2013 is the New 2001: Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé and Destiny's Child

For those of you that don't know, January 9, 2013 ended like this:

Thursday, January 10th, 2013 at 9:01 am PST...
— Justin Timberlake(@jtimberlake) January 10, 2013

Yes, that is a cryptic Justin Timberlake tweet teasing something that could be anything from a Myspace update, to another bad movie that we're forced to suffer through just to see Justin's face, to dare I say it, possibly, just maybe, new music.

But before January 10, 2013, 9:01 am PST there was this:

Leave it up to Beyoncè and Destiny's Child to announce a new album and throw everyone into a tizzy right before Justin Timberlake tells the world that he is really in love with me and not Jessica makes his announcement. 

Finally, January 10, 2013 9:01 PST Justin is ready:

The moment I've been waiting for since 2006 Justin Timberlake is finally ready to do what he does best, make music. I'm not even irritated that the YouTube video was nothing but another tease that revealed a countdown to something else, which better be a song release, on Sunday at 9 pm PST. 

Just like that, this morning of January 10, 2013 felt a lot like a morning in 2001 where all we can talk about is anticipation for impending Justin Timberlake and Destiny's Child projects. Only now we talk about it on Twitter instead of listening to Carson talk about it on TRL. This year is starting off pretty great in my book. 

Watching Lana Del Rey in Los Angeles

This past week I got to see Lana Del Rey perform live at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. I was super excited about this because I've been listening to her album, Born to Die, NONSTOP since it was released in January. I was a little worried about her performance because her SNL appearance it was sketchy at best. Then when I mentioned to a friend about heading out to this show her response was "OMG, you're going to go see that girl whine to you in person?!" Of course I replied with an emphatic "ughhh, YES!!" It was totally worth it, Lana was awesome. The stage was beautiful and Lana sang all my favorite tracks on the album. So while some call it whining, I call it amazing. But decide for yourselves, here is some video I took at the show of Video Games.



Photo via Janice Llamoca

New Shows to Watch in 2012

It's a new year and I've got 2 new shows that I suggest you check out.

NBC's The Firm premiered Sunday night with back-to-back episodes. I'm not the biggest fan of 2-hour TV episodes but this one was pretty good, plus I DVR'd it so I could skip the commercials! It's a little confusing in the beginning but if you stick it out it gets super intense. So if you got 90 minutes to spare check it out below and you can watch episode 3, in its regular time slot, this Thursday at 10 pm on NBC. 

My Artist of the Year

For the last blog post of 2011 I'm going to talk about why The Weeknd has my vote for artist of the year. If you have ever talked about music with me in 2011 this is absolutely no surprise at all, but if you haven't hear me out. Here are my 3 reasons why he has my vote:


1. He promised us 3 mixtapes this year and we got 3 mixtapes this year! He didn't just make 3 so-so projects he made 3 really solid projects. Fan or not you can't knock that hustle.

2. He's changing the sound of music. There is no deny his music sounds nothing like anything you are used to hearing it's a nice twist to how we usually think about R&B, I think I'm going to call his style sex, drugs, and R&B. If you don't know what I'm talking about give House of Balloons a spin and I guarantee you will completely understand what I am talking about. He's not just leaving his mark in R&B land, he is also influencing rap with some classic eerie Weeknd sounds. For those of you that don't know, The Weeknd had some major influence on the sound of Drake's latest album, Take Care. We all know after Drake does it the rest of the rap game will be close behind, so I'm sure we will hear plenty of similar sounds in 2012.

3. Finally, the music is just flat out great! I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I can't get enough of all 3 parts of the trilogy, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. Check out my favorite tracks from each mixtape

Wicked Games, House of Balloons


The Birds part 2, Thursday


Same Old Song, Echoes of Silence


For kicks I'm adding D.D., which is a cover of Michael Jackson's Dirty Diana, because I really appreciate how it was mixed. I think it is just another glimpse into how creative he really is, D.D. sounds some much like his other work and yet it still has the original feel from MJ's version.


So cheers to The Weeknd and here's to 2012! xoxo <3

And The Nominees Are...

The Grammy nominations came out tonight and the nominees for Album of the Year are: Adele 21, The Foo Fighters Wasting Light, Lady Gaga Born This Way, Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and Rihanna Loud. Now, I'm sure most of you are saying to yourself "You ain't got no Yeezy, nigga?!” but it's true, Ye wasn't nominated for Album of the Year but he's got Snub of the Year on lock. I thought for sure My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was going to get nominated and possibly edge out 21 for the win, guess I was wrong. If it makes you feel any better My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy still has a chance for Best Rap Album but the competition is stiff in that category. I know it doesn’t make me feel any better but I won’t go there. I won’t talk about how NARAS (the organization that runs the Grammys) is just another prejudice organization that is continuously reinforcing the barriers that were designed to stifle the success of minorities. Anyways, the Grammys are February 12^th, I’m sure there will be lots more to talk about then. 

The Sing-Off Love Lockdown Cover by Pentatonix

Apparently there is this show called the Sing-Off on NBC that is hosted by Nick Lachey which I am just hearing about. I was clearly late to the game on this one but now that I know let me tell you about it. The Sing-Off is a singing competition where the groups sing a cappella and last week was hip hop week so all the groups did covers of popular hip hop songs. My favorite performance was of Kanye West's Love Lockdown covered by Pentatonix. It was amazing! If they don't win the competition they definitely can have a Youtube career covering hip hop songs. Check out their performance below.

Rihanna + Coldplay Means We All Found Love

I know the world has already talked about this video but I wanna talk about it again because I CANNOT stop watching it! Rihanna's We Found Love has definitely found my heart. I think I have seen this video close to 30 times. The monolouge in the beginning of the video sets the scene so perfectly.

It's like you're screaming but no one can hear. You almost feel ashamed that someone could be that important, that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless, like nothing can save you. And when it's over and it's gone, you almost wish that you could have all that bad stuff back so you can have the good.

I'm totally ready to take whatever type of opiates that are going to make me look like Rihanna and give me an eye candy of a boyfriend like Dudley O'Shaughnessy. I also ran across a Coldplay cover of We Found Love when I was on Tumblr so there is plenty of love to enjoy tonight. Make sure you check out the Coldplay cover below and the We Found Love video if you haven't already seen it or you can watch it for the 31st time like me!