Hits and Misses on the Radio - July 2014

For today's post, we're gonna talk about some of our favorite songs currently on the radio and a few tunes that in our opinion miss the mark. First up on the recommended is list is "Am I Wrong" by the Norwegian duo Nico & Vinz - great melody with an intriguing underbeat that keeps pulling you in. It also has one of my favorite new lyric lines

"I ain't tryna do what everybody else doing
Just cause everybody doing what they all doing"

Making your own path and not apologizing for it - that's something we all should a little more of in our lives. Nico & Vinz took this cool song with an original feel all the way to #4 on the Billboard charts.

Next up is "Me and My Broken Heart" by the 4 piece band from the UK known as Rixton . This song has a monster hook

"All I need's a little love in my life
All I need's a little love in the dark
A little but I'm hoping it might kick start
Me and my broken heart"

"Broken Heart" starts off with this crazy catchy hook and never lets go after that. You will be singing along after just hearing this one time I promise. Rixton made it all the way to #6 on the Billboard 100 chart with this hook-laden gem, yet another great tune by a another new act imported from across the pond.

Last up in our trilogy of featured radio hits is another seemingly new artist at least when talking about this level of chart success. Ingrid Michaelson has been releasing singles to radio for several years, but her last big radio hit was with her debut CD and the song "The Way I Am". Fast forward 7 years and when I first heard "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid I thought it was kind of a silly song. The video homage to Robert Palmers "Simply Irresistible" was absolutely cut and fun to watch but I'm a song guy. However, after hearing "Girls Chase Boys" several times I began to hear it in a new light - the beautiful pop melodies and whimsical feel of the music really began to draw me in and I've been hooked ever since. Give it just a couple listens and I think you'll see what I mean if you don't already.

In addition to the three songs above there are some other holdouts still on the chart after weeks because well they are just great great songs. These include "All of Me" by John Legend, "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry and "Rude" by newcomer MAGIC!. We've talked about all three of these great tunes in earlier posts over the last month.

Misses on the radio today

This next group of tunes were recently released by established artists and unlike many of their earlier hits, they don't quite catch our attention. Songs like these usually make it on the chart because of the artists popularity and some good will from their earlier hits. In the artists defense, its quite possible they never intended for these songs to be released as a single. However they lose that control to record companies who will often try to put out as many "singles" as possible over the life of a full CD in order to keep the attention on their artist. Personally I think the labels do the artist a dis-service by doing that. If its not a song with hit potential - don't push it down radios throat and then make us listen to it and wonder if the artist's creativity has dried up.

Current examples of this are "Love Runs Out" by One Republic, "Birthday" by Katy Perry, "Map" by Maroon 5 and "Angel in Blue Jeans" by Train. All great song titles but the greatness stops there and we'd all be better off if radio was instead playing a much better song by a completely unknown artist. Once again my apologies to the artist as these decisions are usually completely out of their control.

That's all for this weekend - we'll be back tomorrow with some more good news about music changing someone's life. Until then please have a great nite!

Music, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #13 - Please visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Will the VOICE find its VOICE with its Season 6 Winner?

I have to confess, I have never watched an episode of The Voice which is now in its 6th season after debuting in the spring of 2011. I'm sure there have been numerous great singers performing on the show, most more talented then yours truly. I also must confess that I haven't watched American Idol for the last few seasons either. We all enjoyed Simon Cowells below the belt (but funny as all) comments to the contestants and the bickering between Paula Abdul and Simon. But what really peaked my interest was that Winners for the first several American Idol seasons would start releasing top quality songs on their recordings. Not songs that would be often hard pressed to be released as B-sides on a single back in the day (anybody remember B-sides?). In my opinion, the primary reason the Idol winners (and often 1st, 2nd and 3rd runner up contestants) were successful with radio and record sales was the quality of the songs.

It has been said by many, that "it all starts with a song" and they aren't kidding. If you don't have a great song you're not going to make a star out of anyone. Too many times songs are selected for these artists because of "who wrote the song", "who controls the song", translation: "who stands to gain money IF the song is a hit". Well I'm here to tell you that if you release a crappy song it isn't going to be a hit and there isn't going to be much money to be had :)

If I could give one piece of advice (as if they are listening) to the producers of future Idol and Voice winners it would be simply be: Find the absolute best songs you can that fits your artist and go with that song regardless of who wrote the song or who owns the publishing. Heck take an old song and re-work and have the artist make it their own - its no secret that some of the best songs ever written were not written recently. OR maybe the next time Adam Levine and his Maroon 5 band mates come up with another song like "Pay Phone", "Love Somebody" or "Daylight" he'll decide to let the Voice Winner take this song to the bank AND finally answer the question: "Will The Voice ever produce a star"?

Inside TV has some insightful information on this same topic here: The Voice vs. American Idol

In this article, Forbes magazine tells us last year the top earning American idol winners and Alumni - I think its possible to say that each of these 12 folks on the list have earned more than all of The Voice winners combined: Top 12 American Idol alumni earnings from 2013

Here's the gal that started it all winning "American Idol" season 1 - Kelly Clarkson singing "A Moment Like This" - the first of many great song released by Kelly since her 2002 debut:

Okay that's my soapbox for now - the reason for today's rant is that I realized I couldn't find a new song that I really liked enough to write about. Recently I've written about "Human", "Say Something", "Story of My Life", "Pompeii", "Happy" and "All of Me" - and each of these songs are STILL on the charts because they are THAT good. I'm sure there is something new out there I will really love but I just haven't heard it yet. Stay tuned I'll be looking and listening :) You can always tell me your favorite new song by voting on our "Love Song" poll at Vote for Favorite Love Song or post on our Facebook page at LoveSongs.com on Facebook

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

June is finally here and it's Hot HOT HOTTT

June is finally upon us and the temperature is scorching already. In my blog post just two weeks ago it was barely getting to 60 degrees, and now we've got a mini-heat wave of 90 and above. Would be nice to get some middle ground wouldn't it :)

Prayers for Oklahoma

Speaking of the weather, I was very sad to see that more tornados touched down in Oklahoma and surrounding area's yesterday killing some more folks. Tornado alley seems to be getting hit really hard and early this year. Praying for the families who lost loved ones and all those affected by this.

Love and Kidneys - Match made in Heaven

A Kansas City man proposed to his girlfriend at a KC Royals baseball game this week...this soon after she donated a kidney to him earlier this year (turns out she was a perfect match). This is definitely a feel good story that helps remind us how important organ donation is. Read more about this story here KC Royals fan proposes to donor girlfriend at the game.

PINK having FUN with "Just Give Me a Reason"

When I first heard this #1 song by PINK (and Nate Reuss from FUN), the haunting piano melody drew me in immediately. Then the touching lyrical story reminded me how fragile our love can be at times...lines like "You've been talking in your sleep...oh oh, things you never say to me...about our love..." coupled with the music will just get to you. If you haven't already heard it or want to to hear it again check it out here:

MAY Winners & Voting Charts updated for June

We had new winners in May - "Daylight" by Maroon 5 came in first with runnerup "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato. We reset the chart and added several new songs this month. Also coming later this month, is the return of the Alltime Favorite Love Songs chart (soon to be followed by the Alltime Favorite Love Song artists), both back by popular demand!

That wraps it up for today folks - more stuff going on so will be back with another post soon. Till then please stay cool and be cooler haaaa :)

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com