Novastreamusic

The Black Eyed Peas are back with the follow up to their monster smash hit album "The E.N.D" but can they do it again? We are still unsure about this album. The album opens with "The Time (Dirty Bit) which samples "Time Of My Life" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack shows the current trend to Euro dance tracks, the album then shifts to "Light Up The Night" which is a standard BEP track easygoing, light, let's dance and doesn't show any of the "growth, change and different sound" Will.I.Am boasted about...
"Love You Long Time" is weird territory for the Peas, its a mid-tempo track which features alot of falsetto from Will.I.Am and a basic fruity loops beat, at this stage things don't look good for this album. "XOXOXO" yes that is the name of the next track shifts it back to typical BEP dance track and hooks we love that will have you singing along, it's extremely radio friendly and has to be a single. "Someday" keeps with the mid-tempo BEP track and isn't new territory for the Peas and you are bound to hear it in the opening credits of a movie as a pan through New York City or an episode of "Gossip Girl" next! "Whenever" is a ballad mainly voiced by Fergie who has a backseat on this album so far, the song has the perfect switch between ballad and dance track and uses auto-tune to make Fergie's high notes bareable. "Fashion Beats" is our favourite track on the album it samples "My Forbidden Love" by Chic and is a great dance track with some raw instruments mixed in to add spice and flavour to this amazing track. "Don't Stop The Party" will have the clubs pumping this summer, this is a scorcher of a track and is the most BEP sounding track on the album, one not to be skipped!
"Do It Like This' moves into their new musical territory and oddly works but doesn't feel like it fits on this album with the rest of the tracks as a body of work but I suppose if you just look at this album as a mix it could be ok."The Best One Yet (The Boy)" follows on nicely from the previous track, half ballad half euro dance track the song glides through the over-used "lets dance, lets celebrate" lyrics that the BEP have over-done for the last 3 albums. "Just Can't Get Enough" is a quite beautiful ballad and features some great vocals from Fergie without the use of auto-tune. "Play It Loud" finishes the album off on a mid-tempo level and really showcases the change from "The E.N.D" to the "The Beginning' they are two completely different bodies of work, while personally we prefer "The E.N.D" hopefully this will grow and with the release of a couple of more singles this album could grow. This is not their best work or even close to. The Beginning hits stores on Saturday

The highly anticipated debut album from rap superstar Nicki Minaj is finally here! After several successful mixtapes and collaborations with nearly every hot artist in the game Nicki delivers her first solo effort which stands as the best album of 2010.

Opening with "The Best" (Kane Beatz) Nicki declares that she is the Best and she is 'doin it, doin it' the song serves as the perfect opener for the album also adressing issues with her dad, drugs and adversity she has had to overcome. Followed by the much buzzed about "Romans Revenge" which features rapper Eminem. This track is definitely a grower it took a couple of listens to warm up to it especially with the chorus "rah rah like a dungeon dragon" but once it grows it sticks and Eminem adds attitude and flavour. The songs switch to party mode with Bangladesh produced "Did It On Em" the beat is wickedly addictive and I found myself going back to this track over and over. "Right Through Me" was another song that took awhile to get into but it's quite a beautiful love song and Minaj's rnb vocals cruise perfectly through it. "Fly" features RNB singer Rihanna, JR Producer brings the best vocal delivery Rihanna has ever delivered! Minaj and Rihanna need to do more together their voices work really well together, this is one of the standout tracks of the album.
"Save Me" is another beautiful love song on the album featuring some great piano and trance beats this really shows the diversity of this album. "Moment For Life" features rapper Drake and is a rap off between the two and sees Minaj get some of that rap attitude that makes her distinct. "Check It Out" featuring Will.I.Am I am sure you have all heard it and love it, not much more needed to say, great track. Next Minaj teams up with Kanye West for "Blazin" this feel good track is another stand out duet from the album. "Here I Am" which is our favourite from the album is pure fire, from the electric warped dance hook to the beautiful lyrics this song alone emodies Minaj's message on this album, not one to be skipped!
"Dear Old Nicki" is a letter style song written to her old self and deals with the rappers insecurities and previous suicide attempts, the song is quite confronting and shows a raw side to the rapper behind all the costumes, make-up and glamour.
"Your Love" was the first single released from Pink Friday and samples Annie Lennox "No More I Love Yous" the song started things for Minaj, making her the first rap artist to hit the top of the Billboard charts unaccompanied since 2002. The most unexpected duet on this album is "Last Chance" and it features Natasha Bedingfield this was an odd choice but it definitely works with Bedingfields vocals and production on the track. "Massive Attack" features Sean Garrett and is one of Minaj's most underated songs and the best production wise.
Deluxe Edition Tracks
"Super Bass" is a perfect radio track and is a catchy pop track which is completely different to the rest of the album tracks. "Blow Ya Mind" is quite grungy with electric guitar and hip-hop beats this is definitely not one to be missed "Muny" is our second favourite on the album the rnb catchy tune is very Beyonce-ish in sound and will have you singing the hook for the next two days I promise you. "Girls Fall Like Dominos" is the final track and is the perfect conclusion to the album, its quite light and catchy.

