Nicki Minaj ft. Skylar Grey- Bed of Lies Review

On Saturday, the 15th of November, Nicki Minaj released her highly anticipated 3rd single (Dual release with urban track Only) Bed of Lies, featuring Skylar Grey, to digital retailers worldwide. How does this track, recently promoted at MTV's EMA awards, stack up to previously released singles off The Pinkprint? Find out after the jump.

Bed of Lies is a piano led track, with Skylar Grey nailing the vocals of the chorus and bridge down easily. The singer manages to bring a sweet and sensitive sound to the track, which allows us to easily jump into Minaj's first verse. The two rap verses featured in this track are more thoughtful in content rather than what was featured in previous singles, such as Only and Anaconda. This, along with Skylar's vocals, make the track very reminiscent to Pills N' Potions, the first single released from this era. However, with an overall more mature sound to it, Bed of Lies turns out to be similar to a grown up, big sister like sequel to Pills N' Potions, lyrically and vocally.

All parts of the song lyrically excell, with the track being centered around someone (widely believed to be Minaj's old partner Safaree Samuels, whom she had a ten year relationship with) who has broken the rapper's heart, with the lyrics surrounding their turbulent relationship.

Overall, this incredible track is already being widely considered as the best single released off of The Pinkprint thus far, and could end up finding itself being a top ten hit. Tell me what you think of the track in the comments below, and I'll see you in the next review!

Britney Spears - Perfume Download + Review

Even before it's release, Perfume was being labeled as career changing, and was stated to have flawless vocals by critics around the world. How true are these statements? Find out after the jump.

Perfume has a stunning, piano/bass led mid-tempo instrumental track that could work wonders on any song. Most of the songs we've heard from Britney lately, even back from the Femme Fatale era, are all massively overproduced, with Britney's actual singing being hard to find in the layers of overproduced beats. However, this song, is the total opposite. The mid-tempo ballad features stunning, audible vocals from Spears, something we haven't heard from her in a long time.

However, there was a tremendous amount of build up to this song, as it was stated to be career changing for Britney. In my opinion, while it is a great, original, and meaningful song, it is in no way career changing, and considering the fact that the song has only been able to reach the #13 position on iTunes*, most of the world seems to agree with me.

Well, that's it for my review! What do you guys think of the new single? Tell me below in the comments, and I'll see you guys in the next review!

                                           

*at the time of this article's posting 

Katy Perry- Prism: Download + Track By Track Review

Hey everyone, on Friday, Katy Perry's 4th studio album, Prism was released. With already established hits such as Roar, this album has a lot to live up to. Will it be able to meet expectations? Find out below in this track by track review.

Roar- Check out my full Roar review here.

Legendary Lovers- Legendary Lovers is a mid-tempo ballad, but she also raps. Cuz she's Katy Perry. She can do what she wants. Honestly, the vocals are great, the instrumentals are great, and overall this is just a hard track to describe. Check it out for yourself here.

Birthday- Birthday starts out with a bouncy instrumental track, with Katy's vocals being not quite laid back, but definitely not powerhouse either. However, overall the song is fun, and will do well on the pop charts. However, this is nothing new or different from Perry, just another pop track.

Walking on Air- Check out my full Walking on Air review here.

Unconditionally- Unconditionally starts out heavy with an instrumental track oozing bass, followed by Katy joining in quickly. Unconditionally is similar to Teenage Dream, with a more mature feel to it. However, while it is similar to Teenage Dream, this power ballad is still very unique, and Katy's powerhouse vocals are near flawless on this track.

Dark Horse- Check out my full Dark Horse review here.

This is How We Do- This is how we do features a smooth, hip hop-esque beat and a laid back vocal track. While the lyrics are incredibly stupid, I love the song! The song is fun, unique, urban, and just well... good! This hip-hop/pop track is definitely one of my favorites off the album.

International Smile- International smile is a fun, upbeat song. The instrumental track is nice, heavily led by guitars, it's something different from the generic pop landscape. The vocal track isn't bad either, while the breezy lyrics sung by Katy are good, they're not great, and overall it is a good song, but isn't really different from anything we've heard before.

Ghost- Ghost is honestly ok. There's nothing too great about it, nothing too bad. The mid tempo ballad couples Katy's voice with a bass led instrumental track, that's honestly just pretty bland. Overall, this song is just filler to me.

Love Me- On this down tempo track Katy takes her time, and really shows off her vocal prowess. The song has a lot of different sides, sometimes featuring a instrumental track with only a piano with Katy just singing softly, other times it picks up, adding more instruments, with Katy picking up the power. This song definitely showcases her vocal versatility, and is a stand out of the album.

This Moment- Once again, a ballad. And while it's good as a stand alone song, it sounds like the rest of the album. There's nothing new or different about it, it's just another track.

Double Rainbow- Please refer to This Moment Review.

By the Grace of God- By the Grace of God is once again, a ballad. However, this song is much deeper, has better, bass led instrumentals, has great vocals, and is actually able to distinguish itself from all the other ballads.

Bonus Tracks:

Spiritual- Spiritual is a mid-tempo song, featuring a smooth, heavy bass instrumental track. Katy's vocals are quick. smooth, and don't miss a beat. The song isn't the best, but we finally found another good song off the album.

It Takes Two- It Takes Two is another boring, mid tempo track. Wow. So different.

Choose Your Battles- Yup. Same thing. Another Ballad.

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Wow! I'm going to be flat out honest, that album sucked. Out of sixteen tracks, there were about seven that I actually liked, the rest, were barely worth being filler. I expected a lot out of this album, as Katy is one of my favorite artists, but now it's clear I expected much too much. Honestly, Prism isn't even in the same league as Teenage Dream.

Well, that's it for my review, what do you guys think, do you have a different opinion? Make sure to share it in the comments below, and I'll see you guys in the next review!