All About Adele - A Review of Adele's Music, Career and Life

Her name is Adele.

If you turned on the radio at any time in the past several months, you probably have heard of this musical prodigy, who is currently dominating the radio airwaves, the Billboard charts, and the music industry as a whole.  The English singer-songwriter debuted a few years ago and instantly reached critical acclaim for demonstrating a masterful control over her raw, passionate, and powerful voice.  Her previous work "Chasing Pavements" became a cult favourite, but it was her recent hit single "Rolling in the Deep" that has sold over 2.5 million digital copies and climbing.  In addition, her sophomore album "21" recently reached 1 million in sales figures – the first of all albums to do so in the year 2011.  As the numbers indicate, Adele is clearly one of the breakout musical stars in recent times.

Nowadays, there are far too many young successful breakout stars emerging within our popular culture.  This is not surprising given the Youtube age, which brought us controversial teenage sensations like Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black, both of whom have questionable levels in talent at best.  Amidst these singers who are more famous for their celebrity status than their actual voices, Adele introduces a refreshing breath of fresh air for those who have lost hope in the young singers of our age and time.  She is one of the few rare exceptions whose growing popularity matches her immense talent.  Both her debut and sophomore albums, "19" and "21" (titled aptly to reflect her age at that specific point in life), received nearly unanimous positive reviews from professional critics and casual fans alike.  This is a feat accomplished by very few artists, let alone somebody at her young delicate age.

This article will cover Adele's life journey thus far, from her humble beginnings at a single-parent London home to her current international breakout success.  Her musical legacy has already marked at the young age of 22, and she shows no signs of stopping any time soon.  If there are any artists who can rejuvenate the music industry unlike any others before her, Adele has to be the one.  She truly is one-of-a-kind.

The Era of TV Talent Competitions – One Winner, Many Fading Stars

Nobody can stop the American Idol juggernaut.

When the notorious judge Simon Cowell announced his departure in 2010, many dissenters thought this would finally spell the doom for American Idol.  Instead, the talent show remains prominent in its viewership entering into the tenth season.  Currently the most watched program on TV, this musical competition generates over twenty million viewers each week, while completely abolishing the competition in televised ratings.  Even if American Idol was long past its prime, there were no signs of fatigue or declining popularity as shown in the numbers.  It remains a top performing television program throughout the past ten years.

In fact, the format of a televised talent show seems to be regurgitating in recent marketability.  This April will see the debut of The Voice, yet another music competition to hit the North American broadcasts.  The show stands out with some star-studded names in its judging panel, such as Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera, along with country singer Blake Shelton, music producer Cee Lo Green, and late-night television personality Carson Daly as the host.  Later in September, Simon Cowell is back on television, and he will be introducing X-Factor to the U.S. with an astounding $5 million cash prize.  As such, if the current American Idol series leaves you unsatisfied, keep in mind there are plenty of similar alternatives within the upcoming television season.

The talent shows may be watched by many during the time of airing, but the popularity does not sustain after the competition is over.  More often than not, the winner fades into obscurity once the spotlight is taken away and the fifteen minutes of fame are gone forever.  This trend is increasingly true with the recent Idol champions, as they achieve less and less success in the music industry.  Take the latest winner, Lee DeWyze, had embarrassingly low sales for his debut album.  To put it into perspective, he was outsold by Rebecca Black of Friday notoriety!  Even less could be spoken about those who failed to win the ultimate title, other than a few rare and unusual exceptions with extraordinary circumstances.

If these talent shows do not produce a marketable and successful winner, does this not undermine the overall purpose of the competition?  And if so, why are these programs still so popular in the demand and supply markets?  This article will analyze the appeal of these televised talent competitions, and explore the aftermath of the participants after their fifteen minutes of fame are over.

What happens to the many fading stars in the boulevard of broken dreams?

The Rebecca Black Story – A Commentary on the Pop Music Industry

Rebecca Black became famous for all the wrong reasons.

In the age of social media, where unknown artists are constantly discovered online, it is easy for anyone to post a music video on Youtube, but much harder to get noticed among the many others vying for the same ambitions. How does one distinguish themselves from all the wannabe musicians on the Internet? The thirteen-year-old Rebecca Black may have discovered an unlikely answer. This week, she became an instant online sensation after her debut music video "Friday" launched on Youtube. In the span of seven days, she achieved over 20 million views on Youtube, broke top records on Twitter, and quickly climbing the sales charts on iTunes. It is quite a feat for somebody so young and so inexperienced within the music industry.

The reason why Rebecca became popular is not because she sings extraordinarily well. In fact, being the exact opposite has propelled her to infamy across the world. She was brought to public awareness after a comedic segment on Tosh 2.0, which described it as the worst song of all time. Indeed, there are numerous elements about "Friday" that culminated to a cringe worthy experience. Whether it is the nasally voice, the banal lyrics, or the awkward dancing, the majority opinion is overwhelmingly unfavourable. Yet, like a train wreck in motion, our pop culture remained fixated with this aspiring starlet. After a while, you may become accustomed or even enjoy the catchy beat of the terrible song!

The Rolling Stone offered an intriguing perspective on Rebecca Black's recent infamy. One writer believes this song is an unintentional parody on the music industry. "Friday", which is a song that literally describes the days of the week, epitomizes the banality of pop music nowadays. Anyone can put together a commercialized music video, with little regards to the quality of the singing or the overall message. Who needs a good voice when there's auto-tune software? Who needs profound lyrics when there's a tedious yet catchy beat instead?

Rebecca Black's recent infamy reflects the increasing superficiality within the music industry, because it's all about the packaging nowadays. In fact, Rebecca's label "The Ack Factory" is an apt title to describe the prevalent issue at hand; the entire industry is indeed like a factory, churning out generic songs with little originality or depth. "Friday" might not be the worst piece of music ever in existence, but its notoriety is an indication that the pop music industry has hit rock bottom.

Explaining the Bieber Fever – Who is Justin Bieber?

Seriously, what is the deal with Justin Bieber?

The sixteen-year-old is technically a singer, but he is better known as an unstoppable online icon and prodigious teenage sensation.  Recent Twitter studies have shown that 3% of the microblogging servers are dedicated to him, and his name is mentioned 60 times per second during peak hours.  To put this statistic in perspective, co-founder Evan Williams reported that Twitter averages 90 million tweets per day, which means there are approximately 2.7 million mentions of Justin Bieber on any given day.  In simpler terms, it appears as if Bieber’s online fandom has the influence and prevalence measurable to a small country. 

How could a single person, let alone a harmless and inoffensive teenager from a small town in Canada, warrant so much attention?  What could possibly be so fascinating about Justin Bieber?  Although his two albums (titled My World and My World 2.0) skyrocketed in sales, he hardly lit up the music industry with any interesting or innovative songs.  And with all due respect to teenagers, his life experiences at the age of sixteen are virtually non-existent. Despite his lack of accomplishments, the Internet’s ongoing conversation about Justin Bieber is growing more prominent each day.  The discussions often revolve around his helmet hair, his eight-year-old girl voice, or his tendency to attract water bottles hurling at him on stage.  Nobody said he was an interesting guy, but the Internet sure has taken an unhealthy interest to him.  In any case, the mundaneness of Justin Bieber has not stopped his popularity one bit.  While his celebrity status may seem very fortunate, I do not believe his success is entirely accidental.  In an attempt to rationalize the ‘Bieber fever’, this article will analyze the numerous factors that contributed to his massive appeal.

The Lady Gaga Phenomenon – Attention Please!

Lady Gaga sure loves the media attention.

    Several years ago, the phenomenon that is Gaga barely registered on anybody’s radar.  She was an unknown entity in the music industry, performing at small public arenas with little recognition.  It took nearly three years of struggle before her first album The Fame was released.  True to the title, this marked the beginning of Lady Gaga’s stardom.  The singer, still in her fresh twenties, quickly rose as a prominent leader in pop and dance music.  She also became an iconic figure in fashion and accessories, for better or for worse.  Unlike most one-hit wonders, Gaga followed up with an equally strong sophomore album called The Fame Monster, thus solidifying her status as a widely successful artist in the 21st Century.

    Lady Gaga not only received attention in radio airplays, but she also attracted both good and bad publicity across the different media platforms.  In particular, online blogs love documenting her every move.  It helps that she has a magnetic presence, especially in the wardrobe department.  Her wacky costumes have been the central topic of many pop culture discussions, and the creative inspirations for Halloween parties.  In fact, Gaga is so defined by her unique fashion sense that her name became synonymous with crazy clothing and a crazier persona.  This type of attention is either a celebrity’s best accomplishment or their worst nightmare – her identity as an artist is dictated by her outward appearance.