My New Year’s Music Resolutions!

2014 is merely over and in a few hours a new year will begin, so it’s high time that…

…I set some music-related resolutions for 2015!

New Year’s resolutions get a bad rap! I’ve been doing some reading up on them and people are saying that only 8% of those goals are actually kept!

Well I’m confident that I can keep my resolutions as long as I do a little journaling & accountability along with it throughout the year, because there are things I’ll legitimately want to do and make them newfound habits 😀

What about new year’s resolutions that directly affect my music life?! Let’s make some shall we?

1. Listen to more music

Now this is a funny resolution I’ll admit, but I honestly am a chronic listener to albums I’ve discovered that I love and playlists I make of favorite songs. I’d like listen to at least 1 new album from every New Music Tuesday and at least write 1 album review per month!

#MoreMusic

2. Stay up on the local music scene

I know of local artists and bands of course because Nashville is packed full of them 😀 but what about reading up on the local artists/bands and popping in on local shows as often as I can? What I love the most about Nashville is the intimate shows that we have every night of the week! Small venues, spectacular songwriters, and stellar music! I’m talking about visiting open mic nights at the Blue Bird Cafe and taking a look at the music right in my backyard, so to speak.

#SupportLocalMusic

3. Use Twitter to stay connected

I honestly never had a Twitter before starting Music Row Girl when I did on January 24th. Well I guess I do technically have a personal Twitter, but I never knew what the heck to do with it! HAHA Twitter is such a valuable source for connecting with artists/bands and staying a part of the conversation. It’s a powerful tool and I want to use it way more in 2015!

Amen to that!

These are the main music goals that I’ve been thinking about for the past few months and I think they’re absolutely doable! I’m proud to be a part of the music industry and listening to more new music, connecting more with the locals, and engaging in conversation with fellow music freaks on Twitter is the way of the future for MRG!

In closing, I must tell you that in the first year of my blog (which began on 1/24/14) I’m closing in on just over 171,000 total views! I love to write and this has been such a rewarding experience for me to write about something I love so much: MUSIC.

Thank you to every single person who has read my posts & supported me and to all the Discover artists/bands I’ve worked with so far. I’m looking forward to expanding my coverage of Discover blog posts in 2015 and I’ll be emailing you all about that soon!

Happy New Year everyone and may 2015 be the best year ever for all of us!

Glee prepares for their 6th & Final season!

I’m so shocked and surprised to hear that Glee is coming to a close…

…in 2015 with their last season ever!

I have to admit that I’ve been out of the loop on Glee ever since I moved to Nashville and have been almost 100% TV free due to studying really hard at college and now ridding myself of my cable bill, however…

I must say that Glee is one of the best TV shows there ever was! I’m a fan of music as you well know, but I’m also a huge musical theater fan. I grew up watching “Hello Dolly”, “My Fair Lady”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, and I fell in love with the acting/singing combination! The drama made it way too interesting for me to look away! 😀

Barbra Streisand is more fabulous than Beyoncé. End. Of. Story.

Glee brings together the best of both worlds: musical theater + choreography + Pop music. By using songs that everybody knows and by singing them when those songs were on the rise to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Glee created an empire and this will be their 6th and final season.

I’m personally a bigger fan of Glee when they had the cast that didn’t graduate high school yet! HAHA I’m talking specifically about Lea Michele, Cory Monteith (may he rest in peace), Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, Dianna Agron, Mark Salling, and Kevin McHale. The true blue cast should have never graduated! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Graduating high school is not okay when you’re all rockstars!

They’ve had some great cover songs coming down the pike all along and I’m sad to see it go! It had a wonderful run on Fox and I’m proud of it! 🙂

The sixth season of Glee will begin on Tuesday, January 9th and I’m so excited for the show to have a final hoorah for their throngs of loyal fans!

Take a look at the first full performance from Season 6: http://youtu.be/V6Ke0pp93R8

It’s a really cool performance of Ed Sheeran’s hit song “Sing”!

There have been SO many amazing songs on Glee and I really want to share one of my favorites with you. When I think of what to share it’s pretty hard to choose, but I’m a sucker for Santana and her performance of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” has my heart!

Check out Santana singing “Smooth Criminal” with Sebastian & 2Cellos:

#SmoothCriminal

There’s always “Landslide”, “Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Don’t Rain On My Parade”, and so many classics I couldn’t live without!

Congratulations Glee on your final season! Break a leg!!!

