This week´s pick for the challenge is a beautiful and inspiring song, and also a new addition to Red karaoke´s karaoke catalogue (kudos to Colonelmac), Live like you were dying by possibly one of America´s most famous country singers, Tim Mcgraw.

Live Like You Were Dying is one of Tim Mcgraw´s most succesful singles and probably one of the songs that is closest to his heart. Mcgraw wrote Live like you were dying in 2004, dedicating it to his father, former baseball player Tug Mcgraw. Mcgraw senior had been hospitalized with a brain tumor and diagnosed with cancer, with only weeks to live.

Live like you were dying is a heartfelt and joyous song of a man without much time to live who learns to make every moment count. The message was a powerful one, and helped the single become a chartopper in no time, spending a total of seven weeks in the number one spot. Not only that, but Mcgraw´s live like your were dying also became one of the most awarded songs of 2004, named the biggest and best single of the year by nearly every country award panel.

Live like you were dying is a beautiful ode to life and an excellent challenge for the users of Red karaoke. Take the time to listen to this beautiful country song, give the challenge a try and post your rendition in the forum. The winner of this week´s challenge will appear along with their recording in next week´s newsletter.

We´ve decided the winners of the 2009 Halloween Contest here on Red Karaoke. We asked users to put on their Halloween best and sing along to one of four specially chosen karaokes or make a creative video in the halloween spirit. Thank you to everyone who sang, dressed up and had fun with this little challenge. We hope you continue to enjoy all Red karaoke has to offer, whether its karaokes, the forums or contests such as this.

Our first winner was a video entry submitted by Solitaryman who blew us away with his amazing vocal interpretation of People Are Strange by the Doors. Solitaryman´s flawless makeup job as the joker and ¨Why so serious¨ introduction were a pefect compliment to his rendition of the classic Doors song about wicked strangers.

a little halloween goofing off - Red Karaoke

The second winner is Slimt´s video entry. Though the video doesn´t have any recognizable music, there is plenty of noise in this bone chilling look into what seems to be a nightmarish haunted house. We had to give Slimt props for such a perfectly creepy and creative halloween video. It certainly made my skin crawl.

halloween contest - Red Karaoke

Thank you to everyone who sang in this year´s halloween contest, and special congratulations to Solitaryman and Slimt, our two chosen winners for 2009!

Fans of the latest novel turned into movie craze Twilight are biting at the chomps as they await the November 20th premiere of its sequel New Moon. And while the Cullen and Bella crazies have been slightly subdued by the release of multitudes of marketing distractions from cast interviews, previews, music videos to even barbie dolls, it was the early release of the New Moon Soundtrack that brought the ¨overwhelmingly and unprecedented demand¨ of the fans from boiling over to just a simmer. Now there is even more to keep fans busy as they count down the days with the November 6th launch of the New Moun Soundtrack tour.

New Moon´s lead single, Meet me on the equinox, written specifically by Death Cab for Cutie for the movie, ¨to reflect the celestial themes and motifs that run throughout the Twilight series¨, premiered on October 7th, perhaps aiding in the growing clamor for the complete soundtrack and helping with its rescheduled release date of October 16th. Whatever the case, the album has been rocking the charts ever since, booting Michael Buble´s Crazy Love from the number one spot after just one week and making billboard history for the twilight saga as the first ever movie series to have more than one chart topping soundtrack.

The New Moon soundtrack is a compilation of alternative and indie rock groups, all channeling a bit of melodrama and desperation fitting perfectly with movie´s mood. Heavyhitters who appear in the mix alongside Death cab include The killers, Bon Iver who sings with St. Vincent on Roslyn, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead who contributed a slightly dissapointing single Hearing Damage.

‘Satellite Heart’ Anya Marina

Anya Marina | MySpace Video

But the whole thing isn´t just gloom. With Muse remixing their recent release I belong to you and Sea Wolf´s The Violet Hour, there are bursts of pep with only a small hint of angst. Other artist contributions who are definitely worth taking a listen to are Ok go, Anya Marina and of course the movie´s composer Alexandre Desplate and his eerily beautiful piano piece entitled The Meadow.

The really interesting part about all 15 tracks on the list is that each was written and recorded solely for the New Moon soundtrack, in a way creating a special gift for fans of the Twilight saga. International twilight lovers get a little something extra in the form of a bonus track by a local artist, i.e., Spanish speaking fans get the pleasure of hearing Frente al mar by the Mexican artist Ximena Sariñana (if you do not know who she is, look up her duet with Jason Mraz on Lucky now). While this could have had the potential of causing riots among the American fans (where are OUR bonus tracks?), their something extra is even more personal.

November 6th will mark the begining of a special New Moon soundtrack tour that will hit up six different spots nationwide. The shows are completely open to adoring fans who will have the chance to see Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina, Sea Wolf and Band of Skulls live, then rip apart 10 cast members in a special Q&A session. More or less a dream come true for tweens and teens everywhere.

When pondering what Shakira would dress up as for Halloween, I would guess based on her recent album release and hot dance single with a video to match it that Columbian dance goddess would be donning some fangs and pointy ears as the big, bad, sexy wolf. Sadly Shakira´s November cover of Rolling Stone is only slightly dissapointing with no wolf costume, though Shakira still looks as gorgeous as ever as she talks about the album, the changes in her music and her upcoming tour.

She wolf, the first single off Shakira´s new album has brought her back into the spotlight after the major successes of her first few US albums, though this time Shakira isn´t just getting attention for her amazingly honest hips. Her ability to enter into a completely new arena with her music, in this case the world of dance and electronic pop, and create a fusion with all the world and latin influences she is known for has gained Shakira a round of applause from many critics.

"You've got to put together a nice meal and make sure the spices don't take over the main ingredient. And at the end of the day, it gives a nice flavor in your mouth." Shakira told Rolling Stone, explaining her hard work and experimentation with different beats and sounds.

Still, when you get down to it, She wolf and just about every other song the album is about, well, getting down. "From the beginning, I wanted an album that was dancy and fun. I wanted to have fun with this, and I want people to have fun with it as well, to forget about the economic crisis at least for 10 seconds on the dance floor,” Shakira told Time Magazine.

While we will have to wait and see how much Shakira´s upcoming single, Did it again and Give it up (featuring heavy hitters Timbaland and Lil Wayne) get people in the mood to move, She wolf has definitely hit the target. With lyrics like, ¨There´s a she wolf in the closet, open up and let her free,¨ She wolf is the perfect carefree anthem for girl´s night out.

Ladies, it´s time to start shaking those hips and reach for your inner animal, because Shakira´s She wolf is now available here on Red Karaoke. And if you prefer to howl in Spanish, give La Loba, the Spanish version a try.

Yes, I got a black magic woman, she´s got me so blind I can´t see. She´s a black magic woman and she´s trying to make a devil out of me. This week is the last of our halloween themed karaoke challenges, and Black Magic Woman is the spooky song meant to give you a run for you money.

Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac wrote the orginal Black Magic Woman in 1968 for their album, I love another woman. Though the single was pretty succesful as it was, in needed a little flavor for it to become a top ten single.

Mexican-born rocker Carlos Santana brough Black Magic Woman to life, adding jazz and latin rhythms and turning it into a medley with Gábor Szabos 1967 hit, Gypsy Queen. The blues and latin infused sound helped the single reach #4 in 1970 on the US charts and turned into one of Carlos Santana´s biggest hits.

So let Black Magic Woman make a devil out of you and give Carlos Santana´s voodoo classic a shot. Remember, to enter into the Karaoke Challenge you simply have to record your own rendition of Black Magic Woman, then go to the forum and post a link to your rendition in the Contest area. Your vocal stylings on this spooky song could be featured in next week´s newsletter.

This week we have another halloween themed challenge, the appropriately named Spooky.

Spooky was orginally a sassy saxophone instrumental, written by Mike Sharpe (a.k.a Shapiro), though the classic is better known by -get this- The Classics IV who wrote the famous line ¨Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you¨ and turned the song into a top 10 hit on the Billboard charts. Other artists have made Spooky a hit, including Dusty Springfield whose version is also on Red Karaoke.

With lyrics like I'm gonna tell you all what my heart's been dyin' to be sayin'. Just like a ghost, you've been hauntin' my dreams, so I'll propose on Halloween, Spooky is the perfect Halloween themed love song. So get in the spirit of the thing and join in this week´s challenge, but don´t forget to post your version in the forum, or you could miss your chance to be in the Red karaoke blog.

This week´s challenge is another appropriately Halloween themed karaoke due to it´s somewhat creepy meoldy, People are strange by the Doors.

People are strange is a single from 1967 and very succesful hit of The Doors, having reached the #12 spot on the US charts. The song is, like Mad World, another anthem for depression due to its themes of alienation and being alone in the world, and was even supposedly written by Jim Morrison during one of his frequent depressions.

The song has been succesfully covered by several other groups, inclurding Echo and the Bunnymen for the Lost Boys soundtrack and also by horror rock group, Twiztid for their album Freek show. How appropriate for Halloween. My favorite rendition happens to be the live cover Evanescence frequently did during their 2007 tour.

Join in the halloween spirit and take a stab at People are strange by the Doors. If you post your version in the forum, you could be the lucky pick that appears in next week´s newsletter!

This has been quite a year for karaoke, what with the World Championships in Finland, star celebrities like Sean Kingston and Kelly Clarkson using karaoke to help promote their newest albums, and now even the Black Eyed Peas have joined in the fun.

The Black Eyed Peas have just set two new World Guiness Records with their special Mile High Karaoke. 140 fans bidded on ebay for spots on a flight between Melbourne and Perth Australia for the chance to join the Black Eyed Peas as they attempted, and were succesful, in winning the World´s Highest Live Performance and also the Highest Recorded Track.

The record, previously held by Jamiroquai, was broken in classic karaoke party style as Fergie crooned along to Led Zeppelin´s Black Dog and Will.i.am tried to channel some Manilow with his own version of Copacabana.

But the Black Eyed Peas aren´t the only people breaking karaoke records this year. Finland also had their spot in the limelite when they broke the Guiness record for the World´s Longest Non-Stop Karaoke, beating China´s measly 145 hours with a wopping 240… not to mention the Finns already hold the record for Largest Number of Karaoke Singers at any given time, a massive 80,000.

Cheers to the Black Eyed Peas, the Finns and their crazy karaoke world records… maybe Red Karaoke will have to try and top that 240 hours one day.

One of the world´s most famous, influential and just down right cool women has started her very own search for the best karaoke singers in America. That´s right, Oprah has announced her own nation wide search for microphone hugging, lyric reading, talented vocalists. That means all this time you´ve spent warming up here on Red karaoke could have finally prepared you for your shot at personal fame, ´cause let´s face it, once you´ve made it onto Oprah´s couch, you´ve made it.

Oprah is known as one of the most powerful women in the world, simply by the amazing things she has and continues to do on her show. Now she has teamed up with gospel artist Bebe Winans to look for America´s best karaoke singers, and since anything she touches (books, children with untapped talent, politicians) turns to gold, this is an opportunity you don´t want to miss out on.

You have until October 19th (thats 10 days) to go to Oprah´s Karaoke Challenge site, and upload a 2 minute video of yourself singing along to your favorite karaoke. This shouldn´t be any problem for our Red Karaoke users, well versed in recording their own karaoke renditions. Oprah and a team of judges will scourage all of the entries for the one special voice that might get to appear live on stage with Oprah herself!

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I know Red Karaoke has the talent. So go check it out and give it your all, I´ll be looking for one of you next to Oprah in a few weeks.

Though Adam Lambert made this week´s karaoke challenge a recent hit for his incredible rendition of the single on American Idol this past year, the haunting Mad World has been around long before Adam was hitting high notes.

Mad World was originally written in the 80´s by one of the greatest bands from that era (at least in my opinion) Tears for fears. It was the group´s first international success, gaining them recognition on the Top 40s in more than a few countries.

Still, most people my age know the song from its resurgence two decades later, when Gary Jules turned Mad World into a somewhat creepy, but equally moving teen anthem for depression, or as Curt Smith of Tears for fears described it, a ¨voyeur´s song¨ from the ¨eyes of a teenager¨, not to mention the key component to the cult classic Donnie Darko. Jules´ version became a number 1 hit… and possibly the favorite rendition, until glam-idol Adam Lambert came along and added his enigmatic vocals to the mix.

Lambert´s performance, though risky for the Idol contest, paid off well for him in the end, whether he won or not. Though no one can stand against Tears for fears in my book, even Jules himself raved about Lambert´s performance, ¨He totally understood the vibe of it and the power of it and delivered it in a unique and beautiful way. … I think Adam is straight-up the most interesting, for my personal taste, of anyone I’ve ever seen on the show.¨ High praise from the man who made Mad World a massive hit.

Do you think Gary Jules would have the same thing to say about your rendition? Why don´t you give Mad World a shot, be sure to post your rendition in this week´s karaoke challenge thread, and you could end up in next week´s newsletter.