Music Blogs

By Laura Ferreiro

Photo: Kevin MazurBeyoncé has never been one to cancel shows willy-nilly, nor to keep her fans waiting (unlike some other pop stars who shall remain nameless). That's why, when she postponed a show in Antwerp, Belgium on Tuesday, she went out of her way to personally apologize to her fans. Her absence also stoked rumors that the singer may be expecting her second child with husband Jay-Z.

In a handwritten letter posted on her website and her Facebook page, Queen Bey expressed her sincere remorse at disappointing her fans in the Belgian city.

"SYTYCD" is back! [photo: Mathieu Young/Fox]"So You Think You Can Dance," aka the best show in the history of television, returned to Fox this Tuesday, after a shaky ninth season plagued by format changes and preemptions. I was thrilled to see the show come back. "SYTYCD" is just pure talent — no silly feuding, no gimmicks, no TMZ gossip about the contestants' pasts or supposed showmances, no industry talk about the judges' inflated salaries. Just talent, talent, talent. You know, the way a talent show should be.

Vedo and Garrett Gardner leave "The Voice"The first two top 12 finalists to be voted off by America said goodbye to "The Voice" this Tuesday, and it can be argued that both singers were the victims of questionable song choices by their respective coaches. I'll cut both of those coaches some slack, since they were the two newbies, Usher and Shakira, who are still learning how to play the game. But hopefully they'll make wiser choices for their remaining contestants on future shows.

Lauderdale and Miller react to being nominated for best duo for the 2013 Americana Honors [Photo by Chris Willman]It’s been a great season for alt-country duets records, as evidenced by three pairs of singers who just got nominated for favorite duo at the Americana Awards: Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris, Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison, and Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale. All these recorded pairings have been in the makings for decades, and it’s just a coincidence of timing—maybe overseen by the Louvin Brothers from up above—that these projects all finally came to fruition in the last six months.

The Buddy and Jim album is a particular delight, bringing together two of roots-rock’s most celebrated journeymen at last. It’s not as if they hadn’t already spent seemingly half their lives together, but somehow, getting those three joint days in the studio to cut an LP proved tougher than touring together for years, as backing cats or co-headliners. We can thank SiriusXM for half-forcing the collaboration by signing Miller and Lauderdale up to do a weekly satellite show on the Outlaw Country channel.

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By Jon Wiederhorn

Nick Cave performs with a children's choir in L.A. on 2/22/2013 [photo: Noel Vasquez/Getty]It’s getting harder and harder for Nick Cave to find children to sing with him onstage these days. Not because kids today don’t receive proper vocal training. The problem has more to do with parents taking exception with their kids singing lyrics like "I was the match that would fire up her snatch" ("Mermaids").

Last night, "The Voice" Season 4 literally heated up, as the top 12 competed live without team quotas...and without air-conditioning. Some of the contestants still kept cool under the pressure, so to speak, and they delivered fantastic performances. But others were really really sweatin' it out, in more ways than one.