John Legend drops “Who Do We Think We Are”

2013 you special musical beast you. We’ve heard new music from Beyonce, Justin’s just released his new album (review to follow this week) and now the ever cool John Legend has just dropped his new single. It’s called Who Do We Think We are. The single is taken off his forthcoming, fourth studio album “Love in the Future,” which is expected to drop on the 25th of June.

On the album Legend says, “I’m so excited to release this project.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed making this album with a team of incredibly gifted producers and co-writers.” Says Legend “Every day we went to the studio with the goal to create something beautiful, to make the best album of my career. After all the writing and arranging and re-mixing and editing, it’s finally time for the world to hear it.”

 You can hear the single above and it features Rick Ross (my worst but anyway). The video will drop in mid-April. Can’t wait to bring you more on this release too.

Alicia Keys is a Girl on Fire

Alicia Keys is truly a Girl on Fire. The star’s brand new album is sitting on top of the Billboard album charts this week. It debuted at number one with album sales of over 159 000 copies and this latest accolade adds to her already impressive run on Billboard. She now has five number one albums to her name. Big up Ms. Keys.

I’ve been listening to the album in my car and when I have some down time and I really am enjoying it. When the news of the album was announced, Keys promised a “new me” and that’s exactly what she is. She’s a mother, a wife. She looks amazing and from what I’ve seen in recent interviews and appearances, she’s just content, confident and loving life. I must admit though, when I heard the first single I was a bit worried about what else was to come. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the single, I was going on the reactions that I had encountered from friends and fellow AK fans. They weren’t loving it as much as I thought. So it made me wonder if the album would be similar and therefore how it would fare in the market.

Well when I went through to the album listening session recently, I was pleasantly surprised. Her voice is raw, stripped down to the basics and it sounds beautiful. She has some magical tracks in the form of Fire We Make, which features Maxwell. When It’s All Over
and Listen To Your Heart are my other favourites off the album too. You’ll hear her signature sound i.e. the oh Ms. Keys on piano and you’ll also hear her little man, Egypt too.

On this album she’s worked with husband and super producer, Swizz Beatz. She’s also enlisted the writing duties of John Legend, Emeli Sandi, Babyface and Nicki Minaj.  Track listing below:

1. De Novo Adagio (Intro)
2. Brand New Me
3. When It’s All Over
4. Listen To Your Heart
5. New Day
6. Girl On Fire (Inferno Version) f. Nicki Minaj
7. Fire We Make f. Maxwell
8. Tears Always Win
9. Not Even The King
10. That’s When I Knew
11. Limitedless
12. One Thing
13. 101

If forced to rate the album out of ten, I’m going to go with a cozy 8. Grab yourself a copy on the iTunes store in America, Europe… and SA!! Boom

John Legend press conference – video highlights

One of my favourite artists is back in South Africa. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, it’s Mr. John Legend. The star will perform at a Women’s Day Concert, alongside Unathi Msengana and MiCasa at the Sandton Convention Centre tomorrow night. Holding down the MC duties will be the lovely Minnie Dlamini. If you haven’t got your tickets, askies, shem. You can catch him on Idols on Sunday evening then.
Earlier I went through to a press conference with the star. He’d just arrived in the country, so naturally he was a little tired. We were therefore limited to 15 questions (give or take) and a total of 13 minutes according to my video footage. So it wasn’t long at all, but we did get to hear about his new album, his Women’s Day message, on being back in SA and more. Check out some of the highlights from the presser earlier. I’ll have more on his and Unathi’s thoughts on being involved with SA Idol on Monday, so stay tuned for that.

Related articles

• Details for John Legend’s concert (jasonvonberg.wordpress.com)

Details for John Legend’s concert

In case you missed the news the awesome John Legend is heading back to Mzansi this August. The star is heading out as part of a Woman’s Day concert to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on the 10th of August. Legend will be sharing the stage with the lovely Unathi Msengana and SAMA winners MiCasa. The event’s host will be the lovely Minnie Dlamini.

Honestly, this might be dedicated to the ladies, but damn with a lineup like this, I’m super stoked. Legend is one of my favourite artists ever and I’m being dead serious about that. Unathi is just the bomb. I’ve known her for many years now and she’s just so great. As for the trio that is MiCasa? Well la la la la la, La Vida… These guys are the shit!

Tickets are on sale now and they start at R900 (expensive much?). Visit Computicket and get yours now.

Full press release below:

Kelly Clarkson has a ‘Dark Side’ … Watch

Kelly Clarkson’s new music video is out. It’s the third single taken off her latest offering Stronger and it’s called Dark Side. This is one of my favourites off the album. Kelly is looking really good in the video too, seems to have slimmed down a bit not so?

