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Short recap from the last week: Raheem DeVaughn follows up his enjoyable Jackin’ 4 Beats mixtape with a sequel, Beyonce returned with her latest high-octane video, and a (highly-praised) remix of Mike Posner’s Falling.
This one has a slower, more pop-balled influence with a simple, key-driven melody supplemented by lashings of percussion, creating an atmospheric backdrop to complement her voice. Topped off with a catchy hook, this is yet another great effort from Erin. 3 for 3 by my count.
XV links up with Erin once more (here for the first time) for what I assume is the official remix of Erin Christine’s superb single, and comes through with yet another very enjoyable performance. He shows his subject versatility here and keeps with the vibe of the original on his well-delivered and intelligent verse. Many rappers would have stuck to ‘what they know’: this feature proves that contextual verses make guest spots worthwhile. You can check out an acoustic performance of the original track here, and/or grab the audio for the original studio version here. The official visuals for a good little collabo between all these four up-and-comers. XV has been on his grind for a little while now, churning out great track after great track, so it’s good to see some much needed airtime for the guy. Nothing really to add what I already said about the audio (go cop that here), the visuals are decent enough, with the four of them banting it up in the club and Erin Christine looking as lovely as ever.
Unlike recent weeks, there’s a pretty big recap on this week’s notable R&B/pop events: Yasmin previewed her new single, Tank came through with a new video, Timbaland’s #TimboThursdays rolled on, Trey Songz released the Love Faces video, Miguel and Gilbere Forte combined for a fantastic effort, Diddy’s Dirty Money trio released an official mixtape, last week’s notable Grammy performances, Bruno Mars’ Grenade getting the Lil’ Wayne remix, and finally Erin Christine’s fantastic performance of Naked. All worth checking out, and more worth your time after the click below. Undoubtedly, Erin is one of the better upcomers in the alternative pop scene, and this performance of Naked certainly cements that belief. I’d actually only discovered this song very recently (go here for the audio), and was mightily impressed with the song as an all-round piece. Erin certainly does it justice here with a raw, unfiltered rendition that showcases her vocal talents very well. It’s always great to see/hear artists that can sing just as well live as they do in studio recordings, and there’s absolutely no doubt that she possesses that ability: it makes artists far easier to support when that’s the case, and as a result this sort of talent tends to get the rewards it deserves. Definitely worth a watch to get a glimpse of a ready-made, soon-to-be mainstream favourite, and one I expect to really flourish in 2011. I’m a little smitten too.
Either way, the R&B/pop keeps coming thick and fast with another well-proportioned episode for you this week. Four R&B-related OTU items for you from the week gone by: the latest video from the Dirty Money trio, the first mixtape offering from Dirty Money’s Dawn Richard, visuals for Sean Garrett and J. Cole’s collaboration, and finally the official remix of Chipmunk and Chris Brown’s collab, also featuring J. Cole. Click on for music and a whole pile of related text.
XV just let this loose on his Twitter, and what a collaboration to let loose. Featuring fellow upcomers CyHi Da Prynce and Vado, each rapper brings likeable verses to a well-stocked table that contains a beat reminiscent of 2006/7 Kanye West, and an Erin Christine hook that also wouldn’t sound out of place on Ye’s 06/07 material: an all-round package that most certainly suits XV. Definitely looking forward to what else all three of these rappers bring us in 2011. Download linkage below. I was really impressed with the remix of this track, and I’m even more impressed with my first exposure to the original. The remix heavily altered the production, and gave it a more pop-urban mainstream sound: the comparatively stripped-out original really brings out the emotion in the track a lot better, as well as projecting Erin’s voice more strongly. I’ve got a feeling Erin’s going to be a pretty big deal, as she’s got all the tools in her locker to gain widespread approval: great voice, good songwriting, the ability to play an instrument, and she’s easy on the eye. Most importantly though, her vocals are really memorable and anchor this track brilliantly with a crossover sensibility. The video is decent too, with a simple narrative that does its job in fleshing out the lyrics and adding life to her voice. Very interesting one here, I’d definitely keep a look out for Erin in 2011.
The week has already seen a great new video from Tank, two new remixes from T-Pain, a captivating video for Bruno Mars’ Grenade, the UK’s own Chipmunk working with Chris Brown, another release from Trey Songz’s upcoming mixtape, Keri Hilson and Kanye West getting together for a new remix, Keyshia Cole and Nicki Minaj’s collabo video, and the unexpected release of a John Legend and Estelle EP. Lots up there, and lots down below. Click on. |
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