*This post is done in collaboration with One2One Network. I was provided with copies of the album features in exchange for participating in the promotional campaign, but all opinions are my own.
In a break from the siege of outfit posts over the past month, here's something a bit more fun and different - music! I was recently given the opportunity to preview and review a few new albums, so here's my scattered collection of thoughts on the subject.
Remember the Disneymania albums that were A BIG THING during the mid-2000s? We Love Disney is cut from the same cloth, but with much higher quality talent than whatever random actors happened to be on Disney Channel at the time - think, Jason Derulo and Tori Kelly and Kacey Musgraves. It's a collection of fairly standard Disney hits, as it is to be expected, with a few slightly unusual choices mixed in [raise your hand if you actually remember music from Alice in Wonderland - Bueller? Bueller?]. Ne-Yo kicks things off with a pretty fun and jazzy take on "Friend Like Me", and from there you get a good combo of upbeat hits mixed with slower, classic Disney ballads. Jason Derulo's version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" took me by surprise with how much I've enjoyed it; it's definitely a different take on Elton John's original [it's kind of stripped down, but also...not?], but it's really working for me.
Cinema features a collection of songs from classic movies, performed in five different languages because Andrea Bocelli's rich voice isn't enough to wow you on its own, apparently. This is a fairly standard Andrea Bocelli album per my experience with the man, as it's full of lush vocals accompanied by beautiful swelling orchestral music. I'm not familiar with all of the song choices, as I live in a bit of a hole in the ground and have yet to see movies like The Godfather, but regardless it's still a very enjoyable compilation. It's also a treat to hear certain very recognizable songs translated into another language [his duet with Nicole Scherzinger is beautiful]. A highlight for me is his cover of "La chanson de Lara"; I actually wrote a paper for my world cinema class in college about Maurice Jarre and his work on the scores for Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, so any chance to appreciate his work sits well with me. Bocelli actually describes this as a long-time dream project of his, as he has a great appreciation for movie soundtracks and the work and innovation of the composers.
And last but not least, we can't forget Harry Connick Jr. I have to admit that, while he's someone whose music I generally enjoy, I can't claim to have listened to much of his previous work [outside of his Christmas songs, at least]. His new album That Would Be Me had a different sound than I was expecting, but in a very positive way. The album's opener, "(I Like It When You) Smile" is quite energetic and fun, and definitely the kind of song I can picture myself driving around to with car windows down and summer sunshine everywhere [I'm big on seasonal imagery when it comes to music]. Some songs sound distinctly modern, whereas others have somewhat of a 70s pop vibe, I guess? It puts me in mind a bit of Tamyra Gray's record [The Dreamer] which is probably a very obscure reference to make as I doubt many people followed her after American Idol way back in the day. But yeah. That Would Be Me makes me think of The Dreamer, which is pretty high praise in my book as I absolutely love The Dreamer.
