Album Review by @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer 
Likes: Restart, Like I Can, Good Thing
Dislikes: Stay With Me, Lay Me Down
Overall: Decent album, typical lyrics, great voice and production.

Scratching the itch of Adele fans or lovers of eccentric Euro-soul, the very talented Sam Smith arises with his 1st LP, In the Lonely Hour. Filled with mostly slow and mid-tempo numbers, the album treads on being a bit of a drag, only being saved by his vocal performance and the creative and crisp production of Jimmy Napes, Steve Fitzmaurice and E.G. White, among others. The songwriting is decent for the most part, but doesn’t delve far enough with creativity for my personal taste. Knowing that this album was Sam’s love letter to a guy he had a crush on, I expected a bit more expressive bang due to the fact that imagination was mostly involved in the making of these songs. Sadly his imagination ran thin, only jumping from the topic of “wanting” someone to the topic of “losing” someone (arguably the same person), making the album a bit too repetitive by the 4th song.

Aside from these issues, the album is still very enjoyable, relying on the same song structure, rhythms (e.g. “Like I Can” uses the same 8th-note driven rhythm of guitar chords from “Rolling in the Deep”), piano/acoustic guitar focus, melancholy and soulful delivery that made Adele a huge crossover success, minus obviously personal lyrics. The writing had such a feel of general application. Smith powerfully emotes, but there’s nothing in the lyrics to carry the emotion in an effective, honest, raw or hard-hitting fashion. In terms of production, it’s usually lazily done on albums in Smith’s genre when there are live instruments, with preset leveling and less attention to detail. In the Lonely Hour’s team was present and proactive: tracks like “Good Thing” and “I’m Not the Only One” keep the natural warmth and resounding timbre of Smith’s voice at the forefront, while maintaining the tonal integrity of the accompanying instruments, and bonus tracks like “Restart” and “La La La” incorporate Euro-pop and disco. Even with all this production magic, Smith played it too safe and ended up sounding like a watered down Adele, which isn’t “bad;” just not amazing. However, I’m now really excited and anxious for a new Adele album. 

Album Review by @EternallyInAwe, Contributing Writer
Likes: Ultraviolence, Shades Of Cool, Old Money, Money Power Glory
Favorites: Black Beauty, Sad Girl, Brooklyn Baby
Dislikes: Florida Kilos
Overall: An audiovisual resurrection of artistry; a testimony to Lana’s intrinsic musicality.

Lana Del Rey follows no trends or familiar fads. She’s simply in her own musical universe that tends to make her listeners feel like they are dreaming. Her aesthetical technique is alluringly haunting, yet unfathomably beautiful. While the techno, electro and jazzy dance beats play on, Lana Del Rey sways with ethereal delight as her voice soars over melodic emotional outpour infused with solid production, taking you into a psychedelic state of reverie throughout her 2nd album, Ultraviolence.

I know everyone can’t or refuses to get into Lana Del Rey, simply because the music “depresses” them or her very sultry voice is often viewed as monotone. Her voice is on the dreamy, soothing alto side, yet she has a very texturized vocal pallet. She can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but despite all the naysayers, Del Rey has truly brought something refreshing, different and I do dare say, new to the industry. Growing from her Born To Die breakthrough, Del Rey continues to take her individuality to the next level and manages to keep the remarkable uniqueness that sets her miles apart from all the pop tragedies of today. Ultraviolence will take a few listens to grow on you if you’re not the quintessential Lana fan. Nonetheless, there are stand out songs such as “Old Money,” “Sad Girl,” “Ultraviolence,” “Brooklyn Baby” and “Shades Of Cool.” “Old Money” is romantically nostalgic, laced with a deep yearning to go back to the time of classic movies and classical music. Nino Rota’s lovely composition for the theme of the 1968 Romeo and Juliet is sampled for this mystical track. Though lyrically not the best, the repetitive prose of “Sad Girl” gives an essence of air and humanism, as opposed to a completely showy tangent about being a sad girl. Del Rey sings about a life that makes you wonder if it was really hers. Another 60’s sampling of “He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)” by The Crystals, “Ultraviolence” invokes romantic despair and a love for the very violence that is causing the despair. “Brooklyn Baby” is a sweet sucker punch with a reminiscent touch of 70’s freedom and praise for simplicity. “Shades Of Cool” is the highlight of the entire album; the hypnotic, climatic guitar solo and rock driven sound absolutely has Black Keys guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach’s name written all over it. Another little gem is a  cover of Nina Simone’s “The Other Woman.” With Del Rey’s distinctive stamp and musical production that is a grandiose acclaim to the works of Ultraviolence, she’s on the brink of something and it might just be greatness.

