Welcome to Heartbreak - Kanye West feat. Kid Cudi

The drama in his music is absolutely brilliant. And somehow that really set him apart from the typical hip-pop music that we are familiar with. Lot of memorable pieces that we can have from his latest album, and this could definitely be one of them. The next one up to be selected as his latest single? Hopefully, as it does has potential to be a great one. He just nailing it when it comes to slow-tempo electro-hip hop music isn’t he?

rate: 8.5 / 10

Magnificent - U2

They’re back and scored with this one, finally. Their music always did really good job telling us what U2 is all about, and have that unique style that hardly found on other bands. We had that not so overwhelming first one, but it’s thrilled that they make it back up again with this one. Really settle, and just simple. It’s not ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own’’s moving, but still it has a certain level of emotions in it. They nailed it, finally.

Rate: 8.5 / 10 

All I Ever Wanted : Kelly Clarkson (sneak peak)

Get ready for the next featured artist of OnPlay! : Kelly Clarkson! Full review of her latest album, All I Ever Wanted, will be here soon!

Don't Trust Me - 3OH3

3OH!3 came up with this single back in 2008, but wasn’t until recently that it became a big hit. It has a strong potential to be another radio-friendly hit, with all the elements in the track works pretty well. It’s fun, young, quirky, fully packed with the energy and the most important one, it do really showcase their personalities to the fullest. Strongly recommended if you’re a fan of electronic pop music, or just want something different in your playlist.

rate: 8.5 / 10

I Do Not Hook Up - Kelly Clarkson

Yet another fresh combination that showcases the best of both Kelly and Katy. Katy’s significant music style and Kelly’s big, powerful vocal complemented each other to the fullest, and could be highlighted as two of the strongest ‘selling point’ of the single. The potential is definitely there for this to be the next big hit for Kelly after her first one. Great for her!   

rate : 8.5 / 10

F**k You - Lily Allen

Alright the name of the track itself might be a little bit off, but the track itself, somehow turns out to be another way round. It’s very impressive as she manages to sing the harsh word on and on and on without letting you feel uncomfortable or uneasy. Love the fun in the music and the track does feel fresh, cute and she definitely nailed it. Lily Allen is definitely another name to be watch out for! 

rate: 8.5 / 10

Only By the Night : Kings of Leon (Part II)

by Kyan.

The second half of the album begins with the track called ‘Revelry’, it wasn’t the love in the first ‘listen’ track personally, as somehow it lack the pump that I looked for in a single. But still, it wasn’t a bad one. Just that I still don’t get why they chose this to be their third single from the album. ‘17’ can be seen as one of their more settled music and it didn’t run wild or get really big like their featured singles, or perhaps some of the tracks in the first half of the album. And that continues with the next track, ‘Notion’, which still manages to showcase Caleb’s vocal. It wasn’t disappointing, just that it’s a bit underwhelming, somehow. And the mood started to get more and more settle, tend to get ‘lazy’ with ‘I Want You’. The contrast of the mood created by the music can’t be too much and imbalance or it will become the downfall for the entire album. And emotion started to be pump up with ‘Be Somebody’, with an interesting music arrangement, jumping of the beat from one speed to another. Another fresh one. The album ended perfectly with the last track, ‘Cold Dessert’; something that you would definitely put into your goodnight track list. It started perfectly and of course ended perfectly as well. The tracks in the album succeed in telling us who is Kings of Leon, in general.    

Revelry - Kings of Leon

Apparently, they're more settle this time around with this one. But there's one thing about the slow tempo rock music like this; it easily gets 'lost in translation' and gives the listeners nothing but bore if the music arrangement doesn't works out well. This single however manages to keep itself away from that. Revelry might not be as strong as 'Sex on Fire' , but still it manages to portray Kings of Leon's identity as a rock band. The originality is there, just that still 'Closer' should have been considered as one of their single, personally. 

rate: 8.0 / 10

Revelry - Kings of Leon

If This Isn't Love - Jennifer Hudson

This is definitely the much-waited piece that just easily showed us how good she could be. Jennifer’s vocal just shine throughout the whole song without being too much. (just like some others did, usually) It started smooth, hits high powerfully and the way she mastered her vocal is just simply perfect, not to mention the emotion as well. Definitely another heart-moving R&B piece, without including that screeching male of course.

Rate: 8.5 / 10

Get on Your Boots - U2

They’re big, and their music had been mind-blowing, well most of them. Something is not sitting right with this latest single. Something is lacking and it can’t take us back to the ‘Vertigo’ great. It’s clear that they’re doing what they did best, perhaps the volume need to be pump up a little, giving that a little more push. They can do better that this, obviously.

rate: 7.5 / 10

Only By the Night : Kings of Leon (part l)

by Kyan.

To be frank, this is one of the few albums that I really spent my time and listen to all the tracks in it, even though alternative rock has just been my preferred genre lately. It won’t be too much to say that the album changed my mind about alternative rock music, and it is in fact one of the strongest rock album currently, in terms of the music quality, personally and originality. It is interesting to realize that how easy I fall for Caleb’s unique voice. Yes, lead singer’s voice usually became one of the criteria that I look for when it comes to music. It would definitely be a plus if the rock band has lead singer with strong and unique vocal.

