James Durbin, the memory of a beautiful disaster

Because of having the similar fascinating high range vocal, James Durbin was often compared to Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert by the audiences during the competition of American Idol Season 10. In fact, although they both have a rock vocal, James Durbin is more loyal to heavy metal, which during the competition, he often begs to the audiences for “give metal a chance”. Indeed, based on the current music industry, dance music and pop seem to dominate the music markets, heavy metal which was popular in the 70s seems to be difficult to be mainstream nowadays. However, James Durbin still sticks to his beloved music style.

Even though James ended up being the top 4 of the competition, it also happens to be the same position of the other rocker in the history of American Idol, Chris Daughtry, and Chris is one of the Idol alumni who are not the winners that sold more records than the winners. Therefore, maybe it is more than the coincidence for rock-lover James to be at the same spot as Chris. This also makes audiences wonder that whether James can continue or even surpass the glory of “No.4 rocker” by Chris.

James’s first single “Stand Up” was released in the end of September, this rock song prove us that James will stick to his own style. The beginning of the song uses a very heavy-metal style guitar solo, which set up the whole style of the song. Likewise, the high-range vocal that James must show every time in the competition is revealed at the end of the song. Honestly speaking, in rock music, such high notes can really make the songs better. In this song, James’s high vocal can no doubt ignite listeners’ emotion and get crazy with the music.

The second single “Love Me Bad” is a soft rock style song. Slow guitar solo at the very beginning gives the song a heart-break feeling. After repeating “I miss you”, the emotion spurts with the sudden drum beats in the chorus. This also shows the emotional side of James. These two singles also serve as the nice fast-slow appetizer to the debut album Memories of a Beautiful Disaster.

The album was released at November 21^st. Before the day of the releasing on AMA red carpet, James said that this album would be whole lot of rock. Indeed, James did not lie. The first song of the album “Higher Than Heaven” is such heavy metal style song. Guitar riff at the very beginning with guitar effect give people a strong energy. Nonstop screaming and the high note at the end of the last chorus gradually push the song to the climax. By just hearing this song, rock fans would not be disappointed to the album. Likewise, another song “Outcast” features the guitarist from heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, Mick Mars. With James’s unique rock vocal, Mick’s guitar solo continuously attacks our eardrum. In the bridge, Mick’s solo pushes the song to the peak. Indeed, as a rock album, it would not be perfect if there is no fascinating guitar solo. At the end, James’s incredible high note ends the song, leaving people to taste it.

However, the second song “All I Want” slows down the atmosphere. Although it is still a rock song, from the arrangement and the melody, it is not a heavy metal but an ordinary alternative rock song. Similarly, “Love In Ruins” and “Right Behind You” follow the same pattern of alternative rock. Even thought they are no as passionate as the first song, clean guitar strum and heavy drum beats are still something you can’t find in current dance music.

Besides, “May” and “Everything Burns” are the few ballads from the album, which also can make the album take a rest from the heavy guitar strum. In addition, these songs also prove that James is not a singer who just screams, when there is a slow emotional song, James can also do it.

Take a look at the whole album, James reduces his high note. Such high note during the competition makes James have the suspicion of showing off. Although such vocal can make the rock songs powerful, it is too much for slow songs. In this album, however, James’ biggest improvement is not to oversing all the songs. Not every song is suitable for screaming, for example, in “May” and “Everything Burns”, James softly sings the songs with piano and acoustic guitar to tell us one another heart-breaking stories. Besides, songs such as “Higher Than Heaven” and “Outcast” need some powerhouse vocal, and James appropriately shows his powerful vocal and high note in proper way.

It is hard to say whether Memories of a Beautiful Disaster can sell well. After all, heavy metal is no longer mainstream in contemporary music industry. However, if you are truly love rock music like James does, it is no need to worry about that. Comparing to that, why not just put this record into the player, and rock with the music.

Dance, Happy, Young

Many people show less interest toward reality show singers, thinking that they are lacking in identity which can only sing cover songs. However, Cher Lloyd could be one of the examples that change people’s minds. With two Top 5 singles, her debut album Sticks + Stones released on Nov. 7.

Cher Lloyd, who was born in 1993, achieved No.4 on the reality-based singing competition The X Factor UK Version. She was young and energetic at that time, most importantly, she was gifted. During audition and bootcamp, Cher boldly rearranged “Turn My Swag On” and “Viva La Vida”, she wrote the rap part and emerge it into the songs. Such performances not only showed Cher’s own style, but also displayed her creativity in front to the audiences. After Cher’s performance of “Just Be Good To Me” on the first week of Live Show, Simon Cowell commented that: “that’s why we picked you a couple week ago…you are exactly what we’re looking for, which is a new little star…that’s what pop music is all about”. On the seventh week, Cher’s “Stay” even made Simon said that it was the best performance of the season. Getting such high compliment from Simon Cowell, what 17-year-old Cher had was not only surprise but also the confidence of her future music career. Although she was voted off on Top 4, for her, it was only the beginning of her music career.

