Top 5 Wedding First Dance Songs + Katy Perry does it again!

June is almost upon us and its traditionally one of the most popular months of the year for Weddings. I recently did an interview with AXS.com where I gave my personal Top 5 Wedding First Dance Songs and why. We also talked about what makes a love song timeless - what makes it last year after year and decade after decade. Why do some songs from the 60s-70s still get played on the radio today while others are forgotten to history. It was a fun interview and you can reac the whole thing right here at Vincent James - Top 5 Wedding First Dance Songs

I'll relist the songs here but you'll need to check the AXS article for why I picked this particular five. My top five in no particular order were:

• Can't Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley)
• I Swear (All 4 One, John Michael Montgomery
• Nothings Gonna Change My Love For You (Glenn Medeiros)
• Valentine (Jim Brickman featuring Martina McBride)
• All of Me (John Legend)

Feel free to post a comment here telling us what your favorite Wedding First Dance song is. To check out the full interview about Top 5 Wedding First Dance Songs please click here

Katy Perry gives us another #1 Pop Song

One of my new favorite songs from the radio isn't exactly a Wedding First Dance song, but it is a great pop tune. Since coming on the scene in 2008, Katy Perry has given us no less than 13 Top Ten Billboard hits including 9 #1 hits - that is pretty amazing for any artist but especially one still so young. Katy Perry started out as Katy Hudson (her real name) back in 2001 with a self-titled CD release and two tours when only 16 years old. Back then her music primarily focused on Christian Rock but unfortunately was not successful. After transforming her music and style into a pop princess she has given us hit song after hit song. Katy's latest song "Dark Horse" has also gone to #1 and for good reason. It's an incredibly well-written and produced pop song and features these tantalizing lines:

"Make me your Aphrodite...
Make me your one and only" which is followed up by

"So you wanna play with magic,
boy you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this"
Cause I'm coming at ya like a dark horse

It's not Shakespeare, but as pop lyrics go they're pretty awesome and when you add in some great melodies that Katy is famous for you can definitely see why "Dark Horse" went all the way to #1. My only partial critique of the song is I'm not a big fan of the rap inserted in the middle like is done on many pop songs these days. There are many rap songs I have liked over the years and I have liked when rap is inserted into a pop song in some cases. But too many times I feel its added just to try to expand the audience when the pop song really stands on its own with the added rap just detracted from the music. I'll write a future blog post featuring pop songs where I felt the rap section added actually added something to the song to make it better.

Here is the Egyptian themed video for "Dark Horse" which has been viewed almost 400 million times (that's just crazzzzy)

That's everything for today folks - I hope you have a great weekend and we'll be back to you with another post in June - which is like reaaaaal soon :)

Peace, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Happy Memorial Day and THANK YOU to all who help protect freedom!

Today is Memorial Day in the USA and this is the day we give thanks to all the men and women who put themselves in harms way every day to protect our freedom. They also make many many sacrifices including extended periods of time away from loved ones. We could never live the every day peaceful life we live without their sacrifice.

Here is a six minute tribute that I found particularly touching. At the end it also helps us remember all of the conflicts our American veterans were sent to fight in. Note that many times they did not want to fight, but did so as a way of honoring their duty and protecting our freedoms.

Today we live in a connected world, and many of you reading this will not be from the USA. Despite being an American holiday with beginnings in the American Civil War, I believe Memorial Day should honor all service members from all countries who protect the freedoms of their country.

I'll end with what is my favorite song about the USA - "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood which was first released in 1984. Regardless of your religious beliefs or country citizenship, you may still agree that this is a very powerful song both musically and lyrically:

If tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife
I'd thank my lucky stars to be livin' here today
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away

I wish you all a safe and happy Memorial Day - Thank you once again to all who protect and serve us every day!

Peace, Love & Laughter, ~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Michael Jackson is back with "Love Never Felt So Good"

It has been almost 5 years since Michael Jackson left this world too early, dying at age 50 while in preparations for what was meant to be his final tour "This Is It". Like many I have been a fan of Michael's music since the beginning when the Jackson 5 brought us such amazing songs as "I Want You Back", "ABC", "Got To Be There" and many many more. Michael and his brothers didn't wrote those songs back then but their voices did bring those songs to life and embedded them in our musical memory forever.

Once Michael transitioned into a solo artist he took a more active role in writing/co-writing much of his material. This month two new Michael Jackson songs have been introduced after being revived from the vault of previously recorded material. The first is "Love Never Felt So Good", a song written by Michael and the also legendary Paul Anka way back in 1983 (think Thriller time-frame). For those of you that don't know Paul Anka, he was famous for many hits in the 50s/60s/70s with songs like "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", "Diana", "You're Having My Baby" plus he wrote the theme song for the original Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the English lyrics for "My Way" by Frank Sinatra (not too shabby).

