MADONNA. Eye-popping performance—at 53.
SHE may be some 30 years older than most pop stars, but it’s hard to take the spotlight away from 53-year-old Madonna when she’s onstage. Take her eye-popping performance at last week’s Super Bowl, which has since been declared the most watched halftime show ever—with 114 million viewers! Would that Lady Gaga and Katy Perry could be as lithe and limber (and brave) in their 50s.
The Material Girl’s controversial performance of the make-out dance tune, “Give Me All Your Luvin” (with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.), couldn’t have come at a better time—“MDNA,” her 12th studio album, will come out on March 26.
Back on her feet
Similarly catchy (and naughty) is “Who’s That Boy?,” Demi Lovato’s duet with Dev, which represents the 19-year-old singer’s new lease on life: In 2010, after she figured in a punching incident with a backup dancer, Demi dropped out of the Jonas Brothers’ tour, then checked into a facility to seek treatment for bulimia and self-injury—during which she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Now, the songstress is back on her feet.
Indeed, acknowledging her problems has helped Demi nip her mounting troubles in the bud. If you like Cali Swag District’s relentlessly catchy “Teach Me How To Dougie,” you’ll find the teenage singer’s dance ditty similarly appealing—and amusing.
If you want more mush to get you into the Valentine groove, Taylor Swift’s collaboration with Civil Wars, “Safe and Sound,” should do the trick. Culled from the soundtrack of Jennifer Lawrence’s anticipated futuristic actioner, “The Hunger Games,” the moody, country-tinged tune sings of a love that eases one’s fears: “Don’t you dare look out your window/ Everything’s on fire/ The war outside our door keeps raging on/ Hold on to this lullaby/ Even when the music’s gone.”
BARCELON. Gears up for musical stardom.
Looking for less bromidic romantic alternatives? Robin Thicke and Evanescence shine in unconventional love songs: The former demonstrates his aptitude for blue-eyed soul in “Love After Sex,” while the latter’s frontwoman, Amy Lee—who will perform with Bush on Feb. 19 at the Big Dome—sizzles in the power ballad, “My Heart Is Broken.”
On the local front, Christian Bautista’s followers may have been heartbroken over his recent rumored deportation from Indonesia—but, the radio-friendly tunes in his latest album, “Outbound,” are guaranteed to chase their blues away.
Standout tracks: “All That’s Left” bursts with optimism as it turns heartbreak into a learning experience, and a leisurely groove breathes new life into George Michael’s hit single, “Faith.”
And, while Bautista’s recent Indonesian screen starrer, “A Special Symphony,” left us underwhelmed, the soaring ballad from its soundtrack, “I’m Already King,” has found favor with music lovers for its inspiring message, as well as a hum-worthy melodic pattern.
Also worth a spin is the debut album of former RCS member, Jaime Barcelon: “Lead Me To Love” includes the radio-friendly “Ngayon Ikaw at Ako” and “Thinking With My Heart,” his self-penned collaborations with Jimmy Borja; the vibrantly peppy “Set Me Free,” and the melodically complex, “Awit.”
There is occasional strain in Jaime’s high register—but, for the most part, the young comer’s theater training sees him through.