Zouk’s pulling out all the stops with double headlining acts for the first time this year. Watch out for David Guetta, French house & electro music producer/extraordinaire, and trance music DJ, Tiesto, who’s on his Kaleidoscope World Tour.

Whether you’re a hardcore ZoukOut-er or a newbie at the party scene, UrbanWire has come up with 10 ways to prep yourself to make sure you have a blast at the party.

1. Do ample research and preparation

If you’re reading this article, you’re on the right track! Well our first tip for you is: get your timings right. It’d be really embarrassing (and sad) to get ready to party and find yourself at an empty beach.

Where: Siloso Beach, Sentosa
When: Dec 11, 8pm to 8am

How: Be sure of the timeslots and to suss out the best spots to catch your favourite act or performer in action. Psst, the headliners usually don’t come until 3 or 4am.

2. Pack light

Although there are lockers to put your stuff in, they are limited in number. To save yourself the trouble, just bring the necessities – your photo ID, tickets and lots of extra cash because I doubt you wanna be scouting for ATMs when everyone’s partying away.

3. Dress appropriately

Bring out the bikinis or boardshorts for an awesome beach party! But based on our past experience, we have 1 tip for you: do-not-wear-slippers… ever. Just take them off and dance with abandon – something you can only do when you aren’t at risk of losing your footwear or having your toes stepped on every 5 seconds.

4. Settle transportation

Unless you want to wait in the cab queue with 29, 000 other people (the expected turn-out) when the event ends, you should call for a cab beforehand, or better still, carpool among your group of friends – but that is if one friend is willing to stay off the drinks. Remember, don’t drink and drive!

5. Eat an early dinner and make sure it fills you up

To not miss out on any part of the party, be sure to have dinner before making your way there as the astronomical prices and limited food selection may become a real turn-off.

6. Hydate yourself

Drinking too much alcohol will cause dehydration. You don’t want to faint and miss out on the party do you? But, don’t over-hydrate either! Based on past experience, the toilets there won’t be too inviting and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to spend half the time queuing up for the toilet right?

7. Don’t mix your alcohol

Stick to one type of alcohol. If you really want to, go easy on the mixing because it can get you drunk easily. I’m sure you’d want to remember the fun time you had at ZoukOut 2010 instead of just plonking dead on the beach with no recollection about anything the next morning.

8. Get a wingman/woman

It’s all about the partying and the new friends you can make! Get your buddy to double up as your wingman for the night so he/she can get you some action. But aside from partying hard, party safe as well! Keep tabs on each other and away from trouble.

9. Keep an open mind

It’s all about the partying and the new friends you can make! Mingle with people; don’t hide in the corner by yourself. However, make sure you don’t attract the wrong kind of attention either (check: tip 8) and if you’re really uncomfortable speaking to someone, make sure you tell your friend.

10. Just let your hair down for the night and party away!

The 20 tracks featured in the album were specially selected to cater to the mass. Anyone can find a track to listen in this album, whether or not you’ve experienced love as it features the full spectrum of love like first love, loss of love, unrequited love and twisted love.

UrbanWire picks its top 5 tracks of the album.

“Fixing a Broken Heart” is one of the 20 duets featured in this love compilation of the century. This song dates back to 1993 from Relativity, an album by Indecent Obsession. There are 2 versions of this song, one featuring Japanese singer Mari Hamada, and another by the band that was produced in the same year. Maybe because of Hamada’s Japanese accent, the song sounds weird when her voice first appears. However, it was made up for by their 2 voices, that complemented each other so euphoniously and made this one of the must-listen in the album.

Another gem of the album, “Don’t Know Much” featured the versatile Linda Ronstadt and the soulful Aaron Neville. Even though it was first released in 1980 in Barry Mann’s Casablanca, he co-wrote the song with Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow, it successfully gained recognition in 1989, when Ronstadt and Neville performed it. The song won the 1990 Grammy’s for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

“Tonight I Celebrate My Love” brought recognition to its 2 singers Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack. The melodious melody, together with Bryson’s and Flack’s harmonious voices that synced so perfectly with each other makes this one of the greatest love songs of the century. It was released back in 1983 and was used as the theme song for popular soap opera, Days of our Lives.

A love ballad will definitely be heartfelt when an ex-couple decides to sing together. Patty Smyth and Don Henley’s “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” referred to the relationship between them and how they coped after the break-up and getting on with their lives. The ex-lovers broke up on amicable terms, as Smyth wrote this song to make sense of the splitting up. The sincerity of the number was well received by the public as the song spent 6 weeks in 2^nd place on the Billboard Hot 100.

