The New Lisa Turtle/→La J'amour Exquise←: Newness

It's 1something in the morning and I'm sitting her listening to Ciara. I'm thinking, as I often do, on what is becoming of music. There's so much of everything else in music except actual music. Less singing, instruments, and lyrical content but there is lots of dancing and bass! Ciara is a strong offender of this, but I forgive her because she knows who she is. Openly admitting that she doesn't have the voice of Whitney Houston or the greats but she does what she does. This I can respect! On to my next point...
Have you heard of O'Neal McKnight? O'Neal McKnight seems to be (so far) someone who knows who he is-- calling his brand of music, R&P (that's Retro-Pop).

"I like to call my music R&P -- Retro-Pop. Retro-Pop is the sound of the future, and a throwback to the feel-good energy of the past."

Now, admittedly, I've only heard the three songs that can be found on his MySpace but he is fast on the road to being my new The-Dream who is already my new T-Pain. When I first saw a portion of his video for his debut single "Check Your Coat" I was seriously lost and confused. WAS THIS A JOKE? Cut to a few days later and my friend sends me the video on YouTube... Same initial reaction. Against my usual habits, I decided to watch the entire thing and became intrigued. Off the suggestion of my friend, I checked out his MySpace. After reading his bio I learned he used to be a celebrity stylist and that he's from a trailer park. I also heard two more songs besides the single and that's when confusion turned to admiration. I like him. He's nowhere near the best singer in the world but he is at least different. More than being different though, he is about having a good time and I can definitely appreciate that. Lately, in music it seems like everyone tries too hard but he seems just be enjoying himself. Check out his explanation of the title of his yet to be released album Prom 2088:

"The Prom is a celebration -- A time to reflect on where you've been and a time to look forward to where you're going, and that's what my music represents -- Prom: 2088 is a party."

Seriously though, I really think I'm going to like him even if I did think he was "joke music" at first. T-Pain is done in my heart because he's on EVERY SONG and The-Dream is in danger of being replaced by this man because The-Dream is not this snazzy of a dresser: