New Favourites: Clare Bowen and Hayden Panettiere (Nashville Soundtrack)

photo: The Hollywood Reporter

Did anybody else go for the Kleenex during the Nashville finale? Oh my god, totally did not see that coming! Well, actually the last bit with Connie and Charles in the car was kind of predictable but Sylvia Jeffries' performance as Hayden's druggie mom was spot on. 

In any case, for the last couple of weeks, I have been playing the Nashville soundtrack consistently on loop. It's so good! I'm not a big fan of Connie Britton's vocals, but Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio (who happens to be British! WHAT!?), the Stella Sisters and (surprise!) Hayden Panettiere are the standouts for me.

Particularly Bowen whose pipes strike a remarkable resemblance to country/blues crooner Alison Krauss, who is a seminal favourite. I was familiar with Hayden's stint as a singer from her cheesy Disney days and that national anthem rendition, but her vocals fitted in this country genre seems to work. It's sweet, surprisingly soulful and wouldn't really look out of place in the canon of country-pop crossover artists in the last five years, albeit a little nasal at times. It's a possible niche for her, and the fact that her singles have already been met by positive praise is a good sign. Also, those Stella sisters are AMAZING huh?!

Have a listen to some of my favourite tracks from both Volumes 1 and 2! Get it on iTunes now!

Xtina's Lotus and Your Body

That title of the post may sound like a poorly constructed double- entendre but don't worry, it's not.

Today, the Queen of my musical heart Christina Aguilera hosted a live Twitter Q&A for her fans, for the upcoming release of her new single 'Your Body' and subsequently her 7th studio album, the follow up record to 2010's Bionic. The new album is entitled 'Lotus'- 'representing an unbreakable flower that survives under the hardest conditions and still thrives', as revealed by the lady herself. I still stand by my view that Bionic was a severely underrated pop masterpiece, but never mind- we have new tunes coming our way! Plus, after a rather turbulent yet dynamic past couple of years, Aguilera has had a lot of material to work with and we all know what a gifted writer she is. She's done RnB, Vintage, Electronica but for this record she insists that 'conceptually, I didn't target one particular sound/genre. I made music that felt good.'

Although my questions were not answered- due to the high amount of tweets, it probably got lost in the mix :( Aguilera shared a lot with her fans so all is good. From her current musical playlist (Frank Ocean and M83) to the inspiration behind this new album, Xtina answered and retweeted as many questions as she could with the help of her cute mutt Nugget. She even shared the cover shot for her single 'Your Body' firstly with her fans via tweet! Check it out! 

[Image via @therealxtina]

She looks hot, and from what the leaked demo from a couple of weeks ago indicate, we are in for some serious pop schooling. While 'Lotus' won't be released till November, the first single comes out this Friday and we have plenty of Xtina on The Voice to keep us happy. I honestly cannot wait! I think we can all agree that it has been far too long since Bionic. 

What do you think of the cover? 

LOVE!

It's The Way You Make Me Feel

OH.MY.GOD. Somebody get me my cowboy boots, and count me in! 5,6,7,8!