Another song that was composed by a real-life couple is “You’re All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1968. This song was recorded separately and combined during the production process, because Terrell had to spend a lot of time in the hospital due to her brain tumor that claimed her life eventually in 1970. The chemistry between the 2 could be felt throughout the song, with their intense and strong vocals and could be the reason why it stayed on the British singles chart for 19 weeks.

All in all, this is a great album if you’re looking for timeless classics. UrbanWire gives Duets: World’s Greatest Love Ballads 3/5 stars.

Title: Duets: World’s Greatest Love Ballads
Artist: Various Artists
Language: English
Record Label: Universal Music Pte Ltd

Track list:

1. Cheek To Cheek – Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
2. Mirame Bailar – Kenny G featuring Sumi Jo
3. Aguas De Marco – Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina
4. Better Than Anything – Natalie Cole & Diana Krall
5. River – Madeleine Peyroux featuring K.D Lang.
6. Anytime – Diane Schuur with Barry Manilow
7. On & On – Claressa Monteiro with Stephen Bishop
8. Your Song – Elton John & Alessandro Safina
9. Where Do We Go From Here – Blake & Hayley Westenra
10. The Alchemist – Russell Watson & Lara Fabian
11. Best For Me – Tyler James ft. Amy Winehouse
12. When You say Nothing At All – Ronan Keating featuring Paulina Rubio
13. I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher
14. You’re All I need To Get By – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
15. Two Sides To Every Story – Chris De Burgh & Shelly Nelson
16. Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough – Patty Smyth & Don Henley
17. We’ve Got Tonight – Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton
18. Tonight, I Celebrate My Love For You – Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack
19. Don’t Know Much – Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville
20. Fixing A Broken Heart – Indecent Obsession & Mari Hamada

Last Saturday (10^th July 2010), was the showcase of 2AM, a South-Korean ballad group under company JYP entertainment at IMM. International pop-star Rain, sensational pop-group Wonder Girls and boy band 2PM are among the more popular artistes that JYP has produced. To get access to the showcase, there was a limited number of albums available at HMV together with the showcase tickets. Out of the 3000 albums sold, there were 300 lucky fans that could get their albums autographed.

Even though the showcase started officially at 5.30pm, at 7am, there were already close to 400 fans queuing up outside IMM shopping centre. According to a security guard, R. Benoj, in his 30s, the first few in line started queuing up at 2am in the morning. As the queue was blocking the main entrance of the mail, security guards and management staff were deployed to help disperse the queue.

Cheryl Ma, 20 and her cousin, Chrystel Ma, 16 were among those who came in the morning to queue up. When asked what is the craziest thing that she would do for her idols, Cheryl answered that she has traveled to Malaysia and Philippines just to watch her favourite boyband, Super Junior perform. She adds that as long as she has the opportunity to watch and the capability to pay, she’ll do anything.

At 8.30am, the management took charge of the situation and quickly controlled the crowd that was getting bigger by the minute. From the main entrance, the fans got into lines of 2 and orderly made their way into the back of the shopping center and waited for about 3 hours until the doors to the garden plaza on the rooftop was opened. There, they quickly rushed to the front in a bid to get the best places.

Chia Rui Qi, 16, spent her time making placards and banners for her idol. This placard says “My baby, Jinwoonie.” Jinwoon, who recently turned 19 is the youngest, also known as the “maknae” of the four-member band. Placards like this could be spotted everywhere, almost every fan had one in their hands. However, in order not to block the people standing behind, the official 2AM fan club, IAMSG had banned the holding of placards during the performances.

At 3pm, there were dark clouds hovering above the venue, threatening to pour any minute but this did not deter the increasing amount of fans that were coming into the garden plaza. It started raining at about 4.30pm, 1 hour before the event.

At 5pm, 30 minutes before the stars were bound to arrive,  everyone suddenly just stood up and rushed to the front. As a result, all of us in the middle were squashed and it was certainly not the best position to be in because you could smell all kinds of scents, from shampoo to body odour. Thank god for the ventilator on the top, because without it, I think some of us would have fainted.

The fans immediately broke into a series of chants and chorus when the four idols finally took stage. “The 30-minute performance certainly did not justify the hours and hours of waiting, I could’ve stayed home to do my work” Jazreel Tan, 20, regrets sacrificing her work for this showcase.

