Thirsty Thursday – Idol’s and Song Choice
Okay I don’t know what Thirsty Thursday has to do with song choice, except after last night I am really dying for some better songs (read on). Last night was the Idol Results Show and I there wasn’t much love lost when we said goodbye to Megan Joy. Earlier in the season I kinda liked her vocal style and it seemed to fit with the song choices she made. But as the weeks wore on it just became harder to listen to her quivering voice. At least she’ll be able to do the tour, get some more experience under her belt and perhaps something will come of her Idol experience.
David Cook and Song Choice - Yes I know David Cook is last years Idol but now more than ever song choice is very important if you want your career to have life after your initial Idol album. I was listening to David’s performance last night of “Come Back To Me” and was the first time I had heard this tune. Honestly this is a B-Side song if I ever heard one…a B-side for those not from the Vinyl days is a song that’s not good enough to be an A-side hit on the front of the 45 Single (back when we all played records on a turntable :)). I jumped online and was relieved to see that “Come Back To Me” was off David’s debut Idol album and not a new album. Meaning the record label is just trying to milk the album for more singles (after "The Time of My Life" and “Light On”)…I haven’t heard the rest of the album but if “Come Back to Me” is the next best song its time to stop marketing singles off this CD and quickly put together a new one with at least 2-3 hit quality songs. Many of the Idol winners (Taylor Hicks, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard) and runner ups have not had much chart success after their initial album and the #1 reason is song choice, song choice, song choice. Instead of the label/19 Entertainment going out and finding the best possible hit songs for these artists the song choice is left more to the artist or others controlling the production of the CD (producer, manager, etc). There’s a saying “It all starts with a song” and its absolutely true the better songs they put on the albums (regardless of who wrote them), the better chance the artist will have a lengthy career. So can you tell I’m a songwriter with this rant :)
We’ll do a followup posting on Song choice soon with more fun details to kick around. Next week this years Idols will be singing songs from the year they were born…so will range from 1980 (Danny Gokey) to 1992 (Allison Iraheta). As always should be interesting to see what songs they pick.
Tomorrow’s blog will touch on some different dating websites and the different audiences they attract. Have a great Thursday and will see ya soon!
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Happy Fools Day (as I wave to myself in the mirror :))
World Kissing Record - Yep today is April Fools day and unfortunately I don’t have any timely news for this holiday. I did however see something interesting recently that happened back on valentines Day. About 40,000 people gathered on Valentines Day in Mexico City for a group kiss and set the worlds record for the largest group ever assembled for a group kiss (see http://news.aol.com/article/mexico-city-kissing-record/343849 ).
Now that would have been an event I would have liked to have joined in on ha ha. Seriously though its nice ot see positive news and events coming out of Mexico with all the reports of gun-violence below the border. I can’t wait to see what they do to try and top the 40,000 puckered lips next year :)
American Idol Recap - Last night was definitely interesting with a few songs that I wasn’t really familiar with. I pretty much agreed with the judges across the board especially regarding Lil’Rounds song choice..she definitely needs to lean younger/hipper on her choices. I did however like Alison’s outfit, my only problem with her was her singing Gwen Stefani made it more sound-a-like with less room for originality. I know she’s only 16 so she probably needs more real guidance on song choice than anyone. Overall my favs last night were Adam Lambert (again) and Scott MacIntyre (which surprised me). As much as Megan seems nice to talk with and has the looks and image, I really have trouble listening to her sing the last few weeks (even after she’s feeling better). Her voice quivers way too much giving it little to no definition..something the ear can latch on to. She may keep on hanging in there though as there are only 3 girls left..more than likely one of the guys will go these time.
That’s all for wacky Wednesday April fools day….be back tomorrow with some new news on the website and reactions to tonights results show.
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
World Kissing Record - Yep today is April Fools day and unfortunately I don’t have any timely news for this holiday. I did however see something interesting recently that happened back on valentines Day. About 40,000 people gathered on Valentines Day in Mexico City for a group kiss and set the worlds record for the largest group ever assembled for a group kiss (see http://news.aol.com/article/mexico-city-kissing-record/343849 ).
