angeles Times: Compared with Keyshia Cole’s and Trina’s typically fiery turns in “Get Your Money Up,” Hilson comes off like somebody Polow hired as an in-studio chaperon. She fares much better in the handful of cameo-free cuts, such as “Make Love.” 2 out of 4

Newsday: The Ciara-like ballad “Make Love” seems to go on forever, especially following the similarly too-long, too-drawn-out “Slow Dance.” Hilson clearly has a lot of potential, as she showed with her breakthrough with Timbaland. But aside from a few well-crafted moments, In a Perfect World… doesn’t come close to fulfilling it. B-

Music Addiction recommends Knock You Down and Turnin' Me On.
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Rolling Stone Reviews The-Dream's Love vs. Money

Rolling Stone magazine reviewed The-Dream's new album "Love vs. Money". The album will release TOMORROW, March 10.

But with his second CD, the man born Terius Nash leaps into another league.
These 14 songs draw on pro forma R&B subject matter: sex, sex in VIP rooms,
breakup sex, makeup sex. But the combination of classicist songcraft, wild sound
collage and a muse that partakes equally of the sensual and the silly makes Love
vs. Money far more than just an accomplished genre piece. The most obvious model
is R. Kelly, whom Dream name–checks in the swirling slow-jam "Kelly's 12 Play,"
a tale of a musically enhanced sexcapade. "Sweat It Out" is a hilarious conceit
about sex and grooming that begins with Dream cautioning, "Girl, call up Tisha,
your beautician/'Cause your hair is gon' need fixin'."

Tricky's beats
call to mind both Timbaland and Trent Reznor, filled with blasts of dissonance,
jazzlike chord changes, and background shouts and hisses that ricochet across
the stereo spectrum, and in the six–and–a–half–minute mini–epic "Fancy," a
symphonic multitracked chorale. The end result is genuinely odd: at once
avant-garde dance music and radio-friendly pop, sex farce that is genuinely
sexy. There isn't a weak song on Money; most of them are unforgettable. "Cupid
ain't got shit on me," Dream sings. In 2009, Cupid's not alone.
4 1/2 Stars

Written by Jody Rosen for RS

Music Addiction's favorite tracks are Walkin' On The Moon and Rockin' That Thang. To preview the album on imeem.

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Entertainment Weekly Reviews Fall Out Boy's Folie A Deux

Folie A Deux is out NOW!
Among the many swindles perpetuated by the music biz — payola, hidden ticket fees, Milli Vanilli — one of the biggest has been selling Fall Out Boy as emo, punk, or any other snarling, eyelinered iteration of angry-boys-with-guitars. In truth, a power-pop heart beats beneath those no-day-job tattoos, and their fourth album, Folie á Deux (which loosely translates as ''a madness shared by two''), is testament to that, even if it sometimes flags.

Folie kicks off smartly with the near-perfect radio valentine ''Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes,'' a towering guitar anthem built on wedding-march organs, thundering drums, and singer Patrick Stump's limber vocals. It's a feat quickly followed by stadium fillers ''America's Suitehearts'' and ''I Don’t Care.''

So far, so great. Alas, the band increasingly suffers from Celebrity Meta Syndrome, in which well-known artists end up singing mostly about the problems associated with...being well-known artists. Still, the band's over-the-topness serves them well; Stump makes lines like ''Why why why won't the world revolve around me?'' come off as satire rather than narcissism, and the Elton-esque ''What a Catch, Donnie,'' with its boldface backup crew — Elvis Costello and Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, among others — is perhaps the most fun legally allowed in a power ballad. (Less wow? Middling cameos by Pharrell Williams and Deborah Harry.) Passionate, splashy, and ambitious, Folie isn't flawless by any stretch, but it's no folly either. B
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Billboard Review: Maroon 5 Remix Album

Billboard reviews Maroon 5's Call & Response album featuring remixes of their original songs.

Remix albums rightfully have a bad rep. Too often they're merely contract satisfiers—easy ways to give big artists something fresh on the shelves or to separate dedicated fans from more of their dough. But "Call and Response" is everything the format could and should be. The band enlisted names big and small to get deep into its two-album catalog, and judging from the thoughtfulness of the contributions, they're all pre-existing Maroon fans. Swizz Beatz uses an uncharacteristically loose and light hand on "If I Never See Your Face Again"; Mark Ronson gets Mary J. Blige to contribute a great vocal to his funky take on "Wake Up Call"; and Pharrell Williams' "She Will Be Loved" is lo-fi and completely devoid of schmaltz or radio trickery. No one was trying to make new hits here or take their stock remix loop and carelessly plop it over an unrelated melody—they seem to just really love the songs. —Kerri Mason

Critics Review Keyshia Cole's A Different Me

Keyshia Cole’s third studio album A Different Me hits stores and digital retailers today. 

