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Those who have followed her music know her style and her jazz influences felt on most of her work down her 14-year career. Norah Jones’ sixth album features nine original songs and three covers that take you back to her roots.
Norah makes a jazz record with the help of iconic saxophonist Wayne Shorter, drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci and organist Dr Lonnie Smith. The covers include Horace Silver’s Peace, Duke Ellington’s Fleurette Africaine and Neil Young’s Don’t Be Denied. She sounds empowered on Horace Silver’s Peace: “Life’s true meaning comes to you / And the freedom you seek is one / Peace is for everyone.”

Wayne Shorter appears on the opener Burn, his soprano saxophone the perfect accompanist to Norah’s velvety lead. On Tragedy, we see the slow side of the singer as she harps on just one word. Flipside, a song about racial and civic injustice, sees her pick up the pace spending most of its time on rippling piano and a repetitious swinging groove. The lyrics that dwell on freedom call out: “If we’re all free, then why does it seem we can’t just be?” running up to, “Your temperature’s well past a hundred and two / Put the guns away, or we’ll all gonna lose…”.

The joyous swinging It’s A Wonderful Time For Love is followed by the mid-tempo, mellow And Then There Was You. The bluesy Once I Had A Laugh has a more edgy sound reminiscent of her earlier piano pieces. Norah seems to be enjoying herself on the piano, sometimes in a crawl, to a slow jam, to keep up the pace of the album. The track is minus any great lyrics, but Norah’s luscious voice seems to enjoy telling you when we used to have a good time, now that we are getting older. Sleeping Wild is full jazz play while Carry On, with its sweet melody, focuses on leaving the past as the past and carrying on.

With almost all lyrics written by Norah, expect some great compositions from the young lady who never fails to make an album to remember. She has fallen back in love with her piano and it permeates every note. Add to this the jazz influenced arrangements and sublime musicianship of her band with accomplished musicians and what you get is a faultless production. Put this on a good sound system and I guarantee that you will have the impression that you are sitting a few feet away from the musicians.

Day Breaks sees Norah return to familiar territory; it is a beautiful album which, at times, is sure to give you chills. Lyrics included.

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Carly Rae Jepsen’s third album E•MO•TION brings us some bubblegum pop, and even though we would not label it as one of the best pop records we have heard so far, the singer-songwriter pulls out some good moments on the album.

The talented youngster who came out in 2011 with her hit Call Me Maybe, breaks out her 12 track album with Run Away With Me that has a catchy chorus and melody. She sings positively with her lyrics based on whether she and her lover leave the party together or not. On E•mo•tion, Carly hits out at a lover: “Be tormented by me, babe, In your head, and I won’t stop / Until you forget me, forget me not.”  Her sharp delivery of the lyrics pulls at the heartstrings at once.

Her biggest track is the very insistent I Really Like You with its infectious lyrics. The extremely fast-paced piece is hard to keep up with, but join Carly in professing your love to your lover. Her love for repeating words shows up on the album highlight Gimme Love. She slows the beat down with All That, a reflective ballad packed with serious lyrics on a love relationship. The songwriting, mostly done by Carly, is clever and mature and to the point, meant for her ever-growing teenage fans.

Boy Problems has a mid-tempo groove with the lyrics speaking about what she feels is the problem with girls who fall in love with boys, quite a fun track. You can give Making The Most Of The Night and Your Type a miss. Let’s Get Lost is totally a runaway song playfully with your mate.

More than 200 tracks were reportedly recorded until the final product was decided on. Carly also brought in some of the pop world’s most prestigious producers to help her out, including hit-makers Max Martin and Jack Antonoff, Scott “Scooter’ Braun and Justin Bieber. The deluxe version of the album has 18 tracks.

Warm Blood, her collaboration with little-known indie rock bands Zolas and Data Romance, produces a sweet vocal to a no-frills electronic production. The final track When I Needed You, is a fire blaster, booming loud and clear, that has Carly telling her boyfriend what she looks for in him and what she loves about him.

Overall, this is a good album, with a few hits and misses. You can listen to it again with your bunch of friends. Carly has some interesting material here for teen E.MO.TIONs. Lyrics included.

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The Stage, India’s only English singing competition on Colors Infinity, witnessed a nail-biting climax. Viewers who watched the show each weekend had their own favourites, hoping that they would win. Did you bet on Sharvi Yadav winning?

The Stage Season 2 saw 21-year-old Sharvi Yadav being declared the winner. Thousands of aspiring artists from across the country participated in a series of online and on-ground auditions, but it was Sharvi who competed against the best of the best to win the coveted title, taking home a Renault Kwid and a record deal with Universal Music.

With a grade five Trinity College of Music distinction, Sharvi is also a pianist. She learnt jazz from the Berkley College of Music and is a Manhattan School of Music graduate as well.

Sharvi always stood out with her exceptional singing and flawless performances. Despite losing her voice for a year, she could be seen gunning for the win from the moment she stepped on stage, keeping the competition at her heels and judges, Vishal Dadlani, Ehsaan Noorani, Monica Dogra and Devraj Sanyal, on their toes.

Our music correspondent VERUS FERREIRA met Sharvi a few days after her win for an exclusive interview.

Congrats on winning The Stage Season 2. How does it feel to win the title?
Thank you so much. It feels quite overwhelming to take so much home apart from the title. I’m taking back so much love from the nation; I’m taking back appreciation from top musicians in this industry. I feel I have a responsibility towards all of these people to make more qualitative music.

Your biggest competitors in the competition.
Abhishek, Arunaja and John were my biggest competitors. Though each co-contestant had something unique about their voices, it was really hard to even predict who would get eliminated in the next round.

Did your song selection play a big part in showcasing your vocal range?
Absolutely. Every song that I sang was different. I had to be versatile to sing and get through each and every round. A lot of the songs I sang showed my vocal range, from Creep to Don’t Stop Me Now, lower ranges to higher range. I wanted to show the nation all that I have and my song selections made sure that I did just that.

Who is responsible for your success in winning the title?
No doubt, my teachers, Tracy Fernandes, Lima Kichu, Julie Hill and Vasundhara Vee. It’s for this reason that I value the student-teacher relationship the most. Teachers are the guiding light in your life and without them I wouldn’t have done this.

Living in Noida, a Hindi-speaking state, was it easy for you to learn English and sing in English?
It wasn’t really difficult to learn English and English songs. I was from a Christian school and most of my music comes from there. In fact, my first western songs were hymns and Christmas carols. It was also a little funny because all my friends would listen to Honey Singh and I would listen and sing the complete opposite.

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“I’m trying to make songs that make people feel something and, if I’m lucky, even move them,” a statement from the official website of James Bay, a rising star on the British pop music charts.

26-year-old singer-songwriter, James Bay, lives outside of London, at the point where the city’s vast swathes of suburbs become the green fields of the countryside, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. No we have not reached his home or even met the singer, but his far off location away from the bustle of city life, is where the vocalist finds his inspiration to write his music.

James Michael Bay, born 4 September 1990, is truly a soul singer by all means. He has been entrancing listeners with his feather-light vocals and acoustic guitar. His model good looks and already trademark image, chiselled cheekbones, wide-brimmed hat, long dark hair, makes you want to tune in to who he really is.

Brought up in Hitchin, Herefordshire, James attended Hitchin Boys School. Around the age of 11 he was inspired to play classical guitar after hearing Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominoes Layla and songs by Van Morrison. He was encouraged to play the guitar after he found one lying in a cupboard unused for the last 15 years. With five rusty strings it was the guitar his father had bought from his uncle. Young enough to learn how to play from watching YouTube videos or instructional CDs, James spent hours practising in his bedroom, but later developed playing it by ear.

This Virgo singer’s first gig happened when he was in his teens in a pub not too far from where he lived. When he was around 17 he moved to study guitar at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. Soon he gained a greater education from playing the city’s open mic nights which taught him a lot about writing and performing on his own and trying to hold his own way in a crowd. It was here his solo venture really kicked off. A talented and accomplished painter and artist, it was his long and cherished dream to study fine art, but made a last minute decision to study music instead. At a college showcase he excelled with many encouraging him for his suave and carefree feel of songs.

From Brighton, the next step was a move to London. Building up a solid live reputation in the capital was very important for James who was still regarded as a newcomer to the scene. He soon started getting chances to perform as an opening act for prestigious bands including a life-changing opening set for none other than The Rolling Stones at their gigantic Hyde Park show in the summer of 2013. He’s also toured with the likes of ZZ Ward, Kodaline, Tom Odell, John Newman and Beth Orton, playing some of the most prestigious venues in the world, including Los Angeles’ Troubadour and San Francisco’s Fillmore.

Whilst playing at a club back home, James caught the attention of a Republic Records A&R executive, after a fan uploaded a video to YouTube of him performing at an open mic, and within a week he flew down to New York and was signed to the label.

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Many would not have heard of Abel Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd’s debut effort Kiss Land that plunked badly on its release in 2013. Taking a point to the mistakes on it, The Weeknd brings out an album that you would enjoy. This pop/R&B filled album sees The Weeknd bringing many of his mates to join him hoping the collaboration might make a difference. It does to a certain extent.

Losers features U.K. singer-songwriter and producer Labyrinth on a catchy melody. You have some squishy drums, handclaps and a bit of jazzy influence thrown in. On Tell Your Friends, The Weeknd says that he’s still the same old guy in the face of all the fame, though some things have changed, we hope so musically. He sings: “My cousin said I made it big and it’s unusual / She tried to take a selfie at my Grandma’s funeral”; we didn’t expect him to go overboard like this. The Hills, with its catchy chorus and eerie screams, is a favourite here. The Weeknd talks to his lover about what he has done in the evening before he met her.

Skipping Acquainted an average track which has The Hills sample, we go for a track The Weeknd performed at the VMAs… Can’t Feel My Face which incidentally was his first number one hit. Co-written by Max Martin, (and if you didn’t know, The Weeknd has written the lyrics to all his songs here), he plays wicked and talks about the favourite things he enjoys in life. The beat is highly addictive, danceable funk bass, with vocals only the Canadian singer can produce. Mind you this song has a flippy edge to the style of Michael Jackson songs. The heady and very infectious In The Night has a disco feel to it and draws you onto the dance floor.

Shameless is partly an acoustic piece, opening into a brilliant electric guitar solo midway. It’s The Weeknd’s moment on instrumentation. Earned It, the theme song for 50 Shades of Grey, sees the 25-year-old on a slow mix, nothing that would get him any brownie points even though the lyrics are a bit nasty. Ed Sheeran’s collaboration on Dark Times fails, while the Lana Del Rey duet on the soul-searching Prisoner, adds nothing much except her vocals to a pretty low grade drum-heavy piece.

Enjoying the album would need a second audition, but his catchy hooks, lascivious lyrics and strong vocals… that’s The Weeknd packaged for you.

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The last time a musician made a significant and quick splash in the music industry; all eyes were on Canadian native Shawn Mendes who became one of the world’s top selling artists in just over a year. Now we have co-patriot who is also making waves. She is Canadian pop singer Alessia Cara who has been named as the runner-up in the BBC’s Sound of 2016, which puts her in a new league of young and upcoming singers for this year.

With just one album to her credit, the Toronto teenager started off by uploading cover versions to YouTube, where she was spotted by a talent scout and encouraged to write her own material. Like Justin Bieber, she hit the jackpot and as they say, the rest is history.

Alessia Caracciolo, known as Alessia Cara to the world, was born in Mississauga, Ontario Canada, but later moved to Brampton, Ontario, where not a lot happens in the neighborhood. With very few kids to play with, Alessia spent a large amount of time inside the confines of her house. Her mother is an Italian immigrant from Calabria, while her father was born in Canada. Alessia is fluent in Italian and attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School in Brampton. She has three siblings, Dario, Dante and Danica.

As a child, she wrote poetry and did theatre. Besides this she was convinced she wanted to be a visual artist. While spending time indoors, she would paint, draw and make crafts. When she was about four years old she had trouble falling asleep, so someone suggested to her mum to give her a CD player. Her mother would play her random Italian songs, and with that Alessia would fall asleep. Later, the first album she ever bought was the Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business.

With so much music happening, anyone would feel that she came from a musical family. Well, not really. 90% of her family members are hairdressers, and the other 10% are construction workers.

At the age of 10, she begged her parents to get her a guitar and took a few lessons after which she taught herself how to play by learning various songs. She learned the piano by ear and then the ukulele later on. At 13, she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed. She injected hits like Justin Timberlake’s Mirrors, Sam Smith’s Stay With Me and Amy Winehouse’s Valerie with her own personal flair.

Alessia’s singing style has been compared to singers such as Dido, Norah Jones, Lorde and the like. Her sound has both R&B and jazz influences, but more than that it would have to be called modern soul. Her voice has freshness and a versatility that very few have. Overflowing with confidence and wisdom, her soulful voice is the kind you have heard very little of.

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Adele returns after almost five years with the mushy hit single Hello that has sky-rocketed up the charts all over the world. Everyone who has heard it has fallen in love with the ballad, the lyrics, the soft tones of the melody and the strikingly beautiful video. Cured of a life-threatening ailment of her vocal chords that could have ended her career, Adele has made a fab comeback with an album that has five stars written all over it. Her first album 19, was in her teens, then came adulthood with 21 and now with motherhood it’s 25.

Packed with an 11 track playlist, all the songs are penned by the Adkins girl who just turned 27. Almost every song addresses heartache in one form or another, besides a love affair gone sour, love and its various shades, and unwittingly forgiveness when it comes to a relationship.

Her balladic twist moves over to co-writing with Swedish pop mixer Max Martin on the up-tempo and forgiving ballad Send My Love (To Your New Lover), to a soft drum setting with a tight rhythm section on the slow jam I Miss You that speaks about her loneliness. “I miss you when the lights go out / It illuminates all of my doubts…We place all love into the dark / ‘Cause we are living worlds apart / It only makes it harder baby…” which gently meanders to the beautiful piano ballad When We Were Young, co-written by indie-rocker singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. that speaks about her past days… “You look like a movie / You sound like a song / My God this reminds me / Of when we were young.” The beat takes off a bit on the swelling ballad Water Under The Bridge, a song that deals with an ex-lover.

The piano ballads Love In The Dark and All I Ask are classic Adele with good production values and lyrically satisfying hooks. Remedy, River Lea, Million Years Ago are more gems from the multiple Grammy-winning artiste.
If you want some mushy ballads for a good hour or so, Adele gives you many to choose from. She is, undoubtedly, the greatest vocalist of her generation, an artist who instinctively understands timbre and pitch, when to soar and when to whisper.

The CD inlay gives you a peek into the recording of this album through some memorable photos.

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The first-ever homegrown English singing show, COLORS Infinity’s The Stage, was a pioneering step towards bringing English singing talent to Indian television, producing its first-ever winner Yatharth Ratnum from Benares.

There are numerous gifted English music artists in India. Unfortunately, they’ve never had the opportunity to showcase their talent. But with The Stage they finally have one. It’s a move in the right direction, especially for a reality show, for English music is an important part of our playlists, but we don’t see it anywhere on our music platforms.

The participants were judged solely by a jury that included singer and music director, Vishal Dadlani, singer and actress, Monica Dogra, music director, Ehsaan Noorani, and MD and CEO, Universal Music Group South Asia and EMI Music South Asia, Devraj Sanyal. Shibani Dandekar, the show’s host, encouraged each contestant along the way.

The pot of gold on the other side, was the launch of the winner’s career with a record deal with Universal Music, a 10-city tour, a mentorship programme, the full muscle of Viacom18 backing the winner’s music career across all its platforms and a brand new Renault Duster to ride in to their new life.

The first edition of The Stage Tour saw the top five contestants performing live for audiences across the country. The musical journey concluded on April 21 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai after pit-stops at HRCs in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata and Pune. Winner Yatharth Ratnum, along with popular Indie faces Soundarya Jayachandran, Kenishaa Francis, Anushka Shahane and Rupin Pahwa, enraptured audiences and filled them with the best of popular English tracks.

We met Yartharth Ratnum who has now shifted from his hometown in Benares to live in Mumbai. Excerpts from the interview.

Congrats on winning India’s first-ever English reality show The Stage. Have you had any formal vocal training in the past?
Thank you very much! Yes, I’ve trained with my vocal coach Maxayn Lewis while I was in L.A. and also trained in Indian classical since I was 7 years old in Benares.

How old were you when you started to perform?
I started performing really early. I took part in all kinds of inter-school competitions and other local singing competitions. My parents made sure that I got on stage and performed since the age 9-10.

You went to Hollywood to be honoured with a special award for Outstanding International Vocalist. What does this award means to you?
That award is probably the most special thing I have received. That trip to L.A. changed my life and gave me a new direction as an artist. I met so many kids my age at the award function who were being honoured for their music and acting. I knew of many of them as I had seen them on TV here in India. I understood how important it is to get out of the shell and go international. I fell in love with the city and the new music I was exposed to. So I started writing my own songs on my guitar and it started coming naturally to me.

What did you do in the U.S.?
I spent most of my time basically ‘growing up’. I trained in vocals and acting. I gave auditions. I got to write songs with Grammy-winning songwriters like Allee Willis, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Louise Goffin. I also got to perform in a Grammy Museum: Motown Tribute Concert for Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. Mostly all of this happened working with my manager Marcy Kraft.

Your musical influences.
Such a tough question to answer… (pauses). My dad was in the audio distribution business, so I had a chance to listen to a huge variety of music… Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, The Righteous Brothers, Adele, Justin Timberlake, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Stever Perry, Jeff Buckley. I love and listen to so many artists.

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Many haven’t accepted the fact that 5SOS are in fact a boy band. Defining a “boy band” is not really easy especially when you have many past bands in 5SOS genre like Hanson, The Jonas Brothers, who fit a similar profile. But 5SOS’ brand of guitar-heavy work resembles Green Day’s pop-punk.

The Australian group’s second album in two years is pretty exciting and keeps your ears tuned for about an hour. The tracks are co-written by a galaxy of artists including Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden, and Evanescence’s David Hodges. At first listen you might not click with the heavy instrumentation and loud sound, but give it some time to sink in.

I personally really enjoyed the instrumentals on the album, especially on Invisible. The last 30 seconds have this absolutely amazing violin that brings so much feeling to the song. This album seemed to have a lot of meaning to 5SOS and as the listener you can hear the stories they are telling through their lyrics; I really appreciate it when artists are able to bare their soul.

Hooks abound on most of the tracks, so take your pick from the best that include the catchy chorus to Money, She’s Kinda Hot to plunking down to 80’s band Duran Duran’s take on Hungry Like The Wolf on Hey Everybody. They go overboard on Permanent Vacation with a bold true statement: “We’re the voice of the new generation.”

Songs like Jet Black Heart a total out and out rocker and Waste The Night (which features a spindly riff that edges close to The Cure’s Friday I’m In Love) bring them in a league of their own.

The rest of the album loses steam midway, but satisfy yourself with these good tracks and you’re sure to rewind and maybe find a few more you like; we suggest San Francisco that comes close to 1D’s sound.

The songs delve more into growing pains when it comes to love, believing that life is precious, and enjoying what you have (and not taking things too seriously). Hard times are merely temporary, and even heartbreak is a mere blip on the continuum, feel 5SOS.

Sounds Good Feels Good certainly won’t appeal to everybody, especially those who have grown to like 1D and The Vamps. But 5SOS have their own style, presence and sound, so there should be a lot of takers. Lyrics included.

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Tori Kelly is the new kid on the block all set to put her name on the world map. She may not be a well-known name on your playlist, but she is surely in the spotlight now with her nomination in the Best New Artist category at this year’s Grammy Awards.

Victoria Loren “Tori” Kelly was born on 14 December 1992 to a Puerto Rican-Jamaican father and an Irish-German mother in Wildomar, California. With a cocktail of cultures, one thing that stood out in her life was her love for music, which was encouraged by her parents who listened to a variety of music. Her father sang and played bass, while her mother was proficient on keyboards and saxophone. She grew up listening to gospel and was influenced by pop and R&B acts such as Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott.

Kelly had always dreamt of being a professional musician since she was very young. In 2004, she participated on America’s Most Talented Kids, singing Christina Aguilera’s Keep On Singin’ My Song and won, beating country singer Hunter Hayes. She made a second appearance on the show in the Tournament of Champions, but lost to rock musician Antonio Pontarelli. At 12, she was offered a record deal by Geffen Records, which was a turning point for her. But sadly she and the label parted ways before she could release any material.

In 2007, when she was around 15 years old, she began posting videos on YouTube. Her first upload was a cover of Go Tell It On The Mountain. Later, she duetted with a fellow YouTuber on Frank Ocean’s Thinkin’ About You. This gave her a bit of more recognition.

Kelly tried her hand at the reality show American Idol, and reached just short of the top 24. During this time, she took lessons in guitar, piano, drums and keyboard and also found time to compose and record original songs on her own personal computer. Within a short span of time her music had reached a wide audience; she began sharing her performances through YouTube; her page crossed 700,000 subscribers.

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