Now that would have been an event I would have liked to have joined in on ha ha. Seriously though its nice ot see positive news and events coming out of Mexico with all the reports of gun-violence below the border. I can’t wait to see what they do to try and top the 40,000 puckered lips next year :)
American Idol Recap - Last night was definitely interesting with a few songs that I wasn’t really familiar with. I pretty much agreed with the judges across the board especially regarding Lil’Rounds song choice..she definitely needs to lean younger/hipper on her choices. I did however like Alison’s outfit, my only problem with her was her singing Gwen Stefani made it more sound-a-like with less room for originality. I know she’s only 16 so she probably needs more real guidance on song choice than anyone. Overall my favs last night were Adam Lambert (again) and Scott MacIntyre (which surprised me). As much as Megan seems nice to talk with and has the looks and image, I really have trouble listening to her sing the last few weeks (even after she’s feeling better). Her voice quivers way too much giving it little to no definition..something the ear can latch on to. She may keep on hanging in there though as there are only 3 girls left..more than likely one of the guys will go these time.
That’s all for wacky Wednesday April fools day….be back tomorrow with some new news on the website and reactions to tonights results show.
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Two Blog Tuesday HA HA :)
That’s right folks its two blogs in a row like in back to back as in absolutely amazing :) Okay I promise not to celebrate again until Friday when and if I hit 5 blogs in a row :)
Piano Glove – Turning you into a Player Piano - Today we’re gonna talk about this cool Piano invention I saw called the “Piano Glove” that actually turns any 5 fingered person into a player piano (pretty cool huh :)). Seems the lightweight glove hooks up to a computer and will send each finger vibrations when that finger is supposed to hit a key. Gee I wonder if it does just the 5 keys in front of your hand or if it can tell your fingers/hand to move up and down the keyboard :) As a piano player myself this invention does sound pretty neat although I’m not entirely sure of its benefit beyond the novelty aspect. The general selling point is that by using the glove you are training your brain to remember which fingers to use (and maybe helps prevent lazy fingers ha ha..I can see the extreme version next where the vibration becomes a shock if you don’t play the right key. The Piano glove is also apparently wireless and to learn more about it at the GA Tech website at Piano Glove
AI Tonight – Top Itunes Downloads - I went searching today to find out what the music theme for tonight was going to be and low and behold its Idols singing the Top ITunes Downloads. That’s pretty funny after I did my rant in Monday’s blog about the ITunes price hike that starts April 1st. I’m sure the timing of the ITunes theme night is meant to somehow offset the bad-press of the price hike but it might backfire and give it more attention. So if its Itunes night I suspect we’ll hear a lot of current tunes sung by the Idols tonight. Best way to stay in the game is to choose a song sung by the other gender (ie. Not yours) and change the arrangement so it doesn’t sound like bad karaoke. It also helps if you improve upon the current arrangement now being blasted at us on radio a bazillion times/day. This week is probably do or die for Scott MacIntyre who seems out of his league these days although Megan joy could also be in trouble if she doesn’t remember what it was we liked about her way back.
That’s all for today Tuesday…tomorrow we’ll blog about the Idol performances from tonight and some other music’n’love tidbits :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
That’s right folks its two blogs in a row like in back to back as in absolutely amazing :) Okay I promise not to celebrate again until Friday when and if I hit 5 blogs in a row :)
Piano Glove – Turning you into a Player Piano - Today we’re gonna talk about this cool Piano invention I saw called the “Piano Glove” that actually turns any 5 fingered person into a player piano (pretty cool huh :)). Seems the lightweight glove hooks up to a computer and will send each finger vibrations when that finger is supposed to hit a key. Gee I wonder if it does just the 5 keys in front of your hand or if it can tell your fingers/hand to move up and down the keyboard :) As a piano player myself this invention does sound pretty neat although I’m not entirely sure of its benefit beyond the novelty aspect. The general selling point is that by using the glove you are training your brain to remember which fingers to use (and maybe helps prevent lazy fingers ha ha..I can see the extreme version next where the vibration becomes a shock if you don’t play the right key. The Piano glove is also apparently wireless and to learn more about it at the GA Tech website at Piano Glove
AI Tonight – Top Itunes Downloads - I went searching today to find out what the music theme for tonight was going to be and low and behold its Idols singing the Top ITunes Downloads. That’s pretty funny after I did my rant in Monday’s blog about the ITunes price hike that starts April 1st. I’m sure the timing of the ITunes theme night is meant to somehow offset the bad-press of the price hike but it might backfire and give it more attention. So if its Itunes night I suspect we’ll hear a lot of current tunes sung by the Idols tonight. Best way to stay in the game is to choose a song sung by the other gender (ie. Not yours) and change the arrangement so it doesn’t sound like bad karaoke. It also helps if you improve upon the current arrangement now being blasted at us on radio a bazillion times/day. This week is probably do or die for Scott MacIntyre who seems out of his league these days although Megan joy could also be in trouble if she doesn’t remember what it was we liked about her way back.
