Silver Chips Online

Since the release of his debut album in 2007, pop star Mika's energized songs have stolen hearts and no doubt caused fans' voices to crack when they try to sing along. Well, warm up those vocal cords, because Mika's back and he hasn't changed a bit. He's still spunky and he's still creative.

Jay-Z has been in the rap game for a very long time and has been through it all - a heated feud with rapper Nas, a promotion to Chief Executive Officer of Def Jam Recordings, retirement and a comeback. Through it all, he's been able to consistently produce chart-topping albums including his 11th studio album, "Blueprint 3."

It's time to get back to jumping on those beds, cranking up the stereo and screaming lyrics in your car, because Kelly is back! Kelly Clarkson's fourth album, "All I Ever Wanted," released Mar. 10, has not only dissipated some of the recent embarrassing dismay of her third album, "My December," but revived her popular status as the spunky, energetic artist we all know and love.

After a five-year hiatus, U2 fans are anxious to see what genius these recent Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famers cook up next. Unfortunately, after 11 albums of Bono's impassioned vocals and the signature timbre of The Edge's guitar, "No Line On The Horizion" doesn't match up to the anthemic prowess the band established in the mid-1980s. But who can resist Bono's voice and The Edge's awesome guitar playing? "No Line" may not be U2's best album, but considering much of the bile that is produced by the music industry these days, it's absolutely supreme.

Blair's second winter concert, featuring the Blazer Choir, InToneNation, the Chamber Choir guitar ensemble and the symphonic orchestra featured fun and foreign songs of a wide variety – from the soft and lilting to the haunting and sad to the upbeat and cheerful. These engaging tunes, coupled with conductors Dustin M. Doyle and Paul Newport's desire to include audience involvement, resulted in an intimate and warm concert.

If you've turned on the radio in the past few years, you're probably familiar with the robotic twang of "T-Pained" vocals. This trademark motif of namesake and Florida R&B crooner T-Pain is caused by Antares Audio Technologies's Auto-Tune plug-in, a program that snaps sour notes into a computerized pattern with a distinctive tremble.

The musical genius who brought us meaningless yet extremely popular tracks like "Crank Dat (Soulja Boy)" and "Get Silly" brings the same lackluster approach to his newest album, "iSouljaBoyTellem." SouljaBoy amazingly manages to make each of the 16 tracks on "iSouljaBoyTellem" as mindless as the next. From the bouncy beat of "Rubberbands" to the ridiculous "Wit My Yums On," SouljaBoy has established himself as an artist that should never, ever win a Grammy.

With every lick of the guitar, thump of the drum and tinker of bells, rapture ripened in the eyes of the crowd. They came fleeing the cold December rain and found an exciting, eclectic mix of poetry, music, humor, dance and adrenalizing altruism. For yet another year, the Students for Global Responsibility's cultural extravaganza, known as the SGR Spectacular, displayed the brilliant talent of Blair's diverse community.

With the expanding popularity of music networking sites, the Internet has replaced radio as the dominant source of new music over radio. As a result, the rise of Facebook, YouTube and MySpace has launched an era of interconnectivity and expression - and anyone with Internet access can connect. Although a plethora of music social networking sites are available, Silver Chips Online is here with a review of some of the most popular, overhyped and underrated music networking sites.

Musicians who write their own lyrics are incredibly rare in today's music industry, where hits are usually written by professional songwriters and altered to perfection by producers. But country music phenomena Taylor Swift, who famously walked away from a record contract at age 13 because the label did not allow her to pen her own songs, is one of the few artists who can truly write and sing from the heart. Swift's sophomore album, "Fearless," contains a huge range of songs about young love, from the cheery and sappy "Love Story" to the angry "Always and Forever" to the sad "You're Not Sorry."