Francesca TayBritney Spears – Femme Fatale
First up, the pop princess who soared to fame more than decade ago with debut album …Baby One More Time in 1999, makes yet another ‘comeback’ with Femme Fatale.
Femme Fatale is the seventh album released by American artiste Britney Spears, following her 2008 album, Circus. Her lead single, entitled “Hold It Against Me”included dubstep-influenced beats as well as rave. Compared to her previous albums, Britney seems to have ditched her ‘pop princess’ identity.
It received many positive comments by reviewers surprisingly since the release, setting expectations high for the rest of the album.
On the other hand, the official music video broadcasted on Youtube’s VEVO channel failed to win favour with its users as many felt that the music video was too commercialised with a large amount of product placement such as Make Up Forever, Sony etc.
That said, take note of the witty but sadly, cliché puns in the lyrics, including:
“If I said I want your body now Would you hold it against me?
Nonetheless, who could forget her inspiring dance moves and amazing live performances back in the millennium that marked the fan base among pre-teens and young adults?
Check out Britney’s lead single, “Hold It Against Me”
Colbie Caillat – All Of You
Grammy awards winner Colbie Caillat returns with her third album, “All Of You”, boasting a track listing of 14 songs. After the success of Breakthrough, we pretty much expect this 25-year-old pop singer-songwriter from Malibu, California to produce yet another amazing follow up.
On her website, www.colbiecalliat.com, the singer said, “I still incorporate all the styles that I love that were onBreakthroughand Coco, but it’s a new chapter.”
We look forward to a full-on summer album from this sweet singer-songwriter that writes her songs from the heart.
Radiohead – The King Of Limbs
Radiohead, oh Radiohead… one of the few alternative rock bands that has fans obsessing over every single detail of their albums due to their unique music taste, or shall we say, language itself. Known widely since the release of OK Computer that featured themes on modern alienation as well as an extensive use of digital sounds, the English band has proved to be unique in the music industry.
The King of Limbs was initially thought to be similar to In Rainbows, but drummer Phil Selway mentioned in their website that the process of creating The King of Limbs was very different from In Rainbows. The King of Limbs, although released only recently, has already become fondly known as KoL by many fans, not to be confused with American rock band Kings of Leon.
“Lotus Flower”, the first single released encompassed many elements of Radiohead’s original style and was well received by many on Youtube, scoring more than 8 million views upon release.
KoL is Radiohead’s shortest album to date, with only 8 songs totalling 37 minutes of music. From “Lotus Flower”, we can anticipate songs inspired by mystical woods and fairytale-like splendour.
However, Metacritic reviewers gave KoLa mediocre80 out of 100 rating.
Check out Radiohead’s new single “Lotus Flower”
The Strokes – Angles
Fans of these indie rockers will be pleased to know that The Strokes are releasing their fourth studio album this summer after going on a hiatus for nearly 4 years following the release of First Impressions of Earth. The winners of ‘Best International Band’ at the NME Awards in 2006 finally comes up with this offering entitled Angles after working on it for 2years. Inspirations for the tracks in this album include sounds similar to bands such as MGMT, Arctic Monkeys, and Crystal Castles.
Their first single, “Under Cover of Darkness” was released online for a free download on Feb 9 for 48 hours. The single also included a B-side with another song from the album, ‘You’re So Right’.
The quirky tunes of “Under Cover of Darkness” and “You’re So Right” have so far been embraced by critics and fans, even if the brightly-coloured palette of the cover seems to contradict the song title. All in all, it does seem like Angles will be a prominent part of their accomplished discography.
Death Cab For Cutie – Codes and Keys
Finally, 14-year-old indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie has just released news of their much-awaited 7th album, namely Codes and Keys. According to www.stereogum.com, bass guitarist Nick Harmer expressedthat this is “a much less guitar-centric album than we’ve ever made before”. Known more fondly by their initials DCFC, or simply Death Cab, they are remembered as the band that always surprises with music that defies classification.
On Mar 28, ‘You are a Tourist’, their first single released for online streaming on their official webpage, caused much excitement for fans eagerly waiting to get their hands on the album. However, many fans commented that the 11-song album is way different from their previous albums, such as Plans (2005) and Narrow Stairs(2008). Still, the loyalty of their fans seems unlikely to falter.
Once described by Rolling Stone as “emotion through its lack of emotion”, Death Cab for Cutie proves with this new single that you don’t have to offer more of the same to be music well accepted.
10 more albums to look out for this summer:
- Arctic Monkeys – Suck it And See
- Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
- Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
- Jennifer Lopez – Love?
- Jennifer Hudson – I Remember Me
- Lady Gaga – Born This Way
- Panic! At The Disco – Vices & Virtues
- Sum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder
- Snoop Dogg – The Doggumentary
- Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers