The music industry is slowly waking up from it’s January slumber. No huge releases are scheduled out this week, but a couple of acts who have modest followings poke their heads out (just like the groundhog…what can I say, I’m early), including Grammy-nominated pop star Natasha Bedingfield. If you don’t know who Bedingfield is, you’ll remember her big hit “Unwritten”, which I believe is a shampoo commercial now? Anyway, her sophomore release, titled N.B. (how imaginative!!) hits stores today despite having been out in Natasha’s native U.K. for something like six months now. Allegedly, the British version is much better, having been sliced and diced to make it more “palatable for American audiences”, which is another way of saying people who do marketing for major American record labels don’t know their asses from their elbows.
At any rate, there’s also a new covers album from indie darling Cat Power, a brand new CD from alt-country faves The Drive-By Truckers, and a new set from equally mellow Jack Johnson associate Matt Costa…perhaps whetting appetites for Johnson‘s own new set, which arrives in two weeks.
Let’s take a quick side jaunt around the news for a sec to fill this out, huh?
A news report quoted the Associated Press as saying that they’ve already created an obituary for Britney Spears. Now, I’m all for the Brit-bashing, but don’t you think that’s a bit creepy??
The Writers’ Union has stated that they will NOT strike the Grammy Awards, happening in less than three weeks. With the Oscars under threat of being cancelled (and a less-than-stellar list of nominees), this may be the last major award show you see for quite some time. Although considering the list of nominees and scheduled performances (a list that so far only includes the overexposed Beyonce and the predictable Foo Fighters), this could potentially be a snoozefest.
Finally, in the “this might be worth waiting for” department, George Michael (memba HIM?) is writing his memoirs-for the SECOND time. The pop superstar initially wrote an autobiography called “Bare” back in ’90, which wound up baring little at all. In the time since, he’s lost a lover tragically, fought with various record companies, torpedoed his own career, come out of the closet and gotten busted numerous times for drug or sex-related offenses. If George lets it all hang out, this could be really, REALLY good. Happy Tuesday!!
