MOBO Awards Nomination Pardee

Kanya King: MOBO Awards founder and CEO

So last night I attended the MOBO Nomination Party at the Mayfair Hotel and have to admit - I had a bloody good night. Call it the free booze. Or the fact that I haven't been out in eons. Or maybe it was ha ing the opportunity to have a giggle and a quick boogie with old faces I hadn't seen in ages. Or was it the fact that I got to meet Britain's Got Talent dance crew, Flawless? I dunno what it was exactly. But all I know is that I stumbled home just after 10pm last night feeling all giddy, excitable and filled with a lorra lorra love. If I'm being honest I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the nominations, but you can read the full list here. I did enjoy the performances though. Bashy and Estelle's little sis, H-Boogie performed their single 'Your Wish is My Command' with plenty of gusto. Then little bitsy Jade Ewen took to the stage and executed a very confident rendition of her single 'My Man',  I was quite impressed. While she was singing I kept shouting to anyone who would listen "Why didn't they give a song like this to Alex (Burke), she would've killed it" (NOTE: I'm too upset to talk about Alex's debut single... I just can't). Other artists in the building included Beverley Knight, Lemar, Sabrina Washington, Wiley, Kano and Peter Andre. They've yet to announce who will be hosting the awards, but they will take place in Glasgow on September 30th. Planning on attending? 

Visit my girl Janice at Madnews for more pics. 

Alesha: Music To Your Ears?

Brace yourselves for the release of Alesha Dixon's new album - The Alesha Show, released on Monday 24th November. The album is a mixture of new songs and remixed tracks from her shelved project from a couple of years back 'Fired Up'. I sooooo want to love this woman's music. Alesha is one of my favourites on the Brit Pop scene and I'm sure I'm not alone in my thinking. Since Harvey-gate she has provided women across the country with a template on how to act if your man is caught with his pants down, publicly humiliating you in the process. Whilst most of us wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to get our claws out at any given opportunity, Alesha handled the situation with such grace, honesty and maturity that I'll forever be in her corner. But her music, well… now that's another matter. She obviously feels extremely passionate about it, because she could have easily bagged herself a TV job following her Strictly crowning. But no, she chose to give her singing career another shot. And I really wish she hadn't.

Colour me mortified following the first listen of 'The Boy Does Nothing', the first single released from the album. The singing, the lyrics, the melody: every aspect of the track is simply woeful. Not surprisingly though it catapulted straight in the national charts at No.8 (sigh), which explains the exact reason why the likes of Alesha has to sell their musical souls to sustain a musical career in this country. Question: why is it that Black British artists can only be accepted as their authentic selves only after establishing themselves first in the USA a la Floetry and Estelle? I’m now thinking the likes of Alesha, Lemar, Terri Walker, Keisha White and Beverley Knight need to just up sticks and move to the land of milk and honey, and bloody decent record producers, like pronto.

'The Boy Does Nothing'