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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: John Legend

  • Chart Chat Early Edition: AC/DC, Adele and More!!

    I’ve decided to play around a little with the Chart Chat concept. Instead of one comprehensive wrap-up on Sunday, I’ll shoot you Album chart news on Wednesday, singles chart news on Thursday, and the comprehensive wrap-up will now appear every other Sunday under the name Chart Chat Plus.

    *Obviously, the big news is AC/DC‘s #1 debut. Black Ice moves over 784,000 units to land at the top of the big chart. It’s the biggest debut of the year excluding Lil’ Wayne, and is the band’s first #1 album in well over a quarter century. Following last year’s Eagles release, this is the second album that’s a retail exclusive (only being sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club) to debut at the top. It’s probably also worth mentioning that this album isn’t available digitally.

    *Brit soul/jazz siren Adele has jumped 129-46-11 following her appearance on the “Sarah Palin” episode of “Saturday Night Live”. Nice to see the rest of America catching on. I fell in love with this album the first time I heard it at the beginning of the year.

    *AC/DC’s strong debut eclipses the “High School Musical 3” soundtrack, which would have been #1 in most of this year’s other weeks. Instead, it lands at #2 with just under 300,000 units sold.

    *These two albums should hold on to their spots next week, but new albums from John Legend, Pink and Toby Keith are all expected to scan over 100,000 units in their first week, and who knows? One of them might just score an upset.

    This Week’s Top 20 Albums:

    01-“Black Ice” AC/DC

    02-“High School Musical 3” Soundtrack

    03-“Paper Trail” T.I.

    04-“Lucky Old Sun” Kenny Chesney

    05-“Death Magnetic” Metallica

    06-“Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock

    07-“The Sound” Mary Mary

    08-“Year of the Gentleman” Ne-Yo

    09-“Jennifer Hudson” Jennifer Hudson

    10-“Tha Carter III” Lil’ Wayne

    11-“19” Adele

    12-“Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna

    13-“A Little Bit Longer” Jonas Brothers

    14-“We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” Jason Mraz

    15-“The Recession” Young Jeezy

    16-“Covers” James Taylor

    17-“Gossip in the Grain” Ray LaMontagne

    18-“Damn Right Rebel Proud” Hank Williams III

    19-“Love on the Inside” SugarLand

    20-“Fearless” Jazmine Sullivan

  • John Legend’s Evolver: Can the Crooner Get Down?

    Photography by sry85.
    Photography by sry85.

    When it comes to smooth, mature soul music, John Legend is the man to beat. The protege of Kanye West, Legend (born John Stephens) has amassed strong sales, five Grammy Awards and critical kudos for his first couple of albums, Get Lifted and Once Again. He’s become known as the R&B singer you can take home to mom, a piano man in the mold of Lionel Richie and Brian McKnight. However, he’s also got a more pronounced hip-hop vibe and a wink-nudge, sly sexuality that’s a refreshing change from the crassness found in most R&B and hip-hop lyrics these days..

    Legend’s third album, Evolver, has been talked about as a departure. The spacy 80s synths of the bouncy first single Green Light certainly isn’t what you’d normally expect for the buttoned-up crooner, but a rap from the irrepressible Andre 3000 and the fun groove makes the song swing.. With Evolver finally in stores and online, two questions need to be asked. 1) Is the entire album a departure for John Legend, and 2) Can he make it work?

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  • The New Music Files 10/28/08: John Legend, Pink, Snow Patrol and More!!!

    Today marks the first “Super Tuesday” of the 4th quarter, where the labels start bringing out their super big guns. Lots going on this week, so let’s get right into it!

    John Legend–Evolver

    …In which the stately piano man gets frisky. Legend has called this album a slight departure for him, and indeed, first single Green Light sounds like nothing he’s released before. However, diehard fans who loved the smooth sounds of his first two albums needn’t fear, there’s tons of smoove balladry amid the club bangers on this album.

    Pink–Funhouse

    I love Pink. I think she’s got one of the best voices of any current pop singer, and I love the fact that she’s not afraid to have a little fun on her albums and in her videos. I must say, I’m a little underwhelmed by the single So What (which puts me in the minority, since the song hit #1), but then again I didn’t like Stupid Girls, and the rest of the album it came from, I’m Not Dead, was great.

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