By Jamaal D. Pittman, Contributing Writer
 
Remember the good old days when Fox's Empire was must-see TV? Well, you should, considering that it was only a few short months ago. It seems the show's production team didn’t receive the same memo we did that Empire was a highly anticipated, critical and commercial hit with an instantly green-lit 2nd season. Memos sometimes get lost in the mail, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. It's getting harder to ignore, however, that the series has been struggling to find its groove since its return in September. Not since Desperate Housewives—a former ABC comedy-drama with a landmark 1st season—do I recall such a drastic sophomore slump. Don’t get me wrong; Housewives had flashes of brilliance throughout its 8-year run, but it never quite regained its footing after its game changer of a debut. The final 7 years were spent limping towards the finish line, and by the time the celebratory tape was crossed, no one really cared. So, in regards to Empire, who's experiencing a similar second-season jinx, let’s invoke the spirit of TLC’s Left Eye for this all-important question: How can a show achieve such massive success out of the gate and then fall off so quickly? Well, I’ve got 3 compelling answers, so get ready to do your math.
 
Misuse of Talent
Somewhere along the way, the show developed a frustrating penchant for underutilizing its core talent, often to prop up guest stars in meaningless, if not boring, roles. Yes, we all know that Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, and their respective characters are exceptional, but there are gifted cast-members who aren't being properly used. Trai Byers’ turn as Andre Lyon can be powerful, layered and riveting, as long as the writers remember to give him something — anything — to do, besides be a pawn in Lucious’ game. Grace Gealey’s Anika, season 1’s standout supporting antagonist, has been reduced to a not-so-glorified extra, strapped to a whipping post as the writers invent shameful new ways to humiliate her. When she’s not twerking for deals, this supposedly savvy businesswoman is playing eager side piece to a 20-year-old rapper. I’ve lost count of how many literal and figurative doors “Boo Boo Kitty” has had slammed in her face this season, and she hasn’t even been on much. While I understand that villains are sometimes softened to be more endearing over the course of a show’s run, Anika seems to have undergone a full-on lobotomy. She’s hardly recognizable and the fire that made her so compelling as the girl we all loved to hate has been extinguished. Gealey has ability far beyond the material she’s received as of late, and it’s a shame that it's being wasted.
 
Payoffs That Fall Flat
Intriguing developments are resolved too quickly on this show, and their impact is forgotten within a few episodes. For example, the season 1 finale highlighted the murder of Vernon Turner and the arrest of Lucious Lyon. For any other series, that would've set up several compelling story arcs for the next season. Oh, but not Empire. Just a few episodes into season 2, Lucious uses extortion to secure his release, and Vernon’s corpse is used for shock value and slapstick humor, as its placed in a district attorney's car to scare the heebie-jeebies out of her. Empire is often referred to as a soap opera, but one of its fundamental problems is the absence of continuity and fluidity between episodes. The show could benefit greatly from employing the best tactics from every soap playbook: make the story build, make the people wait, and make the payoff worth it.

23-year-old singer-songwriter Junior Martinez from Casa Grande, Arizona is one of the newest aspiring artists to enter the R&B/pop online independent music market. Martinez dropped the deets on his background and current digital release, Not the Boy Next Door to JSaysOnline.com.
 
Well, hello! Let's start off by telling everyone a little bit about your background. Were you born on a warm spring day or a harsh, cold one? Haha. No, seriously, where did you grow up, what things are you involved in outside of music and how did music become something you wanted to actively pursue?
JM: [I] was born in a little town in Arizona called Chandler. Besides being a musician, I work in the medical field; I am a caregiver. I also raise my brother, who I adopted when I turned 18. I had a tough childhood; we didn't have much. [Also,] My grandma, who raised me, worked a lot, so that really forced me to be creative and that is how I fell in love with music...buying my first Michael Jackson album (i.e. Thriller)...made me want to sing and write. I was obsessed. Everything about Michael's music was alluring to me, so I literally spent night and day trying to learn everything; from his dance moves, to the way he sang. 
 
You have 3 full albums available for download on Bandcamp.com; the oldest was released last year. Did you produce all of them by yourself? If not, who else did you collaborate with? What resources did you use to complete the projects?
JM: I have written and produced every album. Some of the instrumentals are collaborations with a beat maker named DJSSR, who I have been working with since my first album. I started recording out of my bedroom in 2008, and released a string of horribly produced songs that I have erased from existence, haha. The 3 albums that are available...I'm pretty proud of them. I have grown lyrically and vocally. I'm completely self taught: no vocal or writing lessons, and the production has been learned pretty much through trial and error. 
 
What's the concept of and story behind Not the Boy Next Door?  Which song is your favorite?
JM: The concept is simply that I was tired of being put in the "R&B box." I literally would get comments about how I sounded like this or that R&B singer. Don't get me wrong; I really love R&B, but I also love other genres and really wanted to experiment. I wanted to make an album that was a little bit different and incorporated pop/dance elements, but still had the R&B that my supporters like. So, the title was my way of saying "Hey, I'm not just that R&B guy and I have more to offer than a couple of sappy break up songs." My favorite song is probably the darkest song I did this go round called "Battle Wounds."

Album Review.
Likes: For You, Stone Cold, Wildfire, Father
Dislikes: Stars
Overall: Passionately done; don't care for the hip-hop and techno elements
 
For the last 3 album eras, I've had pre-release jitters that I will lose Demi Lovato to the pop idiocy and immature hyper-sexuality that, for whatever reason, comes with an artist hitting their early 20's. Either a single or an interview quote makes me think "Oh no, here it comes." During her press tour for the seductive panty-experiment bit "Cool for the Summer," she repeatedly described her forthcoming music as 'provocative' and expressed an artistic admiration for the often polemical Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. I feared tricks, tackiness and shock value were ahead with Confident, but as the last 2 times, Lovato teaches that "everything is not what it seems." The 23-year-old keeps cutting through the customary trappings to show development or sustainability in either a small or large way. When her writing credits were chopped to less than half on 2011's Unbroken and she had to compete with more than 25 other scribes on the follow-up, Demi (both LP's were littered with swanky songs that didn't sound like her), she fought for presence with vocal maturation and touches of Lovato-lyricism. Not to get lost in the waves again, she held on tight with both hands to the surface this round. From top to bottom, Confident is commensurate with its title.
 
Aggression is an active ingredient here, with tramping hooks, exerted singing and fervent lyrics. The smatterings of hip-hop and electronic-pop imply a chasing of trends (ex. they slap rap verses on everything these days; a feature by a caricature like Iggy Azalea is particularly unnecessary), but its synchronization with the record's attitude makes it seem like a conscious decision versus a ploy. Testing herself vocally, Lovato bellows and applies deliberate styling on tracks like "Stone Cold" (ex. mimicking a gospel/soul wail on the 'know that I am' chorus-line) and "Wildfire" (one of her first attempts at sultriness). In an age where big, beautiful and skilled voices are like four-leafed clovers, it's commendable that she'd push herself. However, it's audible that proper technique wasn't employed, distracting from her efforts and making it even clearer that she's a part of the "diva extinction" generation. The industry doesn't hone, protect and train talent like they used to. That's why you have singers stepping into shoes before they can fit them and experiencing cord injuries, like Adele, Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor have, but that's a conversation for another day. On "Stone," for example, Demi's attempted belts and wails land as shouts and oddities (especially when it was performed on SNL). The song  itself is problematically structured. Instead of progressing, it power-plays from the 1st chorus.