Picture This!: Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once (Album Cover)

 

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy... It's coming soon!!!!!! Kylie Minogue is getting ready to release her 12th studio album "Kiss Me Once" in the spring. Even though we don't have an official release date for the album, she has given us the cover art above, and the first single "Into The Blue" has leaked online ahead of it's release to radio, which is meant to be January 27th. I'll talk about the single when the music video is released, but let's talk about the album cover.

Upon first glance, I love how sexy and playful she always looks, but there's something about this picture that makes me think it would have been great for a single cover. This may be because I'm comparing it to the Aphrodite album cover which just seemed more epic in it's ownership, but this just seems kind of safe. It makes sense with the rain streaked window and her pursed lips moving in for a kiss, but it's almost too literal. Maybe it's not even that, maybe it's just the font and placement of the album title that's bothering me. I think the glass should have been steamed up and the album title should have been written into the condensation. It's still a cute and flawless picture, it just looks like single cover art, not full on album cover art.

I'm wondering what the album will sound like, from the sound of the single, it's classic Kylie dance pop, but there was also that "Skirt" song that came out awhile ago, and given that she's now being managed by Jay-Z's "Roc Nation" company, I'm wondering if there will be a few surprises style-wise.

What do you guys think?

Liven It Up! : Debbie Gibson - No More Rhyme (Live)

"You Can Find Your Place But Never Fit In, And Only When You've Left, Do You Know Where You've Been!"

Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of Debbie Gibson's 2nd studio album 1989's "Electric Youth". This album kind of defined my childhood, so I thought I would add the live version of the album's third single (and one of my personal favorite's) "No More Rhyme". This video is taken from the Live Around The World vhs concert video that Deb released after the success of the Electric Youth Tour.

 

The Electric Youth album spawned 4 singles, the massively successful "Lost In Your Eyes", title track "Electric Youth", "No More Rhyme", and "We Could Be Together", and is still the biggest selling album of Deb's career. As well as the tour, she released her book "Between The Lines" which she wrote with the help of writer Mark Bego, and she also released her perfume through Revlon, which shared the same name as the album. My friend Dean bought me a bottle of it off of e-bay a few Christmas's ago, because we used to sneak into his sisters room as kids and spray ourselves with hers lol.

I remember listening to this album with my older brother when I was a kid and loving it to bits (still do), I also remember being crushed that I wasn't allowed to go to the concert when it came to Toronto. My parents thought I was too young to go to a big stadium show at the time (I was 8), so I had to stay home while he went with his friends. For some reason, they didn't mind me going to stadium concerts when I was 10 (which is when my concert going experience began), but 8 was too young. Ugh Parents!!!! Oh well, I finally saw her live in New York a few years ago, after the release of Colored Lights, and I met her when she came to Toronto in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Good Times!

Though she has not released any new music in quite some time (a song here and there), she has remained in the public eye by doing reality programs like The Celebrity Apprentice and also horribly cheesy syfy movies like "Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus" and "Mega Python Vs. Gatoroid" with Tiffany.

Her voice has kinda lost it's luster in the past few years, becoming thin and a bit squeaky, but she admits her faults and has been working with a voice coach to deal with the changes in her vocals. She is still adamant about making a return to pop music. I hope she can rediscover her voice and come back with something great, til' then, we'll always have Electric Youth!