‘Closer’, the first track of the album, and it sets the right mood for some alternative rock music. In fact it is one of the outstanding tracks in the album. It does tell us, what kind of direction that their music is heading. ‘Crawl’ on the other hand, changes the whole mood and it shows a different side of their music. ‘Sex on Fire’, not much explanation needs to be done; as it is grabbing all the attention, and it certainly deserves that. Can be crowned as one of the must-listen rock track for the year 2008 and 2009. ‘Use Somebody’ has the potential to be as great as the lead single ‘Sex on Fire’, just that it somehow lacks a little bit of that adrenaline pump that I was looking for, thought it wasn’t disappointing overall. Perhaps it is chose to cater a different listener crowd. ‘Manhattan’ is yet another experimenting track as the whole arrangement of the track is somehow fresh, another must-listen track from the album. In general the first half of the album already blew-my-mind away and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the second half of the album…

Only By the Night - Kings of Leon (sneak peak)

Kings of Leon, with their latest album, Only By the Night, made it as the first ever featured artist on OnPlay!. Wait for the full album review soon! :)

If You Seek Amy - Britney Spears

She can have the big smile on her face…finally.

Much discussed comeback of this ‘once upon a time’ pop diva still keeps us discussing with the release of this ‘title confusing’ single. Let’s just put that aside, as this time around she’s finally back on track and yeah we can cheer out loud as we’re listening to britney that we’re used to familiar with. Still wonder why they came up with that track title though…hmm

rate: 8.0 / 10

If You Seek Amy - Britney Spears

Halo - Beyonce

It won’t be too much I guess to name this as one of the much waited piece from her. No doubt the composing team came out with something very strong, and pairing it up with beyonce’s strong performance, every part of the track just sounds effortless. This is yet another good proof that her slow-tempo music always more mind-blowing even though you can’t really dance yourself to the beat. Definitely another track that can be listed as one of the Top 10 beyonce’s must listen. 

rate: 9.0 / 10.0

Halo - Beyoncé

Right Round - Flo-rida featuring Kesha

It was just around a year after Flo-Rida came up with this new one, with a big potential to capture for another time the great success he did with his debut single ‘Low’. More electro element is included in this one, with the less emphasis on the rapping in the single. It might not be a mind-blownin’ single if something new and quirky is what you’re looking for in music. The single just contains good enough of elements to enable it to be labeled as one of the great mainstream hip-hop single, it could be another big hit for him, it seems.

rate: 8.0 / 10

Everybody Knows - John Legend

The third single from his latest album seems brought back the John Legend that we use to know. It’s really great to listen to him doing something soulful this time around, which the beats are now lighter compared to ‘Ordinary People’, and still manage to enable the listeners to relate and connect to it. Another great piece for the Grammy winner!

rate: 8.5 / 10

Everybody Knows - John Legend

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

Stunning comeback for our American Idol herself! It’s thrill to have her back and her yet another fast-beat lead single. Of course it’s been a while to have music like this and you might be blown away the very first time you heard this single, but the more you listen to it, the more you found its similarity to her previous lead single back in 2004, although this is a more elevated and developed version of that it seems. It’s just an info sharing anyway as it is still another great piece from this young lady. Get ready cause we might have more music like this from her again!

rate: 8.5 / 10

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

Beat Goes On - Madonna featuring Kanye West

the collaboration that’s…hmm unexpected and fresh, perhaps? Well we might not get the reason why Madonna redoes the track, with Kanye this time around, but at least it brings some fresh elements to the track. It’s nice to see her out of her zone once in a while, with the condition she doesn’t mess it up and let the ‘Madonna’ fades away just like that. Thumbs up for Madonna and Kanye for the nice work!

rate: 8.0 / 10

with Kanye's version

Beat Goes On [Feat. Kanye West] - Madonna

without Kanye's version

The Beat Goes On - Madonna

Burn - Jessica Mauboy

We had a more moving one last time, and here comes this one just showed us she’s capable to nail the dance music as well. It’s clear that she’s more to the experimenting and testing the water, as trying to identify which direction she should go for her music. It’s not the track that could sets her from everybody else apart yet, or perhaps determine the kind of music that she shall do in the future, but at least it’s a good try. She’s almost there, with the potential she had, making far won’t be a big issue for her it seems.

rate: 8.0 / 10

How Do You Sleep? - Jesse McCartney

We definitely couldn’t deny his talent. As we’re still talking about how much he’d grown up with his music this time around, he had this one out proven to be another strong reason added to that. It’s obvious that he doesn’t ‘explore’ the future pop just like Justin did with his, but that doesn’t mean his music turned out to be underwhelming. It can be seen as the elevated and matured teen pop music, keeping the youth and fresh from the teen pop, but added the more mature element into the music. Check out the remixed version as well, with a different feel added to the single.

Rate: 8.0 / 10

Please Don't Leave Me - P!nk

When we all thought that ‘Sober’ did marvelous job showcasing her ability to shine with tunes that are more sentimental, this following single just mind-changing, in a good way of course. This is probably the reason why we have to love her so bad and so much when it comes to her music. The ‘silent intense’ in the tune can most probably be classified as the main attraction of the track, as it really sets the mood perfectly, making it easily being connected by the listeners. Simple but brilliant, and the pop rock diva just never disappoints. 

rate: 9.0 / 10

Please Dont Leave Me - Pink