Gone were the days of blood-thirsty fanged creatures who shunned garlic and turned into ash in the sun. According to bestselling author Stephenie Meyer, new-age vampires sparkle in the sun like diamonds. They also rule the world, make women swoon not from fear but longing and lust, which is probably why movie directors have moved in for the jugular.

Yes, and not a moment too soon either, it’s been just a mere 6 months, the Twilight Saga is back again with its third film, Eclipse, directed by David Slade who had, oddly enough, originally stated that he wouldn’t go near the franchise.

Like New Moon, the third installment of the Twilight saga was highly anticipated by the Twihards, fang-girls of the Twilight Saga. During the premiere, all it took was the lights dimming for the audience to break out in applause and loud cheering.

In Eclipse, female protagonist Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) finds herself in danger once again as Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) continues her quest for revenge against Edward (Robert Pattinson) for killing her mate, James, in the first movie. Victoria gets herself a puppet, which comes in the form of newborn vampire Riley (Xavier Samuel), who forms his own army of others like him.

10 minutes in and the show has already got the audience’s adrenaline pumping as the entire Cullen clan comes face to face with Victoria, chasing her through the forest. However, the Cullens get into trouble with the werewolves when Emmett (Kellan Lutz) accidentally crosses into their territory.

The tussle between the vampires and the werewolves is not just a fight for territory, but also love.

Like any other romance flick, there’s a love triangle. In this case, it’s more intense, mainly because most of the main characters aren’t human.

Once again, Bella is forced to choose between her soul-mate Edward and her best friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) as both parties declare their love to her throughout the movie, in thinly-veiled attempts to make the other jealous.

Like the other 2 Twilight movies, there were many gag-inducing scenes that were meant to be romantic but came off as extraordinarily cheesy. One such example would be Edward’s declaration of love: “Isabella Swan, I promise to love you every moment of forever”, while that’s the cue to make the audience swoon, it makes you cringe instead.

So, who will Bella choose? Although the answer’s obvious, it didn’t stop the audience for rooting for Jacob as they greeted his first appearance with loud wolf-whistles, if you can even imagine girls doing that. Of course,you could hardly blame then when Lautner looked fantastic with his washboard abs that got quite an airing.

Scenes that played on the Team Jacob vs. Team Edward issue were funny, especially the one in which Jacob commented to Edward, “I’m way hotter than you”, no contest there, as werewolves have a generally warmer body temperature than the ice-cold vampires.

The climax of this film is the big fight between the Cullens and Victoria’s army of newborns. It’s the most notable one and the one actress Ashley Greene was most anticipating to film. Think dismemberment of heads, tearing of limbs and shredding of body parts.

In the midst of all this fighting and drama, Bella has to make the most important decision of her entire life with her graduation approaching and her birthday coming. But UrbanWire won’t spoil it for you.

At the end, Eclipse is like the other Twilight films, made for the Twihards who will be the ones to enjoy the films whatever critics say However, to the rest of us, there are better movies to spend $10 on.

Title: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Opening Date: 01 July 2010
Duration: 124 Minutes
Language: English
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Thriller
Directed by: David Slade
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

To say that Rihanna is back again is an overstatement because she’s not back with a whole new album, but a remix of her album, Rated R that was released in 2009 and was her 3^rd consecutive platinum album in America.

The original Rated R was created based on the whole Chris Brown saga featuring lyrics that she wrote herself, getting inspiration from her abusive relationship with him. This winning formula proved to be so successful that 10 of its songs has just gotten remixed by Chew Fu Phat, the man who has built himself a successful career, having worked with Her Majesty Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, to name a few.

While it may come across like a feeble attempt to conquer the mainstream music industry which is currently dominated by Queen Lady Gaga at the moment, the newly remixed tracks could be good news to fans who couldn’t get enough of her fast-paced, dancing tracks like “Pon De Replay”, “S.O.S”, “Umbrella”, and “Disturbia”.

There are songs that are generally worth  listening to in this album, which may be unnecessary if you have the original Remix R album. Songs like “Russian Roulette” and “Rude Boy” sounded better remixed, so kudos to Chew Fu.

“Russian Roulette” was remixed from a slow ballad to a track that has dancey-upbeat elements, making it highly addictive.

According to Pitchfork, “Rude Boy” peaked at number 1 in America, making it Rihanna’s 6^th single to hit number 1 on the Hot 100. The remixed version of “Rude Boy” is fresh and refreshing, quite different from the original one, with an infectious melody and electro-beats that gets stuck in your head.

