Best New Music

Lea Michele’s First Single “Cannonball”

  • December 13, 2013
  • 4 min read
  • 41 Views

 Lea Michele, better known for her role as Rachel Barry on the hit T.V show Glee, has just released a preview of her first single “Cannonball” off her upcoming album, Louder. Now one thing that I was definitely expecting was something very grand to match her vocals but, that’s not quite what we got from her. This song is a little too simple and a little too generic. She is using a lot of her classical training with very well pronounced vowels that you would have heard from the Musical/Classical backgrounds, but it doesn’t really lend itself to the overall effect of the song. It also sounds very dated and very monotonous with no real build into the chorus.

One would assume that Michele would still be dealing with the late Cory Monteith’s death and that her first song would be something very heartbreaking. Something that would tug on the every string of your heart. A message of hope and love that everything will be fine. Or a message that is saying that she isn’t fine and that the walls that surround her have just caved. Her vocals have always given someone, or at least myself, the emotions in every single syllable that she sang. So, what happened? This song has no emotion in her vocals. No passion. No fire. No energy. No substance. No grit.

“Cannonball”, I feel, is also very reminiscent of the song “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. The lyrics maybe different but your mind immediately goes there. The difference between the two is that Cyrus, no matter how naked she got on the video, gave so much emotion that upon the first time hearing just the beginning snippet of the track would already make you start to tear up. So much raw emotion. At the end of the day, it is not so much on who has the better vocals because if you were to put the two together and decide who was a better vocalist, Michele would win hands down. But, it’s not about who is the better vocalist, its about how much you can make someone feel just by listening to it. A lot of artists today are hoping that the music videos that they release will help to convey the emotion that you would need in order to buy the song. And with everything being so visual and a good majority of the world being stuck on their computer, smart phones, and tablets it would make a little sense. But Michele is better than this and we all know it.

There has been one thing on my mind as I go to listen to Michele’s renditions of songs from Glee and it makes me wonder. Can Lea Michele produce a good Solo Album with original works? We know that she has been on Broadway for most of her career and she is very used to playing a character and re-invoking emotions that have already been portrayed once before. But can she do the same thing portraying her own emotions the way they need to be? Can she be herself and not another character on her album? This is where Michele is going to need to reinvent herself. Her look on the cover and the single look so edgy, that you are expecting more. I think Michele has an amazing career ahead of her and I have been waiting for her to release her own works, but can she be successful at it? We have yet to hear the rest of the song as it has not yet been officially released on iTunes, so maybe when it is finally ready to be released to the world, she will shock us with the final result. Maybe other tracks from the album will be so much stronger than this. I am definitely hoping for the best!

LIVE, LIFE, LOVE, AND MUSIC

Niko Rivera

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Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan is an accomplished promoter, event planner, producer, activist, counselor, poet and blogger. Within the course of two and a half years Chris Ryan has worked with some of NYC's most established promoters/event planners, been named 2007′s GaySocialite of the year, granted a promoter of the year award from NYC's most famous gay establishment, Splash. He's worked in some of NYC's top venues including; Avalon, Capitale, Cipriani, Cielo, Pacha, Element, Le Poisson Rouge, XL, G Lounge, Plumm, Hilton Hotel, Indigo Hotel, Spirit, Myst/Quo, Splash, The Ritz, Vlada, Roseland Ballroom, Heaven, etc. In 2008, Chris Ryan has begun to unveil some of the most innovative & unique parties New York City has ever seen. The Fusion events "fuse" together all disciplines of art into an event that remains diverse yet cohesive at the same time. ChrisRyanNYC.com won best gay promotions website from NYC Event Patrons in 2008 & he was granted an award from the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Gov. Patterson & Michelle Clunie (QAF) saluting him for his hard work in nightlife. Chris Ryan has also begun working with many renown companies, including; doctors, lawyers, physicians, modeling agencies & more. Chris Ryan has been responsible for wide-scale promotions for all these companies & generating tremendous business. Chris Ryan has even started to become National with events taking place in LA & Miami this year. In May of 2009 Chris Ryan received the very prestigious honor of being named a "40 Under 40″ Gays in America by the Advocate Magazine. He also created three successful parties that generated over 1,500 patrons each. In January of 2010 Chris Ryan was featured as one of the top promoters to look out for in Noize Magazine Chris Ryan joined forces with legendary promoter/event producer, Lee Chappell and created one of the most talked about events of all 2010, Desire @ Capitale. Chris Ryan and Lee featured one of the most outstanding artists NYC has ever seen, "Oh Land." Her performance coupled with an exquisite and unforgettable set design added to this extravagant event that held over 1,000 patrons in one of NYC's most successful PRIDE events! Chris Ryan then joined forces with legendary Pacha promoter, Rob Fernandez in addition to Jake Resnicow and Tommy Marinelli to bring one of the largest and most successful parties worldwide to NYC, MATINEE. The event on Governor's Island saw over 2,000+ attendees and one of the most ambitious productions ever. In 2011 Chris Ryan started Emerge Music Promotions with business partner Darren Melchiorre. Emerge Music promotions began signing artists with plans to develop and market the artists to the community at large. Emerge Music promotions has big events planned for 2012 and 2013. Chris Ryan debuted the IMAGE events which took place on top of two of NYC's most beautiful rooftop venues, Rare View and Indigo Hotel. The events were blogged everywhere and featured the fashion designs of several clothing designers, artists and photographers. Chris Ryan felt that fashion and art should be displayed at every event and attracted the likes of Malan Breton, Calvin Klein and even Katy Perry. Chris Ryan began an extremely successful event which incorporated the concept of a house party into a nightclub atmosphere. The event Twist'D at G Lounge has been one of the most talked about events in NYC and allows it's audience to play nearly-naked Twister, beer pong, flip cup & more with other attendees. Chris Ryan was granted an excellence in volunteering award from AVP (Anti-Violence Project) for all his efforts in supporting the organization. 2013 has a very promising landscape on the horizon and Chris Ryan is complacent in saying "you haven't seen anything yet!"

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