New Music!

School's getting slightly less stressful now so lemme fill you guys in on what I've been listening to these past few days(and plus the fact that my last new music post was a disaster..).

• I just discovered a while ago that Stacie Orrico's (There's Gotta Be) More To Life was written by a girl called Lucy Woodward who apparently won an award for it. She also apparently recorded a version of it for the Japanese release of her album(which means it might have been on the album released in some other parts of Asia, including where I live! yay!) and I'm listening to it as I'm writing this. Vocally she's not as good a Stacie, I think the song sounds better sung by a smoother and more powerful voice like Stacie's and this version's a bit too lazy and rock-ish versus the very, very, VERY pop nature of Stacie's version, which I love to bits. Amazing song though, whoever sings it.(I'm listening to the Stacie version now, and I really love it heaps better than this one! haha.)
• I've heard Utada's new American song as well, Come Back To Me and I was surprised at what I heard! When I heard the pianos, I thought it would be more of a Flavor Of Live-ish ballad but it's nowhere near that. First and foremost, it's R&B which makes sense since it's for the US and right now the way into the market is R&B but somehow I still heard Utada in this song. Maybe it's because of her distinct voice or something like that but even if she is really a JPop artist and her Japanese songs are nowhere near this, it somehow still makes sense for her. The end though, sounds a lot like an Utada song(haha..). I love the verses and the chorus but I am a bit bothered by the talking(I always am, in any song, duh.). Still, amazing song and I'm curious about what the rest of her US album is going to sound like!
• So yesterday I had another chat with BeE(I always do.. haha.) and she told me about this song by Keke Palmer called Bottoms Up. She thought it was a remix of the track of the same name on her debut album but I listened to the album track then this track in question and they were nowhere near each other. I later found out that it was the theme song for some kind of movie or TV show. I love the song, the melody's amazing! Wanna hear the song? Head on over to Pop Nation!
• I don't know if I said this already but I have once again predicted a post-album single, this time for Jesse McCartney! Yup, How Do You Sleep is the confirmed third single from Departure and with that comes a remix! There's a version with Ludacris in it and apart from the fact that the intro was cut short and there are these strange noises during the bridges, I kinda like this version. The rapping is for once not that annoying, it's tasteful, I love how it wasn't just put into the song without thought, the beat was measured and all, I love it! haha.
• Well, Popjustice has heard Kelly Clarkson's new single and they're saying it sounds a lot like Since You've Been Gone! In that case, I'm even more excited to hear the song itself! I hear it's premiering Wednesday next week in the US. Fingers crossed it's got an amazing melody!
• Speaking of Kelly Clarkson, I've been listening back to the singles off Breakaway and they were absolutely, undeniably GENIUS. The album could've just been made up of those five songs and it would still sell millions. That's what they are, amazing pop songs that'll forever be remembered by my generation. I definitely think Breakaway is one of the best mainstream pop albums the US has produced in the past nine years, Idol certainly didn't get this winner wrong.
• There's a new Varsity Fanclub song out. I so can't wait for the album, the two songs I've heard so far are absolutely AMAZING!!!! Melodically and everything, thank heaven's they're getting somewhere with the album release, it's coming out this month! Now all I want are the NLT, V Factory and WESTLIFE(AAAH!) albums and my year is half-complete! haha. Me freaking out, sorry.