Entertainment Weekly: Fortunately, Cole still sounds plenty intense singing about finding a guy who completes her; in her experience-ravaged vocals you can hear relief, but also the knowledge that stability has a way of attracting trouble. B

The New York Times: Ms. Cole’s version of swoon is decidedly temperate. Where her voice was once assured and three-dimensional, here, although many of the songs are pleasant, Ms. Cole comes off flat. Tension is what animates her, and there’s hardly a rebuke in sight.

Boston Globe: She’s not trying to take you out with the riptide this time. “You Complete Me” is soulful and vulnerable, with a lack of mistrust and defiance. The acoustic “This Is Us” is sweet, gorgeous, and should be a smash. The ballad “Trust” with Monica has a swirl of strings that complements the two big voices.

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Critics Review Common's Universal Mind Control

Common’s eighth studio album Universal Mind Control hits stores and digital retailers on Tuesday.

Entertainment Weekly: Universal Mind Control seems to move Common backward instead of forward, which for a lyricist of his caliber is truly disappointing. C

Rolling Stone: Rap’s deep thinker wanted to make club bangers. He’s still history-minded; the title track is textbook Eighties electro. Elsewhere, he name-checks Fiona Apple (the bouncy “Make My Day,” with Cee-Lo) and dubs himself “rap’s Ziggy Stardust” (”Gladiator”). 3 out of 5

The New York Times: The Neptunes have created beats better suited to a far more enthusiastic and versatile M.C. Paging Kanye West: Please phone home, Common needs you.

SPIN: While we’re used to Common in the role of poetic prophet or self-righteous rhyme slayer, Universal Mind Control is primarily a rhythmic celebration, paying tribute to Afrika Bambaataa and Jonzun Crew jams. 3.5 out of 5

Critics Review Akon's Freedom

Akon'd third album, Freedom, hits stores and online tomorrow! Here's what the critics have to say:

Entertainment Weekly: Akon’s philosophy of liberty also includes the freedom to reuse nearly identical hooks for 13 songs straight. That approach may bring him plenty money, but it yields only a few legitimately fun tracks, buried beneath a pile of boring retreads. C-
Rolling Stone: Most of Freedom is pure melodrama about love and love lost, delivered in a hooting style over synth-swamped beats that are closer to early Peter Gabriel than to 2008 hip-hop. 3 out of 5
Boston Globe: The album seems obsessed with love and more love; a lot of it would be Oprah approved. Freedom is much different than his debut, the vexed Trouble and its follow-up, the sexier and funkier Konvicted.
The Times (U.K.): One listen to Freedom will convince you that the man is really just a soppy old romantic. The autotune vocals and 1980s aesthetic—tinny beats and digital synths—start out fresh, but, over 14 similarly produced tracks, soon get boring. 2 out of 5
The Guardian (U.K.): Despite his hip-hop roots and the presence of guest rappers such as Lil Wayne, it’s Akon’s buoyant pop sensibility that prevails.3 out of 5

Critics Review Kanye's 808s And Heartbreak

Kanye West’s new album 808s & Heartbreak hits stores and the internet today. What are the critics saying about Kanye?

The Washington Post: 808s & Heartbreak [is] an album so exquisite, so assured, it threatens to invent an entirely new strand of urban pop music. The result is the best album released this year, an information-age masterpiece about falling into the depths of loneliness while a nation of millions checks your blog for updates.

Chicago Tribune:This is not the album Kanye West fans likely expected, nor is it one they likely will embrace as eagerly as his previous multimillion-sellers. It also assumes that West’s fans care about his inner life, even though endless controversies have given them good reason to write him off. West plows ahead anyway. This one is for him. 4 out of 5

USA Today: His career has been built on pushing boundaries and expanding possibilities. This time, the Louis Vuitton Don does it by stripping away the celebrity trappings and exposing his naked emotions. 4 out of 4

Los Angeles Times: Though several tracks—the oddly peppy “Paranoid” and “Robocop,” about a monstrous ex—are danceable, 808s & Heartbreak heavily endorses the rave scene’s concept of “chill.” Its mood comes closest to the vaporous electronica of obscure artists like the Junior Boys and M83.

Chicago Sun-Times: The formula is touching and very effective at times, notably on “Say You Will,” “Welcome to Heartbreak,” “Coldest Winter” (which builds on the 1983 Tears for Fears song “Memories Fade”), “RoboCop,” and “Love Lockdown.” But a formula it is, and it wears thin and becomes slightly predictable and repetitive over the course of 12 tracks.

Boston Globe: It is by far the strangest record he’s ever made: a willfully sullen and uncompromising electro-pop album from one of hip-hop’s biggest stars. Aside from the first two singles (”Love Lockdown,” “Heartless”), much of 808ssounds like a sonic wasteland, with West’s digitized voice floating in like a tumbleweed.

