Sayaka Alessandra is a beauty with a deep, rich voice and a name so pretty it should be the inspiration for a follow-up to Ben Folds’ ‘Saskia Hamilton.’
According to her personal website, “Since being discovered on YouTube Sayaka has gone on to sing in Café’s, Lounges and outdoor venues. In the short time she’s been singing and learning guitar her talents have excelled. At the present rate of improvement her fans predict she’s on the way to becoming an international star.”
Theme weeks are a song-of-the-day blogger’s best friend. They allow you to come up with material in batches rather than piecing thoughts together one post at a time. I can knock out five theme posts in the time that it takes me to select and write a couple of standalones.
So I’m always on the lookout for a new theme week.
Recently I was thinking about how often I hear that somebody likes Bob Dylan’s songs but hates his voice so I decided to troll YouTube for Dylan covers. Specifically, Bob Dylan songs covered by cute girls. Now that sounds like a theme week.
This Random Weekend has become something of a theme weekend on its own, with the second quiet country ballad in a row popping up today. The melody of today’s song even sounds a lot like yesterday’s.
Lyle Lovett’s 2009 release, Natural Forces, is a collection of both Lovett originals and songs he covered by other Texas musicians, including Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen and other lesser-known songwriters.
One of the neat things about Random Weekends is happening upon songs that I’ve long ago forgotten I own.
Today’s track is a cut from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 1990 album Shooting Straight in the Dark. It’s a lovely ballad about the end of a relationship, specifically the man’s apathetic reaction to his lover walking out on him.
Regular readers of this blog know I am rather infatuated with Beyoncé. So I’m more than pleased to see her land at #2 on Village Voice’s 2011 Pazz & Jop poll.
In the top spot, as I’ve mentioned, is Adele with ‘Rolling in the Deep.’ Adele also placed a second track, ‘Someone Like You,’ in the top ten, making her one of only a handful of artists to do so in the history of the poll. At #3 was Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Bass,’ a feat all the more impressive given that the song was never intended to be released as a single. It was a true word of mouth hit (buoyed by Taylor Swift, of all people).
