Viral Video(s) of the Week: American Idol Season 10

As you probably know, this Amherst insurance agency loves music. We often write about glee, sing-off, the Grammys and of course, American Idol. But we have to point out, this is probably the best American Idol there has ever been. Without the expected negative pre-disposition of Simon Cowel and generally superfluous banter of Paula Abdul, we find that a renewed focus on musical talent is refreshing, entertaining and inspiring. Since we’re so excited about this season, we though we’d share some of our favorite auditions so far! (

Check out Teresa’s Favorite Brett Loewenstern. He’s a quite humble kid from florida who has an amazing story and an even more amazing voice.

This is Casey Abrams auditioning with “I don’t Need No Doctor.” This is one of John’s favorites because he not only loves the vocal talent, but his band Pridefalls often covers this song!

Singing waitress? We think not!

Jordan Dorsey performs a version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow that’s unheard of.

And we saved the best for last… YOJI POP!

Your friends at your favorite Sunderland Homeowner’s Insurance Agency – Dale Frank Insurance

Who’s going to take the show at the Grammys?

The Grammy!

Grammy Picks for 2010

This year was an incredible year for music. We’ve seen the re-emergence of popular rock, musicals on television, crossovers with hip-hop, pop, alternative and indy, Power Duos and even the ubiquitous presence (and acceptance) of auto-tuning in popular music in general. Music has once again become the pulse of America. In the aftermath of such an epic music year, we’re excited to see that the Grammy Nominees have been announced. For a small Amherst Massachusetts Insurance Agency, you might be surprised how much we love music. Our office manager Teresa Boatwright has her finger on all of the latest hits and is a walking Glee fact book. John Veit, our internship director, is in a regional touring rock band and spends most of his time outside of the office in music. With the Holidays just around the corner, we wanted to be the first to share some of the things we’re most excited about for this years Grammys!

The first thing we’d like to go over is our picks for “Album of the Year” and “Record of the Year.” But before we do, we realized that you may not know the difference. (That’s because we didn’t know until we looked it up!) Record of the year is actually awarded based on a single from the album, where as Album of the year is based on the whole album front to back. (This isn’t to be confused with song of the year, which is awarded to  the writer of that song.)

Record of the Year

B.o.B. Featuring Bruno Mars – Nothin On You

Eminem Featuring Rihanna – Love The Way You Lie

Cee Lo Green – F*** You

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind

Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
This one is tough. B.o.B had a breakout year with some really great tracks. Cee Lo Green challenged the standard by dropping a catchy and vulgar song with a smooth and funky feel. Eminem had the comeback of his life. But our pick for the winner had die hard sox fans screaming New York at the top if their longs. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys came out with an anthem and are well deserving of the Record of the Year.

Album of the Year

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Eminem – Recovery

Lady Antebellum – Need You Now

Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster

Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

This particular award is pretty self-evident. While not a huge fan myself, Lady Gaga released one of the most dominant records in 2009. Her songs were at every party, bar and club and made their way on the American family favorite “Glee”. So for all you “little monsters” out there, we think there’s a pretty good chance your Lady Gaga is going to snag this one.

Best New Artist

Justin Bieber

Drake

Florence & The Machine

Mumford & Sons

Esperanza Spalding

We have one word here. Drake.

Song of the Year

Nominees:

Beg Steal Or Borrow – Ray LaMontagne, songwriter (Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs)

F*** You – Brody Brown, Cee Lo Green, Ari Levine, Philip Lawrence & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Cee Lo Green)

The House That Built Me – Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)

Love The Way You Lie – Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Marshall Mathers, songwriters (Eminem Featuring Rihanna)

Need You Now – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum

This one comes with a bitter sweet taste. Teresa made the great point that “Love the Way You Lie” is an absolutely phenomenal song. Here’s the problem: Not that long ago, Rhianna was thrust into the spotlight for having been abused by then boyfriend Chris Brown. Here we are just a few years later, and we have a song that can be interpreted as promoting gender inequality and the acceptance of abuse in relationships. Taking into consideration that this award is for the writ

er rather than performer however, Love The Way You Lie is our pick. The song connects with a lot of people. And whether good or bad, the lyrics are very powerful.

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

King Of Anything – Sara Bareilles

Halo (Live) – Beyoncé

Chasing Pirates – Norah Jones

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

Teenage Dream – Katy Perry

Sara Bareilles is, by all intents and purposes, one of the most unbelievable talents out there. Having seen her live several times over the last few years, my pick is clearly going to go her way. While Beyonce’s Halo is also phenomenal, I feel like her credit was given last year. To re-hash an already award winning song just because it’s a live version seems to take away from the credit that some of the new talent deserves. Sara B. Has earned and deserved this one.

Best Male Pop Vocal Per

formance

Haven’t Met You Yet – Michael Bublé

This Is It – Michael Jackson

Whataya Want From Me – Adam Lambert

Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars

- John Mayer

I’m not going to make a pick here. All I can say is that I would hate to be in the hot seat to pick the winner. It really doesn’t matter who you pick here… Because more than one of them deserve it. What do you think? Vote Below!!!

- Your friends at your Favorite Deerfield Massachusetts Homeowner’s Insurance Agency

Viral Video of the Week

The interns here at your local Western Massachusetts Insurance provider love this acoustic compilation of “We Speak No Americano”!!