Play On

I think Carrie Underwood took more risks with this album and I think the risks she took, work well for her. In my opinion, this is her best album yet. She also wrote more songs in this album than the last and I hope to see her writing all the songs in her album on her own in the future.

She has stronger vocals and better interpretation of songs. It's obvious in songs like "Look at Me", "Someday when I stop loving you", "Mama song", "Temporary home" and so on.

I like the duet with Sons of Sylvia in "What can I say" though I've never heard of this band before but in one part, I think Carrie Underwood outdid them.

There are also a number of fast songs in this album, among all the fast songs I like "Play On" the most, an amazing song which provides a nice ending to the whole album.

Play on Carrie Underwood!
Vicky

Assam Laksa for the 1st time

Had dinner at Cinta Ria@DJ yesterday and I ordered a bowl of Assam Laksa. So two first here, first time eating at Cinta Ria@DJ and first time eating Assam Laksa.

I always thought that Assam Laksa is super spicy. I used to picture myself, sweating and drinking lots of water with plenty of ice in it because the spiciness is burning my tongue, and yes I'll be sweating too. But when I tried this, it wasn't as spicy as I imagined it would be. In fact I enjoyed eating it. I like sour dishes. So it was sour enough to for me. This dish cost RM7.50 which I think was reasonable for a restaurant like this.

If you don't know where this restaurant is, it's beside a restaurant famous for its claypot rice in Damansara Jaya. The signboard for Cinta Ria@DJ is in red so you can't miss it.

Assam Laksa is on my food list when I go to Penang,
Vicky

Kris Allen

Kris Allen has been my favourite since I watched his Top 36 performance on American Idol Season 8. I think that was the best performance that day. I could remember that performance till today. Since that performance, I've been looking forward to seeing Kris perform every week. I was elated when he won American Idol.

This post is regarding his debut self-titled album.

In this album, he showed more than just his ability to sing. He also showed his ability to write songs, with 9 tracks in this album co-written by him.

There's a balance of fast numbers and slow songs in this album. The themes in this album are life and love. "Let It Rain" and "Lifetime" provides encouragement during tough times. I find "Live Like We're Dying" catchy and meaningful. "Heartless" is different than the one in he sang in American Idol but this version is as good as the one he performed in the show. I think it was a good thing that "No Boundaries" was not included in this album. My favourite song on this album is "Red Guitar" a song which he wrote pre-Idol which is basically about a guitar that he got for his wife.

Salespeople from two different stores tried to persuade me to buy Adam Lambert's debut album but I don't intend to buy his album though I like a few of his songs because I'm not a fan of Adam Lambert.

Watch the performance that caught my attention, here.

Kris Allen - Man in the Mirror

Vicky