(Mid-Year Review) 2014's New Releases

From Mariah Carey to Kylie Minogue, from Coldplay to Tori Amos, although not much music has come out of 2014, most of the music that has is good.

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once 

Fans of Kylie have been waiting for four years since 2010's "Aphrodite", for a hint of a new record or even album single from Kylie. Miss Minogue teased fans with pre-hints to the lead single "Into The Blue", by tweeting the hashtag #intotheblue, and revealing handwritten lyrics to the song. Although Kylie has made a few appearances on singles by other artists since "Aphrodite", and released the single "Timebomb" and the promotional track "Skirt", "Kiss Me Once" came with not a lot of notice. Highlights on this album include "Into The Blue", "Fine", and "I Was Gonna Cancel".

Tori Amos: Unrepentant Geraldines

American singer and music artist's latest release, "Unrepentant Geraldines", has finally hit stores, and obviously iTunes. "Unrepentant Geraldines" has been released in multiple editions, including the digital version of the album, as well as a standard jewel-case release and a gatefold double CD/DVD release.

Coldplay: Ghost Stories

The British indie-rock band Coldplay have also hit the new-release racks, with their 9-track album "Ghost Stories". Preceded by the single "Magic", "Ghost Stories" has a sound not dissimilar to their earlier work, a contrast from their electronic-based album Mylo Xyloto.

Mariah Carey: Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse

Released just this weekend, Mariah Carey's constantly-resechuled album has finally been released. "Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse" has a rather indulgent and unusual title, but the album does have a bit of "Mariah" in it. In the song "The Art Of Letting Go", Mariah revisits the style of music that made her successful in the mid-90's, and the song "#Beautiful" featuring singer Miguel, is nothing short of a cheeky ballad. On the deluxe edition of the album, there are two remixes of songs from her album "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel", as well as a spoken message by Mariah herself.

Britney Spears: In The Zone (Summary)

Britney Spears' fourth album, "In The Zone", was most definitely a change in style, image, and vocal phrasing for her. Working with producers such as Bloodshy and Avant, Penelope Magnet, and even Moby, and experimenting with elements of Middle-Eastern style Hip-Hop music, Britney had made it clear that she was not the same girl that she used to be, the girl who had spawned out hits such as "...Baby One More Time" and "Stronger".

The material on this album covers more mature themes to her previous albums, with messages about love, dancing, and intimacy as the main plot for the record. Britney's vocals had also become somewhat thinner, softer, but more mature by this time. Britney was no longer the over-excited schoolgirl she had been portrayed as in the late 1990's.

"In The Zone" was a commercial success, creating an output for the hit songs "Toxic", "Everytime", and "Me Against The Music", a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Madonna. The album was promoted by numerous television appearances, and a similarly-titled DVD release. "Outrageous", another track from the album, also had a single release, and an incompleted music video featuring Snoop Dogg (now Snoop Lion) was made for the song. The reason the "Outrageous" music video was left incompleted was because while filming a dance scene for the clip, Britney injured her knee and later had to go through surgery for it.

As well as experimenting with Middle-Eastern style music, a few songs on this album make a clear nod to dance and trip-hop music. A few numbers on this record, including "Don't Hang Up", a bonus track, "Early Mornin'", "Shadow", "Everytime", and "Showdown" make that evident.

Meanwhile, another unique thing about this album in Britney's catalogue is that Britney in fact wrote a lot of the material. Either writing or co-writing 9 of the album's 13 main songs and one of the two bonus tracks, "Don't Hang Up", "In The Zone" was a much more independent project then her earlier work.

One of the songs that Britney wrote almost entirely herself was "Everytime", which I believe is an excellent song and one of the best Britney has written. The music video for "Everytime" portrayed
Spears as a famous singer, which is what she already was at the time, but fictionally portrays her being overwhelmed by large crowds of paparazzi and arguing with her on-screen boyfriend.

I believe that this record is one of Britney's best, and includes the substance that some of her later work lacked. The album cover, shot with a blue tint, also encouraged me to buy the album myself, and that was definitely not a mistake...

Summary taken from my blog http://lukeandthemusic.blogspot.com.au.

Mariah Carey's new album

After multiple delays of album release dates since 2012, and swirling rumours about a Beyoncé-style album drop, Mariah Carey has finally announced some new music. "Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse" is the title of her soon-to-be-released 14th studio album.

The album (and its deluxe edition) are now available for pre-order on iTunes and the official track listing and album artwork has been revealed. Fans of Mariah have expressed their excitement for the release of this record, and there has been a party in Times Square to promote the project.

"Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse" is going to be released internationally later this month.