Critic of Music

After a two month tour, one would expect Kelly Clarkson's voice to be a little out of shape. However, the 31 year old Texan delivered an incredible acoustic only performance in New York this week, in support of Fair Trade.

Taking to the stage, Kelly comfortably delivered some massive vocals. In her 5 song set, she performed some hits (Stronger, Don't You Wanna Stay) and the rare live gem, Sober. On the latter, she made My Country Tis of Thee's emotional impact equivalent to "Happy Birthday." Through somber verses, and an incredible bridge, Kelly herself was left on the verge of tears when the guitars were laid to rest.

Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) - She kept it simple, staying pretty low to the ground in terms of vocal height. Still a solid performance.

Don't You Wanna Stay - Restrained and beautiful. I dare to say she made it sound better with out Aldean.

People Like Us - Similar to Stronger, it stayed pretty low to the ground, but was probably the low point of the set.

Sober - Epic. No one can touch that bridge, and I really mean, no one.
Bonus Performance: Behind These Hazel Eyes - She should move past the point of raising the key to Ab minor, because she's more than capable of comfortably singing the F#3's now than during Breakaway. I miss hearing her blast her ex-lover with her legendary "Anymore" high note. Anyways, she still delivered a great performance, making a dark song a real foot tapper.

Overall Grade: A

(Cover Photo from Associated Press)

Bangerz is not the sex-oriented mess the general would public would believe it to be without a listen. It is also not the 2nd coming of pop some "Smilers" would have you believe.

Miley has talent, yes. She can sing and she can act (bare with me even if you disagree). But she struggles with making a musically superior album. Bangerz has its steps forward, and its steps back. At the end of the journey, you're left with several different tastes in your mouth. Some of them may be "I really want to throw a party," and others may be "I really want to throw up."Ballads like Wrecking Ball and Adore You are steps in the right direction, but multi-genre atrocities like FU counteract the progress made. Miley, as much as you may love the Rihanna style you've adopted, you do so much better when you wear your heart on your sleeve, rather than wearing nothing at all.

In short, the ballads are fairly excellent, but the party songs aren't deserving of much attention.

Vocals: B-
Lyrics: C-
Production: B-
Overall: C+

Debuting her fresh new blue hair, Demi took the stage to bring an impressive vocal of her latest single, Neon Lights. 

The recent removal of her tonsils really paid off here, as she gave one of the best vocals in quite some time. The pitch was spot-on throughout, and she even dug deep into her chest to nail the C#3 in the first verse (the lowest note she's ever sung live I believe). She then took into the upper reaches of the atmosphere to nail the sustained notes in the chorus replacing any issues with vibrato.

A very solid performance, and hopefully she'll continue down this path in terms of vocal performance. I will say however, that Neon Lights seems like a horrible single choice, it's a bit bland and will probably get lost in the ocean of similar Top 40 tracks. However, it shouldn't take much to surpass the lackluster No.80 peak of Made In The USA.

Overall: A-

Quarter 3 and 4's it girl, Lorde, has released her first LP, Pure Heroine. Naturally, the album includes the worldwide smash and current iTunes No.1, Royals, as well as some previously unseen gems. As a 16 year old debut artist, she's crafted an album more clever and polished than most of the veteran acts have this year.

Her lyrics are her natural strong suit here, obsessed with the idea of regality having negative side effects she would never wish to indulge in (Royals, Tennis Court). Though she delves in this area of her mind for a majority of the album, she does show that she is a bit of fun, with songs like Ribs capitalizing on essentially all the things a teenage girl would have on her Tumblr. However, Lorde is far more advanced than that, she's light years ahead of the metagame, producing sonically advanced tracks that leave the likes of Katy Perry and Britney Spears gasping for air on mainstream radio. She's a dark horse (no pun intended), using complex images to describe simple situations in shockingly articulated music.

Though her lyrics standout, her voice shouldn't go unnoticed. She shows off her Lana Del Rey-esuqe lower register on the aforementioned Ribs, while soaring into her head voice on the same track, creating  peaceful ear candy harmonies. She's well rounded, taking in the best from the best artists, to create an album that can be universally acclaimed by listeners of all backgrounds.

Lyrics: A+
Vocals: B+
Production: A
Overall: A

I have been absolutely delighted at how well the site has been perceived so far from public sources, and a defining characteristic of Critic Of Music that sets the site apart are the Vocal Ratings. This highly controversial method of organizing singers has played a role in the growth of the site as a whole, and in order to address the criticism and hopefully fix the concerns, I issue this post.

I have seen some posts recently (namely one on ATRL and Exhale), read through the comments and took some time to re-evaluate the position of some singers. Unfortunately, Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani were dropped from B-List to C-List as a result of the comments, while Ariana Grande takes a fall from grace, as she drops from a Star, to an A-Lister. For some artists, they can rejoice with the heavens above, as Lady Gaga and Florence Welch take a lift from B-List to A-List. Some artists have been put more directly on my radar in terms of moving up or down, but I'm confident enough in my analysis's of their voice to keep them where they are (this includes Justin Bieber and Britney Spears).

That being said, I do want to have more voices to be heard when it comes to Vocal Ratings, and to perhaps have a different method of grading them. I have begun putting Google Docs polls on the Vocal Profiles (I did say begun, it is taking a while) so I can see peoples inputs on a bigger and better scale. Second, I'm going to re-evaluate the way I grade artists. I will probably have it based on a points system, where for example, 45+ points equals a star ranking while 35-44 points equals an A-List rating etc. Or if there is another idea submitted for grading or ranking an artists vocals, I may use that idea.

Thank you for reading and comment below if you have anything to add!