Kiss will perform ‘Alive!’ album on 2015 Kiss Kruise!

Kiss is one of the most legendary rock bands of all-time and I’m pleased to say…

…that they will be performing the ‘Alive!’ album on their cruise!

As if Kiss wasn’t awesome enough already, they just one up-ed themselves by announcing to fans that they will be performing the classic 1975 album “Alive!” in its entirety for their Kiss superfans AKA Kiss Navy!

Let me just stop and say how amazing it is that Kiss has cruises and that they stylize them as ‘kruises’! I say “them” because this will be the FIFTH Kiss Kruise! 😀

#KissKruiseV

According to to the statement on Kiss’ Kruise website: “What better way to celebrate the rise of these rock legends than to watch Kiss perform the very live album that launched them into greatness 40 years ago?”

I suppose there is no better way to kelebrate! Okay so every ‘c’ turns into a ‘k’ for me now, even when the pronunciations don’t make any sense HAHA

Just so the Kiss Army is aware, the “Alive!” album will be performed in the Kiss Kruise V indoor show, although I’m sure you’ll see that on your color coated schedules or on what I’m sure is a mobile app for kruise passengers.

Kiss Kruise V will sail from Miami to Jamaica on the Norwegian Pearl and will go from October 30–November 3, 2015!

I really wouldn’t mind going on this kruise! I know that makes me sound crazy, but I can’t even explain my fascination with Kiss! Just know that it’s there and that I’m a huge Gene Simmons fan. I didn’t go see them when they were here in Nashville but I did go check out the hardcore fans in front of Bridgestone Arena with my mom! 😀

The tickets would have cost us an arm & a leg!

Let’s take a peak at the Kiss Kruise from this year:

#KissKruiseIV

I want to make sure I tweet the people on the kruise and I hope that their phones work HAHA I need to be included in the fun 🙂

Congratulations Kiss on yet another kruise & cheers to an even bigger year in 2015!

Discover: Nicole Scherzinger

Have you ever had something inside you that you can’t keep to yourself?

Well I don’t have any strength left in me to not tell you about Nicole Scherzinger!

Now granted I did write about her once as I can recall in a blog post months ago about her engagement to Formula One race car driver Lewis Hamilton, but did I really go that in-depth? Nah! I haven’t even scratched the surface yet!

Some of you are probably thinking: “I know who Nicole is!” and the others are like “Nicole who?!” So I’m talking to the “Nicole who’s” today! This is for you!

After much excitement today when I woke up and scrolled through my Facebook newsfeed only to see that Nicole’s brand new album was ready for me to purchase…I was influenced to write about her today as my final discover artist of 2014!

Nicole is a veteran in the pop music world. She splashed on the scene in 2001 with the girl group Eden’s Crush and even more famously with one of the best girl groups of all-time: The Pussycat Dolls back in 2005!

Eden’s Crush & The Pussycat Dolls

And what a lot of people don’t know is that in the downtime between the major girl groups, Nicole was considered by will.i.am. to be the Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas! That really blows my mind and I’m actually happier with Fergie in the Peas and Nicole solo 😀

Good decision, Mr. i.am.

After an explosive run of female empowerment through pop music, The Pussycat Dolls called it quits before 2010 had really gotten underway. Nobody really ever knew the official reason for their disbandment, but I remember Nicole saying that she was betrayed by the member in the group that she was the closest to (which I presumed was songstress Melody Thornton) and that was it for her as far as the Dolls were concerned. It was sad to see them go, but I’m happy that Nicole has kept on singing, dancing, and performing her heart out!

Let’s take a walk down memory lane with “Don’t Cha”:

#DontCha

Nicole was the shining star of The Pussycat Dolls and she got a lot of praise in the music industry for her incredible voice! I thought the road to a solo career would be smooth for her, but it was actually not smooth at all…

Scherzy’s first shot at a solo album between The Pussycat Dolls’ albums in 2007, but her first solo album was never officially released! “Her Name is Nicole” was the title of the album and if anyone has a copy of it, please email me and I’ll tell you where to mail it to! HAHA They tested 5 singles off the album in the US market and the single that did the most was “Baby Love” featuring will.i.am. I’m really sad that the label held it forever and hopefully whenever I meet Nicole someday she can give me a copy for my own personal enjoyment 🙂

WANTED: Missing album!

