I listen to music a lot. I have the kind of job that allows me to listen while I work, and I take the opportunity whenever I can. My first music blog is dedicated to Fefe Dobson. You don’t know who she is? Why am I not surprised. She’s just my favorite female pop artist of the past decade, that’s who she is. She even beats out Rihanna, and I really like Rihanna.

A number of artists that I listen to and keep track of on Last.fm don’t have the huge number of listeners on Last.fm that other artists do, like Coldplay or Radiohead. Whereas those two acts each have almost 3 million listeners on Last.fm, most of the artists I listen to (other than Rihanna and Lady Gaga) each have fewer than 1 million listeners. As of this writing, Fefe Dobson hasn’t quite reached 100,000 listeners. And I find that a real shame, because that makes it more difficult for me to listen to Fefe’s music.

How’s that, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you…

Sunday Love by Fefe Dobson is one of my favorite albums of all time. Sadly it was never released to the music-buying public. I understand that’s because the tracks that were released from the album didn’t chart. Since the songs didn’t chart, Island Def Jam didn’t want to waste their time and money releasing the CD. Why they couldn’t have released it as MP3 only, I’ll never understand. But it meant that for me to listen to Fefe’s music, I had to get creative. Ebay was my friend.

When Sunday Love was supposed to be released and the recording company kept postponing it and postponing it, I went hunting on Ebay and managed to acquire a sampler CD with 8 full-length tracks on it: As a Blonde, Don’t Let It Go to Your Head, If I Was a Guy, This Is My Life, Scar, Get You Off, Hole, and Strong. Two of these tracks, Don’t Let It Go to Your Head and This Is My Life had been released as singles. (The video for Don’t Let It Go to Your Head is a real hoot.)

Of the eight tracks on the sampler, I felt that This Is My Life was one of the weaker ones, and I wasn’t that surprised that it didn’t chart. As a Blonde and If I Was a Guy both had more attitude and would in my mind have been better singles, even if they wouldn’t have been as likely to be played on Disney radio. And I kind of got the idea that Island wanted a more kid-friendly Fefe than what she was giving them with Sunday Love.

For me the real gem on the sampler was Get You Off, which dripped with the kind of angst that would make Alanis Morissette wilt. Yet another track I’d not suspect to hear on Disney radio.

I found a way to hear all the unreleased tracks from Sunday Love. It wasn’t difficult if you did the right Google searches. But I prefer to have the license to play the music I like whenever I want, and I like to think that some part of what I pay for a CD or for MP3s I buy from Amazon actually goes to the artist. That didn’t happen with Sunday Love, and I’m rather disappointed about that.

Interestingly enough, Amazon is as of this writing taking pre-orders for Sunday Love, saying it will be released in December, 2010. I’ve got my pre-order in, but I will be (pleasantly) surprised if the CD actually arrives at my door. I fully suspect that when December, 2010 rolls around, I’ll get an email from Amazon saying they are having trouble with the order, but they are trying to get the product. We’ll see what happens.

Fefe has a new album, Joy, on the way, and three songs have been released from it: I Want You, Watch Me Move, and her latest, Ghost. I find the first two releases to be lacking in that Fefe Dobson attitude that I so enjoyed on Sunday Love. These two tracks are your typical run-of-the-mill pop songs. But with Ghost, some of that Fefe Dobson attitude is back, although the track could be played on Disney radio. I haven’t heard any of the other tracks from Joy yet, but I’m betting there are some other gems hidden on it, and I’m eager to hear them. I hope I get the chance to buy this album.

Joy was supposed to be released already, but it’s been postponed. Amazon says December 2020. This whole thing seems so familiar. I hope they are wrong. I’m hoping, hoping, hoping that the same thing does not happen with Joy that happened with Sunday Love. If this album is not released, I swear I will track down each and every one of the execs at Island Def Jam and slice off all their heads with my magical Troll-tooth dagger. If you don’t want me to have to resort to violence, you can help out by listening to her latest single, streaming live, Ghost. Together we can put this song on the charts, and maybe then this talented young lady can get on with her music career.