Adele

This British singer has got so much soul and power in her voice and she's only 22 years old. I first heard Adele when I saw the video for "Chasing Pavements" playing on a tv in the dining hall at my school.  The style of the video was so interesting, and about a week later I had to buy the cd. 

Adele broke onto the music scene with her debut album 19 in 2008.  The lead single "Hometown Glory" could be heard on shows such as So You Think You Can Dance, The Hills, One Tree Hill, and Grey's Anatomy.  The second  single, "Chasing Pavements", eventually won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was also nominated for Record of the Year, as well as Song of the Year.  The third single, "Cold Shoulder" is my favorite song on 19, and it was no surprise to me when I learned that it was produced by Mark Ronson (my first blog post).


Adele gained major popularity after she had the opportunity to be a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in the same episode that Sarah Palin made an appearance.  The SNL episode had it's highest ratings in 14 years. Now that's exposure.  The day after the her SNL performance 19 hit the #1 spot on iTunes and into the top 5 on Amazon.com. Adele began touring shortly after the airing of the SNL episode to promote her album here in the States.  During that time she relaunched MTV unplugged and performed a 6 song acoustic set on the show.   She also recorded "Water and a Flame", a duet with Australian singer songwriter Daniel Merriweather on his debut album Love & War (another one of my favorite albums of 2010).


Adele's sophomore album, 21, is slated for release on January 24th in the UK and February 22nd in the States. It's going to to be a very different sound from her first album.  It's got more of a "country, contemporary roots" feel this time around.

From a SPIN.com article:

Adele adds that the country-flavored vibe of the new record was borne out of genuine love for the genre. She was introduced to contemporary Nashville music specifically from her bus driver while on tour in the South. "He listened to all this amazing country music and we'd rock out late at night, chain smoking and listening to Rascall Flatts," says Adele. "It was really exciting for me because I never grew up around [that music]."

The lead single for 21 is "Rolling in the Deep".  It's a gritty, gospel-esque middle finger to a former lover.  "Finally, I can see you crystal clear.  Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare.  See how I leave, with every piece of you.  Don't underestimate the things that I will do..."


I'm very interested to hear what the rest of the album sounds like and if it's all like "Rolling in the Deep" then I know I will love it all.
Make sure you check out the video for "Rolling in the Deep" below

21 track listing:
1. Rolling In The Deep
2. Rumour Has It
3. Turning Tables
4. Don't You Remember
5. Set Fire To The Rain
6. He Won't Go
7. Take It All
8. I'll Be Waiting
9. One And Only
10. Lovesong
11. Someone Like You


Adele's official website
MTV Uplugged article
Newsday.com article
The Independent article

SPIN.com article

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.

In 2001 saw a music video for a funky little tune called "Like a Feather"  Instantly, I was hooked and ever since then I’ve been a huge fan of Nikka Costa.  Normally when you listen to a song, you don’t really pay attention to who’s doing the leg work, who’s in the band?  Who is the producer? 

This particular producer/DJ, Mark Ronson has been a huge part of popular and critically acclaimed music since the early part of the decade. Since breaking onto the scene with Costa’s “Like a Feather”, Mark Ronson has kept very busy producing and mixing several albums that you may know including:

Sean Paul- Dutty Rock

Macy Gray-The Trouble with Being Myself

Ol’ Dirty Bastard- Osirus

Lily Allen- Alright Still

Rhymefest- Blue Collar

Christina Aguilera- Back to Basics

Amy Winehouse- Back to Black

Wale-  Attention Deficit

Adele- 19

Estelle- Shine

Nas- Untitled

Solange Knowles- Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams

Daniel Merriweather- Love & War

Mark Ronson wrote all the songs for his first album in 2003, Here Comes The Fuzz. 

It was an eclectic album with guest artists such as, Nikka Costa, Sean Paul, Daniel Merriweather, Mos Def, Nappy Roots, and Nate Dogg.

In 2007 Ronson released his second album, Version, which was full of cover songs.  He put a big band style sound on songs like “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” by Coldplay, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” By The Smiths, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, and “Just” by Radiohead.  It was an album I constantly listened to on repeat when I first got my hands on it. 

So needless to say, I am ridiculously excited for Ronson’s latest project: Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.  The album Record Collection is due October 5th here in the states (September 27th in the UK).  The first single “Bang Bang Bang” featuring Q-Tip and MNDR was released in early July and a music video came along a few weeks later. The video is a throwback to a 70’s style Japanese talk show with Tron like effects. Check it out here!