by The Weeknd: Just when I thought music could get no better with Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, challenged me and won. The first album of what is expected to be a trilogy has completely changed my music game. The Weeknd completed 9 tracks, some lasting more than 7 minutes, that remind me of the sexuality that Rick James and Marvin Gaye shared through music in the 70s and 80s. This is not popular music. This music is dark and sensual. If you ever have a “memory” while playing a song off the album, TRUST me – the memory will last forever and you will so kindly be reminded every time you hear the track. Every song on the album is a winner. Each track presents a different mood and vibe, but is still sexy to the core.

I’m always in support of my youngins. The Weeknd is 20 and he gets it. He released House of Balloons on his website a couple weeks ago. He gave away this beautifully crafted masterpiece for free, allowing it to spread organically. The Weeknd has taken word of mouth marketing to a different level. People are talking about his music via social networks but no one knows what the man looks like! He could resemble a monster and I don’t think anyone would care at this point. If you were to do a Google search for “The Weeknd” a month ago, you would have gotten the result: >Did you mean: The Weekend. Now, the page is filled with results of the artist’s mentions including his website, Twitter page, Wikipedia entry (YES! He has a Wiki entry now…He’s Official!), blog posts and mainstream news. If The Weeknd is getting this much love off his first mixtape, I can only imagine what the two follow-up albums will bring. Also coming from Ontario, The Weeknd may just be the R&B version of Drake. If so, the future of R&B will forever be changed. Download and listen to the album that will change your life

This is my favorite song on the album…today that is:

by Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle: Talk about a song that will get you up in the morning! This came on my Pandora channel this morning and I was JAMMIN in the shower. Yall would have thought I was performing at the Apollo!  This was not on my mom’s initial playlist, but this needs to be the first of many songs that will be added via Download List #2.

by The Emotions: I had this song in my head for *days* and it was driving me insane. Not because the song was stuck in my head, but because I didn’t know what the song was at the time. The only part I could remember was “hmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm to the world”. I also knew that wasn’t the melody of the whole song. I requested help from my friends, my mom, and my step dad. Try explaining your musical thoughts to people when you know you can’t hum! I received the same response from all of them: laughter! I knew I would figure it out one way or the other. I used all kinds of technology to help me find the song – one I will blog about next – none of which helped.

I knew I was either going to listen to oldies until I heard the song again or I was going to magically figure it out.  And I did just that…I researched every old school female artist I could think of. Eventually, something told me to analyze the harmonies and the sound of the song and think about what other songs sounded like this one. I somehow got to The Emotions and watched other Related Videos on YouTube until I found a match. I became an expert at scanning songs and starting them a minute into the track. When I first heard this one, I thought “Could THIS be the song? This may be the song!” You have no idea how happy I was when I took it back to the beginning and heard that “hmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm to the world”. I have listened to this track at least 30 times since then – enough to where I know all the lyrics and I will never again have to question what the song is.