Album Review by @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer
Likes: Camouflage, Heavenly, Money, Cry
Dislikes: #Beautiful (only because the lyrics are ridiculously childish)
Overall: Great cohesive album with a great balance of upbeat songs and power ballads. Typical subject matter filled with emotion, all encompassed in great production.

As the music industry becomes more dichotomized into either generic pop fluff and mind-numbing, bass-rattling trap beats or music with raw emotion, meaning and genuine essence, it's very understandable how someone like Mariah Carey can be a veteran, yet "out of touch" with the current, ever-changing genre trends. After two albums full of then-current, now-dated, forgettable ditties with one or two gems in the midst, Carey finally let go of trying and simply gave us her essence in her rawest, most unfiltered form with "Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse."

The album's subject matter revolves around Carey's favorite topics: love, loss of love and human relations (the best way I can describe songs like "Thirsty"). The songs are all great and cohesively blend well. They don't tell a story like her "Charmbracelet" and "Rainbow" albums, which is good because it doesn’t sound forced. Mariah, as a bonus, sounds like she's having fun on the upbeat songs. There is honestly not one "bad" song on this album, though, naturally, some songs are stronger than others. I personally was quite disappointed with the song Stevie Wonder was featured on (“Make it Look Good”). Although it wasn't bad, I expected it to be more organic and less sampled/looped with Wonder simply adlibbing on the harmonica. Aside from this, the features don't disappoint; Wale, Nas and even Fabolous all added a different dimension to the songs and refrained from being “filler” rappers. “Supernatural” stands out as Carey sings of motherhood and her children, Monroe and Moroccan ("Roc and Roe" or "Dem Babies" as Mariah would say), are featured. Monroe sings a line and Moroccan harmonizes at the end once the music stops. 

It's clear from this album that Carey no longer has the silky, honey-smooth chest voice timbre she did for the first decade of her career, but she still has her signature tonality, textures, impeccable range and control. Her chest voice is very brittle, though the high and low extremes are clear and intact. No more in denial about her current vocal capabilities, she has even learned to emote with the voice she has. The vulnerability in "You're Mine," the heartache in "Camouflage," the hopelessness in "Cry" and the newfound hope in "Heavenly" are in the forefront of her delivery. Without even trying, Carey leaves vocal traces of "Old Mariah" all around this album in various nooks and crannies of songs, like the opening ballad "Cry." She effortlessly soars through all 5 octaves of her range and although there are occasional, obvious "cut and paste" vocal runs throughout (especially in the gospel meets old-school hip-hop number "Heavenly"), Carey's voice is undoubtedly the pinnacle of this album, not getting washed out in the production like in her previous release “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.” The biggest highlights on this album are hands down "Camouflage" and "Heavenly." There's something about hearing emotion in Carey's voice that brings you closer to her, even if the song's message doesn't hit you the first time. "Camouflage" focuses on being in a relationship with someone who has lost their feelings. She ingeniously puts both people in the realm of "camouflage," singing "I camouflage my tears," juxtaposed with "you wear your disguise," where the lover pretends to still be in love. "Heavenly" is a cover of Mary Mary's "Can't Give Up Now" (which is a rendition of the hymnal "No Ways Tired"). Carey's natural alto resonance brings the verses to life, saving the belting and whistles for the big acapella ending with an unforgettable, finalizing riff.

