07 May

Posted at 23:33h in Uncategorised

Alicia Keys is back in a big way!! Dropping a seriously addictive track, ‘In Common‘ which delivers dancehall undertones perfect for the summer!

Produced by Illangelo, known for producing Drake, The Weeknd and Majid Jordan, the track is a fresh, slightly unexpected sound for Alicia Keys.

Details of a new album are yet to be announced, but fans can catch Alicia as a judge on the new season of The Voice in the US later this year and you can pick up the new track here

@CarlyMond

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YwHRTCyrEo

01 Feb

Posted at 19:13h in Carly-ann Mond, Uncategorised

Ive always enjoyed watching music award shows, The Grammys being the one that seemed to be most respected and widely encompassing. It seems to me though that over the past couple of years music award shows have become increasingly repetitive – opting to hand out the same awards to the same artists year upon year and making bizarre winner choices which seem to go against critical and public opinion.

Most recently this year’s Grammy awards saw Macklemore and Ryan Lewis take home 3 out of the 4 awards in the rap category with Kendrick Lamar being awarded none. Whether you are a fan of Kendrick Lamar’s music or not there is no denying that he has reignited rap and hip hop with the release of ‘Good Kid Maad City’ and his ‘Control’ verse along with the controversy that followed it. However the voters of the Grammys (music industry professionals) overlooked his contributions this year despite impressive album sales and critical acclaim to instead award an arguably more ‘mainstream’ act. India Arie described her frustration by tweeting “Kendrick Lamar WAS robbed, BUT he was not the only one who was robbed, though it’s called “Music industries biggest night” the Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s a popularity contest.” Even Macklemore and Ryan Lewis admitted that they wanted to see Kendrick Lamar win an award. I understand the impact of their song ‘Same Love’ and agree it was Grammy worthy but I doubt there are many people who would agree that they should have won the Best Rap Album award!

Best RnB album went predictably to Alicia Keys for Girl on Fire, with 15 Grammys being won out of 28 nominations in a 5 album career is it not time to hand the award to another deserving artist? Admittedly 2013 wasn’t the best year for RnB albums but the soulful offerings of Charles Bradley, K. Michelle and Raheem Devaughn were all overlooked in the RnB category, is this just because they are less well known than the other names nominated?

I had a lot of respect for music award shows, mainly because I enjoyed great music being celebrated, now it feels like the awards go to the biggest name on the nomination list in the hope that the most popular artists are present for the crowd shots and red carpet. If music awards are becoming less credible by the year and failing to reward the diversity and artistry which is now more present in music than ever, then have they become irrelevant?

One person did get it right at the Grammys this year – Kendrick Lamar delivered an explosive performance, if you haven’t seen it yet take a look online! On the more soulful side check out the below video, a track from Charles Bradley’s ‘Victim of Love’ – an album which definitely would have made my Grammy nominee list!!

Carly – ann (@CarlyMond)

Charles Bradley – You Put the Flame on It

 

 

 

 

11 Feb

Posted at 15:15h in Blog, Uncategorised

Sup my R&B family!

Welcome to my new blog. Finally… i think it’s time to deliver your one stop for R&B news, interviews, reviews, moans and what not in the world of me, Ronnie H and my superliscious R&B correspondent Michelle aka MichelleLicious!
If you don’t know what it is i does, YOU’RE LATE (but better late than never eh.)
I’m the RnB specialist of 1Xtra

I present The 1xtra RnB show Mondays from 10pm, The 1Xtra Chart show Saturdays from 1pm til 4pm and i gets all up in the mix on Sunday from 1pm til 4pm ol skool style!

On my R&B show i’ve interviewed everyone who’s anyone in the world of R&B. From R Kelly, Usher, Lemar, Corrine Bailey Rae, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Angie Stone, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Mary J Blige, Justin Timbalake, Jay Sean, Robin Thicke, The Dream, Chris Brown, Beyonce & Neyo.
Infact, i’ma launch this blog with my i/view with one of the biggest superstars in the game right now…12 time Grammy winner…Alicia Keys!!!

Coming soon…i’ll be uploading my past interviews with the aforementioned in my Archive section over there on the right so hold tight!
You can Look forward to all my video interviews with the R&B stars of now also, watchout for a crateful of my R&B mixes coming @ ya real soon 🙂

Now if you’re familiar with my 1xtra RnB show you may have heard MichelleLicious’s news bits on there. You’ll soon get to know that Meesh won’t be pulling any punches (Ouch!).

Go on girl!