Filed under: About Me, Ayumi Hamasaki, Koda Kumi, Pop Culture, Tila Tequila, Utada Hikaru
Hikki Promoting HEART STATION
Japanese Music
My favorite music genre is R&B, even when it comes to Japanese music! I love the versatility of Japanese artists, though. They’re not afraid to experiment with their voices and sing to different genres, but when an R&B-inspired song shows up, I melt. Of course, I love ballads, some rock, electronic music, and the distinct style that each of the Japanese artists adds to their work.
Of course I don’t stick to only one genre, the versatility of Japanese music always bring freshness, even when it’s not in my area of interest, and while I love songs like Fight The Blues, by Utada Hikaru, I also go crazy over 本能 (Honnou/Instinct) by Shiina Ringo. They’re really different artists, but each of them have their style.
Utada Hikaru: Hikki is my all-time favorite singer, Japanese and American. There isn’t one song by her that I don’t love and I’m sure I’ve listened to all of them enough times to memorize parts of the song, even though it’s in Japanese. Her voice is really strong and different, and so is her music. This is what made her one of the most accomplished artists not only in Japan, but also in the world. Her style ranges from electronic pop to ballads, from rock to R&B, and I love it, it’s always refreshing. Her latest album, HEART STATION, is incredible and, according to Rolling Stone magazine, her most heartwarming record. For being all that she is (Beyond words), she’s in my heart!
Koda Kumi: Kuu-chan is very different from other JPop singers. She is known for her really urban music, and her voice is also really distinct and amazing. She has always been quite controversial in Japan with her lyrics and performances, but she’s trying more styles now and has many ballads out along with her original style. She always has lots of upbeat songs and her dances are very elaborate and fun. I’d label her as the Japanese Britney Spears. Her songs are also really refreshing!
Ayumi Hamasaki: Basically, the Madonna of Japan. I think that these days, Ayu has been sticking a lot to rock songs, and that’s not quite my style, but songs like talkin’ 2 myself and Mirrorcle World are just amazing. I’m still adapting to her style, and while there are a few songs that I don’t enjoy that much, there are some that I can’t stop listening to! Lately, she lost her hearing for her left ear, but she says that she’s going to continue singing!
Shiina Ringo: She’s really incredible. Her voice is really high-pitched and her music ranges from jazz to rock. She also sings some enka (Enka is traditional Japanese music). Her 本能 single has to be one of the best I ever heard in my life. While 本能 itself is a great song, with rock and jazz mixed together, the other two songs in the single (あおぞら [Blue Sky] and 輪廻ハイライト [Rebirth Highlight]) are all about the jazz and have beautiful arrangements with the saxophone, piano, and are really relaxing and addicting. I love her style.
Ami Suzuki: Ami Suzuki is a singer that is really different from any other I’ve listened to. She has her own distinct style, and doesn’t sing much R&B, actually, she sticks to ballads and more electronic pop music. Normally, it’s not what I’d listen to, but her voice and everything about her is amazing. I love her albums CONNETTA and DOLCE, they’re the best for the distinct music they contain, with many different genres per track. I also love where she’s heading with the single can’t stop the DISCO.
American/European Music
Xtina Promoting Keeps Gettin' Better
R&B was brought in the United States, so I couldn’t not love the originators of this type of music. Yesterday I was listening to Wonderful by Aretha Franklin, and it’s so good, I love it. It’s a pretty recent song (From 2003), and I wish that this type of music would be created more often.
Christina Aguilera: I love versatility, and Christina Aguilera always brings it. She always seems to change her image for every album she has released, and along with this change, she brings a new genre, a new style. This is what happened to Stripped, Back To Basics, and it’s what’s happening to Keeps Gettin’ Better. She focuses mainly on R&B, but lately she’s been experimenting more with electro-pop, her music is similar to Ami Suzuki’s, even. It’s only natural when her inspiration this time is Tokyo. I’ve been loving Christina’s music ever since 1999, but have considered myself a fan since 2005.
Amy Winehouse: It’s impossible not to love Amy’s music. She brings a different kind of R&B, sometimes mixed up with reggae, others with a darker vibe, but always incredible. Her voice is never mistaken and now she’s one of the world’s most accomplished artists! She has only two albums out and they’re both super good. Songs like Valerie, You Sent Me Flying and others are the best ones in my opinion, but there are so many great songs that it’s hard to pick.