Young, bold and creative is the vantage for Cher during the competition and she doesn’t forget it. In her debut album Sticks + Stones, she uses 10 songs to show us a vivid, happy and young scene. Single “Swagger Jagger” has young lyrics and springy melody, the chorus of the song is sampling from 1884’s folk song “Oh My Darling, Clementine”. The lyrics of the song depict how Cher condemns those people who want to copy her dance move via any method. Many new-media words such as tweeting, youtubing makes the song very current, but there are also comments judging that such lyrics make the song very naïve. Apart from the lyrics, heavy drum beats and rich effects reinforce the energy of the song. Meanwhile, Cher combining her rap with the singing raises the song to another “current” level. If I have to compare the style of the song to someone’s, “Swagger Jagger” should be the young version of Black Eyed Peas. I have to admit that, because of the combination of dance beats and folk-song melody, it was weird to hear it at the first place, but if you are sensitive to dance beats, this may be a very nice party song.

Second single “With Ur Love” slows down the album. Lyrics such as “I feel like I’m on top of the world with ur love” vividly portrays a little girl’s longing toward love. This song sounds a little bit more mature than “Swagger Jagger”, but Cher still enjoys the vantage of being young, which you can still find the naughty feeling from the song. Also, the inflection of the voice from this song shows that Cher is not only a singer that relies on outlook and age, she can also SING.

Besides, other songs from this album make listeners have the feelings of going back to the days when they were young. The first song of this album, “Grow Up”, obviously expressed the message that Cher enjoys her age and doesn’t want to grow up. In the bridge, she sings “I am a princess and I don’t wanna be the queen”. The reason Cher doesn’t want to grow up may be because that the free and wild lifestyle of being young would be gone when growing up. Likewise, songs such as “Playa Boi” and “Dub in the Track” ignite audiences’ emotions by using fruitful effect and drum beats, also give them the chance of feeling young energy. Perhaps such songs are lacking in depth, but for Cher who loves to show us the young attitude, all we need is just happiness.

Overall, Sticks + Stones shows the little girl’s young and energetic power to the world. The rap parts of many songs also prove that Cher would follow her own unique style. Maybe Cher can bring us more surprises, just as Simon said, Cher is “unpredictable”.

Lee DeWyze, a sincere romantic poet

What can you anticipate to the weakest season (Season 9) in the history of American Idol? Lee DeWyze and his debut album Live It up is just like that. Listeners could only have one feeling, which is plain. Simon Cowell used to say, the true artist should have the masterpiece that half of the people would love it and half of them would hate it. This is so right. Thinking about all the great works, all of them are unique and creative, and most of this novelty would definitely not be able to concern all the tastes.

It is a pity that Live It Up can not do it. The first time you listen to it, you would know that this is just one of the most ordinary pop-folk albums. No one can really love it or hate it. Usually there are two attitudes toward such kind of music: one is sleepy, one is touching, because most of the folk song would relate to emotion expression and lyric ballad. The reason why I say this album is so ordinary is because it is in this principle.

The first song “Live It up” is just such love ballad. Delightful guitar solo and Lee’s lazy voice take listeners to the street in which the man meets the strange lady, and he thinks about falling in love with her. Such cliché seems to define the whole album of being simple without excitement. The following songs such as “It’s Gonna Be Love”, “Dear Isabelle” and single “Beautiful Like You” all have similar storytelling. The arrangement of the song similarly uses lively guitar solo or soft piano to reinforce the sensibility of the love stories. Only these elements would the fans who want to have excitement refuse to accept this album. Undeniably, similar style and simple stories in the song could hardly bring any commercial benefits to the album, and it is no surprise that Lee is one of the most unsuccessful American Idol.

Although this album could not take Lee to the circle of “brilliant artists”, Live It Up still has something to talk about. As a pop-folk album, the songs can sometimes become so touching to the listeners, especially when the story of the song can match listeners’ past experience. Firstly, Lee’s lazy and husky voice perfectly matches with folk music. Taking “Dear Isabelle” as example, Lee transfers his love to “Isabelle” vividly and incisively with his lazy voice. In the song, he sings that he is not good at expressing his feelings, so he writes this song and hopes everything is not too late. Meanwhile, the inornate personality as a painter provides a plain side appropriately to this song. Besides, Lee’s powerhouse vocal is depicted in the song “Beautiful Like You”. Such powerful vocal is one of the merits in his Idol journey. Unlike David Cook and Kelly Clarkson, Lee’s voice is more like the water with breeze, a little wave from the water, not too much, but just alright. In “Beautiful Like You”, Lee lightly depicts a heart of waiting in verse, when the song comes to the chorus, Lee gradually gives us a little bit of excitement and then explode: “If you could only just stop running, if you could only take a second to breathe it in, everything that you know would be beautiful like you”.

Obviously, to listen to this album need particular occasion. When you are so excited to want to have a party, this album is definitely not want you want. However, when you have time to sit down and appreciate everything, you would find that Lee uses his sincerity to tell us beautiful and warm love stories one by one. Sometimes, we have to admit that, commercial and authentic are always opposite. You may never find pure spirit in Lady Gaga or Katy Perry’s songs, but those albums that never sold well usually maintain the sincerity and authenticity such as this album.