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Kelly Clarkson: Piece By Piece | Album Review
Since the release of her last record, Kelly Clarkson‘s personal life has done a complete 180º turn around with the marriage to her manager’s son, Brandon Blackstock, the birth of her first daughter River Rose and a continued battle of public scrutiny about her weight. Though she has never been one to flaunt her personal life through the tabloids and often ignores stories of her weight, Clarkson instead shifts focus on her music and her voice. The voice that won her the title of America’s first Idol in 2002, a bundle of Grammy Awards and countless radio hits. On Tuesday, the singer will deliver her seventh studio album Piece By Piece, which has been noted as the singer’s most…
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The Hills Are Alive With Vanderpump Rules
Fans of the early 2000’s series The Hills often feel misty when they think of the days long before Housewives were flipping tables and Bad Girls were tearing out weaves, back when Lauren Conrad (known then only as LC) was just a girl with a dream discovering Los Angeles on her own. Well, along with her sassy and well-dressed friends always in tow to bring the drama. When the show said its final farewell, many tried to fill the void that the larger than life cast of characters left behind. Who would be America’s sweetheart with tears as black as night? And who would be the sassy neighbor, always looking for love…
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Ryan Cabrera: On The Way Up
It’s been ten years since Ryan Cabrera debuted on the music scene with his catchy lead single “On The Way Down” and his trademarks locks. Since then, the singer has been busy working on music, fighting the “norm” of the music industry, dating high profile ladies and fighting to share his craft with the world. On March 3rd, Cabrera will embark on the next phase of his career when he drops his new EP Wake Up Beautiful. The collection’s first single “House On Fire” is available now on iTunes and the video just debuted online. Weeks before the release of the long-awaited new EP, I chatted with Ryan to talk about his new music, his…
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Video Premiere: Taylor Swift “Style”
After it’s first two singles were released in 2014, 1989 became the biggest selling album of last year. Now with a new single to kick off 2015 the album may be continue to hold that title. Adding another number one to her list of accomplishments, Taylor Swift “Style” comes to life with a new video. This morning, the singer debuted her video for “Style”, the third single from the 1989 album. The clip, which is a more artistic presentation than she’s previous delivered, is also the singer’s sexiest effort to date. Rarely showing much skin and staying fairly true to her “good girl faith,” Taylor breaks the mold and mimes her trademarked lyrics with a sultry…
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Q&A: Asher Monroe
You may recognize his face and name from his days fronting Johnny Wright‘s boyband V Factory or from his starring role in the 2009 reboot of Fame. Asher Monroe has a long list of accomplished roles and history in music, and considering he’s only 26, that is quite an achievement. On the heels of the release of his second EP, On My Way: Part 2, which came out last month, V for Vetrano sat down with the actor/ singer to talk music, working with Chris Brown and “fame.” Chris Vetrano: You independently released the follow up to your first EP, On My Way: Part 1 recently. Why did you decide to release the two…
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2015 Grammy Recap
It’s the Super Bowl of the music industry. Music’s biggest night. Cassadee and I gathered at her new Nashville condo downtown in our version of red carpet looks — a step above onesie pajamas — to watch the biggest names in music take the red carpet, perform their hits and accept their prizes at the 2015 Grammy Awards. We laughed, we cried, we ate pizza. Wait, scratch the first two: we mostly just ate pizza. And now that I’ve recovered from my pizza-induced coma of Grammy reflection, I’m ready to break it all down in my annual Grammy recap for those of you who may have missed the big show. The Carpet…
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Review: Fifth Harmony ‘Reflection’
They’re the only real success story from FOX’s attempt at Simon Cowell‘s UK hit series X Factor. Fifth Harmony who placed third during the reality competition have been burning up the charts this winter with their latest single — the 80’s inspired “Sledgehammer.” It wasn’t an easy start for the manufactured girl group though. Ally, Normani, Lauren, Dinah-Jane and Camila, put together to form a female counterpart to Cowell’s One Direction, released an EP, Better Together, in the fall of 2013 that failed to gain much attention at mainstream radio and the group seemed unable to capitalize on their X Factor exposure. Late last year, the girls reemerged with a…
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Video Premiere: Five Knives “Sugar”
It’s no secret that Nashville based electronic punk rockers Five Knives won me over with their unique and fresh sound in a blossoming EDM (electronic dance music) market. Led by fiery frontwoman Anna M’Queen along with Nathan Barlowe, Zach Hall and Shane Wise, the band are preparing the release of their new — and first full-length — album later in the year. M’Queen and her male bandmates released the new single “Sugar” earlier this year, which also debuted a more polished look for the 4-piece band and a mainstream, pop-influenced sound. One that landed the band in the Top 5 on the Billboard chart with its freshman single. This week, the MTV Artist To Watch, premiered the video for the girl-power…
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Carrie Underwood Delivers “Little Toy Guns”
Carrie Underwood debuted a special delivery to her fans this morning. No, it wasn’t her first son (with husband and Nashville Predator’s Mike Fisher), which is due this Spring. Instead Underwood posted the emotional new video for her new single “Little Toy Guns” on her Facebook page with a special message for fans, seen below. In the clip, the mom-to-be is featured in a forest while a child’s fantasizes herself as a mystical hero set out to save her parents from the fighting that she overhears in the beginning of the video. Directed by PR Brown and written by Underwood, Chris DeStefano and Hillary Lindsey, the new single joins a compilation of the…
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Take 5: Hailey Steele
We all love to know what inspires our favorite stars and we want to know what – or who– is behind our favorite lyrics. But why so serious all the time? Take 5 was a regular feature on my music blog Tragic Kingdom that shed some light on the questions that you really want to know, but might never ask. To kickstart the feature on Listen! It’s Vetrano, Nashville’s new darling Hailey Steele. In November, Chris sat down with the singer on the release of her debut EP to talk life in Nashville, her time on ‘The Voice’ and getting drunk with Christina Aguilera. As if that wasn’t fun enough, let’s Take 5 with Hailey Steele.…
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For The Taking: Elenowen
It was a first on NBC’s smash competition series The Voice. Four celebrity coaches sat with their backs turned to hopefuls, listening to and hand-picking voices they thought could take their teams to the end of the season. But when Nashville’s husband and wife duo, Josh and Nicole Johnson, took the stage the judges were shocked to hear two voices expertly harmonizing their selected song. It was Blake Shelton who added the duo, known as Elenowen, to his inaugural team in the show’s first season. Since then, Elenowen have released their debut full length album Pulling Back the Veil, toured the country, signed two record deals, had a baby and then considered trading their perfectly matched…
