Jack's not all-White, Coro kids, and introducing Ren Harvieu

So following my last blog complaining about bad music and bad TV I thought I should share some of my hightlights from this week.

A beautiful and talented Salford-based singer has been brought to my attention. Her name is Ren Harvieu and I heard about her when my Mum was buzzing round her kitchen telling me about some wonderful music she'd heard on Radio 6.

Now, about 90% of the time my Mum and I will agree on artists we like or don't like, so I was willing to listen to what she had to say.

She went on Youtube and played Through The Night for me and it was wonderful.
Forget the dreary sleepiness of Lana Del Rey, Ren Harvieu is where it's at!

Her voice is so beautifully powerful and yet vulnerable at the same time and it sounds like a magical blend between the 1940's and 1960's.

It is a stunning and enticing sound.

The music industry has been saturated by monotonuous singer-song writers of a similar vein recently, but Ren, 21, has some true talent and a sound that just blows away the competition. She's definitely set the bar.

What sets her apart from other singer-song writer's at the moment is that the music isn't entirely just about her vocal. Through The Night, her first single released on January 16, contains a sweeping string section and is quite orchestral and grand.

I'd recommend this for fans of Rumer and Adele.

I have always been a fan of Jack White, and I was very excited to hear on Tuesday that he is to make a come back with a solo album, Blunderbuss on April 24.

His various side projects (The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather) have seen him grow as a musician since the days of The White Stripes and gain a lot of respect from fellow musicians.

I think he has a lot of musical skill and I personally loved his controversial James Bond theme 'Another Way To Die' with Alicia Keys.

So this week the first single Love Interruption, from his solo album, featuring country singer Ruby Amanfu was streamed online. The official released date being February 7.
I had a listen online when it was released on Tuesday and it's not what I thought it would be.

I've come to expect progressive, boundary-breaking rock music from him, and all I got was just a simple country/folk style song.

I didn't really mind it, but I was disappointed and I'm starting to wonder whether he's lost his spark, or just got bored of writing the kind of music I've grown to love. The single was bearable and quite sweet, despite the dark lyrics, and kept me interested for about a minute.

This could signal a change for him, but I hope he continues to create some brilliant duets.

I haven't really watched a lot of TV this week, but I have to say Coronation Street is hotting up! I've caught a few episodes of the soap and the trial is getting very interesting.

Last night's episode (Thursday 2) saw some brilliant acting from little Simon Barlow, played by Alex Bain.

I think he's a great child actor, and I remembering giggling at the Rice Crispies advert when he used to be on it.

He's usually a little cheeky chappy who is always a welcome relief on screen after the wooden acting from Amy Barlow, but last night he really tugged on the heart strings.

I'd like to see him stay in the soap for a while. I like his character.