What J. Has To Say: 
One of the biggest obstacles for an act of Mariah Carey’s caliber and longevity is maintaining inspiration and a freshness. The downfall of many is that they resort to adhering too closely to trends, which are often fickle. I feel that over her last 2 records, Carey struggled to find her groove or happy medium and remain motivated. Leading up to the release of “Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse," it seemed she was still directionless, but the final product displays a comfortable Mariah Carey rebuilding the foundation for a path. I love the warm, summery, vintage, unpretentious essence of the album. It made me crave for her to do a record entirely with a 70’s, 80’s and throwback rap feel and explore the sound of the New York music scene she grew up with that her former label, Columbia, was hesitant to let her play with (as she explained in the hip-hop documentary, “The Tanning of America). When I was listening to “Me. I Am Mariah…”, the pseudo-cover “Don’t Stop” from the “Glitter” soundtrack kept coming to mind, which sampled “Funking for Jamaica (N.Y.)” by Queens-bred jazz artist Tom Browne (with vocals by Toni Smith) from 1980. If there is any issue, it’s that there aren’t any tracks, in my opinion, that are contagious or especially affecting. I didn’t have a “Yeah, that’s my jam!” or a “crying in the corner” moment. My last notes: “Thirsty” doesn’t fit with the rest of the tracklist and the protruding use of the F-word on “#Beautiful” was unnecessary, throws off the vibe and kind of ruins the song for me.

Likes: Dedicated, #Beautiful, You Don't Know What to Do, Camouflage 
Dislikes: Thirsty

Album Review by Lee Crain, Contributing Writer
Likes: Nowhere, Scars, Never Should Have, Don’t Tell Me No
Dislikes: First Real Love, Perfect So Far
Overall: Great Lyrics, mostly solid musical production, well worth the six year wait.

After leaving record label Murder Inc. back in 2008, R&B singer-songwriter Ashanti hasn’t released an album or been much in the spotlight at all. It’s hard to believe that an artist who was so prevalent in the early 2000’s with a succession of hits all but completely fell off the radar. Over the last 6 years, Ashanti has been trying to rebuild her brand, starting her own recording label and developing an album. Fans have been following her every Twitter move since around 2011, as what would become “Braveheart” was under construction and the expected release date was pushed back nearly ten times due to setbacks and legal holdings. “Braveheart” finally dropped in the U.S. on March 4th, and I say it was absolutely worth the wait.“Braveheart” is a straight-from-the-heart musical autobiography of everything Ashanti has endured over her absence. At first listen, one would assume the album was just a love story without a happy ending, but it’s so much more than that. Yes, she obviously delves into the rocky history that was her former 9-year relationship with rapper Nelly, but intertwined with the hypnotic beats and lyrics of love lost, is the tale of her industry troubles and her appreciation for her fans. “Braveheart’s” themes are summed up in the title track’s interlude.

Now, let’s get into where it wouldn’t hurt to see a little improvement. Some of the songs, such as the annoying and almost impossible to understand “First Real Love” (featuring Reggaeton rapper Beenie Man) and the Rihanna-like club banger “Count,” are rhythmically too simplistic and take away from the album’s overall feel. Throw-away songs like these always appear on Ashanti’s albums (i.e. “Turn it Up and “Good Good” from prior albums) and they kind of tamper with and interrupt the story she’s trying to tell, but generally, she gets her point across pretty well. In the end, if you’re a true fan of Ashanti, you’ll live for “Braveheart.” If you forgot how great she was, this record is sure to remind you of why she hit it so big back in 2002. Ashanti’s not afraid to let everyone know she’s back and better than ever.

