Rest In Peace, Etta James.

Today an icon has passed away, five days before her 74th birthday. Jamesetta Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938 to a fourteen year old mother and an unknown father. She joined a girlgroup called The Creolettes at the age of fourteen. The group got signed, but big success never came. During this time, The Creolettes became The Peaches and Jamesetta Hawkins became Etta James. The Peaches were short-lived, but James went on to become one of the greatest singers in the history of music.

She became best known for transcending multiple genres, such as blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Her discography includes 28 studio albums, 58 singles and numerous compilation albums. Her first single "The Wallflower (Roll With Me, Henry)" reached #1 on the American R&B chart when it was released in 1955. The song earned her a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2008. Her first album was released in 1961.

In her career, she released many influential singles, such as "Good Rockin' Daddy", "Tough Lover", "At Last", "Something's Hold A Hold On Me", "Stop The Wedding" and many more. Although she was very succesful during the fifties, sixties and seventies, it wasn't until the early nineties that she began to get recognition for her work in terms of awards - she won several lifetime achievement awards, despite having barely won any awards during the earlier decades. Her songs have been covered by many artists and in 2008, she was portrayed by Beyoncé in the movie Cadillac Records.

During the seventies, health issues have prevented James from performing and her popularity declined. In January 2011, James was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent treatment. A few months ago, she was declared terminally ill and today, on January 20, 2012, five days before her seventy-fourth birthday, she succumbed to leukemia.

Let's all take a moment to listen to and enjoy the music of one of music's greatest and most influential people. RIP, Ms. Etta James!

Last day to vote for the People's Choice Awards!

There's only one day left to cast your vote for the 38th People's Choice Awards, which will be held on January 12. The PCA's were founded in 1975 and recognize the people and the work of popular culture in movies, tv series and music. This year, frontrunners are Harry Potter 7.2, Katy Perry and Glee - with nine, eight and seven nominations each. Katy Perry is one of the few people to ever be nominated in each big part of the PCA's (aside from her music, she played Smurfette and guest starred on How I Met Your Mother)

Check out the nominees for each category (be warned, it's a huge list) below, including our choices for the winners, and cast your vote on peopleschoice.com/pca/vote

xo, Jelle

Happy 30th Birthday, Britney!

"It's a part of life. It's a beautiful part of life and that's how I accept it. I think the older you get, the wiser you get. I can't wait."

- Britney on getting older in the October 2011 issue of Glamour UK

She's thirty, y'all!

Exactly 30 years ago, on December 2 in 1981, a little baby girl named Britney Jean Spears was born. And that's just the beginning of the extraordinary road of life the now 30-year old has had. Thirteen years of chart hits, two beautiful baby boys, two marriages and a hell of a breakdown and comeback later, she's still at the top of the pack in music.

It still feels like yesterday when I was dancing along to her ...Baby One More Time, Oops!... and Slave videos. Well, for most of her videos it might have been yesterday! I loved Britney since day #1, a became a huuge fan since her third album (which is still my favorite).

The drama of whether she's a good singer and dancer aside (I could discuss those for days - Britneystan4life!), no one will ever be able to deny how big Britney's influence was (and still is) on today's music. Without her, stars like Rihanna, Selena Gomez and Lady GaGa would probably have never been. The legendary school girl look, the red catsuit, the yellow phyton, the kiss with Madonna, the nude-with-diamonds look - all of these should recall an image to everyone!

In the current music industry, where Britney is "old news", she still manages to constantly be compared to singers that are so much younger than her. If that isn't called "being relevant", I don't know what could be. By the way, did y'all know Femme Fatale is her first album with three top 10 singles? Maybe one day, it will be "okay" to like her again and some of you can freely come out of your Britney-closet.

This year has been a great year for Britney; a critically aclaimed album, four great singles with amazing videos, a succesful tour, a remix album and most recently a live dvd. I can't wait to see what's up next!

Here's to your 30th birthday, Britney! I hope you have an amazing one!

xo, Jelle

ps: y'all may have noticed that we've changed our domain name to EffAyTee.blogspot.com - so update your bookmarks! ;-)

Talk That Talk by Rihanna, a review

Exactly one week ago, Rihanna's sixth studio album "Talk That Talk" hit the stores in most parts of the world. Its first two singles "We Found Love" and "You Da One" have already hit charts worldwide and a lot more singles will probably follow in the months to come.

When listening to the album, there's one thing that makes it hard for me to write this review: to me there are no standout tracks nor lowlights! The album is a solid effort throughout, offering a range of musical styles such as the thumping dance-y sound that's so popular right now, sexy r&b, carribean influences, etc. And yet, the album is missing something. It might be the fact that it still has to grow on me a little more. After all, it's only been a year since "Loud" and most average radio-listeners are still only digesting "Man Down" while there are already three more recent singles.

Notable is the change of themes on this album when comparing it to Riri's two previous ones. "Rated R" featured a darkness we didn't expect from her at that time, and "Loud" found a balance between the lightness and darkness. With "Talk That Talk", Rihanna moves to a different place - with four song titles containing the word 'love', it won't be hard to guess where. Without a certain darkness that I came to love about her, the overall feeling of this album almost seems a bit shallow.

But all in all, the album is a great listen and definitely doesn't sound rushed at all. The only track I really, and I mean REALLY, have a problem with is "Birthday Cake". It seems to end while the second verse starts, which sounds just wrong to me. A full version is rumored to come out soon, so that one will certainly replace the short version in my iTunes library!

my favourite tracks: Where Have You Been, Birthday Cake, Farewell and Red Lipstick

tracks I think might be upcoming singles: Where Have You Been, Talk That Talk, We All Want Love and Roc Me Out

xo- Jelle.

She Found Love In A Not So Hopeless Place

Though she's only released her first single six years ago, Rihanna has made quite an impact on the American charts since 2005. The singles charts, that is. The 23-year old still has to release a chart topping album! High hopes are set on "Talk That Talk", her next studio album that will be released later this month. Despite no #1 album, she has already had an enormous amount of ELEVEN number-one singles – only two of which as a featured artist. Click "read more" to go back in time to where it all began, up to where she stands now!