In some pretty cool news, 2010 was not such a bad year for Nicole after The Pussycat Dolls ended because she won season 10 of Dancing with the Stars! She’s a professional dancer so as much as it isn’t exactly fair…she still deserved to win!

This oughta be enough to prove to you why she won:

#Tango

Nicole was also a judge on the US version of the X Factor with Simon Cowell! That was interesting to see her on a judging panel and she blew Simon away with her voice just like I knew she would 🙂

After the mess of “Her Name is Nicole” and the deep depression I slipped into from not getting a copy, I made sure to import her solo album “Killer Love” as soon as it was released in November 2011!

#KillerLove

I thought the album was brilliant and the standout for me was “AmenJena”:

AmenJena = Perfect Paradise

That song is so beautiful that it can even make a stonewall person like me cry like a baby! HAHA I swear it’s just one of the best ballads I’ve ever heard!

So in today’s news, Nicole is back with another solo album called “Big Fat Lie” that was just released in the UK on iTunes, but not yet in the US! Being a Nicole album importer, I went ahead and found a loophole and purchased it on her official merchandise store, downloaded each mp3 individually, and opened them in iTunes! HAHA I just had to have it!!!

#BigFatLie

If you live in the UK, get the album here: itunes.apple.com/album/big-fat-lie

If you don’t, go to Nicole’s official store: myplaydirect.com/nicole-scherzinger

To everyone’s surprise, I LOVE THE NEW ALBUM! 😀 I’ve been listening to it intently this entire time. I’ve gotta say that the standout song for me is “Heartbreaker” and if you haven’t heard her ballad “Run” or seen her video for “On The Rocks”…you’re missin’ out!

Take a listen to “Heartbreaker” here and bob your head with me…

#Heartbreaker

Nicole is still engaged to her hunky race car driver Lewis Hamilton who just won the F1 Championship this month! I’m glad she’s with a great guy, but she’s made a lot of men upset HAHA It was going to happen one day, but at least we’ve still got fresh music from her no matter what her last name may be 🙂

Thank you Nicole for the new album & I can’t wait to see you perform again soon!

Ludacris & Phillip Phillips proposed to their girlfriends!

Isn’t it funny how Christmas is a time when people decide to get engaged?!

Well that was true for 2 music stars: Ludacris and Phillip Phillips!

I always love a good proposal and this Christmas there were two to be thankful for in the world of music!

On Christmas day itself, we had a proposal from a former American Idol, Mr. Phillip Phillips. I’ve always been in awe that that’s his real name, and now I’m pretty proud of him for going for a December 25th proposal!

His proposal wasn’t to a random super fan, but instead to his longtime girlfriend Hannah Blackwell with an impressive rock!

Check out the ring pic from her Instagram:

#NiceRock

Sources say that the proposal was really romantic! Phillip asked her to meet him at his new house in Georgia and when she got there he was on bended knee 😀

I have to say that his music video for “Raging Fire” really impressed me:

#RagingFire

Then on “Boxing Day” AKA December 26th, one of my favorite rappers found himself proposing to his longtime girlfriend too! That’s right! Ludacris is headed towards marriage to Eudoxie Agnan, his girlfriend since 2009!

He went for a different kind of proposal which is being coined the “mile high proposal”. Luda took Eudoxie up in a private jet to fly over a sign written in the grass asking her to marry him!

Check out the pic that she posted to Instagram:

“BEST DAY OF MY LIFE WITH THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!!! ❤”

I’d say a private jet proposal is pretty epic and I’m happy to say that both girls said yes!!! 🙂

Congratulations to Phillip & Ludacris and sorry to all the ladies who wanted them!

New Year = New Music

Can you believe 2014 is almost over?! I know I can’t! Well don’t worry…

…because a new year can only mean NEW MUSIC!

I’m looking forward to a new year and more so…new music! I’ve been taking a look through the music that’s coming in 2015 and I wanted to share some of the brand new albums that are about to blow our socks off!

In random order, check out 5 new albums coming in 2015…

1. Madonna – Rebel Heart

#RebelHeart

It’s no secret that I love Madonna, so naturally I’m really excited to hear her new album! It will be officially released on March 10th just in time for Spring break!!! 😀 I love Madge because she’s edgy, innovative, a trailblazer, and at 56 years old she shows absolutely no signs of slowing down! She’s iconic and I really respect her for what she has done to forge the way for all females in music!