For an unreleased track, "Love Never Felt So Good" actually feels really good and would surely have been a hit for Michael at almost any point in his career. Listening to the song it sounds like they most likely updated the music tracks a bit to make it more current. They definitely succeeded as the song is starting to really grow on me and after 3 weeks has cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Usher did a fantastic tribute to Michael and his new song "Love Never Felt So Good" at the recent I Heart Radio Music awards. Check it out here and let us know what you think about Michael's latest song.

Also on the new posthumous new album "Xscape" is a song called "Slave To The Rhythm" which was featured in a Michael Jackson hologram on the recent Billboard Music Awards - We'll talk about that in our next blog entry coming up later this weekend.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend to everyone out there celebrating, and to everyone else please enjoy the last weekend for May 2014!

Music, Love & Laughter

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Happy Mothers Day and NOW US - 50th Edition

First we'd like to send out a BIG Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms out there! We are all indebted to you for everything you have done for us in the past, present and future. Canada Huffington Post has a great article listing some of the most touching songs about Mom which includes tracks by Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Boyz II Men and more. Check out the full list right here - 20 of the most adorable Songs about Mom

One of the standout songs is "Mama Liked the Roses" by Elvis Presley who lost his mother to a heart attack in 1958 when he was 23. His tearful funeral quote was "Goodbye, darling. I love you so much. I lived my whole life just for you." A decade later, Elvis recorded this beautiful tribute that shows just how much a mother's love endures.

"Now That's What I Call Music - 50th US Edition

Since 1998, the "Now That's What I Call Music" has steadily put out hit CD after hit CD. The "NOW" series originally started in the UK in 1983 and has now expanded to over 25 countries. Altogether the US series of 50 CDs has included 984 songs, 583 artists and together with all NOW series in the world have sold over 250 million CDs (WOW NOW!). The US 50th NOW CD track listing includes some of the best songs on the radio right now including "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, "All of Me" by John Legend, "Pompeii" by Bastille and more.

Unfortunately not all the NOW tracks are hit material - As I continued scrolling through the track list and listening to unfamiliar songs there were many of what I would call B-sides included. I'm sure this has to do more with licensing restrictions then the inability to pick out the hit songs :) Still you may listen to the whole CD and find a new gem of a song that really appeals to you.

Here's a Youtube tribute to the NOW US - 50th edition:

NOTE: When searching out the NOW 50th edition be aware that the UK 50th edition came out in 2001 (confusing right :)) and the UK version includes some very cool hits from say 13 years ago. Here's the YouTube clip for NOW UK 50th which features Westlife, Destiny's Child and Kylie Minoque among others (flassssh back whiplash :))

That's all for today kiddies - Once again a very HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the Moms out there - hope you have a wonderful Mothers Day Weekend!

Peace, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

"Me and My Broken Heart" by Rixton - Now THAT's a catchy hook

New English band Rixton have cracked the Billboard Top 40 with their first single "Me and My Broken Heart". The second you hear the opening chorus being you know this is gonna be good. Very catchy hook, great sounding vocal and a lyric that many can relate to when we're down and out on love:

All I need is a little love in my life
All I need is a little love in the dark
Just a little but I'm hoping it might
Kick start Me and my Broken Heart

Our hearts sometimes neeeeed a little kick start and this is the perfect pop tune to do it!

Alex B from Philly is our Indie Love Song Artist of the Month for May

Back on the US side of the pond we have an extremely talented young artist from Philadelphia making some great pop music. We're talking about none other than Alex B. I've seen Alex perform several times and he is the real deal - He has the voice, the look, AND the songs...but most of all he has IT. He has that magical star quality that the rest of us run around trying to figure out how to invent, when the truth is some artists are just born with it. Check out Alex's great poptune "Rollercoaster" playing on the front page of LoveSongs.com

Here also is a fun video of Alex's song "Will You Be My Girl" - Check out both songs and see if you don't agree that there's something pretty cool going on with 14 year old Alex B and his music.

New LoveSongs.com mobile site launching sooooon!

That's right we'll be launching our new mobile site very soon - We're putting on the finishing touches and hope to have it up by this Monday May 5th (Cinco de Mayo yaaay!). No more squinting our eyes when we browse on our phones :) We've also updated our current Favorite Love Songs chart at Vote for your Favorite New Love Song. Lots of new songs added including tunes by Katy Perry, Christina Perri and Justin Timberlake

That's all for todays news - stay tuned for another update verrrry soon!

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com