Tila Tequila: Tila Tequila isn’t the ordinary singer. She might be many things, but she does put her musical career in first place. I love her music. She might not be an Utada Hikaru, or a Christina Aguilera, but she has her style, her outspoken lyrics and her manner of being, and I love that. It’s always fun to listen to. Some people might not understand, but I still love it. I’m certainly buying her debut album that comes out this December. So far she has 3 singles out and they are really good!
Britney Spears: Anyone who can fall so low and get back to her old status in her career with only one single (Womanizer) deserves all the credit. Again, her voice isn’t like Christina’s or Hikki’s, but it’s really good for her type of music and she has the attitude. I admire her for all she’s gone through and how hard she’s trying to get back on track. Her older songs are the best and I’m going to continue being a huge fan (I have been one since her first single)!
Mary J. Blige: I haven’t been exposed to her music as long I have been to Christina’s or Britney’s, but I know that it’s really good. I still can’t stop listening to Just Fine, and she has many great fans (Including my idol, Hikki). She has a really original style and I love it. It’s very different, kind of urban but also kind of soulful… It’s really distinct and I like it a lot. I’ll be listening to more of her latest album, Growing Pains.
Of course, these are only some of the artists that I enjoy, but these are the ones I have mentioned here on HEART STATION before. If you have any thoughts, be sure to comment!
Filed under: Tila Tequila
2008 has been and will still be a a great and busy year for Tila Tequila! With the release of her hit reality show and with the releases of her singles and EPs, Tila Tequila is showing us more and more sides of her and I really like her the more I get to know her through A Shot At Love (Her television show) and through her music (That she writes the lyrics to by herself).
Some time ago, Tila released a brand new EP with remixes for her song, Stripper Friends. The remixes are available at Tila’s Hotspot and iTunes and Tila is really proud of the remixes! The cover art is really beautiful and Tila seems to be really proud of her job!
Another thing that will be coming around in December is Tila Tequila’s first full-length album! I’m really excited, and I’m sure I’ll be ordering it whenever I get the chance! Tila wrote about her upcoming album in her blog recently and she also seemed really eager and excited for its release! Here is what she wrote in her blog:
Hi everyone!
I want to make an official announcement that “I HAVE TOURETTE’S!” It’s official! This is all true so tell all of your friends about it! hahaha!
No but seriously, as you all know, I have been working in the studio 24/7 cooking up a writing dance storm for my new album and I’m so excited about it! It’s definitely going to make all the hot bitches get up and shake their asses and pop that booty!!!! Hell yea that’s what I’m talkin’ about! I just wanted you all to be the FIRST to know that my new album will be called,
Tila Tequila: I HAVE TOURETTE’S
IT IS GOING TO BE THE DOPEST RECORD OF THE YEAR I PROMISE! YA’LL AIN’T HEARD NOTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE AND I CAN’T WAIT TO PUT IT OUT FOR YOU GUYS! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND THANK YOU SO MUCH ONCE AGAIN FOR ALWAYS SUPPORTING YOUR FAVORITE GIRL ON THE SCENE…….I WORK HARD FOR YOU….SO YOU BETTER SHAKE THAT ASS WHEN MY ALBUM HITS THE STREETS THIS WINTER! HELLLLLL YEAAAAA BITCHES! LOVE YA!
Love
Tila
PS-PLEASE REMEMBER THE TITLE OF THIS ALBUM SO YOU DON’T GET CONFUSED WITH OTHER STUFF THAT THE MEDIA TRIES TO PUT OUT OK???? MUAH! I HAVE TOURRETT’S.
Another thing about Tila is that she’s planning her own show! A Shot At Love will be shot! Only not with Tila as the bachelorette, for she already had her heart broken twice and now she wants to focus on another side of her through a new show she’s working on.
Tila Tequila is working hard for her fans and she always puts them in the first place! She always publishes posts in her blog for her fans and her book, to be published around the same time as her debut album, is to include doubts from her fans about sex, love, and many other things! She’s requesting her fans to e-mail her with their doubts so she can include them in her book! The book will be named Hooking Up With Tila Tequila and the album is to be named Tila Tequila: I HAVE TOURETTE’S.
It’s a really tiring year for Tila, but an exciting one for her fans! (Including me!)