The Guardian (U.K.): Predictably, the hardcore are baffled (sample Internet response: “Has Kanye gone crazy?”) but West stopped appealing to them after he toured with U2. He’s a pop star now, and, thankfully, an iconoclastic one.
4 out of 5

My Favorites: Love Lockdown, Amazing, and Paranoid

What are your favorite track?

Critics Review Beyonce - I Am...Sasha Fierce

Don't forget to pick up (or download...legally) Beyonce's I Am..Sasha Fierce album on Tuesday. Check out quick reviews on her latest work.

Entertainment Weekly: On Beyoncé, there are some lovely ballads, including ”Disappear,” with its sweet guitar-picking and delicate harmonies, and the soaring ”Halo” and ”Ave Maria” … The collection might have been better served had she edited it down to one disc, rather than belabor what ultimately seems like a marketing gimmick. B+

Rolling Stone: But the Sasha disc boasts Beyoncé’s most adventurous music yet: She rides frothy techno on “Radio,” turns out modal-sounding hooks over 808 bass on “Diva,” and juices the eerie, Nine Inch Nails-style beats of “Video Phone” with lines like “Press ‘record’ and I’ll let you film me.” 3.5 out of 5

Los Angeles Times: As a vocalist, Beyoncé seems more comfortable in Sasha’s stilettos. Her performances on those cuts feel unforced and fun, like she’s thinking on her feet. Stretching for deep meaning on the Beyoncé ballads, she risks sounding ponderous—communicating thoughtfulness weighs her down.

The Guardian (U.K.): Elsewhere, though, they’ve come up with stuff such as “Halo,” a pallid rewrite of Rihanna’s “Umbrella”—same icy synths, same drivetime rock dynamic, same repetitive chorus—which certainly raises some questions: is this any way for the queen of R&B to be carrying on? 3 out of 5

New York Magazine: The more-subdued first disc, for which B.’s less outrageous side was responsible, really isn’t bad (we like “Disappear” and “Halo,” especially), but who listens to Beyoncé for the ballads? NOBODY.

(Source:Rap-Up)

Robin Thicke's 'Something Else' Album Reviews

Robin Thicke’s third album Something Else arrives in stores and online next Tuesday. Find out what the critics are saying…

Entertainment Weekly: Yet what could come off like a bad lounge act on the lido deck is somehow elevated, both by Something Else’s buttery production and by Thicke’s own light-footed ease with the material. B+

Rolling Stone: The music is a lush, louche swirl of strings, congas and Fender Rhodes that flaunts its debts to Marvin Gaye (”You’re My Baby”), classic disco (”Something Else”), and Philly soul (”Magic”). 3 out of 5

Time Out Chicago: As transparently as possible, Thicke invokes Curtis Mayfield horn arrangements on the single “Magic,” raw Jimi Hendrix guitar on “Hard on My Love,” Sade lite-soul in the sublime “Loverman,” and the quiet desperation of Marvin Gaye’s voice on nearly every track. 6 out of 7

Source: Rap-Up

Billboard Review: Gym Class Heroes

GYM CLASS HEROES - ‘THE QUILT’

Gospel soul hoedowns, hip-pop radio nuggets, brassy ska rides, melodic narrative ballads: Just call Gym Class Heroes your Swiss Army band. United behind Travis McCoy, who rhymes like Eminem with an arts school degree, the band is reminiscent of everything but atypical of nothing. On sophomore effort "The Quilt," the act tops 2006's gold-selling "As Cruel As Children," conjuring Sublime one minute ("Blinded by the Soul"), Chris Brown the next ("Cookie Jar") and then reverently summoning Hall & Oates' Daryl Hall to contribute vocals ("Live Forever"). Everyone plays a part, including inspired guests like Estelle and Busta Rhymes, but the real star is McCoy, who's got the lyrical wit, natural showmanship and effortless mystique of a superstar. If it all seems messy, it isn't. GCH sounds like an American utopia, where everyone coexists joyfully and thrives on the diversity. Perfect for an election year. —Kerri Mason
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Miley's Billboard Review

Miley Cyrus album Breakout was released yesterday. Billboard reviewed the album:

Naming a new album "Breakout" when you've already sold 7 million career units seems like a delayed reaction. But for Miley Cyrus, the game plan was apparently "first tweens, then the world." While it's still age-appropriate for minors, "Breakout" is for the big kids too. The natural-born popster—who co-wrote all but two songs—invokes everyone from Wilson Phillips ("Bottom of the Ocean") to the B-52s ("Fly on the Wall"), with a sparkplug energy and Stevie-Nicks-by-way-of-Tennessee twang that's nothing if not adorable. Even a rocked-out cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," which could have been nullified by its obviousness, makes you OK with the fact that a generation will grow up thinking it's a Cyrus original. Relying entirely on the full-blooded, all-American guitar, there's not a single dancefloor beat on "Breakout": For once, the kids are pogo-ing, not grinding. —Kerri Mason