Don’t get me wrong. Remixes are interesting because of the twist they give to the original music. However, this remixed album could be potentially a miss on Chew Fu’s part because the tracks sound so consistent it’s almost identical to one another with no distinct feature. It’s good if you want a song to dance to in the club, but not good if you just want a song to listen to.

Chew Fu is a good remixer. Rihanna is a talented singer. However, fusing these two together may not be the best thing that Def Jam Recordings, which has in its stable Kanye West and Ludacris, has done.

The UrbanWire gives Rated R /// Remixed 2/5 stars.

Artist: Rihanna

Language: English
Record Label: Def Jam
Release Date: 25 May 2010

Track list:

1. Mad House (Chew Fu Straight Jacket Fix)
2. Russian Roulette (Chew Fu Black Russian Fix)
3. ROCKSTAR 101 (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix)
4. Wait Your Turn (Chew Fu Can’t Wait No More Fix)
5. Photographs feat. will.i.am (Chew Fu 35mm Fix)
6. Rude Boy (Chew Fu Bumbaclot Fix)
7. Hard feat. Jeezy (Chew Fu Granite Fix)
8. G4L (Chew Fu Guns In The Air Fix)
9. Fire Bomb (Chew Fu Molotov Fix)
10. Stupid In Love (Chew Fu Small Room Fix)

With his melodious voice, distinct blue eyes and that endearing innocent charm that oozes out of him, it’s easy for Jason Castro to tug at your heartstrings and make you want to bring him home.

Despite not winning the 7th season of American Idol, Jason Castro, 23, still goes down in history as the first idol contestant that played an instrument on stage; guitar in his case.

“I have a simple goal and that is to create songs that grab you by the soul and make you feel,” he said, on his homepage. True enough, he has lived up to his expectation.

For someone who thought that he would never start singing, he only discovered that he had the ability to sing close to 2 years ago when he joined American Idol. Jason Castro certainly surprised us all with his self-titled debut album, which hit stores on Apr 13 and debuted at number 18 on the billboard charts, according to USA Today.

His new album features many well-known songwriters, which has helped him greatly in the production process. Although he alone has the ability to produce an album on his own, the work of other songwriters is an added bonus to the album, thus, making it a delight to listen to.

The songs included in the album generally have a very cheerful personality to them, which makes you feel like falling in love because you want to experience the warm, fuzzy feeling that love brings. This album basically sets the mood for any and every date that you were to go on.

His sweet-sounding vocals, whimsical whistling and the quirky, laidback melogy made the first track of his album, “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again” the perfect opening song for either people in a relationship or singletons. It has the power to make people who are currently single have the desire to fall in love, while couples can re-affirm their relationship. It’s the recipe for a perfect summer love song.

Another must-listen on this album is “This Heart Of Mine”. Featuring Castro’s superb guitar skills and euphonious humming, the melody and honeyed lyrics make this song another perfect love song that you can’t help but sing along to.

“That’s What I’m Here For” begins with a captivating guitar solo from Castro, which blends in well with his rich, tenor voice. These two factors come together to form a lethal combination, which makes this one of the best songs in the album.
“You Can Always Come Home” features fellow singer-songwriter Serena Ryder. Maybe it’s the fact that Castro’s voice and her voice blends so well together, you almost cannot hear her voice at all. However, that aside, this track is perhaps one of the best original songs that Castro has written which clearly shows how talented he is in that area.

However, for people that are not fans of his, this album may not be the perfect ear-candy for you. In fact, Jason Castro may come across as a Jason Mraz wannabe.

The UrbanWire gives Jason Castro 2/5 stars because while this album sticks to his original image as the laidback heartthrob in American Idol and is pleasant to the ear, it may come across as boring and repetitive, which is quite a pity since he is so talented.

Title: Jason Castro
Artist: Jason Castro
Language: English
Record Label: Atlantic
Release Date: 13 April 2010
Track list:
1. Let’s Just Fall in Love Again
2. This Heart of Mine
3. That’s What I’m Here For
4. Heart of Stone
5. If I Were You
6. You Can Always Come Home (Featuring Serena Ryder)
7. Love Uncompromised
8. Closer
9. All Wrapped Up
10. It Matters to Me
11. Hallelujah
12. Let’s Just Fall in Love Again (Acoustic Version)
13. Sweet Medicine
14. Over the Rainbow