Ever since I began watching A Shot At Love, I’ve been completely addicted to Tila Tequila. She’s so different from all the other artists that I’m used to, and her reality show really opens our eyes to who she really is, especially when it’s so personal and having her as the center of attention really makes us know her better. I’m a big fan of her music, and she said that her music does come first, she became a model to begin her career, but she really wants to focus on her music. With the help of a vocal coach to make sure her voice is in top condition, with a talent for songwriting and musical background, Tila Tequila is a great and original singer. I’ve been downloading some of her singles, and her first EP, Sex, is just awesome. I love it and I’ve been listening to it the whole day. It’s really that good.
I began listening to her music by listening a lot to her single Stripper Friends, the theme song to season 2 of her reality show, A Shot At Love. I can’t stop listening to the single until today, and in her official website, she stated that the remix single came out on iTunes. I listened to some samples and they’re really good! When you think a song can’t get any better. I’m not a big fan of remixes, so I’ll stick to the great original version.
Tila has this great variety of songs, ranging from bubble gum pop to rap and hip hop. I’d rather stick to some of her R&B tunes, since I’m not a big fan of rap and hip hop, and the rockish vibes of Sex make it a great single even for the ones that aren’t big fans of rock (Like myself).
Sex isn’t all about what the title suggests, at least most of the time. The tracks consist of:
1. Intro
2. Sex
3. Little Brat
4. Rat Room
5. Summer Nightfalls
6. Lipstick Flavored Cherries
So far, my favorites are Sex and Lipstick Flavored Cherries, but I also love Rat Room and Little Brat. Nothing against Summer Nightfalls, but this album is so lipsticky, with fun lyrics, and this really girly vibe to it, and Summer Nightfalls is kind of a love ballad, and it falls out of place a little, but it’s still an awesome track, and I’d recommend it just as much as the rest, it just falls out of place here.
Tila captured the fun essence of being her in this EP, and even though there is a little bit of a bubble gum rock vibe to the album in general, the lyrics and the melody of the songs are so much fun that it’s contagious. I rate this EP a 10/10, just as good as a full-length album!
Speaking of which, Tila announced that she is working on her debut full-length album! It’s due out this winter, and her song Hideaway is expected to be in the album, for it leaked into the internet and the response was really good! So there’s a big chance it’ll come around again!
I would recommend it to everyone, but there is explicit content, not as much as there seems to be, but there is some.
Tila on the purple carpet
Tila Tequila is in Brazil! She’s been appearing as a guest star in a few Mtv shows here (Scrap Mtv and Descarga Mtv) and this is how I got to be more familiar with her. Later, I discovered that she is a MySpace muse and I noticed how much she’s respected for her work! She’s a singer, a model and host to her show, A Shot At Love. Tila is bisexual, and her show is about her finding true love, somebody she can share her life with. Unlike any show like the Bachelorette or anything like that, the contestants are both, girls and boys and any of them can win. I have watched the first episode of the second season (The first season winner broke up with her) and it seems awesome. Usually, I’m not a big fan of these shows, but this time it’s different and edgy and anything can happen, especially because the girls and the boys have to share a giant bed and live together. I really like Tila for being so honest to everyone, for expressing her feelings so well and for having fun the whole time and still trying to find somebody that treats her like a lady, like how she wants to be treated.
Even though she can expose herself a lot, she’s really cute and is really sure of herself. I really like that. I feel bad that both seasons of her show didn’t work out and the winners and Tila broke up soon after that.
From what I learned about her life in Scrap Mtv, Tila was born to a Buddhist family, and she was really young when she had discovered about her bisexuality. Her sister read it from her diary and called her to tell her that she found Tila disgusting and Tila’s sexual orientation wasn’t respected by her family. She grew up poor, and dated a guy with a computer, and he taught her how it worked and she got really impressed. She started her MySpace page and that kicked off her career and now she’s a really famous, in and out of MySpace! She is a talented singer too! Her YouTube account has videos that proves that no matter what, she embraces what others think, negative or positive, and I respect that too.
Tila is going to leave Brazil on the 28th and here, she’ll be promoting safe sex and appearing in more shows. I really liked her and I’m going to get myself more informed on her. I heard she’s been recording tracks for her upcoming full-length album and so far, I’m a huge fan of Paralyze.
If you’re interested on watching the first season of A Shot At Love or the second season as well, here they are:
