Expect a big boost in the sales of pop opera crossover releases soon. This is because a new singing heartthrob has just made his recording debut. He is the kind who comes only once in a long while. He has this totally impressive and everything right combination of voice, looks, talent and as an added bonus, even pedigree. You can really bet that a lot of fans will show tremendous interest in his music.
We all know that the three tenors are now down to two. Luciano Pavarotti has died leaving only Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. Josh Groban is busy being an actor. Heard he is in a Netflix series. Andrea Bocelli has been without a new album for quite some time. Do any of you know what has happened to Il Divo? Or Il Volo? Being in such a situation, pop opera can certainly use the push and excitement that the arrival of this kid will surely bring.
The pop opera idol in the making is Matteo Bocelli, the 20-year-old son of the famous tenor Andrea Bocelli. Matteo is making his recording debut in Fall On Me. A duet with Andrea, the song is about the relationship between a father and his son. The beautiful composition will be used in the end credits of the forthcoming live-action motion picture The Nutcracker and The Four Realms, which will hit the theaters later this year.
This is the live action Disney version of the famous story that we have come to associate with the Christmas holidays. It stars Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer. It is about this girl Clara, played by MacKenzie Foy, who is transported to new realms with the gift of a Nutcracker Prince. I not know how much of the classic Tchaikovsky music for the Nutcracker ballet, will be used in the picture. But for now the sound of the Andrea and Matteo duet Fall On Me, is more than enough to lure me into the theaters.
Incidentally, Fall On Me is also the lead single for Andrea’s new album simply titled Si. This is his first collection of all-new originals in a long 14 years. Si is Andrea’s collab effort with some of the hottest names in music today like Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Josh Groban and of course, the drop-dead gorgeous Matteo. Matteo has a second song in the album, Ven A Mi, while his brother Amos plays the piano in the cuts Sono Qui and Ali Di Libeta.
Now also in the song for the end credits business is Imagine Dragons, which I must say is one of the very few young rock bands still in the hit charts nowadays. The Grammy-winning Imagine Dragons made it big with singles like Radioactive, I Bet My Life, Believer, Thunder, Gold and others from the acclaimed bestselling albums Night Visions, Smoke + Mirrors and Evolve.
The latest news heard about the Dragons is that they wrote and performed Zero, the rocking theme from the upcoming animated, also from Disney, feature film Ralph Breaks The Internet. The band has expanded its reach to films and seems to be doing very well. In fact, it seems to have become a favorite with movie producers. Remember Imagine Dragons also did soundtrack songs like Levitate for Passengers and Sucker For Pain for Suicide Squad.
Ralph Wrecks The Internet brings Imagine Dragons music to the kiddie market. This Ralph is a sequel to the original Wreck It Ralph movie from six years ago. It tells of how Ralph now with his new friend and former enemy, Vanellope, finds new adventures through a wi-fi router in the mall while in search of a spare part to save the Sugar Rush Arcade. It features the voices of Kristen Bell, Gal Gadot, Mandy Moore and John Reiley as Ralph.
Of course, now we wait for the great harvest of musical films this year. A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody with Rami Malek as an awesome Freddie Mercury and a sequel for the ages, the new Mary Poppins starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda with a guest appearance by Dick Van Dyke who starred in the original from nearly 50 years ago.