The album overall is a perfect mix of rnb, rap, hip-hop, pop and rock elements that definitely cement Minaj as the artist to watch and definitely lives up to the hype! Be sure to check out Pink Friday in stores this Friday.

Ameriie has released her first song of "Cymatika Volume 1" set to be her comeback album. The track is fairly standard, nothing we haven't heard before. Check it out below

X Factor judge and major hottie Ronan Keating is preparing to release a duets album the first single is called "Believe Again" and features Australian Idol and Young Divas superstar Paulini. The song is amazing and is extremely radio friendly. Check it out below

As our favourite group Mahogany left X Factor the only thing that could console us was a performance from trash tastic pop star Ke$ha who is dominating the charts at the moment with a stream of constant hits. Kes$ha took to the X Factor stage to perform her new single "We R Who We R" live. Check it out below

After the disastrous "Get Em Girls" directed by Hype Williams, this one also by the same director (being done at the same time) is just a massive improvement. J-May-Boo looks comfortable but the colours are a little too much. The album "Get Em Girls" is in-store now (review up soon!)

Alot is riding on the success of "Loud" it was the record company who wanted to make Rihanna not just a single artist anymore and wanted commercial success after the under-performing yet critically acclaimed (and our personal favourite) "Rated R" last year.

Loud is a mixed bag, the first track "S&M" is produced by Stargate, surprisingly enough they manage to bring a grunt and passion that Rihanna has never used before, combining this with an amazing beat this is the standout track of the album and one of the best songs Rihanna has ever done!
Stargate continue their production with the next track "What's My Name" it features rapper Drake and is the second single. The song is a grower, the first time it's just a bit ordinary but after a couple of listens it really grows and is enjoyable but just kind of there.
"Cheers (Drink To That) is the song that has conflicted emotions on one hand the sampling of Avril Lavigne's "Im With You" is brilliant but the song itself is whiny and not the hit that was buzzed about. "Fading" feels like album filler, bit of a snore but then all is made right with "Only Girl In The World" it seems that Stargate are putting Rihanna back on top (hint hint get rid of the dream!!) The surprise track of the album is "California King Bed" the song takes Rihanna to a level she has never sung at before and the track is just beautiful.
Man Down is a mess, with lyrics like "rumpa pum pum" it's just horrible and is contender for worst song of the album!
"It's Raining Men" no it's not a cover, it does however feature Nicki Minaj, after she couldn't join Rihanna on tour she promised fans a duet and boy did she deliver! This rnb track is pure fire and is one of the standouts from the album
Skip your way through "Skin" and "Complicated" just pure album filler and finish up with "Love The Way You Lie Part 2" which is the follow up to her song with Eminem, he also features on this version and it's the perfect close to the album.

Although it's not quite as "Loud" as we hoped its still a solid piece of work, however at times I was wishing I was listening to "Rated R" for the first time again, its definitely one to check out for the summer it's in-store's now and the deluxe edition out December 2nd

Rhianna has released the second single from "Loud" (review up soon!) it's called What's My Name and it features rapper Drake. If you don't like it when you hear it the first time don't dismiss it it's definitely a grower. Check out the video below

Ke$ha tracks keep leaking from her new album "Cannibal" check out the title track below, this song has copped alot of flack but its typical Ke$ha track trashiness

While we are on the topic of Australian Idol's runner up Emily Williams has released her debut single "Spellbound" the song is amazing! We are really expecting this to tear up the charts, check the video below its amazing and Williams is looking stunning as always! Call your radio stations and request this song!

Australian Idol Guy Sebastian has teamed up with rapper Eve for the release of his first single off his greatest hits album "Twenty Ten." The track is definitely radio friendly while also being a club banger. The song is a change in direction for Sebastian and the addition of Eve is perfect! Check out the track below

As Rhianna's fifth album "Loud" slowly leaks online 2 noteworthy tracks have come up over the last couple of days. One is fantastic the other not so much, the one you want to hear about is called "S&M" and is down-right sexy and by far the hottest thing Rhianna has done in awhile, the other is called "Cheers" and samples Avril Lavigne's "Im With You" the song is boring and downright album filler (although some other blogs are praising it??) check out both tracks below and let us know your thoughts

S&M


Cheers

This song is definitely a grower, when it was first released we HATED it but now we love it, check out the extremely camp video below

Enrique is set to re-release his album "Euphoria" in the U.S with a new single the song is quite raunchy and catchy. Check it out below

Pink releases the video for her current single "Raise Your Glass" which has kinda dropped off the charts and lost momentum, the video see's Pink doing what she usually does making fat girls go yay and bashing skinny girls. It's nothing groundbreaking but it will do?