That’s all for today Tuesday…tomorrow we’ll blog about the Idol performances from tonight and some other music’n’love tidbits :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Monday, March 30, 2009
Happy Monday ALL!
Its been a whopping 4 ½ months since my last blog posting wow that’s pretty sad. Well to make it up to you starting this week I’ll be doing 5 blog postings per week Monday-Friday with new info and opinions posted each day. I figure if I can’t do once a week then maybe if I do once/day I’ll get into a rhythm (ha rhythm it’s a musical thing :)). Okay here goes:
Today we’re gonna talk about American Idol and ITunes Price hike that starts April 1st (that’s no joke).
American Idol – I’ve been watching AI pretty closely this year and have been very impressed with the quality of the contestants that made it into the Final 12. Alhough I wasn't surpised to see Michael Sarver go this past week, I was surprised to see Alexis grace go the week before. It seemed the only thing she was guilty of was the dreadful song choice ("Jolene") and then having to sing that same song in an emotional sing or bye bye event at the end of that night. Definitely didn’t feel it was her time to go but hey plenty of good ones left. Right now I’ll stake out my two favorites for the finals and say it will be Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta. Adam has a voice that is not to be believed and has the stage presence and artistry to go along with it. Give him the right songs and he will sell millions and millions of CDs without a doubt. Allison is also an amazing talent and to think she is only 16 is mind boggling. If she can keep hitting us with smart song choices and the same quality of performance she has been doing you just might see Adam vs. Allison in the finals in a battle of the A’s :)
ITunes Price Hike – After selling tunes for 99 cents since its inception I’m amazed to see Itunes raising the price to 1.29 for the most popular songs. I know this is being driven by the record labels and again the labels are making a big mistake in my opinion. Its easier in the consumer’s mind to know that all tunes are 0.99 instead of 0.69 to 1.29 . This change will just serve to confuse and alienate the consumer who will switch to Amazon or other places to get their legal MP3’s. Of course Apple Itunes will now give us MP3’s without the DRM Copy protection but that is long long overdue. If Apple is not careful they will see their market share of the MP3 market slowly decline. As far as the general price of MP3 downloads is concerned even 0.99 is probably more than it should be. A physical album used to cost $ 10-$15 which would be $1 - $1.50 per track..but in that was included the cost of packaging (now gone) and the payments due the record stores and distributors (now goes to Apple but hey NO PHYSICAL INVENTORY costs). So in my opinion selling any MP3 downlaods for more than 0.60-0.70 cents per song never ever made sense.
Okay that’s my rant for today..please stop back tomorrow to see whats new in the world of Love, Songs, Love Songs and Music :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Its been a whopping 4 ½ months since my last blog posting wow that’s pretty sad. Well to make it up to you starting this week I’ll be doing 5 blog postings per week Monday-Friday with new info and opinions posted each day. I figure if I can’t do once a week then maybe if I do once/day I’ll get into a rhythm (ha rhythm it’s a musical thing :)). Okay here goes:
Today we’re gonna talk about American Idol and ITunes Price hike that starts April 1st (that’s no joke).
American Idol – I’ve been watching AI pretty closely this year and have been very impressed with the quality of the contestants that made it into the Final 12. Alhough I wasn't surpised to see Michael Sarver go this past week, I was surprised to see Alexis grace go the week before. It seemed the only thing she was guilty of was the dreadful song choice ("Jolene") and then having to sing that same song in an emotional sing or bye bye event at the end of that night. Definitely didn’t feel it was her time to go but hey plenty of good ones left. Right now I’ll stake out my two favorites for the finals and say it will be Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta. Adam has a voice that is not to be believed and has the stage presence and artistry to go along with it. Give him the right songs and he will sell millions and millions of CDs without a doubt. Allison is also an amazing talent and to think she is only 16 is mind boggling. If she can keep hitting us with smart song choices and the same quality of performance she has been doing you just might see Adam vs. Allison in the finals in a battle of the A’s :)
ITunes Price Hike – After selling tunes for 99 cents since its inception I’m amazed to see Itunes raising the price to 1.29 for the most popular songs. I know this is being driven by the record labels and again the labels are making a big mistake in my opinion. Its easier in the consumer’s mind to know that all tunes are 0.99 instead of 0.69 to 1.29 . This change will just serve to confuse and alienate the consumer who will switch to Amazon or other places to get their legal MP3’s. Of course Apple Itunes will now give us MP3’s without the DRM Copy protection but that is long long overdue. If Apple is not careful they will see their market share of the MP3 market slowly decline. As far as the general price of MP3 downloads is concerned even 0.99 is probably more than it should be. A physical album used to cost $ 10-$15 which would be $1 - $1.50 per track..but in that was included the cost of packaging (now gone) and the payments due the record stores and distributors (now goes to Apple but hey NO PHYSICAL INVENTORY costs). So in my opinion selling any MP3 downlaods for more than 0.60-0.70 cents per song never ever made sense.
Okay that’s my rant for today..please stop back tomorrow to see whats new in the world of Love, Songs, Love Songs and Music :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Saturday, November 15, 2008
STOP the Holiday Music
Beware of the "Ides of November"...no wait that was March I missed it. Sorry my Roman history is not what it used to be. Well since our last post the USA has elected a brand new President, my home town Phillies won the World Series (we broke the curse) and gas is now very close to $ 2/gallon. Definitely signs that all is not completely bad in the world :)
That brings me to a very important subject this time of year. Why do several radio stations insist on playing Holiday music the Day after Halloween?? Does anybody ANYBODY want to hear Holiday music for 2 straight months??? I mean after hearing it for weeks on end it certainly takes the "special" out of the holiday feeling for me. Am I crazy or does anybody else agree with me? We've launched a Special Poll at LoveSongs.com to get your opinion at Holiday Music Poll . Personally I'm boycotting any station that plays Holiday music before Thanksgiving...that is the very earliest I want the beautiful "Silent Night" to be entering my ears.
Speaking of Holiday music you can stop our Lyric section starting November 28th to get all your Christmas, Santa and other Holiday Lyrics (note this is the day after Thanksgiving :)
That's all the ranting for now. I hope you and your family are weathering the economy and please be sure to remember what we are really thankful for this Thanksgiving...just being alive and having each other!
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!!
Well the month of October flew by and if you're like me your holding on tight as the economy and markets are on a crazy ride. The good news is gas is down to $ 2.49 in my neighborhood and the market staged a huge 900 point rally yesterday. That's what I love about America, there is always hope things will get better.
Here's the scoop on whats new at the website:
- New Voting Polls - We've got a new Daily Voting poll at Lovesongs.com - please check it out on our home page - We'll have a special Halloween song vote Thursday through Saturday come vote for your favorite.
- Adoption Song Free Download - Several years back I was asked by a radio station to write a song for a mother who had recently given up her baby for adoption. For the full story and to download the song please visit "So Many Things"
- FREE Ebook Available - Would you like to write a love song for that special someone in your life?? Well I'm here to tell you that anyone can do it even if you have no musical experience and dare not sing out of the shower :) We've got a simple 8 Step Process for you to follow on your fun journey to creating your first love song for someone...to start the adventure please visit Write a Love Song
That's all for now folks...new newsletter will be going out in 10 days or so. If you are in the US of A please don't forget to vote next week..if you don't vote you can't complain about who wins :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Website updates Sept 30 & Moreeee!
That's right we launched our first set of updates one day early (so we could get the bugs out :)). LoveSongs.com now has a wider page format so we can place more content within. New features that just rolled out include a Daily Poll (new poll every day :)) and a Weekly Trivia question (thanks for the answers coming in already). If you have a suggestion for a new Daily Poll or Trivia question please email them to me at Site Feedback.
Our Wedding Music section was greatly expanded with our updates yesterday. Now featuring 3X the number of song suggestions for your Ceremony and Reception. Please check out the new format at Wedding Songs
Our October newsletter will be going out tomorrow Oct 2nd and this will be our very first HTML format newsletter (yes I know I know we're behind the times :)). If you'd like to receive our updates 1x/month just enter your email address at the top of any our pages in our Email News box.
Whats next you say?? Here's a few things coming up very soon:
- Adoption Song - We have a very special song entitled "So Many Things" that was written for a mother who gave up their child for adoption. We'll be posting the song and lyrics online early in October and reaching out to Adoption agencies to let them know its available.
- Wedding Blog - We'll be starting a monthly wedding blog written by well respected wedding planners from across the land. Stop in each month to readly timely tips for planning your special day.
- Love Song FREE Ebook - "How to Write a Love Song & WOW The One You Love" was co-written by myself and songwriter Ande Rasmussen . We'll show you how anyone get create the most unique gift for someone you love no matter what your budget is.
- Love Song TShirts - Just in time for the holiday season, we'll be offering Love Song TShirts with many different styles available.
That's all for today kiddies...I hope this weekends stock market crazyness isn't affecting you too much. Best bet would be to turn off the TV and radio and check back in after the election....don't forget to vote of course :)
~Vincent James @ LoveSongscom
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