2. Meghan Trainor – Title

#Title

I’ll admit that I’m not a huge “All About That Bass” fan, but I have to say that Meghan is a very unique artist and that is something I can admire 🙂 The fact that she’s a Nashville girl that is signed to a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog makes me a fan! Her debut album “Title” will be released in just a few days on January 13th!

3. Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher’s Daughter

#TheFirewatchersDaughter

Brandi Carlile is an amazing artist! If you’re up for a singer-songwriter that has acoustic songs with deep meanings…then Brandi is your girl! I love her music so much! From “Turpentine” to “The Story” to “That Year” and “Raise Hell”…she’s a genuine artist! I got the opportunity to see her at Cannery Ballroom in Nashville and she was lovely! I’m SO excited to hear her new album which will be released on March 3rd!

4. The Lone Bellow – Then Came the Morning

#TheLoneBellow

If you don’t know “The Lone Bellow”, I feel sorry for you! They are one of the most amazing bands I’ve ever discovered! It was just a few years ago that I discovered them thanks to The Civil Wars who invited them on their tour! Here I am a couple years later, still a super fan and couldn’t be more proud of this band! They are so genuine and the passionate way that they present their music is what hooked me on them from the very first song I heard them play! I cannot wait for this new album to be here on January 27th!

5. Fall Out Boy – American Beauty / American Psycho

#AmericanBeautyAmericanPsycho

Fall Out Boy has been more on my radar in the past couple of years than they’ve ever been! I really love the new hardcore rock n roll vibe of their music! From “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” to “Centuries” you’ve got to agree…THEIR. MUSIC. ROCKS. And with a lead singer as dynamic as Patrick Stump…you can never go wrong! Their brand new album will be here sooner than you know it on January 20th!

This is just a sneak peak into 2015 which I’m sure will be another monstrous year in the world of music! That’s what I love the most about this industry…it’s never boring & ever changing!

Cheers to 2015 and some brand spankin’ new music!

Merry Christmas from Michael Bublé!

In the spirit of giving, there’s a certain jazz artist that’s in the Christmas mood…

…and that is the one, the only: Michael Bublé

I want to go on record right now and say that I don’t like when Michael sings pop music! HAHA He’s a “crooner” and I prefer him to sing standards and jazz classics only!!

This Christmas album was released in 2011, but has been a favorite for many! I’m so happy to say that my friends at Google Play are offering Michael Bublé’s album “Christmas” for free download for all of us!

#Christmas

>>> Follow this link to get the album for free: play.google.com/Michael_Buble <<<

See the deluxe “Christmas” tracklist here:

1. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
2. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
3. “Jingle Bells” (featuring The Puppini Sisters)
4. “White Christmas” (with Shania Twain)
5. “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
6. “Holly Jolly Christmas”
7. “Santa Baby”
8. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
9. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
10. “Silent Night”
11. “Blue Christmas”
12. “Cold December Night”
13. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
14. “Ave Maria”
15. “Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad” (with Thalía)
16. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
17. “Winter Wonderland”
18. “Frosty the Snowman”
19. “Silver Bells”
20. “Michael’s Christmas Greeting”

Looks like one heck of a Christmas album! Thanks Mikey! I love getting the gift of music!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I probably don’t even have to say it, but I wanted you to know that I’ll be on #HolidayHiatus tomorrow for Christmas Day and you won’t be hearing from me 🙂

So please gather round the Christmas tree, open presents, watch the little ones see what Santa brought them, and enjoy a day where social media doesn’t matter that much! HAHA Enjoy your time with your family and I’ll see you again on the 26th!

Merry Christmas to you from MRG and MB!

Sugarland & Live Nation reach $39 Million settlement!

I remember hearing about the tragic story of a stage collapse back in 2011…

…and today I can gladly say that a settlement has been reached!

The 2011 Indiana State Fair had a horrible incident happen on August 13th when a severe thunderstorm caused the main outdoor stage to collapse just minutes before the famous country duo “Sugarland” was about to go on stage to perform!

It was a tragic event where 7 people were killed and close to 100 people were injured! I remember talking about this event in college when we talked about the “Force Majeure” clause in a contract that basically says that the show can be terminated if there is an unavoidable accident that took place.

Take a look at the stage collapse here:

It’s never easy to watch that 😦

In the case of Sugarland’s concert, it’s unfair for me to say who was wrong in not calling the show off. They were monitoring the weather of course, but it appears that the storm was quite unpredictable.

The stage collapse happened on August 13, 2011 and just this past Friday (December 20th) the settlement with which to compensate the victims was finally decided upon!

Sugarland (the musical act), Live Nation (the concert promoter), and 16 other defendants have just come to agree upon paying out $39 million to settle claims.

It feels good to see the settlement happen & I’m glad they reached a decision!

It seems like a lot more money than I thought they would settle for, but I guess when you’re being sued by so many people…it all adds up very quickly.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland have testified before regarding the stage collapse when they told the court that they left concert proceedings up to their tour manager and that they weren’t directly involved in saying whether the show would go on or not.

I feel horrible for the victims, but at least they can receive some financial freedom with which to treat the injuries sustained from this tragic event.

Thank you Sugarland & Live Nation for bringing justice to the victims!

YouTube could face a $1 Billion lawsuit from Pharrell & others!

I’m an avid watcher of YouTube, and today I’m surprised to hear that…

…they might be sued for $1 Billion if they don’t take 20,000 music videos down!

In a strange turn of events, music industry titan Irving Azoff is threatening the largest music video platform to take down the videos that he owns the rights to…or else!

Irving founded a legal group called “Global Music Rights” and thus he’s trying to get it through to YouTube that they do not have performance rights to thousands of songs that stem from about 40 of his clients!

Those clients include:

The Eagles, John Lennon, and Pharrell

YouTube is trying to launch their own streaming music service called “Music Key” and their response to Irving is that they do have the rights to the songs in question!

>> See more about Music Key here: musicrowgirl.com/youtube-introduces-music-key/ <<

As for Pharrell, his music video for “Happy” has been played over 500 million times so Irving really wants another piece of the pie when it comes to income. If he truly owns the performing rights, then I have no problem with the videos being taken down as long as he provides a way for viewership to continue.

Just for grins, check out the video for “Happy”:

#Happy

The attorney for Global Music Rights has said: “This will result in someone blinking, and if it is not them, there will be a billion dollar copyright infringement lawsuit filed. YouTube’s music service will be adversely impacted if they let this go to adjudication. It seems silly that they would let this be test case.”

I’m hoping that YouTube will concede and that this won’t be a long drawn out court case. I respect Irving so much and I know he wouldn’t bring this up if it weren’t relevant!

I’m looking forward to hearing the back & forth! I’ll keep you updated!

Discover: Mark Ronson

Some weeks I’m perplexed about who to write about, but I felt like I had to mention…

…who Mark Ronson is!

Mark is on my radar lately ever since his song “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars has become the #1 song on iTunes…which it is #1 right now!

I’ve known of Mark, but I never knew that he released music under his own name. I knew him as a producer who worked closely with the late, great Amy Winehouse!

Mark produced “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good”, “Back to Black”, “Love Is A Losing Game”, “Wake Up Alone”, and “He Can Only Hold Her” for Amy’s award-winning album “Back to Black”.

He was praised for his work with Amy!

The 39 year old superstar producer hails from London, England and apparently has a good career as a solo artist of which I wasn’t aware. He’s released quite a few albums over the years starting in 2003 and his last solo album was in 2010:

I can’t believe I didn’t know he had solo music! Ugh! I’ll be busy listening now!

So it’s been a good 4 years since Mark’s last solo album, but rest assured, with the “Uptown Funk” being the #1 song on iTunes now…he’s resurfacing and releasing a brand new album in 2015! “Uptown Special” will be released on January 15th!

#UptownSpecial

I’m thinking that Mark must be happy as can be to have a #1 on the charts and I must defend myself for not knowing much of him and his solo career because I’m in the US and not much UK music is marketed to me…although I do love UK music 🙂

Take a listen to the #1 song in the country, “Uptown Funk” here:

#UptownFunk

You know what’s really cool about Mark is that he’s a behind the scenes guy in music too! He’s had his hand in many songs you and I have heard such as Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven”, Christina Aguilera’s “Hurt”, and Adele’s “Cold Shoulder” to name a few!

He released a TED Talk in May as well which I can’t wait to hear! For those of you who have never watched any TED Talks…I highly recommend that you do!!!

Check out Mark’s talk about “How sampling transformed music”:

#TEDTalks

I’m really looking forward to hearing Mark’s music and to listening to his Ted Talk! It’s a busy holiday season for us all, but I’m always interested in new music 😀

Congratulations Mark on “Uptown Funk” and I’m excited for what’s next for you!