Filipino/American R&B singer Bruno Mars debuted his newest album in November.
SO WHY wasn't Bruno Mars' new album and hit single 24K Magic not nominated for a Grammy this year?
Not only Bruno Mars, but some heavyweight performers didn't make the cut. These included The Weeknd's Starboy, Lady Gaga's Joanne, Miranda Lambert's The Weight of These Wings, Alicia Keys' Here, Michael Buble's Nobody But Me, Kenny Chesney's Cosmic Hallelujah, and Bon Jovi's This House Is Not for Sale.
Before you Hooligans (what Bruno's fans call themselves) begin marching in the streets or creating hashtags; it wasn't a snub or an oversight. The explanation is simple: In order to be considered for the 2017 Grammy Awards, the new music -- including singles and albums -- must have been released between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016.
Mars' album, which took three years to make, was released after this qualifying time frame. The hit single by the Filipino/American performer was released a week after the deadline on Oct. 7; the album followed on Nov. 18. The single and the album will be eligible for the 2018 awards show.
Sonika Vaid from Massachusetts needs to wow the audiences to continue on 'American Idol.'
SONIKA VAID must like living on the edge.
For the second week in a row she found herself in the bottom two as American Idol contestants were whittled down to the final five.
Vaid's performance of "Let It Go' showing off her strong vocals edged out Tristan McIntosh, of Tennessee, for the final spot in the top five.
The 20-year old Indian/Ameican Vaid from Massachusetts joins MacKenzie Bourg, Trent Harmon, Dalton Rapattoni, and La’Porsha Renae to move on next week.
After the judges last week urged her to loosen up, to "let herself go," by breaking out of the ballad genre where she excels.
Harry Connick Jr., who is her strongest supporter among the three judges, thought it was a perfect song choice for Vaid because it showed off her big voice. Judge Keith Urban said that her performances are really starting to “come alive” and Jennifer Lopez called her as “fierce.”
Her biggest problem though is not winning the judges' favor, it is connecting with the viewers who vote for their favorites every week.
Will Vaid be the Asian/American to break the curse of these reality shows? A few have come close, such as Jessica Sanchez who finished first runner-up three years ago on American Idol. No Asian/American performer has been able to win it all.
American Idol airs on Fox, Thursday at 8 p.m. Next week will be a special two-hour episode. Tune in and vote for Vaid to put her in the Top Four.
Watch Sonika give the performance that saved her for another week.
Amy Vachal went for honest emotion in her semifinal number on The Voice.
AMY VACHAL and her coach Adam Levine chose Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" for her semi-final performance.
While singing, she seemed to really get caught up in the emotion to the point of almost losing control. I hope the audience saw it the same way and didn't interpret that slight blip as a mistake.
All the other artists' performances were over the top, trying to hit a home run to impress the voters. In contrast, Amy opted for a quiet, sweet, emotional moment of honesty. It was like she was back in the coffee shops and bistros in Brooklyn. All that was missing was the proverbial brick wall in the background. Just a girl and her guitar (and two accompanying guitars.) So simple, so refreshing, the strategy just might work.
“That was nice. you’re voice seems like were what beautiful clouds are made of ... It was beautiful, it was light. And honestly, with all the crazy things going on all over the world, we need those crazy people to hear that voice,” said Pharrell Williams, "to see some clarity, to see some good. That's what your voice ignites, you know, like, somebody wants to do the right thing."
“The room just froze and stopped. All the energy in this room was focused on you. What’s special about you is, you do it in a way that is completely different and refreshingly raw,” said Adam Levine.
Once again, Jordan Smith seems to have knocked it out of the park with his interpretation of "Somebody to Love." He hit the big notes, had a full gospel choir as backup, hands-up in the air ending, standing ovation plus the production and song choice was a big nod to his voting base - the Christian vote. Do you think the producers' biases are showing?
As the judges made their comments, Amy looked resigned to whatever outcome the voters choose. It looks like Amy will have to duke it out for 2nd, 3rd or 4th with the other seven contestants to move into the finals.
Is her emotional performance enough to put her into the finals next week? "My goal is to touch hearts," she said before her performance. "I want to be real. I want to be me."
We'll find out Tuesday night how many hearts Amy touched.
The Eastern Seaboard has had a three-hour head start in the voting. Only a few more hours left to vote. All you Asian/American social networkers, its time to cast your votes.
How to vote on "The Voice"
There is a strict 14-hour voting window from the end of the show (between 9:55 p.m. ET on Monday to 12 p.m. ET Tuesday). That seems unfair for the voters on the West Coast because their voting period is done at 9 a.m. PST Tuesday. Voters from Hawaii, where Vachal is popular have an even shorter period to vote. Each person can vote up to 40 times total (10 votes per each of the four ways).
1. iTunes: downloading a song counts as 10 votes. (Bonus: if it reaches the top ten on the charts it gets multiplied by 10.) (1 download per person = 10 votes)
2. Facebook: vote on The Voice Facebook page via this link. (up to 10 times per person total)
3. The App : Download The Voice App on your phone (up to 10 times total)
AMY VACHAL, the Filipino/American songstress on The Voice singing competition, today (Dec. 7) will be facing her biggest test yet with a trip to the finals at stake. Hey, with all that's at stake, it's good to see she wakes up smiling (via Twitter).
The Top 9 semifinalists will be cut to the final four for the Dec. 14 finale. That means five contestants will be sent home; only four will survive for the finals. Vachal, 26, will have to do better than last week when she finished sixth.
"But this week, no matter what happens, I'm holding nothing back — I'm giving all of my heart," she said. "My one goal is that it touches hearts." She has been able to touch a lot of hearts in her months-long musical journey. From the first few notes in "Dream A Little Dream," that made three of the four coaches turn their chairs around wanting to mentor her, to her work with current coach Adam Levine, who ironically was the only coach not to turn around because he didn't have any room on his team, Vachal's subtle, sweet and sultry flips of the standards and pop hits have been highly praised.
Of the artists left in The Voice, Amy is the most distinctive and separates her from the rest. She has been able to pick songs and arrangements that take advantage of her soft, subtle jazzy interpretations of tunes. If the voting viewers based their picks on originality, Vachal would win hands down. But that's not the way most Voice viewers vote. For many, it comes down to musical tastes, between country, blues, spiritual or pop. Remarkably, Vachal has been able to travel this far without having to be categorized in any of those slots. While being unique is a good thing in the real world of music, not being easily categorized might work against her because she won't have any of those large bloc of voters pulling for her to win. Listen to Amy's performance in the Blind Audition and the judges' exuberant reaction:
When voting left the judges' hands and only 12 contestants were left, Amy was almost eliminated when her then coach, Pharrell Williams chose another contestant over Vachal. Levine became her coach when he "saved" her by putting her on his team. Under his tutelage, the two were clever enough to select current hit songs which were more familiar to the younger bloc of voters but given the special Amy Vachal interpretation.
Although Vachal has performed really well, I believe we still haven't seen her at her best. Besides being technically on point and outstanding creatively, hopefully she finds a way to connect emotionally with the audience to become the first Asian/American winner of one of television's singing contests. The Voice airs on NBC at 8 p.m./7 p.m. Central on Monday. It's a two-hour show tonight. The results will be revealed Tuesday.
How to vote on "The Voice"
There is a strict 14-hour voting window from the end of the show (between 9:55 p.m. ET on Monday to 12 p.m. ET Tuesday). That seems unfair for the voters on the West Coast because their voting period is done at 9 a.m. PST Tuesday. Voters from Hawaii, where Vachal is popular have an even shorter period to vote. Each person can vote up to 40 times total (10 votes per each of the four ways).
1. iTunes: downloading a song counts as 10 votes. (Bonus: if it reaches the top ten on the charts it gets multiplied by 10.) (1 download per person = 10 votes)
2. Facebook: vote on The Voice Facebook page via this link. (up to 10 times per person total)
3. The App : Download The Voice App on your phone (up to 10 times total)
OUR GIRL, Filipina/American jazz crooner Amy Vachal barely made it but she eked into the Top 12 in the singing competition The Voice. In last week's three-day Playoffs round, she didn't get enough of America's votes but she was "saved" by her coach Adam Levine to be part of this coming Monday's Live Playoff round. In the last few seconds of the show, coach Adam Levine said he had to "go with his gut" and picked Vachal to complete his team. "Amy has got this smooth, jazzy voice," said Levine, who called his team's performance "epic." "She is elegant and classy. She is amazing."
"I'm going to get poignant — the reason why," Maroon lead singer Levine continued. "I'm not going to talk about all the technical stuff, all that boring mumbo jumbo. We are going to talk about one thing.
"That was watching an artist perform on the show," he said. "We talked about what this needs to be for you. That's precisely what it was. You absolutely did the best job you could possibly do and I'm so thrilled." Apparently, the audience for this show is not into jazz or Amy's soft, soothing performance of "classics." Even with the judges tripping over each other in their praise for her singing, she wasn't able to get enough votes from the young set of viewers who prefer more contemporary performers and sounds.
Should she do more to connect with the audience emotionally, or should she stick to the jazzy style that she is more comfortable in and which got her this far? We'll have to wait until tonight (Monday, Nov. 16) on NBC to see what she chooses. Tuesday we will find out if her choice and performance impresses the audience as the results are announced. Will Amy make it to the next round? Here's how you can vote for Amy Vachal on The Voice via email, Facebook, etc. For you Asian American social networkers, get to work!
