And, by God, I did! I’m still turning up! When I first heard this, I was all “meh”. But I think that was mostly because the copy I had wasn’t very good and there was a freaking DJ yelling through the whole damn song. That messed up the flow.

But once I heard the finished product, through the headphones of my iPod, I was feelin’ it! Nicely done, Breezy! Listen below:

Now that I think about it, I didn’t care for “Forever”, “Beautiful People”, or “Yeah 3x” until weeks after they were released/leaked. Like, it took a LONG time. But this one only took about 24 hours. I’m hooked! I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of days before this song makes it to my Most Played playlist with another supposed fortune tune, Open Road (I Love Her) (Yup, I’m still wearing that sucka out). This album is setting up to be pretty dang good!

Song goes to iTunes on Valentine’s Day; 2 days after the Grammy’s.

Can’t wait for the video, because you know the choreography is gonna be poppin’!

Anyway, Pixie’s tackled another song in Chris Brown’s “Beautiful People”, in which she’s accompanied by a piano in an acoustic version.

Take a listen below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve loved Miss Jessie James since she treated me to a guilty pleasure song called “Wanted”. And after I wore that out, I discovered “Guilty” on the old Imeem music network (RIP, *glares at MySpace*). While the latter still resides in my iTunes 25 Most Played tracks, I’ve just added another song to my iPod, Jessie’s latest, “When You Say My Name”, which she recently performed at a Denver Broncos halftime show, and announced on her newly redesigned website.

Take a listen below:

I’ve struggled with the decision on whether or not I’d continue to follow Jessie’s career due to the fact that she decided to ditch the pop portion of her repertoire and focus soley on country music. (much like Josh Kelley) Now y’all know how I feel about country music. If not, let me break it down: I’m not really a fan. I can handle some, but it’s mostly the crossover stuff. If pop radio won’t play it, I’m probably not gonna enjoy it.

Due to how incredible I feel Jessie’s voice is, she has managed to keep me interested, so we’ll see how this goes when the single is released to iTunes on January 31st. I’ll need to hear it in HQ before really deciding how I feel. For now, I think it’s a cute track and it’s obvious Jessie is very much in love with her man, Denver Broncos Wide Receiver, Eric Decker.

I don’t know about anyone else, but as a fan since “I Wanna Be Bad”, I had almost given up hope that my Queen had put away the microphone for good.

Thankfully she just misplaced it for a while. I guess she was looking for it on various movie and tv sets. Not sure where she found it, but I’m glad she did!

Anyway, she has a new group, Willa and The Breaks, who did a show in LA last weekend at the historic Viper Room. (Where’s that teleportation device when you need it?) Take a listen to new song “Back, Back, Back” below:

I like the tone of Willa’s voice. It’s soft, but has depth, if that makes sense. In any case, you can tell she’s worked on her vocals, which is something I wish I could say about a lot of other “artists” releasing music these days. WORK ON YOUR CRAFT, PEOPLE!

Meanwhile, at the LA show, Willa performed a mash-up of “I Wanna Be Bad” and Led Zeppelin’s “Going To California”. Loved it!

Willa will also do a show, with The Breaks, in Dallas on Jan 14. Still too far away for me, but she’s getting closer!

Can’t wait to hear more, Mrs. Modano!

Vanessa Carlton is set to release a Digital EP, Hear the Bells, later this month. I’m quite excited because we Nessaholics have had to wait so new music, it’s amazing to get to get 2 releases in the same calendar year! Thank you, Music Gods!

(Listen to one of the tracks, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”, above)

Here is the EP tracklisting:

1.) Do You Hear What I Hear?
2.) Hear The Bells
3.) Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
4.) A Thousand Miles (Acoustic)

In other VC news, she has been named to the new VH1 Save The Music Ambassador Class. According to the press release:

Throughout the year, the Ambassador Class will continue to raise awareness for The VH1 Save The Music Foundation and deliver key messages about the importance of music education in a young person’s life. They will help increase profits to further the Foundation’s goal of providing instrumental music education programs in U.S. public elementary and middle schools. Ambassadors will even perform at select national events and visit with public school students to share their experiences of how music has impacted their lives, passion and careers.

Miss Pixie leaned a little more towards R&B on her 2nd single from Young Foolish Happy, “What Do You Take Me For” featuring Pusha T, and I gotta say I APPROVE! After hearing “All About Tonight”, which was extremely dance-y, I was expecting something in that same lane, or close to it. Pixie just put it on all of us! Like the variety!

But don’t take my word for it! Listen for yourself!

I kinda dig it. A nice, fun song. I don’t really tire of these, and wish more American artists would provide more of the same. Can’t wait to see the video, which comes out Friday!

Having said that I’m not sure that’s what I would have led with as a comeback single. Sounds like anyone could have put that song out. Only differentiation is Pixie’s unique voice. But who knows what else Pixie has up her sleeve?! After all, she is releasing another single prior to the album release. Get it, girl!

Since it seems like the US isn’t going to get a full Pixie Lott album, promo tour, or anything really… the least I can do is post about projects that she’s a part of. That’s something, right? No, I’m not bitter at all!

Selena Gomez & the Scene are about to release their new album and Pixie co-wrote and is prominently featured in one single titled “We Own The Night”. Take a listen below:

Based on how strong Pixie’s vocals are, you’d actually think this was her song, not Selena’s, but it is what it is. I’m just glad to hear her voice again. Been writing about her here since “Mama Do”.

When The Sun Goes Down hits stores on June 28th. If you’re a stateside Pixie fan, like me, be sure to purchase the single from your preferred music download outlet.

Now, that’s what I’m talking about!

Skylar Grey premiered her official lead single to Invinsibile, called “Invisible”. Don’t get too confused, now! And it sounds absolutely nothing like “Dance Without You”, which I still haven’t been able to warm up to. So this is a good thing to me even though I respect the hell out of Skylar’s creativity on that track. I just thought the production drowned out and took attention away from her voice, which I absolutely adore.

Some buzz singles are just a way for artists to try something really out there to get people talking. Similarly, JoJo has just announced that her recently released track, “The Other Chick” was also a buzz single.

“Invisible” is a wonderful pure pop song that I’ve been longing for lately. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have been doing their parts, but let’s be honest. They’re outnumbered!

Peep Skylar’s new and infectious single below. Hope it gets the attention and spins it deserves!

Skylar Grey has been hinting that she’d be going in a different direction, sound-wise, than most people expected. Hearing her recent collaborations, you might have expected some sort of fusion of pop/R&B. That’s cool and all, but you’d be WRONG!

Take a listen to “Dance Without You”, her buzz single, below:

You can download the single, free, through Skylar’s official website, www.skylargreymusic.com. Talk about a completely different sound!

After hearing the recently released snippet, I reserved judgement until hearing the full clip. The chorus fits better hearing the entire song, but this will have to be a grower. It’s almost “too different” to me. I appreciate there isn’t autotune or Euro-dance influences. Those are so played out to me. I got nuttin’ but respect for someone who operates outside the box and tries something so original. We’ll see how this goes!

Your thoughts?