A Career Analysis.
By @EddieJSays, Contributing writer

Mariah Carey’s newest single "The Art of Letting Go" (from a forthcoming album of the same title) is a beautiful 1960s-styled R&B ballad that (once more) tackles her favorite subject: being heartbroken and trying to get over it (AKA the themes of albums “The Emancipation of Mimi,” ““E=MC2,” Rainbow, etc.). A refreshing turn away from the "Doctor, I was too patient" idioms Carey spewed throughout the previous record, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” the lyrics are deep in some areas and vapid in others; it’s as if her “Butterfly” era is meeting that of “Memoirs.” Musically, there’s just an average approach, but I do commend her and Jermaine Dupri for using an orchestra, since live instrumentation was abandoned in Carey's catalogue for roughly 8 years now (sans the 2nd Christmas album). Overall, “Art” leaves little to be desired, but it does make one question why it was chosen as a single and the album title track, due to its lack of commercial appeal and easily forgettable chorus. Again, it seems Carey is forcing herself to write what she thinks people want to hear instead of just allowing things to organically grow and flourish. Vocally on “Art,” she’s in limbo between being great/decent and sounding strained and damaged. I hope that this single isn't the big highlight of her new album and that there will be much better vocals. I'm not deterred from the project yet, but I'm not hungry for more either. Mariah Carey can be defined as one of the most versatile and adaptable artists in history, both musically and vocally. These qualities are what has sustained her to a loyal worldwide audience for 2 decades, and on the flip-side, probably put her into a corner where she feels she can go nowhere else creatively. Progressively, changes in her artistic approach and image have landed Carey in stagnancy (and lower-selling music), and not only am I going to explain how that is, but I’m going to suggest how she can get out of this mess.

Mariah Carey started off with a golden and alluring girl-next-door image. Reserved but fairly open, Carey made herself identifiable as she discussed her past life in poverty, encountering racism as a biracial youth and her struggles as a burgeoning artist. This warm aura matched with her wide and powerful range, silky vocal texture and infectious songwriting lead listeners to instantly embrace Carey from her buzz-creating first major appearance at the 1990 NBA Finals (she performed “America The Beautiful”), which resulted in her first few albums selling over 23 million copies combined and making history as the first artist since the Jackson 5 to have her opening four singles top the Billboard Hot 100. In spite of all the success, Carey was miserable and felt creatively stunted. Married to then-Columbia Records CEO Tommy Mottola, the “never mix business with pleasure” rule applied, as Carey accounted that Mottola was overly possessive and controlling, strictly dictating that she never wear clothing showing any skin and that she remain home if she wasn’t working. On the final cut of the “Daydream” album, “Looking In,” she purportedly addressed her feelings of creative bondage, stating: “Well, here I am for all the pen to bleed, but they can't take my heart from me and they can't bring me to my knees; they'll never know the real me.” Taking control of her music and persona and divorcing Mottola, a liberated Carey would be heard on 1997’s “Butterfly;” an album exalted by fans for its distinctive shift in sound (more R&B & hip-hop), image (slinky, short & revealing) and quality. Record label executives generally discourage artists from making major changes, for fear that the artist will lose their niche of the market. The concern was valid as “Butterfly” didn’t sell as well as Carey’s previous 2 albums. However, Carey made Columbia $7 billion before the end of the decade.

By 1999, Mariah was a hot commodity and only knocking on 30, but she hadn’t taken a break since her career began, releasing 7 studio albums within 9 years. Between recording, tours and promotion, Carey’s voice (and body) was beginning to succumb to constant wear and tear. While her whistle, head voice and lower register remained well intact, her chest voice sounded more husky and brittle, making some of her older songs more blatantly difficult to perform.  In 2001, Mariah had reached her breaking point as she left Columbia and signed an $80 million, 4-album deal with Virgin Records; the soundtrack to “Glitter” (Carey’s film debut) was the first release. Prior to the album drop, Carey was hospitalized for an emotional and mental breakdown. Intensifying matters, the “Glitter” film was panned by critics and its soundtrack only sold 501,000 units; partly because it was released the same week as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. The next year, Virgin paid Mariah $49 million to leave and her contract was dissipated. She signed with Island Def Jam soon after with “Charmbracelet.” While the album was intended to be marketed as a “comeback,” it sold just over a million units in the U.S. with no singles touching the top 40 or even top 60, which was considered a commercial failure, given Carey’s history. 

By @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer

On October 21st, VH1 finally premiered the highly publicized and anticipated TLC biopic “CrazySexyCool: A TLC Story.” Being one of the biggest fans of the group there is, I was SO excited to hear about it. I know just about everything there is to know about each TLC member and their personal struggles, so the idea of seeing it play out in cinematic format had me on the edge of my seat…at least initially. 

There was much promise upon the beginning of the film, leading right before Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes got discovered, signed and moved through the process of finding a new member (which ended up being Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas; more on that in a moment) and recording their 1st album. The 150 minute (including commercials) movie was great for those who didn’t know TLC’s back story and it gave a little insight on the climate of the music industry at that time. The performances from lead actresses Drew Sidora (T-Boz), Lil’ Mama (Left-Eye) and Keke Palmer (Chilli) were surprisingly good (with Lil’ Mama shining through as the best actress of the film), in addition to Rochelle Aytes, who portrayed the group’s 1st manager, Perri “Pebbles” Reid.

The movie was a great summary of the ladies’ perils and triumphs as one the best-selling female groups of all time, however, my qualm as a fan was the fact it was just that—a summary. Its brevity of their most successful album eras (i.e. “Crazy.Sexy.Cool” and “FanMail”) and over-magnification of somewhat interesting, yet trivial conflicts made the movie come off as a dramatized, cliff-notes version of “Behind the Music” (TLC’s “Behind the Music” debatably did more in 1 hour than this film did in 2 and 1/2 ). It ultimately left certain facts seem more elusive and not clarified, than express the whole truth for what it was.

Firstly, the movie was extremely biased. In Left-Eye’s absence, T-Boz and Chilli were the ones who constructed and pitched the TLC story to VH1 script-writers, and that, ironically, was probably more of a minus than a plus because aspects of their background were told from a limited perspective and presented as truth without further explanation. For example, the firing of Crystal Jones (the original “C” in TLC) was attributed in the film to her inability to sing/perform in front of L.A. Reid and Pebbles during an audition. However, according to Jones, the reality was since she was the original lead of the group (she called auditions to form a group to begin with), Pebbles privately presented her with the contract first and when Jones insisted on showing the contract to her mother for further review, Pebbles later encouraged T-Boz and Left-Eye to oust her. To put it in perspective, if Jones was such a poor performer, how did she get the chance to exclusively audition for her own group before introducing the group to Arista Records/Pebbletone? How did the group record demos under the name of 2nd Nature with producers like Jermaine Dupri if she was so terrible? Maybe T-Boz got the impression that Jones’ singing was to blame because that’s what she was told or maybe there was an instance where Jones bombed a performance. Jones’ story wasn’t the only one that fell prey to the limited perspective.

Album Review by @EddieJSays, Contributing writer

Likes: Fireflies, Putcha' Body Down, Heaven Lost an Angel
Dislikes: My Baby
Overall: Breaks out from the Disney mold, better vocals than expected

For anyone who is on the fence like I was as to whether or not “Shake It Up” Disney newcomer Zendaya has any real vocal ability, in addition to being a great comedic actress who can dance her butt off, you might want to take a listen to her new self-titled debut album.

Surprisingly enough, Zendaya’s sound isn’t easily recognizable as a “Disney girl” (as her 1st single “Replay” sort of hinted at) and that alone sets her and the album a part from the rest of her predecessors. Disney-affiliated debut albums are usually “kiddy bopper” ones with mind-numbing ditties that no one over 16 wants to admit to knowing the lyrics of. However, Zendaya’s is actually quite musically mature and has an urban (yes, urban) sound throughout that incorporates the high-tech bells and whistles from the dubstep, techno and EDM genres we’ve all grown to “love” over the last few years. The production is solid: every bass-thump rumbles the subwoofer with purpose and the music is just as infectious as the melodies being sung over them. The rhythmic natures of songs like “Putcha Body Down” and “Only When You’re Close” make it obvious the album is dance hip-hop influenced.

Vocally, Zendaya has introduced herself as any singer who wants longevity in this industry should: she cherishes her vocal strengths, knows her limits (with both range and texture) and how to utilize vocal tricks in a way that keeps the listener impatiently waiting for the next showcase. Her best vocal feature is her airy, soaring head-voice, where she performs a variety of versatile runs. Her chest voice has a thin, Taylor Swift quality to it, which may thicken as she grows a little more as a vocalist and maintains more character (she’s only 17). Her voice has a distinctive quality, having more dexterity than a Cassie or a Rihanna, but not as refined as her contemporary, Ariana Grande. Her knowing what she lacks as a singer ironically adds to the enjoyment of the record because we are literally mystified as to what her vocal weaknesses are (aside from the tone of her chest voice, which she can’t help right now), giving the perception of a vocally seamless and coherent project.

The songs are catchy and have a witty and illustrative lyrical quality, but they don’t go beyond the topic of love and how a guy is supposed to make her feel. “Fireflies” (written by Dawn Richard and produced Harmony Samuels) is enjoyable in every regard as well as the soft-spoken, mid-tempo “Cry for Love.” “Heaven Lost An Angel” has a nice new-aged 80s theme and the Nick Jonas-written “Love You Forever” is a great summer-into-fall jam, having a melancholy undertone, while the actual percussion keeps the tempo at a head-bobbing pace. Literally, the album as a whole is appealing, cohesive and flawless. Here is my only real qualm, and this goes for most of these newer artists: what is the deal with putting the crappiest song at the end of the album?! I was enjoying the ride and then “My Baby” comes on and I’m ready to push stop and try to erase the song from my cerebral cortex. The song sounds like it belongs in 2002 and should have a rap feature with Mannie Fresh and Juvenile or the Franchise Boys. To add to it, it’s her worst vocal performance on the entire album.

Nonetheless, Zendaya is a star in the making, with the full package of singing, dancing and acting. Hopefully, she can break the Disney curse and become even more successful and potentially an icon. For now, we can settle for great consistent albums with amazing production and her clear, crisp, puerile voice maintaining the attention of teenagers and adults alike. That in itself is a feat that most Disney girls before her couldn’t claim at her age.

Album Review by @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer

Likes: “Q.U.E.E.N,” “Electric Lady,” “PrimeTime,” “It’s Code,”“Victory,” “Sally Ride”
Dislikes: “What an Experience”
Overall: A must buy, for anyone who enjoys great quality music, lyrics, and vocals.

Although this is only her sophomore album, many doubts, as well as hopes, were invested in Janelle Monae’s ability to top the musical masterpieces that were her debut album “The Archandroid” and EP “Metropolis: The Chase Suite,” both in the funk filled, R&B sci-fi series she created. The new “Electric Lady” goes beyond satisfying and meeting the bar from her previous releases and ultimately pushes her vocal, lyrical and musical capabilities to unfathomable heights. If you’re wondering what the “hype” around Janelle Monae is, please understand that it is not as much about her being “different” as it is for her being mission-driven and immensely talented all in one cohesive package. This album showcases this in a very boisterous way; full of live instruments and constant genre and tempo changes, “Electric Lady” is a subliminal storyline about Janelle Monae and Cindi Mayweather (a fictional alpha-platinum 9000 android who was programmed to be the ultimate entertainer, using computer codes to implement everything that has been pleasing and successful to the music industry in the past). The first remarkable part of this album is that she took the common criticism from “The Archandroid” that many people (including J.Says herself) felt detached and dejected from the songs and as if the concepts and lyrics were purposefully going over their heads, and flipped it into a positive. “Givin Them What They Love” (featuring Prince, yes, THE Prince) pretty much sets the scene for what she’s about to do. The song itself is far from what you’d expect to hear from the duo, but has an interesting country- meets-rock feel to it. The songs that follow are probably the most commercial Monae has ever created (which is, in this context, a GOOD thing). Using simple lyrics to imply dual meanings is a skill Monae masters, especially on “Q.U.E.E.N,” featuring Erykah Badu, and the title track, featuring Solange Knowles.

Vocally, Monae is still in her prime, soaring into her chest voice more than she has before, while maintaining a virtually perfect technique and being able to switch her voice textures at the drop of a dime. She allows her range to flutter to her top head voice, down to her low alto, amidst the thumping 808s, electrifying synths, funky guitars and brass that appear throughout the suites. Her fearlessness in vocal experimentation in itself is entertaining to hear, as she emotes over the music and yet, she still manages to sometimes come off as robotic or formulaic in this approach.  She is more uninhibited, nonetheless, as she raps in 3 songs (“Q.U.E.E.N,” “Electric Lady” & “Ghetto Woman”) focusing on socially conscious themes, as the music seems to add to her overall energy. Song-wise, the album is solid; every song has a purpose and its own texture that contributes to the whole. Songs like “It’s Code” and “Victory” tug at her R&B roots, while “PrimeTime”( featuring Miguel), “We Were Rock &Roll” and “Givin Em’ What They Love” accentuates her rock & roll foundations. “Ghetto Woman” sounds like one of Stevie Wonder’s forgotten “Songs in the Key of Life” (from the second half, to be exact) tracks and tunes like “Look Into My Eyes,” “Dorothy Dandridge Eyes” (featuring Esperanza Spalding) and “Can’t Live Without Your Love” allow her smooth-like-honey voice to send the listener to ecstasy. The deluxe edition contains two remixes, one additional original song and a beautiful acoustic, slowed down cover of “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5. The “Electric Lady” remix, featuring Big Boi and Cee-lo Green, is impeccable and “Hell You Talmbout” could have easily been on the standard version’s tracklist. Another plus is that among all of the features on the album, Ms. Monae doesn’t allow the album to feel cluttered and dependent upon these collaborations. Solange only sings background vocals (which are PHENOMENAL), Erykah Badu has space for a verse, but it comes off as spastic adlibbing and Prince’s sung part is short lived, but he plays several guitar parts throughout the song. It works because it allows the artistic nature of every featured artist to thrive and mesh with Ms. Monae’s music and play a part in the progression of the story without seeming random.

The structure of this album is also more cohesive than the “ArchAndroid” (although that was the point, as described in the liner notes of that album), and shows the social climate of Metropolis’ Wonderground Society. Her allusions to racism, the gay rights movement and sexism are subtle, yet the most effective, all the while the plot of the series is optional for the newcomers (even though the interludes will make no sense without understanding the plot to some degree). On the surface, Suite IV focuses on Janelle having a good time, entertaining the audience, celebrating her womanhood and free-thinking, while Suite V focuses on her personal life, along with her emotional battles since her previous release. One other thing to point out about Janelle albums that always goes unnoticed is that the packaging is always part of the fun. I feel bad for people who stream/illegally download Monae’s music, because copies of these booklets don’t exist via Google image search and reading them takes away any notion that a song is “too cryptic” in nature.  For one, an elusive excerpt furthering the plot of the story is always included, but in the actual credits, she states what inspired the songs. Like how “Dance Apocalyptic” is “inspired by Michael Jackson’s Glistening Jheri curl in Thriller and Bo Diddley’s Tremolo Guitar” or how “Givin Em What They Love” is “inspired by HiddenColors1&TWO and the burning big house in Django Unchained.”

Overall, the album is a must-have and will probably soon be deemed not just album of the year, but a classic. The only fault I could find in the album is that the end of both suites seemed a bit low in energy. Oh and that it’s too good. Not being biased or anything, but it’s one of those albums that you probably will listen to a couple times, then  have to STOP listening to just to thoroughly enjoy the other album releases that have come out this year. Monae is clearly in a lane of her own and is maintaining her creative integrity, while opening up enough for people to fully embrace her voice, music and message. Just that is exactly what an “Electric Lady” does: she uses her voice and experience to convey her message in the threat of adversity. 

Album Review by MJ Johnson, Contributing Writer
Favorites: F*** with Me You Know I Got it, Tom Ford, Heaven
Overall: Attractive and memorable production & reflective lyrics, shows the endearing side of Jay-Z

I’m a child of Steve Jobs. I’ve been an iPhone user since the very first version. When Samsung announced their partnership with Jay-Z to deliver 1 million free copies of his new album, “Magna Carta: Holy Grail,” exclusively to Android users, sadness crept into my soul. I’ve always enjoyed Jigga’s music; it evolved as I did. From rough and tumble tales of “Hard Knock Life” in the ‘hood, to the Girls,Girls,Girls and moving “On To The Next One,” Jay-Z’s music has always spoken to me. “Magna Carta” was no different as Hova looks introspectively from where he currently stands, examining his childhood, career and new role as a father. Jay’s smooth delivery glides over a saucy beat on the album’s opener and first single,“Holy Grail” (featuring the soulful Justin Timberlake); a transformative experience that tells a story of love unreciprocated and gives a dichotomous depiction of a glorious life full of thrills. On “Blue,” a track mellowed out like the finest bourbon, the emcee pays homage to the newest edition of the Roc La Familia: his daughter, Blue Ivy. Sharing thoughtful messages from his father, Jay goes through his upbringing. Samples of Biggie Smalls lyrics are laced throughout, perpetuating the nostalgic vibe. Affectionately exclaiming on “My Beach is Better:” “I brought sand to the beach because my beach is better,” this album definitely shows a much more personal, kinder and gentler side of the multimillion-dollar mogul. 

One of the most rewarding takeaways from project are the complex, almost mind-boggling production cuts from Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland and a few newcomers. For example, the mysterious and dark beat of “Nickels & Dimes” breathes sobriety into Hov’s flashbacks of cooking dope and selling trees. “Tom Ford’s” exciting mix of percussion and synth makes for a mouthwatering melody and takes us back to the “Big Pimpin’” days. Among the most memorable tracks is “Heaven,” where he addresses the great “Illuminati” devil-worship discussion. At one point, he states “Conspiracy theorists screaming Illuminati…they can’t believe this much skill is in the human body…he 6’2, how the fuck he fit in the new Bugatti?.…Aw s***, you got me.” Throughout the song he adamantly insists that he is in fact playing for God’s team. Ultimately, “Magna Carta: Holy Grail,” represents a new era for the Carters--they do what they want and say what they want. He and his wife, pop-star Beyonce`, have elevated from the ranks of mere artists and business people. For that matter, they may have elevated past mere mortals! “Magna Carta: Holy Grail” is just that…sacred.  

By @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer
Will.I.Am's new album "#WillPower" (yes, the hashtag is in the title) is an underwhelming collage of generic pop that meets the P. Diddy-collab formula. Usually such an album has a couple of gems in the mix that you can take out and add to your iPod, but “pound WillPower” has no such song. The only songs of merit in terms of theme is "The World Is Crazy," where he comments on how desperate people become for fame and the lengths they go to obtain it (specifically on hyped up YouTube videos) and "Ghetto Ghetto," about how horrible the ghettos are in America (no duh). Aside from these random strays, he gives us reduced, re-used and recycled material: reduced production (nothing really wowed me except for string arrangements at the end of 2 songs), re-used chord progressions and song ideas (check out "Fall Down" feat. Miley Cyrus and try your hardest not to sing Ke$ha's "Die Young" atop of the instrumental), and recycled lyrics. I won't even harbor on Will.I.Am's vocal performance or overuse of auto-tune because anyone can do that, but to not even have a theme or direction is just ridiculous. Yes, we need our party albums, but even those have themes (see Kelis' "FleshTone," which ironically was partly produced by Will.I.Am).

Even the long list of collaborations doesn't make this album a must-hear; if Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus amidst others can't make your album at least a bit interesting, nothing will. As for the deluxe songs? Yeah, they were left off of the original album for a reason. However, the most innovative of production was on “Bang Bang,” where he has a weird mash up of 1940's show-tunes with dance music, but even that track wasn’t fully thought out and is easily skippable after the first minute, once you hear how he mixed the two. I enjoyed the occasional empty spaces in between song changes though. Since we at JSaysOnline get reputations for being "too harsh,” don't take my word for it, check out the consensus of customer reviews on the actual iTunes website.