Streisand unleashes diva power in Walls

Barbra Streisand is a diva of the first order. She has shown excellence in her line of work and had been widely recognized for all those during the past 50 years or so. Like the new definition of the word diva, she is a known perfectionist who is very demanding and can be temperamental. 

For some strange reason, divas, when they get into a snit often come out looking and sounding their best. The Diva Streisand is in a foul mood nowadays. She is very angry and has laid out her vexation in a new album.  The title is Walls and it has Streisand at her most magnificent.

Walls is a protest album. She is not satisfied with the current state of affairs in the United States and has decided to use her music to give vent to her emotions. The genre used to be the realm of the likes of rockers Bob Dylan and John Lennon a long time ago but seemed to have gone out of style. Or perhaps, Americans were plain happy or at the very least content with their lives. 

And then Donald Trump came along and became president and living took a different turn. Streisand does not really mention President Trump in any of the songs in Walls.  But words like “Facts are fake and friends are foes/ and how the story ends nobody knows” in the soul ballad Don’t Lie To Me say that she does. More so when she gets into the refrain, “How do you sleep when the world keeps turning/ all that we built has come undone/ how do you sleep when the world is burning/ everyone answers to someone.”

Streisand is unstinting in her criticism.  Although tempered by the lush arrangements and her gorgeous voice, her manifesto rings loud and clear. Listen to the new works that she co-wrote, Don’t Lie To Me, What’s On My Mind, and The Rain Will Fall and or to the other originals, Walls and Better Angels.

Take her choice of remakes, all calls for a better world, John Lennon’s Imagine in a mash-up with Louie Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World, Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s What The World Needs Now, Take Care Of This House by Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner down to the New Year’s Day theme, Happy Days Are Here Again with a mocking laugh.

But no matter if she is protesting or not. No matter if Walls will cause Trump to change his ways or not. It cannot be argued differently that Streisand is truly majestic in it. The singing remains brilliant, the notes in perfect point and not to forget, everything she is in this album comes with a potent combination of passion and indignation.

And now for today’s hits.  Walls is ranked No. 12 among the albums.

As per the Billboard Hot 100, the top songs: Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande; Girls Like You by Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B; Sicko Mode by Travis Scott; Happier by Marshmello & Bastille; Lucid Dreams by Juice WRLD; Without Me by Halsey; Better Now by Post Malone; ZEZE by Kodak Black ft. Travis Scott & Offset; Mo Bamba by Sheck Wes; Drip Too Hard by Lil Baby & Gunna.

Youngblood by 5 Seconds of Summer; High Hopes by Panic! At the Disco; Love Lies by Khalid & Normani; Woke Up In The Sky by Gucci Mane with Bruno Mars and Kodak Black; Natural by Imagine Dragons; Taki Taki by DJ Snake with Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B; Trip by Ella Mai; Eastside by Benny Blanco ft. Halsey & Khalid; MIA by Bad Bunny ft. Drake; and God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande.

And the soundtrack heavy Top 20 of the Top 200 Albums tabulation goes like this: Not All Heroes Wear Capes by Metro Boomin; A Star Is Born, the motion picture soundtrack by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper; Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie soundtrack by Queen; The Last Rocket by TakeOff; Scorpion by Drake; Tha Carter V by Lil Wayne; Drip Harder by Lil Baby & Gunna; ASTROWORLD by Travis Scott; Greatest Hits by Queen; beerbongs & bentleys by Post Malone.

Sweetener by Ariana Grande; Walls by Barbra Streisand; RESET by Moneybogg Yo; Future & Juice by Future & Juice; Interstate Gospel by the Pistol Annies, a super group made up of country music stars Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley; The Greatest Showman, original soundtrack starring Hugh Jackman and Zach Ephron; LoVE me NOW by Tory Lanez; Ella Mai by Ella Mai; Goodbye & Good Riddance by Juice WRLD; and ? by the late XXXTENTACION.