Grammys 2012- red carpet

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards are here. Finally. It’s going to be a bittersweet evening tonight, but here are a few highlights from the red carpet.

Big hair seems to be the order of the day. Corinne Bailey Rae, Kelly Rowland are showing that tonight. As is Diana Ross. Bruno is wearing Tom Brown.

Kelly Price spoke about chatting and singing with Whitney Houston, whom she sang with on Thursday evening. She said it was an honour and that she didn’t expect her to get up and sing, but Whitney insisted. When Ryan asked her what Whitney would’ve wanted tonight, she said, “She would want it to be celebratory and about the music. She loved what she did.”

Sasha Gradiva is looking very bizarre. She’s got some pink number on, which isn’t bad but the the ‘jewelery’ is the gun

Maroon 5′s Adam Levin talks about Whitney Houston, “She’s just Whitney freaken Houston. We’re all upset”. He also told Ryan Seacrest that he was excited to take to the stage with the likes of the Beach Boys and Foster the People.

Juilianne Hough tells Giuliana that her boyfriend Ryan Seacrest helped her picked out her outfit. Aah cute. They have a dual screen going up and they’re just cut to Ryan.

Fergie’s “more conservative” dress is very bright. She is rocking an orange number with black lingerie She was nominated and subsequently won for her role.

Jessie J says “it’s very surreal but I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to see Adele and represent the Brits”. She also said she was sad about the passing of Whitney Houston. “Her daughter was at the rehearsals and I got to meet her. I feel very honoured to be alive with her music”.

Katy Price has taken on a smurf look. Sans the blue hair, the rest of her looks good. Hopefully she’s on the road to becoming a happy smurf again.

http://www.grammys.com

Nicki Minaj arrived with her Bishop tonight. Sound weird? Well when a picture surfaces I will post it because clearly he’s her date for the night. She’s looking like Red Riding Hood. The makeup is very simple but she looks good.

Malin Ackerman is here too. Her dress doesn’t do much for me. I’m sure Joan Rivers will tackle this in more detail. Watch out for this.

John Legend is chatting to Ryan Seacrest. He gushed to Ryan about being newly engaged. His wife-to-be is beautiful.

http://www.grammy.com

Alicia Keys looks amazing tonight. The hair, the makeup, the dress. She just looks gorgeous.

Rihanna looks beautiful. Very very very good. Yowza! Winner! She’s in Armani.

Flo Rida on hearing about Whitney Houston’s death: “I was about to go on stage. I definitely spoke to the fans. She inspired me and my condolences go out to her”. He told Ryan Seacrest that there is some good things coming.

John Legend concert postponed

International singing sensation John Legend was supposed to be heading out to South Africa this weekend, to perform at the Mbombela Stadium as part of the Sixties Festival, but that gig has unfortunately been postponed to next year. The reason “unforeseen reasons”. It’s a pity because I know a lot of people were looking forward to this, but it happens I guess. It has been postponed to early next year, so as soon as there are any more details on the festival, I’ll let you know. Check out the full release below:

John Legend Concert postponed

The One Night Only Concert headlined by International R&B sensation John Legend scheduled for October 15, at Mbombela Stadium as part of the Sixties Festival in Nelspruit has been postponed and will now take place early in 2012.

Sam Sekgota, CEO of concert promoters, Molite Productions says, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are not able to hold the One-Night-Only Concert featuring John Legend as planned.  His fans should know that he was very willing and excited to be here for the show but we unfortunately could not hold the show as scheduled. 

Idols Top 8 Review

So last night the Idols Top 8 tackled the R&B theme. I missed the show, but I’m catching up on all the action via the official site. Here’s what I thought of last night’s performances (in no particular order):

Erin- I said last week I was a bit worried about her taking on Beyonce‘s ‘Halo’. Watching her perform it, I was pleasantly surprised. I think she did a nice version of the track. Much better than I expected.

Mark- Eish! Not so sure about this one. It’s safe but dare I say it was a little boring.

Kelly- Great performance. I think that could save her because her vocal wasn’t the best. I think she’s great though so I hope she’ll get to perform again. Just one observation, her accent is quite apparent when she sings. Anyone else noticed that?

Freddie- Freddie the free spirit took on the late Amy Winehouse‘s ‘Rehab‘. You can see he tried channeling his inner Amy (yes we all have one) but I don’t think he pulled it off as well as I’d hoped he would.

Dene- She chooses so well. For this show she tackled Christina Aguilera‘s ‘The Voice Within‘. She did a great job at this song! She amazes me. So young and yet so powerful! Great work!

Dave- Who knew a rocker could do Marvin Gaye‘s ‘Sexual Healing‘ so well? WOW!!! That was amazeballs!

