The opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's new Tristan und Isolde was one of those great nights at the opera, the kind that will have people arguing what shone most: the confident complexity of Yuval Sharon's staging, Lise Davidsen's indelible Isolde, her chemistry with tenor Michael Spyres, or the sensuous discipline of the orchestra. The answer, of course, is all of the above.
If Ederra was previously a journaler processing experiences within the bound margins of the page, here we're privy to the thoughts as they pop into her head. "I'm in the business of feeling," she declares early on, establishing the limbic mood. Ederra's not as frenzied a writer as KeiyaA, who likes to structure verses like spiraling thoughts, but the shift in approach makes her more fluid.
Over the years, Andrews has garnered comparisons to fellow Arizona native Linda Ronstadt for her rich, clear tone, which can modulate from quivering vibrato to crystalline belt on a dime. From the first piercing high of opening track "Pendulum Swing," Andrews commands her dynamic voice across Valentine, swinging into phrases with the grace and gravity of a trapeze artist.
It's impossible for Laferte's voice to ever be boring, even during a surplus of ballads that fulfill similar functions on a long album. Even when all she's doing is remembering, she preserves the joy and pain with touches that make the past feel urgent, like the slight, uncanny Auto-Tune on "Mi Hombre." When she confronts the memory of an abuser as a coward on "El Gran Señor," the fear in the glass-shattering note as she sings "miedo" fills the room.
The constant oscillation between tenors over the album's 12 tracks creates a battle to maintain lyrical focus and intensity, which Nokia handles to mixed success. She's at her best when she locks into the understated flow rooted in the tradition of her city's boom-bap rap that barely rises above the whisper: "I'm drinking blood in the mountain, I got the fountain of youth/I'm scaring men off with rumors, can't tell the lies from the truth," she raps along ghostly shrieks
Mark begins with poise, vowing on "By the End of the Night" to rebound on the dancefloor. She's quickly swooning, swathing a new paramour in her perfume on the buoyant "ooo" and going "weak in the knees" on the sprung "Sweet Serotonin." "Too Much" features a nifty interpolation of Usher's " My Boo " as she second-guesses her enthusiasm. "Is it too much if I'm thinking about you daily?"
Ozzy Osbourne delivered an emotional performance during his final show at the Back to the Beginning concert, showcasing raw vocal power with isolated performance of "Mama, I'm Coming Home."
