Show me the Monae (ho, ho!)

Just when you thought that all we could write about was the X Factor and its various alumni (11 days to go!!!), The Pop Web goes and gets obsessed with the simply fantastic Janelle Monae.

Our interest was first stoked with the excellent Tightrope which features Big Boi of Outkast fame. Spoilt for choice in terms of versions, we'd recommend either the official mix or the Wondamix which features Lupe Fiasco and B.o.B. and which really ramps up the guitar line and gives the song a really different edge. Both versions work perfectly, and really deserved to ignite the charts more than they did. Especially because the "Tightrope dance" which features fairly heavily on the original video is a thing of shoe-shuffling beauty.

Undeterred, Monae's campaign for album The Archandroid continues with Cold War which is a beautiful and heartfelt ballad which contains among other things a simply beautiful guitar line and a spectacular vocal performance. The video, channeling Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U none too subtley, is nonetheless a great showcase for Janelle's performance abilities. She is an absolutely captivating singer who backs that up with a compelling video/media campaign which leaves you in no doubt that this lady is a star.



Of particular note, we feel, is the reference to Wicked leading in to the middle 8 where Monae shouts out "Galinda!". This has henceforth become our amazing pop/amazing musical crossover moment of the year. And that's no small feat.

... And they keep on coming

Ruth Lorenzo broke our hearts the other day by announcing that she had split from her record label EMI. The good news, however, is that this appears to have accelerated the possibility of finally getting our hands on some of her material. To that end, you can download the exclusive and new track Eternity from Lorenzo's official website The Raspberry Pattern.

Eternity is exactly how Ruth describes it, haunting and melancholy with none of the more divisive power-balled posturing which we loved but which we accept might not have been everybody's cup of tea. It's a well-crafted yet simple song, which certainly bodes well for future material. Certainly this is a very brave move splitting from a lucrative recording contract and going it alone. It's not a path we advocate for everyone wishing to put out an album. Yet for Lorenzo this may be the best way to go, inviting fans into the album production process and hopefully meaning that we can all get our hands on it sooner.

Why are so excited by the prospect of  a Ruth Lorenzo album? It's simple, by far, Ruth is our favourite X-Factor alumnus not to have won the competition. In a very tough year (with Alexandra, JLS and Diana Vickers as competition no less) Ruth carved out a niche and an identity by simply "belting them out" with passion and a voice which could shatter glass at a hundred paces (in a good way, obv.) And again, whilst we accept (but wholeheartedly disagree) that not everyone appreciates a diva who can belt out a power ballad at terminal velocity, we simply couldn't help feeling that Lorenzo had a voice and a aptitude for performing which was truly special. As a result we can't wait to see how Lorenzo has transferred and applied that to original material. Naturally, we'd quite like to get a full studio recording of her performance of Purple Rain (which we controversially feel is the best X Factor performance in the show's history), but we'll settle for some interesting songs and the one-woman revival of the power ballad thank you very much.

After all, this is a woman who absolutely perfected a move we like to call "the power ballad stance" (think Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" but with bigger hair and softer lighting).