Crushanda- She sang Whitney’s ‘Learned From The Best’. Clearly she did. How are those pipes? Girl can hit the right notes… right up top there. Nice!

Lefa- He took on one of my favourite artists of all time, Mr John Legend and a song that cemented him as a top player in the music biz (No Ordinary People). He did it well, like I expected.

So who should be in the bottom three this week. It’s tough. If I could pick a bottom four I’d go with Freddie, Mark, Kelly and Erin… It’s based on votes though, so let’s see how it goes!

 

Idols Top 8 song choices

 

Sadly Phaksy from Durban was the contestant who got booted off the Idols stage last night. He took on R&B star Loyiso Bala’s I Want You, which is such a pity. He clearly likes the genre and with Loyiso being the guest judge for this week’s show, Phaksy has just missed out. Alas, that’s the way of cookie crumbles. This week’s theme is of course R&B and here is what the contestants will be singing:

Crushanda Forbes: Whitney Houston’s “I Learned From The Best”

Good song choice. If anyone can pull it off, it’ll be Crushanda. She should be owning the stage this week. Let’s see.

Dave van Vuuren: the Marvin Gaye classic, “Sexual Healing”

With his very emotional stage presence, this one could get interesting. He’s pushing the boundaries with this song and it almost seems a little out of his vocal range. I’m interested to see what he does with this one.

Dené Vorster: “Voice Within” from Christina Aguilera

The judges have told Dene in previous weeks that she sings the song in question well, but she lacks the emotional maturity to really get it. I think she’ll offer a good vocal on this one and I think she might surprise us all with how she interprets the track.

Erin Fourie: Beyoncé’s “Halo”

Oy vey, that’s all I’m going to say!

Freddie Van’Dango: “Rehab”, by the late Amy Winehouse

Perfect song choice for Freddie! Let’s see how he channels his inner late Amy Winehouse.

Kelly Fortuin: Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You”

She’ll do this well I feel. She keeps surprising us.

Mark Haze: “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars

This one is a crowd pleaser and so I think he’ll get lots of votes. Having said that, and I stand to be corrected but Lloyd did this song last. It’s old, a bit stale. It’s a safe song choice.

Lefa Pike: John Legend’s “Ordinary People”

BOOM! I have big expectations for Lefa this week. I love me some John Legend and if he brings out his emotional, softer side, he will win many a vote in this round. Picture Lefa sitting on a chair, nothing other than him, Johan Laas on the piano a good vocal. Let’s hope he does it well!

Celebrate being South African and the World Cup’s legacy

Honestly, one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in my life happened exactly one year ago. In the video above you will myself and fellow Jozi residents in the streets of Sandton, South Africa as we await the Bafana Bafana team ahead of the FIFA World Cup. To be in that space was incredible and the tone was set right from that moment. Pessimists were kept at bay and we as South Africans opened up our doors, our hearts and we welcomed to the world to our country. In the video below you will see some of the highlights from the FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert, in which the likes of Shakira, Freshlyground, K’Naan, John Legend, Alicia Keys, BLK JKS and many many more performed on stage in Soweto.

So what do you remember and miss? I miss:

- The vuvuzela

- Soccer City

- Waka Waka-ing with Shakira and Freshlyground

- Waving My Flag with K’Naan

- Phillip… I honourary name for Feel it… It Is here

- That little annoying Kenako kid LOL

- I miss mocking Diego Forlán for causing misery for not only us South Africans but for other nations he and his fellow Uruguayan players played in the world cup. Having said that, he was one of the best players admittedly.

- I miss Hup Holland Hup

- I miss wearing my Bafana Bafana and Ghanian jersey, an American flag, a Dutchscarf all during the period of the world cup.

- Seeing former President Nelson Mandela coming onto the field at the closing ceremony with his wife Graça Machel. For him to be there and give his blessing (so to speak) was just the most incredible moment to witness. I cried like a baby and I am not ashamed to admit that. It’s because of him that this was even possible I believe. It was also a difficult time for the Mandela family as they were mourning the loss of 13-year-old Zenani, who was killed in a car accident the night of the Kick-Off Celebration concert.

Most importantly I miss that sense of pride and happiness we all experienced during that time. For those 6 weeks we were one. We were proud of how far we have come as a nation, not only in terms of the infrastructure that was built for the world cup, but in terms of our history and how much we have achieved in the 16 years since we became a democracy. The newspapers, news channels on TV and radio led with feel-good stories and not the negative press we’ve come to expect. The FIFA World Cup gave us beautiful stadiums, the Gautrain and a one-way ticket to greatness! Now as we build up to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, go forth and wear your rugby jerseys. Show your support for the team and remember how great we really are! I’m preaching but it’s true!